Todd Blanche nomination hanging by thread after he advances out of committee
Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general cleared a key hurdle Tuesday, potentially setting the stage for renewed momentum at the Justice Department but leaving him little room for error with a crucial vote later this week. Now that the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced his nomination, he faces his final test to earn the job: earning […]
Judge slams the Justice Department as he ‘reluctantly’ dismisses final January 6 riot case
A federal judge slammed the Justice Department as he “reluctantly” dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against leaders and members of the Oath Keepers in the final January 6 US Capitol riot case. “This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of January 6,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote […]
Reflecting Pool fiasco: Trump’s alternative facts crash into reality
Jeanine Pirro faced a choice that all President Donald Trump’s team members confront sooner or later: Do they live in his world, or the real one? The DC US attorney earned a tongue-lashing from the president, an old friend, after reasoning that damage to the capital’s Reflecting Pool resulted from his flawed remodeling project rather […]
Trump lashes out at oil companies as Iran war drags on
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. President Donald Trump lashed out at oil companies and his own US attorney in the gilded Oval Office on Monday as his spin ran into the real world. It was more evidence that […]
One mistake Trump hasn’t made on Iran
Unless Donald Trump finds a way out of his box on Iran, history may come to regard his choice to wage war as a presidency-defining error. But he has so far avoided one potential dire mistake: massively escalating the conflict past his capacity to control it. History shows that presidents who intensify wars in pursuit […]
Analysis: As he wrestles with the monumental and the absurd, Trump forgets what voters want
President Donald Trump is trying to shape how he’s remembered through his transformations of Washington’s monuments, official buildings and grassy parks — and the honors boards at his golf clubs. But as a frenetic summer rolls on, his legacy instead risks being dominated by a US strategic stalemate in Iran, the unaddressed economic anxieties of […]
Trump predicted an oil catastrophe if the war didn’t end. The clock is ticking
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. Back in June, President Donald Trump justified the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Iran by making some alarming predictions. “We run out of reserves at about four weeks,” Trump said during […]
How to explain the complex emotional backlash that started soccer’s global war
“This is our game, not their game.” Jürgen Klopp spoke for millions of global fans when condemning President Donald Trump’s apparent string-pulling to overturn US star Folarin Balogun’s suspension for a critical World Cup game. The new German national soccer coach’s insight into the psyche of football’s devotees is now the best way to understand […]
Trump is stuck in Iran. Here’s one idea that could offer a way out
The US war in Iran is in desperate need of new thinking. Despite new US strikes Wednesday following President Donald Trump’s f-bomb warning that Iran is due another “beating,” he has yet to show he can blast Tehran back to talks. But diplomacy that he hailed as bringing historic peace to the Middle East also […]