US Politics News

Donald Trump has been found in contempt of court for violating the hush money trial gag order and fined $9,000. Judge Juan Merchan also warned the former president he could face jail if he does it again in a stern warning to start the third week of the case, and ripped some of his own arguments in defense of his online attacks as 'absurd.' And in a clear warning in his ruling, the judge noted the challenge of relying on financial penalties against a defendant who can 'easily afford' to pay the fine. In the case of the billionaire Trump, he raised the possibility of 'whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment.' There was some good news for the 77-year-old, as Judge Merchan ruled he could attend Barron's high school graduation next month.

Sports stars, news channel anchors from MSNBC and Fox News , media moguls and casino owners. A Trump Organization contacts list of phone numbers introduced in court last week offers an unparalleled insight into how Donald Trump moves through the world, rubbing shoulders with the rich, the glamorous and the useful. There is the smooth-skinned football quarterback Tom Brady and the gruff coach who took him to Super Bowl glory Bill Belichick .

US Central Command sent out close up images of the new floating pier being consisted to serve as a port to get humanitarian aid into Gaza amid the ongoing war there. The effort involves 1,000 military personnel with a cost that has doubled. One GOP lawmaker complained about the risk to troops and costs that have 'exploded.'

OnlyFans star Farha Khalidi said President Joe Biden's team paid her to spread 'political propaganda' on her platforms. Specifically, the adult entertainer and TikToker said that by the time she graduated college she was doing paid ads for everyone from Planned Parenthood to the Biden administration to dating apps. 'I was doing full-on political propaganda,' Khalidi told commentator Richard Hanania of working with a team commissioning an ad with her for Biden.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., reminded Johnson on Sunday that she is waiting in the wings to take him down. 'His days as Speaker are numbered,' she wrote on X. The Republican firebrand sounded off about the $60 billion for Ukraine Congress passed last week  - and warned Johnson and the rest of congressional leadership could usher in 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine. 'Permanent funding for Ukraine is exactly what they want and Mike Johnson will give it to them,' Green wrote on X. 'Peace is not an option for them because it doesn't fit the government appropriations war business and economic model, which is vile and disgusting.'

Splashy National Enquirer headlines that slashed Donald Trump rivals in 2016 led campaign advisors to conclude the company publisher was in Trump's pocket. Trump's Stormy Daniels trial brought forth new and stunning revelations about an alleged secret plan to help Trump and attack his rivals when they rose in the polls.

James Carville, 79, had a complete vulgar meltdown against young people who would vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, calling 26-year-olds 'motherf**kers.' In a video circulating on social media on Monday, the former Clinton advisor completely breaks down after polling revealed younger Democratic and left-leaning voters are not feeling emboldened to cast their ballot for President Joe Biden in November. Carville blamed 'Democratic messaging' for the dip in support among young people, claiming that issues Biden's ranks low on like the Israel-Hamas war and student debt are much further down the list of concerns actually important to young voters.

Kamala Harris says when people make fun of her laugh it is part of the adjustment for Americans getting used to the first woman vice president and implied it is a form of sexism. Speaking with actress Drew Barrymore on her daytime talk show, Harris discussed how she often sees the public draw attention to her laugh. Critics have even dubbed her laugh as a cackle and have compiled instances of her chuckling into videos poking fun at the VP.

President Joe Biden opened up about the dark times he endured after his first wife and daughter died in a car crash, describing to radio host Howard Stern on Friday how he contemplated suicide. Biden sat for a surprise interview during a visit to New York. In one of the most revealing passages he talked of his despair at the death Neilia and their 13-month old daughter Naomi in 1972.

Donald Trump returns to court on Friday for the hush money trial to watch his lawyers cross-examine former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. The tabloid executive told the court how he negotiated multiple deals to kill stories for celebrities including Mark Wahlberg , Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger . The bombshells came on a monumental day in the courts for Trump as his lawyers argued in the Supreme Court that he is immune from prosecution.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem writes in her forthcoming book that she gunned down her own dog - and a family goat - in an effort to show she's capable of dealing with anything that's 'difficult, messy and ugly.' As former President Donald Trump contemplates who should become his VP, Noem has written a new book, No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward , which will be released on May 7.

Democrat Adam Schiff had to slum it without a suit at a formal affair in the Bay Area after some sly San Francisco criminals broke into his car and stole his luggage.  The House Democrat, who represents Burbank in Southern California, was in the city for a campaign event. He's currently running a competitive bid for the Senate to replace former Sen. Dianne Feinstein. During the trip, Schiff committed a cardinal sin - at least in crime-ridden San Francisco - leaving his luggage in his car while it was parked in a downtown garage.  

A week after Rep. Ilhan Omar's daughter, Isra Hirsi, was arrested for protesting at Columbia University, she and her progressive 'Squad' member mother visited the pro-Gaza camp on campus to take selfies with activists. Hirsi was one of more than 100 individuals arrested last Thursday for participating in an anti-Israel demonstration. She was also suspended from Barnard College the same day. The 'Squad' member's daughter later went on cable news touting herself as homeless and hungry after being booted from her dorm and dining halls. 'I don't know when I can go home, and I don't know if I ever will be able to,' she told an MSNBC host last week. Hirsi also slammed the college for not providing meals, saying 'there was no food support, no nothing.' But her fortunes have changed as she was spotted with her congresswoman mother on campus, posing for selfies with her fellow protestors just one week after her arrest and suspension.

Donald Trump returns to court for the Manhattan hush money trial on Thursday while his lawyers try to persuade the Supreme Court he is immune from prosecution. The former president will be sitting in court listening to the third day of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker's testimony as the justices consider arguments that could have huge implications for his federal criminal trials. Pecker ended his second day of testimony on Wednesday by laying out how he coordinated with Michael Cohen when Playboy model Karen McDougal came forward with affair allegations. The tabloid executive also detailed how he would 'catch and kill' stories that could have hurt Trump and embellish headlines of the Republican's rivals in the 2016 presidential race.

President Joe Biden took the gloves off Wednesday by saying former President Donald Trump deserved to be punched and injected bleach into his hair - while engaging in his own battle with the teleprompter. Biden addressed the North America's Building Trades Unions conference in Washington, D.C. on the heels of winning the union's endorsement in the 2024 presidential race.

An armed Secret Service officer assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris was  removed from duty after he got into a physical fight with fellow agents on Monday, according to reports.

It came after Ambassador Jane Hartley recently said that Harry would not be deported from the U.S. while Biden is president. The Heritage Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, is currently suing Biden's Department of Homeland Security under the Freedom of Information Act for access to the royal's immigration papers.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a $95.3 billion foreign aid package that sends much needed weapons to the Ukraine and includes a ban on TikTok if its parent company doesn't divest its Chinese ownership within a year.  'This is a good day for America. It's a good day Europe,' Biden said. 'It's going to make America safer. It's going to make the world safer.'  The bill includes $60.8 billion for Ukraine; $26.4 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region, particularly Taiwan. It also includes sanctions against Iranian and Russian officials. 

GoPro video shot by a Marine at Kabul airport contradicts the official Pentagon investigation into a suicide attack that killed 13 Americans and more than 160 Afghans during the chaotic 2021 evacuation. Ever since then, the Department of Defense has said that the deaths were caused an ISIS-K suicide bomber acting alone. But the new video, obtained by CNN , raises fresh questions and suggests that far more gunshots were heard in the aftermath than has been admitted.

The Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill late Tuesday, now sending the legislation to the president's desk. The package ties together $60 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and Gaza and around $4 billion for the Indo-Pacific - and a measure that could see TikTok banned in the U.S.

You don't become the tabloid king of America without knowing a thing or two about women, human nature and men like Donald Trump. So as David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, was asked about the pivotal Trump Tower meeting and a so called 'catch and kill' scheme to help the Trump campaign, he came clean about his role. 'I was the one who thought that a lot of women would try to sell their stories because Mr. Trump was well known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women,' he said in his Bronx drawl.

In wide-ranging testimony National Enquirer boss David Pecker detailed how he had pledged to 'catch and kill' bad stories about Trump in the 2016 election campaign. The tabloid chief told the court he had been Trump's 'eyes and ears' on the lookout for claims by women that could damage his friend, who he called the 'most eligible bachelor.'

As Trump looked on prosecutor Christopher Conroy handed the court copies of 10 statements on Trump's Truth Social platform or campaign website that he said violated the gag order. Conroy said: "The defendant has violated this order repeatedly and hasn't stopped.

President Joe Biden traveled to Florida Tuesday to take on former President Donald Trump on his home turf - ridiculing comments the Republican made about abortion and the Bibles the ex-president is hawking. Biden appeared before supporters at a community college in Tampa, one week before Florida bans abortions past six weeks.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the only reason why Dr. Anthony Fauci isn't in jail is because Joe Biden was elected president. Kennedy sat down with former Fox News host Glenn Beck for a taping of his  podcast, which was released Saturday. During the nearly hour and a half sit-down, both Kennedy and Beck voiced anger with the U.S. government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Beck finally asking Kennedy why Fauci wasn't behind bars.

Israel's war in Gaza has taken center stage in the Pennsylvania 12th congressional race where progressive 'Squad' member Summer Lee is facing a Democratic challenger. Voters in the state are headed to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the presidential and congressional primaries. Bhavini Patel is running to unseat the progressive freshman lawmaker in the district that includes Pittsburgh and surrounding suburbs.

On the first day of his New York 'hush money' trial, Donald Trump appears to have breached his gag order by criticizing the jury during an interview. Judge Juan Merchan had prohibited Trump from attacking jurors or making public statements about them. Trump's comments about the jury composition being predominantly Democratic comes ahead of a hearing to determine if he should face contempt charges for violating the gag order, with the hearing set to be held without the jury present.

The 12 members of the jury and their six alternates sat rapt with attention. For 45 minutes they listened to the lead prosecutor lay out the case against former President Donald Trump. Matthew Colangelo delivered all the drama of a B-movie plot as he took them on a wild ride from a shady Trump Tower 'catch and kill' meeting to the extraordinary image of President Trump paying a loyal fixer by signing checks inside the White House , with a cast that included muckraking journalists, a now-disbarred lawyer who recorded his phone calls and a porn star. Only one person inside courtroom 1530 looked unimpressed: The star of the show. Trump leaned back in his chair, shoulders slumped at times. He did not look once at the jury as the case against him was laid out.

Donald Trump 's historic hush money trial in Manhattan kicks off on Monday with opening statements and could end with testimony from the first witness. Prosecutors will lay out whether the 77-year-old hid a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to cover up their alleged affair in a bid to help him win the 2016 election. Then Trump's legal team will tell the jury how they will defend the first former president in history to stand criminal trial. Over the weekend it was reported that former publisher of the National Enquirer David Pecker will be the prosecution's first witness. He is set to testify about the magazine's scheme to bury negative stories about Trump and publish stories criticizing his opponents.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applauded pro-Palestinian protesters Monday as she opened for President Joe Biden at an Earth Day event in Virginia. t is especially important that we remember the power of young people shaping this country today of all days, as we once again witness the leadership of those peaceful student-led protests on campuses like Columbia and Yale and Berkeley and many others,' Ocasio-Cortez said. Moments later, Biden came onstage and commended AOC, telling the crowd, 'You know, I learned a long time ago - listen to that lady, listen to that lady.'