US House passes bill to make it easier to fire VA workers, protect whistle blowers

On Tuesday, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson , the representative of Fort Bragg and author of bipartisan legislation to allow service connected veterans to choose care from private providers in their local communities, released the following statement after the House passed S. 1094, legislation to make it easier to fire Veterans Affairs employees for poor performance or misconduct and to establish whistle blower protections: "I recognize there are many good, hard-working people at our local VA hospitals many of them are veterans themselves. It's the unaccountable bureaucracy that hurts veterans and makes it impossible for them to get the timely care and benefits they deserve.

Tom Cotton suggests James Comey set precedent of private meetings with Donald Trump

Sen. Tom Cotton speculated Wednesday that former FBI Director James B. Comey may have set a precedent by requesting a private meeting with President Trump prior to his inauguration. "I understand that Jim Comey expressed his misgivings about being in that meeting alone.

Sessions denies third meeting with Russian Federation envoy

Ahead of the hearing there had been suggestions that Sessions might have had a third, unreported, encounter with Kislyak, at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016, where candidate Trump was giving his first major foreign policy speech. "I recused myself not because of any assertive wrongdoing or any belief that I may have been involved in any wrongdoing in the campaign but because of a Department of Justice regulation ... that regulation states in effect that a Department employee should not participate in investigations of a campaign if they served as a campaign advisor", Sessions told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during a hearing on Tuesday.

Intel Officials Won’t Publicly Testify On Private Trump Talks

The committee is holding a closed session after lunch with staff about the technicalities of the law that allows the intelligence community to surveil foreign targets. Rogers at the hearing Wednesday said he's never been asked to do anything illegal or felt pressure to do anything immoral during his three years as head of the intelligence agency.

Trump to unveil new Cuba path

Cuba's best friends in the U.S. used to be a smattering of Washington policy wonks and leftists who sent donated school buses and computers to the communist-led island. Five months into the Trump administration, Cuba has a new set of American defenders: a coalition of high-tech firms, farming interests, travel companies and young Cuban-Americans thrown into action by the looming announcement of a new Cuba policy.

Trump transition team ordered to save materials on Russia, Ukraine: NYT

President Donald Trump's transition team has been ordered to preserve materials related to ongoing investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, the New York Times reported on Friday, as Trump again assailed the probes. Citing a memo from the general counsel's office of Trump's transition team, the Times said former members were given the order on Thursday for any information involving Russia or Ukraine in the latest sign of the investigations' expanding reach.

President Trump says House health care bill was – mean’

President Donald Trump did not pressure Republican senators to rush a new draft of the health care bill at a Tuesday meeting, sources say, but instead lamented the saga that took place on the House side, and said the bill that passed in in the lower chamber was "mean" and the Senate bill should be more "generous." "He wasn't prescribing deadlines, because I think he recognized what happened in the House wasn't good, and he wants to make sure that we have a process that proceeds in an orderly way," said Sen. John Thune, R-SD, who attended the meeting at the White House.

Trump advisers question Muellera s impartiality in Russian probe

Some of President Donald Trump's closest allies - including one of his sons - have begun questioning whether Robert Mueller's wide-ranging probe is becoming too political, as the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election intensifies. Leading Republican legislators on Tuesday waved off the idea of firing Mueller, but a public effort to muddy the waters surrounding the investigation comes amid growing White House concern that the probe could detract from the president's agenda.

Trump allies now question Mueller probe, even those who endorsed him

Then Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller testifies during a 2013 hearing of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Donald Trump is considering firing Mueller, the special counsel investigating if Russia colluded in last year's bitter election campaign, a friend of the president said Monday.

Salvadoran Immigrant Dies In ICE Custody As Detainee Deaths Rise

A 44-year-old Salvadoran national died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on Saturday, the 10th detainee to die in ICE custody since this fiscal year began Oct. 1. That's the same number who died in the entire 2016 fiscal year, and the most since 2011. Carlos MejA a Bonilla, 44, was admitted to Jersey City Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit with gastrointestinal bleeding on June 8. He died two days later, according to a MejA a Bonilla first crossed into the United States in 1993.

U.S. Senate panel sets goals for autonomous vehicle deployment

Senate Commerce Committee leaders on Tuesday said safety, reducing roadblocks to innovation, and clarifying federal and state regulatory roles are among the chief goals they will follow when drafting legislation covering autonomous vehicles in coming weeks. "Self-driving vehicles will not only dramatically change how we get from place to place, they have the potential to prevent accidents and save thousands of lives," Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who is spearheading the effort along with Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson of Florida, said in a statement.

Chaffetz out as Oversight chairman as Trey Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, steps in

As he prepares to leave the U.S. House at month's end, Rep. Jason Chaffetz is no longer chairman of one of the more powerful and high-profile committees in Congress. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., was installed Tuesday as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, taking over a perch that Chaffetz had worked hard to obtain but is now leaving as part of his resignation from office.

The Latest: Trump says new health care law will be a kinda

President Donald Trump is having lunch with Republican senators to discuss the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. Trump said President Barack Obama's health care law "had been broken and it's been a broken promise."

Trump Considering Firing Special Counsel? Just Another Example Of Stirring The Pot

The CEO of the right-wing website Newsmax, a close friend of Trump's, has been making the media rounds saying President Trump is considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Department of Justice investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. "I think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel," Ruddy told PBS NewsHour Monday night, though he went on to say he thinks, personally, it would be a bad idea.