First Run News

WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff will depart the White House in the coming weeks and will be replaced by a long-serving aide, in the first major staff change of his office, officials said on Thursday. Mr. Pence’s chief of staff, Josh Pitcock, will be replaced by Nick Ayers, a veteran political operative from Georgia who has been working with the vice president for three years. Mr. Ayers was the chief political strategist for Mr. Pence, then the governor of Indiana, when President Trump chose the governor as his running mate. Until Thursday morning, Mr.

President Trump has nominated Dr. Jerome M. Adams, the health commissioner for Indiana and a strong advocate of needle exchanges to avoid the spread of disease, to be the surgeon general of the United States. Dr. Adams, 42, was first appointed to the Indiana post in October 2014 when Vice President Mike Pence was governor. Shortly after Dr. Adams took office, there was an unusual H.I.V. outbreak in Scott County, a rural Indiana community near the Kentucky border. Dr.

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday voted to crack down on undocumented immigrants and localities that shelter them, approving two bills President Trump has championed but that are certain to meet resistance in the Senate. The legislation from the Republican-controlled House would increase prison sentences for those re-entering the country illegally and pressure so-called sanctuary cities to comply with federal immigration officials, including through cutting federal funds. While the measures gave the president a modest, if predictable, win, they would need Democratic support to clear the Senat

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on a Chinese bank, a Chinese company and two Chinese citizens in an effort to crack down on North Korea’s financing and development of weapons of mass destruction. The sanctions follow the death of Otto F.

BERLIN — A combative Chancellor climate change and trade when she hosts a summit meeting of 20 global leaders next week. Speaking before Parliament on a day when she also gathered European Union leaders in Berlin to form a common front, the German leader made no bones about the “obvious” disagreement with the United States. “Whoever believes the problems of this world can be solv

WASHINGTON — President Trump will meet next week with President of inquiries into whether Mr. Trump’s associates colluded with Russia. The White House would not say whether Mr. Trump plans to press Mr. Putin on the issue of Russia’s meddling in last year’s election — a topic the president has avoided talking about despite deep concern inside his own administration and on Capitol Hill. The meeting, the first between the two since Mr.

WASHINGTON — President Trump will meet next week with President of inquiries into whether Mr. Trump’s associates colluded with Russia. The White House would not say whether Mr. Trump plans to press Mr. Putin on the issue of Russia’s meddling in last year’s election — a topic the president has avoided talking about despite deep concern inside his own administration and on Capitol Hill. The meeting, the first between the two since Mr.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration moved aggressively on Thursday to fulfill one of the president’s most contentious campaign promises, banning entry into the United States by refugees from around the world and prohibiting most visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries. Freed by the Supreme Court to partly revive President Trump’s travel ban, administration officials said the American border would be shut to those groups unless specific individuals can prove they have close family members living in the United States, or are coming to attend a university or accept a job offer. Officia

WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Trump won the White House, a cluster of Senate Democrats began the search for common cause with the unlikely new president, scouring the populist policy agenda that dominated his campaign. For their part, Republicans believed that Mr.

WASHINGTON — Projected a new report, which detailed how Medicaid changes would cut more deeply as they go fully into force. The budget office analysis created a fresh challenge for Republican leaders as they tried to muster support for their bill, even as senators scattered to their home states for a 10-day July 4 recess.