First Run News

“You know what? They only don’t want to do it because of me. We have to put the people ahead of politics,” Trump said in a video posted on Twitter. “We need to have the wall. We need border security.” The president described Democrats as “absolute hypocrites,” highlighting clips from Sen.

On Thursday, the Justice Department’s inspector general released a report stating thousands of text messages exchanged between Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page could not be recovered after Mueller’s team wiped clean the phones it had issued them. “SCO’s Records Officer told the OIG that as part of the office’s records retention procedure, the officer reviewed Strzok’s DOJ issued iPhone after he returned it to the SCO and determined it contained no substantive text messages,” the watchdog report reads.

“I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration,” Trump wrote. He thanked Kelly for serving as Chief of Staff and welcomed Mulvaney as incoming Acting Chief of Staff. Kelly will serve until the end of the year. The president went on, “I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Judge Reed O’Connor, a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas appointed by former President George W. Bush, ruled that Obamacare violated the Constitution. Twenty Republican state attorneys general brought the suit, Texas v. Azar, who asked the court to rule that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) violates the Constitution after Republicans managed to zero out Obamacare’s individual mandate penalty with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act last year.

NEW YORK — President Trump offered a simple defense Thursday to accusations he broke campaign finance law by directing attorney Michael Cohen to orchestrate hush-money payments to conceal Trump’s alleged affairs: He was following terrible advice from a bad lawyer. ‘‘I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called ‘advice of counsel,’ ” Trump wrote on Twitter. The advice-of-counsel defense is a real thing. But Trump’s ability to use it, if he were ever formally accused of a crime, is far from certain.

JOAN VENNOCHI If Warren wants to run for president, she should.  Editorial The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule is chilling and cruel, and letters from Massachusetts officials show how the policy would hurt immigrants.  Opinion | Laurence H. Tribe Our country’s governing document makes good on the promise that no one is above the law.   Friday’s decision comes just before the end of a six-week open enrollment period for the program in 2019.  The rate went from 5.1 percent to 5.05 percent.

JOAN VENNOCHI If Warren wants to run for president, she should.  Editorial The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule is chilling and cruel, and letters from Massachusetts officials show how the policy would hurt immigrants.  Opinion | Laurence H. Tribe Our country’s governing document makes good on the promise that no one is above the law.   Friday’s decision comes just before the end of a six-week open enrollment period for the program in 2019.  The rate went from 5.1 percent to 5.05 percent.

JOAN VENNOCHI If Warren wants to run for president, she should.  Editorial The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule is chilling and cruel, and letters from Massachusetts officials show how the policy would hurt immigrants.  Opinion | Laurence H. Tribe Our country’s governing document makes good on the promise that no one is above the law.   Friday’s decision comes just before the end of a six-week open enrollment period for the program in 2019.  The rate went from 5.1 percent to 5.05 percent.

JOAN VENNOCHI If Warren wants to run for president, she should.  Editorial The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule is chilling and cruel, and letters from Massachusetts officials show how the policy would hurt immigrants.  Opinion | Laurence H. Tribe Our country’s governing document makes good on the promise that no one is above the law.   Friday’s decision comes just before the end of a six-week open enrollment period for the program in 2019.  The rate went from 5.1 percent to 5.05 percent.

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether foreign donors illegally channeled money into reported Thursday. People familiar with the inquiry told the paper that prosecutors are probing whether the alleged donations were made in an attempt to buy influence over U.S.