Author: potus

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. could take ownership of the Gaza Strip, relocate its population and redevelop it as a “scandal” in a pre-election debate Sunday. His main challenger also voiced unease but suggested there’s “a lot of rhetoric” coming from Washington.The center-left Scholz and center-right challenger Friedrich Merz, the front-runner in the Feb. 23 election, discussed top domestic issues such as Germany’s struggling economy and migration, and also addressed foreign policy three weeks into Trump’s new term.Asked what he made of Trump’s proposal to redevelop Gaza into “the Riviera…

Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, arrives for a meeting at the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in Hart building on Monday, December 16, 2024. Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty ImagesRussell Vought, President Donald Trump’s newly installed head of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, instructed staff on Saturday evening to suspend all activities including the supervision of companies overseen by the agency, escalating the new administration’s efforts to neutralize the government watchdog, according to a memo seen by Reuters.Vought also announced on Saturday evening on Elon…

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday he doesn’t think the president has “any plans to invade Canada.”His remarks follow multiple reports that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a closed-door meeting of business leaders last week that the Trump administration “keep[s] talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state.”On Sunday, Waltz added that many Canadians “do not like the last 10 years of liberal, progressive governance in Trudeau.”“Really, what you’re seeing is a reassertion of American leadership in the Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic all the way down…

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., indicated Sunday that he is open to working with other Democrats to deny Republicans the votes necessary to keep the government funded ahead of a key deadline next month if the Trump administration continues reshaping federal agencies and programs.“In a few weeks, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward, and they have, for the last two years, needed Democratic votes for every single continuing resolution, and they should not count on that this time,” Kim said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” A continuing resolution, or CR,…

Legal and constitutional experts on Sunday warned that the U.S. could be headed toward a “constitutional crisis” or a “breakdown of the system” after Vice President JD Vance suggested that judges don’t have jurisdiction over Trump’s “legitimate power.””If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal,” Vance wrote in a post on X, adding, “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”It wasn’t clear what judge or court order…

The Kremlin said Monday that U.S.-Russia relations were on the brink of collapse and refused to confirm whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken with President Donald Trump, despite Trump saying so Sunday.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a media conference Monday that relations with Washington “are balancing on the brink of a breakup” and reiterated that the war in Ukraine would last until Kyiv drops its ambitions to join NATO and withdraws from the four regions occupied by Russian forces.In remarks suggesting Moscow is maintaining its tough negotiating stance, Ryabkov said that “we simply imperatively need to get…

Incumbent Daniel Noboa seeks re-election, with Luisa Gonzalez seen as his main rival.Voters in Ecuador are set to pick their next president in a race dominated by the country’s security crisis and struggling economy. Polls opened at 7am local time (12:00 GMT) on Sunday and will close 10 hours later (22:00 GMT). Fifteen candidates are challenging hard-right incumbent President Daniel Noboa, the 37-year-old son of a billionaire banana magnate who ascended to power just 14 months ago. His top challenger is left-wing lawmaker Luisa Gonzalez, a 47-year-old protege of former President Rafael Correa. Gonzalez will have to dramatically outperform pre-election…

The State Department has given Congress formal notification that it plans to move forward with sales of more than $8 billion in weapons to Israel, bypassing an informal review process that was underway in a House committee.The move took place just days after President Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and said the United States would “take over” the devastated Gaza Strip and turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East.”The State Department formally notified Congress of its intention on Friday. That same day, the Pentagon put out two news releases, one saying it was selling…

A chorus of criticism greeted Friedrich Merz, the favorite to become Germany’s chancellor, last month when he broke a taboo against working with a hard-right party to pass legislation. But it was a lone voice of dissent that rocked the country’s political scene: Angela Merkel, the once-beloved former chancellor, who called Mr. Merz’s decision simply “wrong.”Ms. Merkel and Mr. Merz have famously jockeyed to lead Germany’s Christian Democrats for much of this century. Ms. Merkel won the early rounds, served 16 years as chancellor, and retired in 2021. Mr. Merz finally has a chance to win her old job in…

In 1962, not long after President John Kennedy created U.S.A.I.D., the federal agency tasked with administering foreign assistance, he welcomed its first mission directors to the White House. He noted the difficult politics of sustaining foreign assistance but called it essential to America’s role as leader of the free world. “There will not be farewell parades to you as you leave,” he said of their imminent deployments, “or parades when you come back.” The reward was the work itself and the larger cause of freedom it served.A nation’s foreign policy is a good window into its psyche. The America that…