Seth McLaughlin

Trump says Elon Musk ‘not gaining anything’ from cost-cutting efforts, access to Treasury data

President Trump is sending a clear message to critics of the Elon Musk-led push to cut government spending: get used to it.

February 9, 2025

Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem tells immigrant rights groups: ‘Get your priorities straight’

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday rejected claims by immigrant rights groups that the Trump administration is trampling the rights of illegal immigrants it recently started holding at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

February 9, 2025

Speaker Johnson says tax cuts will be offset with spending cuts

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that Republicans will find spending cuts to offset President Trump's push for tax cuts, which a nonpartisan budget analysis estimates will cost at least $5 trillion over 10 years.

February 9, 2025

Democrats take to the streets in fight to derail Musk’s DOGE revolution

Democrats, who voters relegated to the sidelines for at least the next two years, are scrambling to slow down the Elon Musk freight train that is crashing through Washington bureaucracy and exposing its wild spending.

February 6, 2025

Trump administration axes $8 million in Politico subscriptions paid by taxpayers

The White House said Wednesday it was canceling Politico subscriptions that the U.S. Agency for International Development had purchased with millions of taxpayer dollars.

February 5, 2025

Sen. Joni Ernst applauds Secretary of State Rubio’s push to overhaul USAID and review its spending

Sen. Joni Ernst is looking to keep the focus on the lack of transparency and accountability at the U.S. Agency for International Development, following up on the Trump administration's crackdown on the agency's operations.

February 5, 2025

Wes Moore tells Marylanders to brace for budget tightening, higher taxes on wealthy

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Wednesday in his third State of the State address that the "easy decisions are done" in confronting the state's budget woes and "confusion and chaos" of the Trump administration.

February 5, 2025

Elon Musk calls for ‘wholesale removal’ of federal regulations

Elon Musk wants to nuke federal regulations now and ask questions later.

February 4, 2025

Peter Navarro: ‘Drug cartels are rapidly expanding in Canada’

Peter Navarro, a senior trade aide to President Trump, on Tuesday said the rise of drug cartels in Canada played into the administration's threat to slap tariffs on America's neighbor to the north.

February 4, 2025

USAID’s humanitarian aid, programs invite onslaught of scrutiny and overtures to action under Trump

President Trump has turned his attention to the "radical lunatics" at the U.S. Agency for International Development in his pursuit of wasteful federal spending.

February 3, 2025

Democrats dismiss Musk-led push to shut down USAID as ‘plainly illegal’

Democrats lawmakers threw cold water Monday on Elon Musk's push to get President Trump to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.

February 3, 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes the role of acting director of USAID

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he is serving as acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, taking the lead at the foreign aid agency a day after President Trump criticized the leaders there as "radical lunatics."

February 3, 2025

Elon Musk: Trump ‘agreed’ to shutter USAID

Elon Musk has set his sights on shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development and said President Trump is fully on board with the move.

February 3, 2025

Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem downplays prospect of indefinite detentions at Guantanamo

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that President Trump does not plan to hold illegal immigrants indefinitely at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

February 2, 2025

‘Old way of doing business is over’: Lindsey Graham backs Trump’s tariffs

Sen. Lindsey Graham said President Trump's imposition of tariffs against the nation's biggest trading partners "is designed to get these countries to change their behavior."

February 2, 2025

Lindsey Graham: U.S. must support Israel if it strikes Iran’s nuclear program

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday the United States must support Israel if it decides to strike Iran's nuclear program.

February 2, 2025

‘We are back on mission’: Transportation chief vows to hire ‘best and brightest’ after plane crash

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday that his agency had lost its way under former President Joseph R. Biden and now is "back on mission."

February 2, 2025

Trump tariffs spark retaliation from Canada, Mexico and China

President Trump's tariffs are meeting stiff retaliation from the nation's two largest trading partners, which are imposing tariffs on U.S. goods in a trade war that threatens to raise prices on all sides.

February 2, 2025

DOGE navigates choppy waters from the start

The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency is dealing with some growing pains.

January 31, 2025

Democrats look to turn the page with DNC chair vote

Ken Martin worked the hallways Thursday at the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting at National Harbor just outside Washington, delivering his closing message to party insiders who will elect the next party chairman.

January 30, 2025