When Trump makes the nomination official, it will end Blanche’s two months serving in the role in an acting capacity since his predecessor, Pam Bondi, was fired. Since then, Blanche, Trump’s firebrand former personal attorney, has taken great pains to prove to the president that he is up for the job.

Over the past several weeks, Blanche has only garnered more favor at the White House. He secured indictments against some of the president’s personal foes like former FBI Director James Comey, rolled back gun control measures and issued subpoenas to journalists for their sources. He’s also announced sweeping fraud initiatives across the country, which work hand-in-hand with the White House’s “war on fraud.”

But critics, citing those same efforts, say that Blanche has effectuated the president’s personal and political agenda to use the Justice Department as his own attack mechanism.

Fears that push for ballroom spending could jeopardize $70bn funding for immigration enforcement

Senate Republicans on Wednesday formally dropped their attempt to spend $1bn on security improvements for Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, as it became clear the president’s demand for the money could jeopardize long-term funding for immigration enforcement.

The Senate judiciary committee had last month included funding for security improvements related to the new ballroom in a broader measure that would authorize $70bn in spending for agencies involved in Trump’s mass deportation campaign through the duration of his term.

On Wednesday, the committee released a revised text that no longer mentioned the money, which was included in legislation dubbed the Secure America Act that advanced on a party-line vote of 53-46 later that afternoon.

Stunning rebuke to president as lawmakers vote 215-208 for measure forcing him to seek congressional approval

The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.

The House voted 215 to 208 in favor of the war powers resolution, as four Republicans voted with Democrats.

Wednesday’s vote came nearly two weeks after House Republicans cancelled an earlier scheduled vote, on the grounds that they lacked the votes to defeat it.

Veteran journalist says executives pushed unverified claims and gave politicians a say in interviews

Pelley criticized the new leadership at CBS, adding: “Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.”

He continued: “For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them.

“Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”

Proposal for 10-12.5% levies, to also include EU, Taiwan and Australia, would allow US president to skirt court-imposed limits

Donald Trump has threatened tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% on 60 trading partners including the UK, the EU and Australia over alleged forced labour failures, in the latest attempt to revive his signature trade policy.

The EU immediately hit back, saying it expected the US to respect the tariff deal it entered into last July and arguing that stealth tariffs breached the spirit of that agreement.

The proposed levies on partners accused of allowing imports of goods produced by workers under coercion come after the US supreme court ruled in February that the president’s “liberation day” tariffs were illegal.

Trump responded by imposing 10% across-the-board tariffs, but last month the US trade court found those were also unlawful, although they remain in place during the appeal process.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday that he is standing by Graham Platner in the wake of media reports that the Maine Senate candidate previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while he was married.

Platner, a Democrat, posted a video over the weekend taken by his wife, Amy Gertner, who reportedly told his campaign of the text messages last year. In the video, Gertner decried coverage of the issue as “gossip” and said “being married is hard.”

Sanders, a critical early backer of Platner, told The Associated Press on Monday that he still supports the oyster farmer and combat veteran, who hopes to unseat veteran Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

For generations, the federal government enforced civil rights laws with an eye toward remedying historic, systemic discrimination against Black people and other people of color. The Justice Department pressed schools to desegregate. The Education Department worked to promote equal opportunity and held schools accountable for racial bias.

But under the Trump administration, efforts to address deep-rooted inequities for students of color are being cast as discriminatory against white students. Programs that have long withstood legal scrutiny are now quick to be deemed “ illegal DEI ” — diversity, equity and inclusion — by the White House. Schools that do not comply have faced threats to their funding, and in some cases, lost federal grants.

Civil rights attorneys describe the administration’s actions as a complete inversion of legal history.

The Trump administration is proposing that tariffs of 10% or more be imposed on products from dozens of major trading partners following a probe into imports of goods allegedly made with forced labor.

The report released early Wednesday by the U.S. Trade Representative said Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom and some other countries and territories would face 10% additional tariffs for allegedly failing to enforce a forced labor import ban.

A 12.5% additional tariff would be imposed on China, Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil and Switzerland and dozens of other countries.

A prediction market reported George Santos to federal prosecutors after he boasted he’d be going to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, then bet against his own attendance, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

Kalshi, the online prediction marketplace, referred Santos to the Department of Justice after detecting suspicious trades made by the former congressman ahead of Trump’s Feb. 24 speech, the person said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Kalshi also reported the trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal regulatory body that has vowed to crack down on insider trading in prediction marketplaces.

Alarm after Elias Irizarry is hired to position in office that manages highly classified military operations

The Pentagon has appointed a rioter convicted for his role in 6 January, 2021 insurrection to a sensitive national security role dealing with counterterrorism, overriding insiders’ concerns about his past record.

Elias Irizarry, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in connection with the storming of the US Capitol, has been appointed to a position in the US Department of Defense’s special operations and low intensity conflict office which manages highly classified military operations, causing alarm among Pentagon officials.

The story was first reported by the Washington Post, which published a picture of Irizzary – holding what appeared to be a metal pole and wearing a pro-Donald Trump Make America Great Again (Maga) hat – looking over a wall on the day of the riot.

The attack on Vladimir Putin’s hometown, which hosts the showcase annual economic forum set to begin Wednesday, was the latest signal from Kyiv that it can strike deep inside enemy territory and embarrass the Kremlin.

Ukraine launched hundreds of drones at Russian targets early Wednesday, sending black smoke rising above the historic heart of St. Petersburg just as the event dubbed “Putin’s Davos” was due to get underway in the city.

The attack on President Vladimir Putin’s hometown, which hosts the flagship annual economic forum, was the latest signal from Kyiv that it can strike deep inside enemy territory and embarrass the Kremlin.

With peace talks deadlocked and battlefield progress stalled, the two sides have been exchanging intensifying aerial attacks.

“Incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc,” Pelley said in a statement, referring in part to CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.

Pelley’s exit deepens the turmoil at “60 Minutes,” the leading newsmagazine on American television. In recent months, “60 Minutes” employees have clashed with CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss over the show’s editorial direction under its new corporate owner, Paramount Skydance, the media company run by technology scion David Ellison.

The tension reached a fever pitch Monday during a “60 Minutes” staff meeting designed to introduce employees to Bilton, a technology journalist tapped by Weiss to be executive producer of the program. Pelley laced into Bilton, according to an audio recording obtained by NBC News and a source who was in the room.