Contributing Writers

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink is stepping down, the State Department confirmed Thursday, as the Trump administration ramps up its efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokesperson, said Brink would be leaving her role, though she didn’t give a specific departure date. The news comes at a critical moment for U.S. foreign policy as officials work to ease tensions and end the grinding war in Eastern Europe.

Chinese officials acknowledged behind closed doors at a December meeting that their government was responsible for a series of cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, according to a Wall Street Journal report based on information from people familiar with the matter.The news comes as the two countries continue to spar over tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump and reciprocated and upped by President Xi Jinping.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and leader of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) should be demonized, in an apparent escalation of their feud. Walz was speaking at a town hall in Youngstown, Ohio, when he laid into Musk, whom he has sharply criticized before. He was talking about social media and the Democratic Party’s view on success when he brought up the billionaire tech mogul.

It was a split screen Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill.One eye on the markets. The other eye on the Senate testimony of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.”Do you think your remarks will alter the markets in any way?” yours truly asked Greer as he walked to the hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.”I’m just going to respond to the senators. Be candid as I can be,” replied Greer.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent denied the president’s move to implement a pause on his tariffs was the result of declines in the financial markets, which have been causing great concern for investors.The comments came after the president issued a pause Wednesday for 75 different countries, which, according to the Trump administration, have shown a willingness to negotiate trade deals in good faith with the United States.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is delaying a key vote on legislation aimed at advancing President Donald Trump’s agenda in the face of a likely rebellion on Wednesday evening.It comes as fiscal hawks in the lower chamber have raised alarms at the Senate’s version of the plan, which guarantees far fewer spending cuts than the House’s initial offering.

The House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday to limit federal district judges’ ability to affect Trump administration policies on a national scale.The No Rogue Rulings Act, led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., passed the House and limits district courts’ power to issue U.S.-wide injunctions, instead forcing them to focus their scope on the parties directly affected in most cases.All but one Republican lawmaker voted for the bill, which passed 219 to 213.

New York Republicans are pushing a new law to protect animals after a beloved pet squirrel and internet star named P’Nut was taken and killed by state environmental officers late last year.The bill, called “Peanut’s Law: The Humane Animal Protection Act,” would require a 72-hour waiting period before the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) can euthanize any seized animal.

President Donald Trump touted the record-breaking fundraising numbers garnered by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) during its annual president’s dinner Tuesday evening. “You know, we’ve done very well in this room before,” Trump told attendees at the annual dinner Tuesday night. “But right now we broke every record. I just heard from Mike Johnson, he said, ‘We broke every record, sir.’ There is over $35 million.

It was supposed to be a routine Senate Agriculture Committee hearing to consider nominees for top USDA posts, but one visitor turned the event into a tail-wagging affair.​Babydog Justice, the beloved English bulldog of Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., made a surprise and highly photogenic appearance Tuesday as the committee met to review the nominations of Judge Stephen Vaden for Deputy Secretary of Agriculture and Tyler Clarkson for USDA General Counsel.

The Department of Commerce on Tuesday announced its decision to cut $4 million in funding related to climate research for Princeton University.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a news release the cuts were made “after a detailed, careful, and thorough review of the Department’s financial assistance programs against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) current program objectives.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem spent Tuesday morning with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Arizona law enforcement agents going after illegal immigrant criminals in the Phoenix area.Standing with a gun in her hands, Noem said in a video posted to X that she was going out with ICE to pick up someone facing charges of human trafficking. She also said she went out earlier with agents and swept up a person wanted for murder.

EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have come to an agreement to permit ICE to access taxpayer information to locate illegal immigrants subject to deportation.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced $51 million in cuts from the U.S. African Development Foundation, which included hundreds of thousands of dollars for marketing shea butter and pineapple juice, as well as mango drying facilities.DOGE made the announcement on X, highlighting several initiatives the money was put toward.

Two key bills backed by President Donald Trump are set to get a vote this week after advancing through the House Rules Committee on Monday evening.The No Rogue Rulings Act (NORRA Act) by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., would limit district court judges’ ability to issue orders blocking Trump policies nationwide. The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is aimed at requiring proof of citizenship in the voting registration process.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the State Department called out practices under the Biden administration that required diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts to account for 20% of performance evaluations for foreign service officers.Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the reforms of the Biden administration’s DEI policies “important and historic.

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he plans to undergo a physical examination on Friday, marking his first annual physical in his second administration.Trump announced the plans in a Truth Social post, noting that the exam would take place at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Trump was treated for COVID-19 at the same hospital in 2020.

A bill making its way through the New York state legislature would prohibit police from conducting traffic stops for minor violations in an effort to limit unnecessary stops and further “racial equity and public safety.”The proposal would bar officers from pulling people over or searching them for various traffic violations, including having a taillight out, expired vehicle registration tags, too much window tint or if the smell of marijuana is detected.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he is not willing to make a deal with China unless the trade deficit of over $1 trillion is resolved first.While speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said with some countries there is a trade deficit of over a billion dollars, but with China, it is over $1 trillion.”We have a $1 trillion trade deficit with China.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a stop in Texas on Sunday and visited the family of a 6-year-old girl who died of the measles virus in February.Kennedy confirmed the visit to Texas in a post on X in which he encouraged people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine amid rising measles cases.

An undocumented immigrant attending an anti-Trump “Hands Off!” rally on Saturday said she was “unafraid” to flash her immigration status and sexual orientation publicly.”I am an immigrant, I am undocumented, unafraid, queer and unashamed,” Greisa Martinez Rosas, a longtime left-wing immigration activist, told those in attendance at the Washington, D.C., demonstrations over the weekend, according to a report in the New York Post.

Elon Musk slammed the alleged “puppetmasters” behind anti-Trump demonstrations this weekend after viral video showed protesters struggling to explain why they believe President Donald Trump is a “fascist.” “The problem is the puppetmasters, not the puppets, as the latter have no idea why they are even there,” Musk posted to X on Sunday accompanied by video footage of protesters stumbling over what issues they have with Trump.

The Trump administration has placed a Justice Department (DOJ) lawyer on leave for not “zealously advocating” its position in the case involving a Salvadoran man living in Maryland who was mistakenly deported last month. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office placed Erez Reuveni, who argued for the government, in Friday’s hearing in which a judge ruled Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be returned to the U.S.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday announced the U.S. will revoke visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and no others will be issued, effective immediately.Rubio attributed the change to “the failure of South Sudan’s transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner,” according to a statement posted on X.The U.S.

House Republican leaders are rallying GOP lawmakers around a plan to enact a broad swath of President Donald Trump’s agenda, after the legislation was passed by the Senate in the early hours of Saturday morning.

President Donald Trump is doubling down on his controversial tariffs program and has called on Americans to “hang tough” amid stock market turmoil over the last few days. Trump, in a post on Truth Social Saturday morning, wrote that his plan is already working with trillions of dollars already being poured into the U.S. economy.”We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before.