The former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., announced Wednesday his intention to run against Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calling the Democratic Party “paralyzed and unprepared” for President Donald Trump’s second term in office.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is refusing to attend the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Johannesburg this year, in protest of the South African government’s controversial land seizure bill.The bill, which was signed last week, permits South African authorities to expropriate land “for a public purpose or in the public interest,” promising “just and equitable compensation” to those impacted by the bill.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced a new deal with the government of Panama that will eliminate charge fees for U.S. government vessels.”The government of Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees for U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal,” the State Department wrote in an X post Wednesday night.The new agreement will save the U.S. government millions of dollars a year, officials noted.

The Trump administration’s plan to detain some of the most dangerous illegal immigrants arrested in the United States in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could raise legal concerns and challenges, which could slow efforts to deport them to their home countries, experts say. President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to prepare the facility to house up to 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens” at the U.S. military base. Flights to the facility began this week.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is seeking to reverse the last-hour commutations for death row murderers last month by former President Joe Biden, directing state officials to pursue the death penalty against the inmates.Bondi, who was confirmed Wednesday, sent out a letter about the commutations to Department of Justice (DOJ) employees Wednesday, accusing Biden of “undermin[ing] our justice system and subvert[ing] the rule of law” by granting the commutations.

Support for President Donald Trump’s vision for the U.S. to “take over the Gaza Strip,” level it and rebuild the area came flooding in on Tuesday after a news conference announcing the plan.The comments were made following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in which Trump claimed the U.S. would take over the Strip and make it safe again.”The U.S.

As a deadline looms for government employees to fold to an ultimatum given by the Trump administration to either accept a buyout or return to the office, unions representing those workers have filed a lawsuit, calling the offer “arbitrary and capricious.

The Central Intelligence Agency, in what officials reportedly claimed was an effort to bring the agency in line with Trump’s agenda, offered buyouts to its entire staff on Tuesday.The Wall Street Journal reported that the agency is the first to tell its employees they can quit and get eight months of pay and benefits.

Democratic congressional lawmakers on Tuesday gathered to passionately voice opposition to Elon Musk’s access to a Treasury Department office responsible for disbursing payments, days after they were told to punch back against the Trump administration.

Scott Turner, a former NFL player and Texas state lawmaker, advanced past a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday night, teeing up a final confirmation vote to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) later this week. The nomination cleared the procedural vote by a margin of 55-45, with two Democrats joining Republicans.President Donald Trump announced Turner as his choice to be HUD secretary soon after his November election last year.