First Run News

WASHINGTON — The White House announced early Saturday that President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, would not participate in this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, “to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction.” The decision was another episode in an already fraught week for the White House. Mr. Trump has become increasingly isolated after a series of comments about the white supremacist marches in Charlottesville, Va. Concerned about being aligned with Mr.

Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device: On iPhone or iPad | On Android via RadioPublic | Via Stitcher After a historic week in which the president bolsters the alt-right and white nationalists, why does he end the week by getting rid of Stephen K.

Stephen K.

WASHINGTON — In his West Wing office, Stephen K. Bannon kept a chart listing trade actions — on China, steel and autos — that the Trump White House planned to roll out, week by week, through the fall. Now that Mr.

WASHINGTON — In his West Wing office, Stephen K. Bannon kept a chart listing trade actions — on China, steel and autos — that the Trump White House planned to roll out, week by week, through the fall. Now that Mr.

A number of high profile charitable organizations have withdrawn fundraising events and galas from President Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida amid growing backlash to the president's response to the deadly violence that broke out in Charlottesville. The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach announced on Saturday that it was pulling out of an event at Mar-a-Lago.

The political damage President Trump has managed to inflict with Senate Republicans this month is astounding, and the growing divide between the two Republican-controlled branches of government can't be overstated. A new phase in a relationship that has been tenuous from the start has begun -- Republicans are now striking out at the president in a public war of words, unlike anything we have seen in the past eight months.

Lawmakers are reacting to the news that Steve Bannon, the embattled White House chief strategist, has resigned from his post. Bannon, a controversial figure in the Trump administration because of his tenure leading the conservative news outlet Breitbart, was facing calls to resign after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend. Despite accusations of being a white nationalist, Bannon has denied that his ideologies are rooted in race. Aside for Rep.

Businessman Donald Trump on regulatory reform issues -- a decision he claims was made to avoid the suggestion of conflicts of interest by critics of the administration. In a letter to Trump posted by Icahn to his personal website, he describes the nature of his position as informal, noting he had "no duties whatsoever" -- as opposed to the recently named administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Neomi Rao.

President Trump is cheering his former chief strategist Steve Bannon's return to leading the influential conservative media outlet Breitbart News after his forced resignation from the White House. Trump tweeted from his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club Saturday that Bannon may be "even better than ever before" in his return to Breitbart. The White House has not said whether President Trump and Bannon have spoken since Bannon was forced to resign from his post Friday as chief strategist. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the departure, effective Friday, was "mutually agr