History Readings

So is Donald Trump secretly recording conversations or not?

On May 12, just three days after he fired James Comey as the FBI director, President Donald Trump tweeted this: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"Like many of Trump's tweets, this one immediately came to dominate the political conversation. Did he actually have a secret recording system in the White House? If not, why say it? And, like many of Trump's tweets, it produced a chain reaction of events that backfired on Trump. The threat -- I guess that's the best way to describe what Trump did -- of the existence of recordings spurred Comey to pass along memos he had written detailing his conversations with Trump to a friend, with the express goal of them being leaked and, hopefully, triggering a special counsel to be appointed.

2020 Vision: Biden's family is serious; Harris stays focused on Trump; Franken cancels on Maher

he family of Vice President Joe Biden is serious about him being taken seriously as a 2020 candidate. His brother dialed in to a radio show this week to say Biden "absolutely" has another run in him. "Why anyone would think otherwise, I don't know," he said. Jill Biden recently pledged her husband "is not going away." His PAC gives him a way to pay for political travel in the 2018 midterms. And he got much closer to running last time than many people realize, building out a team and sketching out a detailed campaign plan, one person who helped develop that plan tells me.

Trump's lawyer to file complaint against Comey over memos

President Donald Trump's legal team, in the wake of damning testimony from James Comey, plans to file a complaint against the former FBI director with the Justice Department Inspector General and the Senate judiciary committee early next week, two sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN.The Justice Department, however, has limited jurisdiction over former employees. They can investigate but the remedy in the event of finding wrongdoing would be to make a note in Comey's file should he ever seek to be employed by the Justice Department again.

Middle East madness engulfs Iran, Qatar and US

In the turbulent Middle East, there seems no limit on the number of conflicts that can occur at once. On Wednesday morning, residents of Tehran experienced a series of coordinated attacks, with at least a dozen people killed as gunmen and a suicide bomber assaulted the Parliament building and the mausoleum housing the tomb of the Islamic republic's founder, Ayatollah Khomeini. ISIS quickly claimed responsibility. The Tehran attack comes as another political battle boils over in the oil-rich Gulf. Iran is not directly involved, but Tehran is one of the reasons for what has erupted into one of the most intense political feuds pitting Gulf Arabs against each other.

5 reasons why Theresa May's troubles have only just begun

Melania Trump moves in

The White House East Wing has thus far been functioning with a first lady in absentia -- but soon, that will change.Melania Trump -- who has performed duties as she can, when she can, during her brief visits to Washington over the past five months -- has been far from a regular presence at the White House. The most consecutive days the public has seen the first lady were in May abroad, when she accompanied President Donald Trump on his first international trip.

The end of the Anglo-American order?

There has always been a shared conceit at the heart of the special relationship between the United States and United Kingdom that global leadership is best expressed and exerted in English. More boastful than the Brits, successive US presidents have trumpeted the notion of American exceptionalism. Prime ministers, in a more understated manner, have also come to believe in British exceptionalism, the idea that Westminster is the mother parliament, and that the UK has a governing model and liberal values that set the global standard for others to follow, not least its former colonies. In the post-war Anglo-American order those ideas came together. In many ways, it was the product of Anglo-American exceptionalist thinking: the "city upon a hill" meets "this sceptred isle".

Saudi Arabia Inaugurates Terrorist-Monitoring Center

Is U.S.-U.K. Relationship Still ‘Special’ After Trump Spats, Shock Vote

LONDON — The so-called "special relationship" between the United States and Britain was forged on the beaches of Normandy 73 years ago. This alliance, nurtured by presidents and prime ministers for decades, has taken a battering since President Donald Trump took office. Trump criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan after the most recent terror attack in the city and he has previously suggested British intelligence agencies spied on him during his campaign.

Former Vice President Joe Biden reportedly told a group of donors on Friday evening that he knew Hillary Clinton was doomed to lose the election one month before it took place.

News Share this:FacebookTwitterGoogleFacebook MessengerWhatsAppEmailCopy Trump’s hard-line approach clashes with Tillerson on Qatar

President Trump on Friday demanded that Qatar stop funding terrorism, striking a hard line against the tiny emirate just hours after his State Department had urged other Gulf nations to end their blockade of the besieged country. “The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has been a funder of terrorism at a very high level. The time has come to call on Qatar to end its funding,” Trump said at the White House. “Hopefully it will be the beginning of the end of funding terrorism. It will, therefore, be the beginning of the end to terrorism. No more funding.”

Finnish PM Says Government Could Break up Due to New Finns Party Leader: Report

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said that there is a risk his three-party government could break up following Saturday's leadership change in co-ruling nationalist Finns party. "Of course (there's is a risk). This is a tough spot for the government", Sipila told Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Germany Calls for 10 Billion Euro Permanent U.N. Crisis Fund

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Development Minister Gerd Mueller, citing hunger crises in eastern Africa, said the United Nations should create a permanent 10 billion euro ($11.19 billion) crisis fund, with contributions to be based on a country's financial strength. "The catastrophe is already upon us," Mueller said in an interview with the German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse, published on Saturday. He pointed to dire conditions in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Mueller said the United Nations estimated the financial needs in eastern Africa alone amounted to $4 billion to $5 billion. Creating a fund that would be continually restocked would make it easier to respond to recurring humanitarian crises, he said. "We need to accomplish this as a world community," he said.

London Mayor Wants Trump State Visit Canceled The U.S. president criticized the mayor on Twitter following the London Bridge terror attack.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has again signaled he thinks government officials should rescind U.S. President Donald Trump's invitation for a state visit to Britain later this year. "I don't think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the U.S.A. in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for," Khan told Britain's Channel 4 News on Monday. Khan and Trump have been at odds in the wake of Saturday's London Bridge truck-and-knife terror attack that left seven people dead and dozens injured. [RELATED: Police Identify All 3 London Attackers] Trump on Sunday took to Twitter to criticize Khan's response to the attack, in which the London mayor said citizens shouldn't be alarmed by seeing more law enforcement on the streets. "At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is 'no reason to be alarmed!'" Trump tweeted.ADVERTISING Khan's office initially said the mayor was ignoring Trump's comments, calling the tweet "ill-informed" and accusing Trump of purposefully taking the mayor's remarks out of context. And Trump again lashed out.

Trump: Fake Media Want Me to Stop Tweeting

President Donald Trump is defiantly defending his use of social media amid reports his own staff and lawyers have urged him to lay off Twitter and legal experts say his tweeting may be directly undermining his agenda. "The FAKE MSM is working so hard trying to get me not to use Social Media," he said on Twitter Tuesday. "They hate that I can get the honest and unfiltered message out. ... Sorry folks, but if I would have relied on the Fake News of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, washpost or nytimes, I would have had ZERO chance winning WH."

Senate GOP Doubt Health of Obamacare Replacement They can afford to lose no more than two from their ranks, and at least one is ‘irretrievably gone.’

Republican senators returning from a week at home in their states are signaling that they may not be able to pass health care overhaul legislation. On Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters he believes the Senate's efforts to craft a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, were failing.

Clapper: Trump ‘Inexplicable’ Pro-Russia Stance Bigger than Watergate The former director of national intelligence said Trump’s intelligence sharing with Russia is either ‘ignorance or disrespect.’

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said President Donald Trump's warmth toward Russia is potentially leading the nation toward a scandal of historic proportions – even bigger than Watergate.

Education Budget Hearing Exposes Chasm Between GOP and Trump

When Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testified before a Senate appropriations subcommittee Tuesday regarding the president’s budget proposal, her remarks that private schools must follow federal law if they receive federal funding received the lion’s share of attention. But the hearing, during which nearly every GOP members criticized aspects of the spending plan, also exposed just how far apart the Trump administration’s education agenda is with that of Republicans in Congress, perhaps foreshadowing how likely – or not – the White House is to achieve any of its policy priorities.

Americans' Net Worth Hits All-Time High as Debt Rises Household net worth hit nearly $95 trillion in the first quarter, but debt levels are also on the rise.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday afternoon reported Americans' net worth climbed to $94.8 trillion in January, February and March – a 2.5 percent jump from the fourth quarter of 2016