First Run News

The move comes after Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, whom Trump previously had nominated for the position, withdrew his name from consideration Tuesday. Trump announced Shanahan’s withdrawal and his appointment of Esper as acting defense secretary at the same time. Esper begins as acting defense secretary on Monday. “I know Mark, and have no doubt he will do a fantastic job!” Esper previously served as a vice president for government relations at Raytheon Company. He served in the Army as an infantry officer in the 101 Airborne Division and served in the first Gulf War.

Since Trump’s inauguration, he has reduced the levels at which Syrian refugees are arriving in the U.S. Between January 20, 2017, and June 2019, only about 2,419 Syrian refugees have entered the country — nearly 97 percent of which are Muslim and 1.4 percent of which are Christians and Catholics. Compare this level to Obama’s surge of Syrian refugees between January 20, 2014, and June 2016 when about 6,368 Syrian nationals were granted entry to the country.

The bi-partisan Free Iran Rally, which began at the U.S. State Department and concluded outside of the White House, was run by the Organization of Iranian American Communities – USA and featured many prominent political voices. Prominent speakers at the event included retired four-star general and former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army General Jack Keane, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, former Sen.

“Despite teacher protests, Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates have advanced their wide-ranging education proposal to allow the state’s first charter schools,” the Associated Press reported on Monday. Late Wednesday, the House of Delegates passed that education bill that included charter schools by a 51 to 47 margin. On Thursday, WV Metro News

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. was ‘‘cocked and loaded’’ to retaliate against Iran for downing an unmanned American surveillance drone, but he canceled the strikes 10 minutes before they were to be launched after being told 150 people could die. Trump’s tweeted statement was the latest indication that he does not want to escalate the U.S. clash with Tehran. But he didn’t rule out future strikes and insisted anew that the U.S. would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. He said U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is throwing out the murder conviction and death sentence for a black man in Mississippi because of a prosecutor’s efforts to keep African Americans off the jury. The defendant already has been tried six times and now could face a seventh trial. The court’s 7-2 decision Friday says the removal of black prospective jurors violated the rights of inmate Curtis Flowers. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the court’s majority opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

Not even US senators are safe from time-consuming travel delays, as Senator Angus King discovered this week. Maine’s junior US senator said that after his flight home from Washington, D.C., was canceled Thursday, he took matters into his own hands: joining up with four other stranded travelers for an all-night drive through the Northeast. “I was going to try to make a later flight, which may or may not have made it out, when I ran into this crew who had decided to forget the airlines, rent a car, and drive through the night to Maine,” King said in posts on Insta

WASHINGTON — President Trump has directed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct a mass roundup of migrant families that have received deportation orders, an operation that is likely to begin with predawn raids in major US cities on Sunday, according to three US officials with knowledge of the plans. The ‘‘family op,’’ as it is referred to at ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, is slated to target up to 2,000 families facing deportation orders in as many as 10 US cities, including Houston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and other major immigration de

A prominent author and advice columnist, E. Jean Carroll, has accused President Trump of sexual assault in the 1990s in her forthcoming book, an excerpt of which was published by New York magazine Friday. The White House denied the claim in a comment to New York magazine. President Trump, in a statement, said, “I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book — that should indicate her motivation.

Democrats told MORE (D-N.Y.) said. “I told the president that these conflicts have a way of escalating. The president may not intend to go to war here, but we’re worried that — and the administration may bumble into a war,” Schumer told reporters at Capitol Hill after the meeting. “We told the room that the Democratic position is that congressional approval must be required before funding any conflict in Iran,” he continued.