Melania Trump officially moved into the White House Sunday Now she will be able to embrace her role of first lady more fully President Donald Trump stepped off Marine One Sunday, followed by son, Barron, and wife, Melania. The couple held hands as they walked across the White House’s South Lawn on the warm June evening, the President waving to cameras assembled before guiding his wife into the private residence. And just like that, without any further pomp or circumstance, Washington officially got its first lady. “Looking forward to the memories we’ll make in our new home! #Movingday,” she posted on social media alongside an image from what appeared to be a dining room table with a window overlooking the Washington Monument. A post shared by First Lady M. Trump Archived (@flotus45) Nearly five months into the administration, the Trumps are reunited under one roof again, following the first lady’s unprecedented choice to minimize disruption for their son as he completed the school year in New York. Now, she will focus on settling in to both her new home at the White House and to her role as America’s first lady, which she will be able to embrace fully from Washington. The extremely family-oriented Melania Trump’s main priority in the immediate future is settling in son Barron. School’s out for summer for the 11-year-old, who walked into his new home with the ubiquitous fidget spinner Sunday evening. He will attend St. Andrews Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, this fall. Her parents, Amalija and Viktor Knavs, also arrived in Washington from Marine One on Sunday. While they won’t be living in the White House full-time, they have previously split their time between the United States and their native Slovenia and will continue to spend time with their daughter and grandson. The Knavs’ eldest daughter, Ines Knauss, lives in New York’s Trump Park Avenue property. Trump called her sister “an incredible woman and friend” in her July speech at the Republican National Convention. Melania Trump has already taken steps toward defining her platform, identifying women’s empowerment and access to education for women and girls as key priorities for her East Wing. Trump has also subtly signaled other priorities – she has now made six separate visits to children’s hospitals, and in early April, she visited a local shelter for abused women and children in South Florida. She’s assembled a team of staff, including chief of staff Lindsay Reynolds, social secretary Rickie Niceta and communications director Stephanie Grisham, to help her formally roll out what will ultimately become her legacy as first lady. It took Michelle Obama a year to announce her “Let’s Move” initiative, and Laura Bush held events for her “Ready to Read, Ready to Learn” initiative during the summer of her husband’s first term. “We look forward to unveiling initiatives in the coming weeks,” Grisham said Monday. Trump’s arrival in Washington will also come with raised expectations for her visibility. “Now that she’s moved into the White House, as every first lady has done since Abigail Adams – exception being Anna Harrison – she will be expected to be more hands on,” said Kate Andersen Brower, a CNN contributor and author of “First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies” and “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House.” Her presence and positive approval rating could be a welcome distraction for a White House embroiled in controversy as the Russia investigation shows no signs of slowing down. The President acknowledged his wife’s star power at a Mother’s Day event in the East Room. “She has become so popular, it’s true. It’s true. In fact, I’m going to have to ask her how are you doing this, but our first lady, they had a poll that came out, she went through it like a rocketship. I said, ‘How do you do this?’ And that’s only because people have really gotten to know her,” Trump said, calling his wife an “incredible woman.” Trump has eased her way into the role, performing the traditional first lady duty of America’s official hostess; initially traveling to Washington rarely, but more frequently in recent months. She’s participated in key events, hosting the 179th annual White House Easter Egg Roll and welcoming governors and spouses at the formal Governors Ball. And she was by her husband’s side throughout the inaugural festivities; she watched as he gave an address to a joint session of Congress; she joined him to award a Purple Heart at Walter Reed; and she was on the world’s stage as he traveled in the Middle East and Europe on his first foreign trip, receiving widespread praise. She will continue to welcome world leaders and their spouses to the White House, sharing carefully curated spots as she did with Sara Netanyahu, with whom she toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Queen Rania of Jordan, with whom she visited a girls’ public charter school. Her predecessor, Michelle Obama, ventured into Washington often, hitting up SoulCycle classes, dining out at up and coming establishments, and once even going shopping at a local Target. Trump, who is famously private, isn’t as likely to leave the White House grounds quite as often. Her husband’s only meal outside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue so far was a ride down the road to the steak house at the Trump International DC Hotel. Looking ahead, Trump will host the annual congressional picnic later this month with members Congress and guests. And in July, she’ll accompany her husband abroad yet again, traveling to Poland and then to Germany for the G20 summit. In the meantime, she’ll adjust to her new home, city, and the more mundane aspects of daily household life with the President, who celebrates his 71st birthday on Wednesday.


The Navy ordered an operational pause for its fleet to help ensure safe operations Lawmakers are concerned that readiness problems could have contributed to the crashes The US Navy is facing difficult questions about the health of its fleet in the aftermath of the USS John S. McCain’s collision with an oil tanker east of Singapore on Monday, the latest in a series of naval accidents in the Pacific. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson ordered a rare, one-day operational pause in response to the latest collision. And while the cause of the USS McCain crash is still to be determined, the spate of accidents – four since January – suggests there could be a more systemic issue. Lawmakers and defense analysts are warning that the Navy’s readiness problems – which have led to longer deployments for ships and less time and money for maintenance and training – could be playing a role in the uptick in crashes. In addition to the Navy’s stand-down, the Marine Corps grounded all of its aircraft for 24 hours earlier this month on the heels of two deadly crashes “to focus on the fundamentals of safe flight operations, standardization, and combat readiness.” Related article Navy wants answers after warship, merchant vessel collide House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said it was unprecedented that “two military services have now had to take a knee to review safety and training procedures.” “We ask a lot of our men and women in the Navy,” Thornberry said in a statement. “The time they spend at sea is increasing, while their ships age and their funding gets cut. These are just the conditions that can lead to an increase in the kinds of accidents we are witnessing.” In addition to the USS McCain crash on Monday, the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship off the coast of Japan in June, the USS Lake Champlain hit a South Korean fishing boat in May and the USS Antietam ran aground off the coast of Japan in January. Retired Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, a CNN diplomatic and military analyst, said the Navy’s review will look at a number of factors to try to understand whether there’s a systemic problem. “They’ll look at the quality of leadership at all levels, the amount and the quality of training that commanders have been able to get done, shipboard watch-standing procedures and qualifications, and system and equipment readiness,” Kirby said. “I suspect they will also want to consider the degree to which the budget uncertainty of the last few years has likewise affected any of those factors.” To Republicans and some Democrats in Congress, the budget issues affecting military readiness have long been a point of concern, as maintenance and training dollars have often been the first cut while the Pentagon has faced constrained budgets under the 2011 Budget Control Act. Former Virginia Republican Rep. Randy Forbes, who is now a fellow at the Naval War College, said the concern over the recent incidents goes beyond just determining why the collisions occurred, but points to a broader issue if the Navy had to ramp up in a significant conflict. Related article A spate of US Navy warship accidents in Asia since January “When our ships are having this much difficulty sailing in open waters, it gives us a lot of concern about what would happen if we were in a major conflict and how we would operate there,” Forbes said. “The Navy is in desperate need of additional resources so that they can do the kind of training they need, they can do the kind of ship maintenance they need.” Congress is sure to review the incidents, too. Virginia Republican Rep. Rob Wittman, who chairs the Armed Services seapower subcommittee, said Monday he would be conducting a review of all ongoing naval operations to ensure sailors’ basic safety. “While I support the Chief of Naval Operations operational safety stand-down of the fleet, I believe that there are even more basic causes for this systematic operational failure of our fleet to include a demanding operational tempo, limited training opportunities and inadequate funding to support basic needs,” Wittman said. Jerry Hendrix, a defense analyst at the Center for a New American Security, said that the Navy has attempted to be more innovative with its ships as the number of vessels in the US naval fleet has decreased. Related article US Navy plans 1-day operational pause following warship collisions But that concept needs to be examined to determine if more basic procedures have been lost or diminished as a result, he said. “Our fleet size has come down, and we’ve been trying to compensate for the smaller number of ships by becoming more innovative in the way that we use them,” Hendrix said. “Our ships become more combat-effective working together as a group than they are singularly. But, in kind of going after that high-end innovative approach, have we missed or ignored or overlooked basic operational ship-handling skills?” There could be other factors connecting the four incidents in the Pacific, which involved two Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and two Navy cruisers. Thomas Callender, a defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation and former Navy submarine officer, noted that the destroyer collisions occurred in low-light times of day and highly trafficked areas. “Those are some of the most difficult times, sunset and sunrise, of trying to determine what your contact picture is, what you’re really seeing with this,” Callender said. Forbes said traffic congestion would likely be a commonality, too. “It’s like when you have accidents on roads: Normally it’s going to be where more vehicles are,” he said. “It still doesn’t justify it – we’ve got to operate in those waters.” But the fact that all four Navy collisions this year occurred in the Pacific could also point to issues with training that are specific to the region, Hendrix said. “The fact this is so regional … it strikes me there’s a degradation in training standards and operational procedures,” he said.


Editor’s Note: CNN political commentator Van Jones is president of Dream Corps and Rebuild the Dream, which promote innovative solutions for America’s economy. He was President Barack Obama’s green jobs adviser in 2009. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. Van Jones says the ambush video of him done by notorious provocateur James O'Keefe is a hoax Jones says he thinks it's unlikely Trump will be forced from office over the Russia investigation but that doesn't mean he thinks there's nothing there Serious question: Is anyone out there still gullible enough to fall for an edited, right-wing propaganda video – in 2017? Apparently, the Trump White House is. (SAD) James O’Keefe and his band of crazies are at it again. This time I am one of the targets. Yesterday, O’Keefe released a so-called “bombshell” video of me, standing outside CNN’s Los Angeles bureau. I was answering a passerby’s question by saying: “The whole Russia thing is a big nothing-burger. There is nothing you can do –” before I was cut off by the arrival of my CNN coworkers. More on what I actually meant in a moment. But first, for those of you unfamiliar with James O’Keefe and his misnamed  “Project Veritas,” here’s a helpful recap: James O’Keefe is a notorious con man whose infamy arises from his addiction to pulling the same media stunts, over and over again. He has gotten busted so many times posting fake, doctored videos that his name alone produces eye rolls among well-informed liberals and conservatives alike. His favorite shtick is secretly taping employees of institutions like NPR, Planned Parenthood and now CNN. Next, he deceptively edits the videos. Then he tricks the right-wing media into spreading his lies. His hoaxes are notoriously pathetic and embarrassing. In a 2009 stunt, he secretly filmed employees of ACORN to try to discredit the organization and spliced in video of himself dressed as a pimp. He paid $100,000 to settle a lawsuit by a former ACORN employee who was on his discredited video. Then there was the 2010 stunt, in which his associates pretended to be telephone repairmen to sneak into Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office. For that Senate office caper, he pleaded guilty to entering a federal property under false pretenses and was put on probation and fined. In other words: O’Keefe is the kind of person from whom decent people run like the plague. Now, let’s fast forward to this week. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy press secretary for the President of the United States, stood at the White House podium and told Americans to watch one of James O’Keefe’s new videos.  She admitted she didn’t know if it was truthful, but she told everyone to watch anyway. I guess she forgot that this is the same James O’Keefe who pleaded guilty to entering federal property under false pretenses. Or maybe she doesn’t care, because President Trump may be guilty of that, too? I honestly can’t figure out the thought process of people who work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue anymore. But the White House embracing a hoaxer like O’Keefe was a low moment for those of us who believe in the dignity of our nation’s highest office. The scariest part of the Trump administration is not found in its heartless health care proposals. Nor is it found in its draconian and retrograde ideas about the criminal justice system. Trump’s misguided policy positions are just that – really bad ideas that can be resolved eventually through the normal course of elections and legislation in a democracy. The truly terrifying thing about Trump is his complete disregard for the truth. He lies about everything from his inauguration crowd size to the citizenship of the first African-American president. Then he elevates proven liars like Alex Jones and James O’Keefe, to help them spread their conspiracy theories and disinformation stunts even farther. James O’Keefe and his distorted videos are just another weapon in Trump’s war on the truth. I don’t know what the antidote is for this kind of civic poison. But Trump’s biggest supporters, who claim to love both God and country, should demand better. So let’s turn back to the latest video from James O’Keefe, where I was supposedly caught on camera shrugging off the Russia investigation. Interviewer: “What do you think is going to happen this week with the whole Russian thing? Van Jones: “The whole Russia thing is a big nothing-burger. There is nothing you can do –” Did I mean that there is “nothing” to the allegations that members of team Trump colluded with the Russians and then tried to cover it up by firing FBI Director James Comey? No – and far from it. But that’s not what I was talking about. I have been consistently pushing my fellow Democrats to deal with bread and butter issues – and not just hope and believe Trump will be impeached and gone tomorrow. I have been beating this drum for weeks now. I said in a recent Twitter chat: “I am glad there is a Russia investigation, and I hope they get to the bottom of it. But I think Democrats are fooling ourselves if we think that something is going to come out of this investigation that is somehow going to end the Trump presidency and make everything better. Unless there is a real smoking gun, which there is probably not, it’s just going to be a big old mess. Meanwhile we are not talking about jobs, not talking about poverty, not talking about solutions, not talking about the addiction crisis. Let’s talk about our stuff.” In other words, no evidence is going to emerge (“THIS WEEK,” soon, or maybe ever) that is powerful enough to force the craven GOP to oust Trump. Too many Democrats see the Russia controversy as some kind of magical “get out of jail free” card. They insist that we will be delivered from our misery – as soon as the next shoe drops and Trump is impeached. I understand the appeal of this line of thinking. In fact, I agree with many of the basic points: •       I do think Putin must have something over Trump, because Putin is the only person (besides Ivanka) whom Trump never disses. Given how Trump lashes out at everyone else, that fact alone is fishy. • I think there probably was collusion by some people in the Trump campaign with Russian operatives. • I think Trump fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation (which Trump has all but admitted, himself). That’s obstruction of justice, in my book. But the truth is this: Americans will probably have to wait until 2020 and then vote Trump out of office. The Senate has never voted to remove a sitting president. Never. Even though Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were both impeached, they still served their terms. Therefore, an impeached Trump could still complete his first term. The bar for removal is very high. I doubt if the Republicans in the Senate would remove Trump, even if the House impeached him. And let’s remember, Nixon quit before the Watergate issue could be resolved. I think Trump is far too egotistical to follow Nixon’s example and quit the biggest job in the world voluntarily, for the good of the country. Donald J. Trump is too much of a narcissist to ever resign. Therefore, we are likely stuck with Trump until at least 2020. To be clear: I am not talking about the state of the evidence against Trump. I am talking about the state of today’s Republican Party, which lacks the courage and integrity to remove Trump in the absence of irrefutable audiotaped or videotaped evidence (such as the Nixon tapes in the Watergate crisis). Thus, the Russian controversy is potentially a distraction from the hard work Democrats need to do to rebuild our party and win back the votes of some of Trump’s supporters. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook If you take any one line of my argument out of context, you can use it to pull off a hoax. That’s what O’Keefe’s minions did. The notion that I think Trump is innocent of all wrongdoing in Russiagate is ludicrous. But perhaps the people on team Trump can afford to live in a fantasy world. Those of us who oppose Trump do not have that luxury. So here’s my loud and clear message to anyone who will listen – the Russia investigation should be mainly left to the experts like Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The rest of us can best undercut Trump by focusing on real issues that will bring voters back to the Democratic Party – creating jobs, fighting poverty, battling addiction, defending democracy and human rights, winning health care for all. It will take a long, difficult slog to get Trump out of that White House. I expect no short cuts. But one goal will make our efforts worth the pain and sacrifice – a new president who respects all people and honors the truth.


The Foundation for Moral Law shared the video titled "OBAMA THE MUSLIM, HIS OWN WORDS" on November 18, 2015. Reached by phone, Moore told CNN's KFile that the video did not reflect his personal views. Alabama US senate candidate Roy Moore’s foundation shared a video on its Facebook page in 2015 that uses out-of-context video clips of then-President Barack Obama to promote the conspiracy theory that Obama is a Muslim. The Foundation for Moral Law, the non-profit Christian legal organization that Moore founded in the early 2000s, shared the video titled “OBAMA THE MUSLIM, HIS OWN WORDS” on November 18, 2015. Moore currently holds the title of president emeritus at the foundation. It was originally posted by the group Britain First, a far-right British nationalist organization that describes its goals as to “restore Christianity as the bedrock and foundation of our national life,” citing “the rapid growth of militant Islam.” Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, who has served as the president of the foundation since 2013, also shared the video on her personal Facebook and on the wall of the Friends of Roy Moore Facebook group the same day the foundation shared the video. Opening and closing to ominous music, the video itself presents a version of the widespread but baseless conspiracy theory that Obama, a Christian, is secretly a Muslim. The video shows the then-President praising the historical legacy of the Islamic faith and the contributions of Muslims to the United States and American culture, while displaying text asking if he had ever praised America or Christianity in “similar glowing words.” The video also features selectively edited quotes commonly used to promote the conspiracy theory. These include Obama’s statement to the Turkish parliament in 2009, referring to the impact of Muslims on his life and his childhood years living in Indonesia, “Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country–I know, because I am one of them.” In another remark, from his address to the Muslim world in Cairo in 2009, a speech that features heavily in the video shared by Moore’s foundation, Obama is shown saying, “So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction…” It cuts off before he finishes the sentence, which clarifies that his conviction was “that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t.” The video concludes by showing the hijacked planes striking the World Trade Center on 9/11, followed by Obama saying, “Thank you and eid eh shoma mobarak,” which means “Happy New Year” in Farsi. Reached by phone, Moore told CNN’s KFile that he had not worked at the Foundation for years, but said that the video did not reflect his personal views. Asked if it reflected his wife’s views, he said, “Sir, I can’t speak for other people. My campaign has nothing to do with Obama. He’s not President. This is kind of ridiculous.” Asked if his wife wanted to comment directly, he said that she was not with him at the moment and directed the reporter to contact his campaign chairman. Representatives of the Foundation for Moral Law did not respond to requests for comment. A representative for Moore’s campaign also did not respond to a comment request. As previously reported by CNN’s KFile, Moore himself has fueled the debunked “birther” conspiracy movement, saying as recently as December 2016 that his “personal belief” was that Obama wasn’t a natural-born citizen of the United States. He started questioning Obama’s birthplace in 2008, when he called for a “major investigation” into Obama’s citizenship in an interview with the far-right website World Net Daily. He further questioned Obama’s birthplace in 2009 in an interview with conservative internet radio host Andrew Shea King, saying that it was “very strange indeed” that the president had not shown his birth certificate. He made similar comments the following year. In 2011, Hawaii officials released the long form of Obama’s birth certificate at the then-President’s request, showing that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.


Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and Nairobi, Kenya, and the author of the book “The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Donald Trump seems determined to make America ugly again. He has insulted scores of nations, undercut our allies and projected the worst of American xenophobia, racism, small-mindedness and vulgarity overseas. In a world that is deeply interconnected, he wants to isolate the United States. It’s working – our image gets worse every day. That doesn’t make America great. It hurts all of us. On Tuesday Trump announced he had fired his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. Tillerson had been on his first visit to Africa – a continent made up of nations Trump tarred as “shithole countries,” and one that obviously wasn’t all that important to the White House. Indeed, the US has been losing influence across the continent for years, while China’s influence spreads. Even the manner in which the Tillerson ouster was accomplished signals that at best Trump views Africa with general disregard, and at worst with open disdain. Related video Trump fires Rex Tillerson Tillerson was mid-travels on Friday when he was informed by Chief of Staff John Kelly that he would soon get some news from Trump, according to news reports.  A few days later, he would ultimately learn his fate from — no surprise here — a tweet from the President. On his way back to the US, Tillerson departed from the White House line on the shocking poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter living in Britain.  The attack “clearly came from Russia,” Tillerson said, calling it an “egregious act” that would “certainly trigger a response.” The British government has said it is nearly certain the Russians are behind the poisoning. If that’s true, it may well amount to a brazen act of war and an indication that Russia has no respect or fear of the UK. Tillerson backed up the British government, as one would expect the United States to do in the face of such an extraordinary action against one of our closest allies. The White House, though, has refused to point a finger at Russia, except in the most provisional terms. Trump told reporters: “as soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn Russia – or whoever it may be.” Related article President Trump should fire Betsy DeVos His reluctance fuels further speculation about this administration’s Kremlin ties, and why exactly we would go so easy on an anti-democratic government widely understood to be waging a covert war against stable democracies around the world. Trump is also moving forward in his plans to build a wall between the US and Mexico by looking at prototypes this week in California. America’s relationship with our southern neighbor is already in shambles thanks to Trump’s race-baiting and immigrant-bashing, and Mexico is not going to pay for the wall as Trump has promised. But Trump may very well use American taxpayer dollars to build it himself. It’s hard to think of any historical period celebrated for wall-building designed to keep certain groups out.  From Berlin to Northern Ireland, walls that have the effect of dividing people from each other tend to not go down well in history. Trump presses forward anyway, sending the message that America is so weak and fearful and hateful that we are willing to barricade ourselves in. We’ll be walled in with all of our guns, though. This week Trump also walked back his earlier comments supporting a handful of reasonable gun control measures, apparently after the NRA – and the NRA-cowed members of his party – got to him. Related article Longtime diplomat: Tillerson's public firing makes my head explode And so another mass shooting in America makes international headlines – another episode in which our children are slaughtered in school – and the rest of the world, where this simply does not happen in peacetime nations, looks on aghast and wonders why we don’t do anything. This is the America the Trump White House projects overseas: violent, hateful, afraid. A reflection, sadly, of the President himself.


Clinton and Trump attacked each other's security credentials at campaign events Tuesday Trump unveiled endorsements from military brass, while Clinton launched a new ad Hillary Clinton attacked Donald Trump as inexperienced. Trump called Clinton a failed foreign policy leader. So began the homestretch to Election Day, as both candidates on Tuesday put national security squarely at the center of the 2016 campaign in the belief that it gives them the advantage. Trump began by unveiling a list of 88 retired military leaders endorsing his candidacy, including four four-star generals and 14 three-star flag officers. Then, alongside retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn at an event in Virginia Beach – where fighter jets could be heard whooshing overhead – Trump said of Clinton that “virtually every decision she’s made has been a loser.” Russian President Vladimir Putin “looks at Hillary Clinton and he smiles,” Trump said. “Boy, would he like to see her … Because just look at her decisions. Look how bad her decisions have been.” In a split-screen moment, Clinton took the stage at the same time in Tampa to launch her own barrage of attacks. Clinton dismisses calls for another congressional probe “We are going to work with our allies, not insult them. We are going to stand up to our adversaries, not cozy up to them. We are going to have real plans, not claims and secret plans,” said the former secretary of state. Trump argued later Tuesday during a rally that Clinton’s email use and her handling of classified information is “disqualifying.” “People who have nothing to hide don’t smash phones with hammers. People who have nothing to hide don’t bleach – nobody’s even ever heard of it – their emails, or destroy evidence to keep it from being publicly archived as required under federal law,” Trump said, pointing to Clinton aides’ use of a software named BleachBit to expunge traces of deleted emails. The security back-and-forth comes as the campaign enters its final two months and reminders of terror poised to return to the surface in advance of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Sunday. A new CNN/ORC poll found that both candidates have advantages on national security. Those surveyed said they trust Trump more on terrorism (51% to Clinton’s 45%), underscoring his ability to connect with the fears of Americans in an age of ISIS-inspired domestic attacks. But Clinton holds an edge on foreign policy (56% to Trump’s 40%), enabling her to point to a wider range of national security credentials. Overall, the poll showed the two candidates in a statistical dead heat, with Trump leading nationally among likely voters, 45% to Clinton’s 43%. Poll: Nine weeks out, a near even race For Trump and Clinton, Tuesday’s security focus came in two Southern swing states – Virginia and Florida – with large populations of veterans and military families. Related gallery Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton aides, who asked for anonymity while talking about strategy, said the focus on national security is part of a confluence of important dates and forums with Trump. Early voting, which includes mail-in ballots traditionally used by active-duty military, begins in many states this month. In some states, like Florida, active-duty military are asked to send in ballots starting in late September and early October. Another factor is that Trump has given her material to work with, Clinton aides said. They described her as relishing going after Trump on this topic because she feels she knows it well and he doesn’t. It also allows her to target Republican-leaning voters who have been turned off by Trump. “His whole campaign has been one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform,” Clinton said on Tuesday in Tampa, just miles from MacDill Air Force Base, where 15,000 people work. Clinton’s push also comes with another prize in mind: “Security moms,” or female voters who are concerned about terrorism – particularly middle-class suburban women in must-win swing states like Pennsylvania. A late-August Franklin and Marshall poll found Clinton ahead by 15 points in Southeastern Pennsylvania – largely Philadelphia’s suburbs – even as the Republican incumbent senator leads his Democratic challenger by 9 points in the same region. That margin would be close to insurmountable for Trump on Election Day. Clinton, press do awkward dance at 30,000 feet “Any viable path for him would require mitigating that damage somewhat,” said Hari Sevugan, a former Obama campaign spokesman who’s now a strategist for the Democratic firm 270 Strategies. Sevugan said timing is also at play, though the focus on national security isn’t driven solely by the approaching September 11 anniversary. “People are starting to tune in and focus in a more concentrated way on the election after Labor Day, and it makes sense from the Clinton perspective to really home in on where they have a relative strength,” Sevugan said. “And from the Trump perspective, they need to shore this up.” But Bryce Reeves, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 2017 and a former Army Ranger, said national security is a concern across all demographic groups – and one that can give a big boost to Trump. “It’s a matter of time” before another terror attack, he said. “It’s not a matter of it we get hit, it’s a matter of when we get hit and how we respond to those threats. … That’s why you’re seeing a renewed interest by the candidates.” Clinton: Trump ‘choked’ when meeting with Mexican president He said the release of Trump’s military endorsements earlier Tuesday underscores the qualifications of the people he’d listen to as president. “The sign of a great leader is to surround yourself with phenomenal people, and if you look at Trump’s record today – who he put out supporting him – he’s got numerous flag officers who led troops in the field during some of our most heightened recent conflicts,” Reeves said. National security will be a focus all week. Clinton and Trump will participate in a joint forum Wednesday sponsored by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and broadcast on NBC and MSNBC – their first joint appearance of the campaign. Clinton is also bolstering her national security push with a new television ad called “Sacrifice,” highlighting Trump’s criticism of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s war-hero status and his fight with the Muslim parents of an American soldier killed in combat. Related gallery Donald Trump's empire And her super PAC, Priorities USA, is launching a $5 million ad buy in the swing states North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire on Friday with a spot titled “I Love War.” Featuring a mushroom cloud, it touts Trump’s hawkish remarks about war and nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, delivered a security-focused speech Tuesday in Wilmington, North Carolina, accusing Trump of flip-flopping on how the United States should handle the war in Iraq. “He says whatever he feels like at any given time because you can do that when you’re a TV star. But you can’t do that when you’re president of the United States,” Kaine said. Trump and Clinton themselves also fought Tuesday over remarks Trump had made in an interview that aired on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I just don’t think she has a presidential look and you need a presidential look,” Trump said of Clinton. “I’m talking about general, by the way, she says things about me that are horrible,” Trump said. “As an example the single greatest asset I have, according to those that know me, is my temperament.” Clinton’s camp seized on the comments, using them to highlight Trump’s previous fights with the Gold Star Khan family, his criticism of Fox News host Megyn Kelly and his questioning of President Barack Obama’s birthplace. “This isn’t the first time Donald Trump has had a problem looking at someone different from himself and actually seeing them,” said Clinton deputy communications director Christina Reynolds. Clinton also continued to fight back criticism of her use of a private email server as secretary of state. She shrugged off calls for additional congressional inquiries into her email usage as nothing more than pandering to right-wing conspiracy theorists, suggesting that the FBI “resolved” all the questions into her email use during their investigation. Clinton, speaking with her traveling press corps aboard her new campaign plane on Tuesday, said she has “just accepted” the fact that Republicans will continue to call for investigations into her, whether they are warranted or not. Clinton added, “I believe I have created so many jobs in the, sort of, conspiracy-theory machine factory. Because, honestly, they never quit. They keep coming back.” CNN’s Dan Merica and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report


This week, a slew of Trump's pronouncements were completely at odds with what he told voters But he's a businessman driven to by results, not ideology One of Donald Trump’s many memorable lines on the campaign trail was about ISIS. “I would bomb the s**t out of ‘em. I would just bomb those suckers,” he said. Given that, launching the so-called “mother of all bombs” against an ISIS target makes a lot of sense. Under normal circumstances, that consistency – a campaign vow with high-profile follow through – is standard. It is expected. But not with this President, and certainly not this week, where a slew of his decisions and pronouncements were completely at odds with what he told voters. For instance: Trump, in May, 2016: “NATO is obsolete.” Related article Then and now: Donald Trump's biggest reversals Trump, this week: “I said it was obsolete; it’s no longer obsolete.” Again, Trump last May: “China has been ripping us off. The greatest abuser of the history of this country,” And, Trump this week on China’s leader: “President Xi wants to do the right thing. We had a very good bonding.” Changing positions is hardly new for Donald Trump. After all, not long before he ran as an anti-abortion, anti-Obamacare Republican, he was a supporter of abortion rights and a universal health care system. When I interviewed Trump early in his campaign about it, he was unapologetic. Related video Trump shifts: Flexibility, evolution or flip-flop? “People are losing their plans. They’re losing their doctors. Doctors – one of the biggest problems that nobody talks about, doctors are all leaving. They’re leaving the profession,” Trump told me in July 2015. That kind of flip-flop would crush most candidates’ campaigns. Not Trump. Voters were drawn to him for lots of reasons, but being dogmatic was NOT one of them. In fact, the President himself was introspective about it last week, as he previewed military strikes in Syria – which he had not long ago railed against. “I like to think of myself as a very flexible person. I don’t have to have one specific way, and if the world changes, I go the same way,” Trump said. Related article Trump's stunning u-turns on NATO, China, Russia and Syria To be sure – on many of his 180s, from NATO to Syria – the world has NOT changed. So, the question is, what has? Sources close to Trump tell me there are several ways to answer that question. First, the obvious. He is a novice to politics and foreign policy who is getting a high-stakes, on-the-job education, which is leading him to change some views. Second, he is and always will be a businessman driven by results, not ideology. For example, he didn’t think NATO was serving America’s interest. Now that he is involved, he clearly believes he can change that. Third, and maybe most importantly, now that he is settling in as president, his inner circle has expanded, and along with it, his world view. New confidantes like Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis and National Security Adviser HR McMaster, who both support being tougher on Syria and more open to NATO, have the President’s ear. Advisers like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, supporters of the “America First” language of the Trump campaign and inauguration, now have company and competition from those with more globalist points of view. “Finally this week we saw realism from the Trump administration. It’s very welcome,” said former US ambassador to NATO and veteran diplomat Nicholas Burns. Some sources say the President is most influenced by the last person who talked to him. Others say that’s not quite right. A senior administration official with the President every day says that it is true he is swayed by aides, advisers, friends, members of Congress and others he talks to who try to influence him. But this source insists that it is not necessarily the last argument that the President hears that wins out, it’s the one he thinks is most cogent and compelling. An easy way to look the President’s outward turn toward the world in the last week is that it is proof that Bannon, whom the President publicly took to the woodshed over infighting with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, is on the outs – and along with that, so are his nationalistic policies. A simple way to see it is that as a result, the more hawkish advisers are ascendant and more influential. The same senior administration official laughs that off, insisting that is “giving us all too much power.” “I have seen him brush back everyone, and by everyone, I mean everyone,” said the official, “even those most people think could never get fired.”


Mallika Sherawat said would-be robbers were "strong men but I didn't just cower down" She expressed empathy for Kim Kardashian West, robbed in Paris last month The Bollywood actress who fought off masked attackers aimed at robbing her in Paris has vowed that she will not let it change her life. Mallika Sherawat was attacked from behind by three men who sprayed teargas at her and her French boyfriend, Cyrille Auxenfans, in the hallway of his apartment building as they arrived home. They pushed Sherawat to the ground, then started hitting Auxenfans and tried to grab her bag. “He was hurt a little bit. We both fought them off. I’m not going to let this change my life at all,” she told CNN, describing herself as “a strong woman.” “I fought them off. They are strong men but I didn’t just cower down,” she said. The attackers, who wore scarves over their faces, fled empty-handed from the building in rue de la Faisanderie, an upscale neighborhood in the 16th arrondissement. Sherawat, 40, did not wish to go into further detail about the attempted robbery, but told CNN: “It was extremely traumatic. No one should be made to suffer the insecurity of having their home broken into or the physical and mental abuse of such an attack.” The actress said the teargas temporarily blinded her and she has been left with “a few bruises and marks” and “the feeling of having to look over your shoulder.” Auxenfans, a businessman, also suffered minor injuries. The crime took place around 9:30 pm on Friday November 11 about 4.3 km (2.7 miles) from the luxury private mansion in the 8th arrondissement where American reality TV star Kim Kardashian West was robbed of an estimated $10 million worth of jewelry on October 3. Sherawat, who has two million Twitter followers and regularly posts about her life on social media, does not know if she was targeted because of her celebrity status. “They didn’t say anything. They didn’t utter one word,” she said of the masked men. She said of Kardashian West: “I really feel extremely empathetic towards her, she suffered the same emotional, physical and mental trauma that I have.” Sherawat did not have a bodyguard with her at the time and does not want to get one now. “Do I get paranoid, do I get security guards around me? Do I want to do that? I want to have a normal life,” she explained. Sherawat has previously spoken out against the number of attacks on women in her home country of India, including honor killings and gang rapes. She told CNN her recent experience made her think of those who live in fear every day. “I think for women it’s important to get the message out that we are not going to let this scare us or change our lives,” she said. “I am more empathetic to women who live in this fear because of their circumstances or where they live. It’s very humbling.” The actress lives in Los Angeles and Mumbai but was in Paris visiting Auxenfans as she took a break before she starts shooting her next film. The Paris police told CNN the motive is unknown, and declined to say if there is any link between the incident and the robbery of Kardashian West as the investigation is ongoing. Related article Kim Kardashian West in New York with family after Paris robbery Sherawat, whose real name is Reema Lamba, is well-known in her native India for her appearances in films such as “Welcome,” a Hindi-language comedy, and “Aap Kaa Surroor,” a romantic thriller. She has also made films in America and appeared in Hawaii Five-0, the American police TV series. Sherawat, who remained in the French capital Friday, is grateful to her well-wishers and the authorities. “That makes me feel very comforted,” she said. “The police have been wonderful and Paris is a wonderful city. I’m not going to let this bad experience spoil Paris for me.”


Wolfowitz also called Trump a continuation of President Barack Obama Trump has been an ardent critic of the Iraq War on the campaign trail Former Bush administration official Paul Wolfowitz said he is considering voting for Hillary Clinton in an interview in which he lambasted Donald Trump as dangerous. Wolfowitz, who was the deputy secretary of defense for President George W. Bush in the lead-up to and start of the Iraq War, said in an interview published Friday that while he isn’t enthused about it, he may be forced to vote for Clinton. “I wish there were somebody I could be comfortable voting for,” Wolfowitz told the German publication Der Spiegel. “I might have to vote for Hillary Clinton, even though I have big reservations about her.” In the interview, Wolfowitz repeatedly expressed concerns about Trump, saying he agrees with 50 other former Republican security officials who recently blasted Trump as “dangerous.” 50 GOP national security experts oppose Trump “He says he admires Putin, that Saddam Hussein was killing terrorists, that the Chinese were impressive because they were tough on Tiananmen Square. That is pretty disturbing,” Wolfowitz said, calling him “unacceptable.” Wolfowitz also called Trump a continuation of President Barack Obama, despite their party differences. Wolfowitz said Obama’s apparent “step back” foreign policy would be exaggerated under Trump, calling him “Obama squared.” “The only way you can be comfortable about Trump’s foreign policy is to think he doesn’t really mean anything he says. That’s a pretty uncomfortable place to be in,” Wolfowitz said. “Our security depends on having good relationships with our allies. Trump mainly shows contempt for them. And he seems to be unconcerned about the Russian aggression in Ukraine. By doing this he tells them that they can go ahead and do what they are doing. That is dangerous.” Wolfowitz is one of the nation’s most prominent neoconservatives and interventionists, and has been widely characterized as the “architect’ of the invasion of Iraq. CNN reported back in 2003 that he was the first Bush administration official to push the 43rd president to topple Saddam Hussein – broaching the subject four days after the September 11 attacks. Trump has been an ardent critic of the Iraq War on the campaign trail, saying he opposed it from the get-go, although the first evidence of him opposing the invasion of Iraq was after the war had begun. But Clinton voted in favor of the war when she was in the Senate, a fact that her opponents have used against in her both the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections. The GOP candidate has also criticized Obama and Clinton for pulling troops out of Iraq too quickly and destabilizing the region, though he supported the same policy in CNN interviews during Obama’s first term. Clinton has steadily courted and landed endorsements from Republican elders in foreign policy, arguing that their support shows that Trump’s election would endanger the country’s security.


Editor’s Note: Jeffrey W. Hornung is a political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. This week’s summit at Mar-a-Lago between President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should be routine diplomacy allowing for two allies to catch up and reaffirm strategies. In reality, it represents a crucial moment: Trump and Abe need the summit to go well. The two leaders have much to discuss, but two issues will likely dominate the agenda. One is North Korea. Coming just days before the summit between North and South Korea, and before Trump’s own as-yet-unscheduled meeting with Kim Jong Un, the Trump-Abe summit is an opportunity to reaffirm a unified stance on keeping the “maximum pressure” sanctions intended to force Pyongyang to denuclearize and roll back its ballistic missile programs. A second issue is tariffs. When Trump imposed tariffs on security grounds on steel and aluminum imports last month, he did not exclude Japan. After some discussions, he did, however, provide exclusions for South Korea, Australia, Canada and the EU, all US allies. The meeting is an opportunity to discuss this potential flashpoint and find a resolution. Behind the scenes, there is even more at stake. For Abe, the meeting is critical for promoting Japan’s interests in North Korea. Because Abe has no scheduled summit with Kim Jong Un, there is a risk Japan may be left behind. Meeting Trump is an opportunity to directly advocate for keeping Japan’s interests on the list of priorities. This includes ensuring that stopping the North’s abduction of Japanese citizens remains a priority, along with denuclearization and abandonment of its ballistic missile program. At the bare minimum, it means getting Trump to agree that Japan needs to be present at any multinational negotiations. Economically, Abe needs Trump to exclude Japan from the tariffs. Abe staked his administration on economic growth. Trump’s tariffs threaten critical sectors. The summit is a chance for Abe to remind Trump of the value Japan brings to the American economy. Abe has already noted in parliamentary debate that Japanese steel products help US auto makers become more competitive by keeping their products cheaper for American consumers. Related article Abe faces awkward Trump summit on North Korea amid plummeting support in Japan Trump also has vital interests at stake. Trump needs Abe because Japan commands attention in the region. Through its diplomatic heft, economic clout, and soft power, Japan serves as a counterweight to China in an uncertain environment where many countries question America’s commitment. Strategically, given its robust military capabilities and hosting of approximately 50,000 US military personnel, Japan remains a critical player for regional peace and stability. Although Japan is legally limited in how it can use its military forces, Japan is the most important US regional ally. Its cooperation is needed for virtually any activity the US seeks in the region. The US cannot afford to lose Japan as a trusted ally. Economically, Trump needs Japan. Although Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he has asked US officials to explore the possibility of joining the 11-country modified version that Japan is leading. Once implemented, this pact will serve as a foundation for building a broad free trade area. If Trump seeks fairer and more reciprocal trade and investment relations with Japan, including a bilateral free trade agreement, Trump could take this opportunity to move the ball forward on trade. And for both, politically, a summit could not have come at a better time. Both are dogged by political scandals at home and desperately could use a success in international diplomacy to show their electorate their leadership skills. But these stakes are higher for Abe. While other foreign leaders distance themselves from Trump’s rhetoric, Abe has publicly backed Trump on many issues, even as Trump complains about Japan. With Trump’s actions now appearing to come at the expense of Japan, Abe faces a situation where he is expected to capitalize on his relationship with Trump. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook What is most surprising is that this is even an issue. The two have developed a close relationship. Not only was Abe the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his November 2016 victory, he was the first to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago after becoming President. They also have frequent phone conversations and give each other gifts as signs of their friendship. The fact that Trump is treating Abe in a manner that creates an atmosphere in which the summit needs to go well is something few would have predicted even a few weeks ago. It is hard to argue that the dynamics of the US-Japan relationship have not changed. After a year and half of relative stability, the allies are now forced to talk about difficult issues in which they have vested interests. As allies, and close friends, they could both benefit from reconfirming common goals and establishing a set of strategies to deal with the region’s challenges.


Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, says he thinks President Donald Trump could be indicted, despite Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani expressing otherwise. “The President is not above the law, and an indictment – if that’s the course that Robert Mueller chooses to go – I believe would be upheld by the courts,” Blumenthal said on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” Giuliani told CNN earlier Wednesday that Mueller’s team informed Trump’s legal team they had concluded they are not able to indict a sitting president. “All they get to do is write a report,” Giuliani said. “They can’t indict. At least they acknowledged that to us after some battling, they acknowledged that to us.” Mueller is currently leading the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which includes looking into any potential ties between Trump campaign associates and Moscow. Trump has repeatedly denied collusion. Blumenthal told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that if the President were to be indicted, it could go to the United States Supreme Court. “It’s an issue that has never been resolved, and that way there is a Department of Justice opinion to the contrary,” Blumenthal said. “I happen to think that he could be indicted even if the trial is postponed. “ This isn’t the first time the issue has been questioned. Earlier this month, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Mueller investigation, was asked about whether a sitting president could be indicted while speaking at an event. “I’m not going to answer this in the context of any current matters, so you shouldn’t draw any inference about it,” Rosenstein previously said. “But the Department of Justice has in the past, when the issue arose, has opined that a sitting President cannot be indicted. There’s been a lot of speculation in the media about this, I just don’t have anything more to say about it.” CNN’s Dana Bash contributed to this report.


Meeting with opposition marks Maduro's first talks with his political foes in over two years US diplomat joins representatives from other countries helping to mediate the talks Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro added a US diplomat to a long list of mediators trying to build rapport between the government and opposition parties, who are in a constitutional tug-of-war for the highest seat in the country. US diplomat Thomas Shannon was welcomed by Maduro at the Miraflores Palace on Monday evening, according to a Venezuelan government press release. US State Department spokesman John Kirby said Shannon was traveling  “to encourage this dialogue process” in Venezuela. Kirby said Shannon was invited to visit the country after discussions Secretary of State John Kerry “had on the margins of the peace ceremony in Colombia with President Maduro.” “We are focused on trying to see an effective dialogue between and among Venezuelans across the political spectrum,” Kirby said. “We believe that’s a necessary step to finding remedies to the political and economic challenges that they’re going through.” Before meeting with Shannon, the Venezuelan government met with the Democratic Unity Board, the political coalition that includes several opposition parties, to try to halt the vitriolic rhetoric expressed by both sides. This marked Maduro’s first talks with his political opponents in over two years. Venezuela is in the throes of one of its worst recessions in years, leading to protests and calls to impeach Maduro. The meeting was facilitated by the Vatican, among other parties. “The only alternative is dialogue,” Maduro said before the talks began. “We have come prepared to listen and hopefully to be heard and to find topics of agreement for the interests of the majority of the country. I think it isn’t the time for long speeches but rather to assume a deep commitment.” Both sides approached the country’s biggest issues by creating subcommittees to tackle Venezuela’s economic, electoral and humanitarian affairs. The talks were attended by designated mediators, including papal envoy Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, former Colombian President and Union of South American Nations Secretary General Ernesto Samper, and former heads of state and government from Panama, the Dominican Republic and Spain. The talks took place in Caracas and lasted well into Monday morning, hours before Shannon met with Maduro. Shannon will stay through Wednesday to meet with senior officials and other leaders, the State Department said.


South Korea government offers financial incentive for defectors Country willing to pay up to 1 billion won for information South Korea is quadrupling its reward fee for defectors from North Korea who are willing to hand over classified information on the reclusive country’s military secrets. The Ministry of Unification announced Sunday that it would pay up to 1 billion won ($860,000) – eclipsing the previous maximum of 250 million won. A bill outlining the changes is set to be submitted and would offer substantial financial rewards for those able to provide intelligence and knowledge, which could enhance South Korea’s security, according to the ministry. The bill will be considered in the National Assembly between February 28 and March 9, a Unification Ministry official said. The move comes at a time of simmering tension over South Korea’s controversial THAAD missile system, which came a step closer to reality last week. The THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, is designed to shoot down short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, such as those North Korea claims to own. South Korea reached an agreement with Lotte international over an approved land swap last week, according to an official with the country’s defense ministry. The deal between international conglomerate Lotte and the South Korean government will allow the THAAD system to be deployed on the military’s preferred site. The US and the South Korea are planning to deploy the system by the end of this year During his recent trip to South Korea, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said his country was determined to defend South Korea against the “evolving North Korean threat.” But speaking at a news conference last week, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said it would “severely disrupt regional strategic balance.” “The Chinese side has stressed repeatedly that we understand the legitimate concerns of relevant parties in safeguarding their security, however one country’s security cannot be pursued at the expense of (anothers),” he said. Related video N. Koreans praise missile test despite sanctions Both North Korea and China have repeatedly stated they are strongly against the deployment of THAAD. On February 3, North Korea accused the US and South Korea of pushing the Korean peninsula to the “brink of nuclear war” with the deployment. In a statement, the rogue state alleged the THAAD system was part of an offensive strategy “for a preemptive attack on the North.” But Mattis said Pyongyang’s aggressive behavior is why THAAD was necessary. Meanwhile China has consistently opposed the missile system’s deployment, saying it could jeopardize their “legitimate national security interests,” according to Foreign Minister Wang Yi. John Delury, associate professor of international studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, previously told CNN that Beijing was doing “everything in its power to prevent the deployment of the defense system.” CNN’s Ben Westcott and Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.


Noriega experienced severe brain hemorrhaging, lawyer says The former dictator will be kept in a medically induced coma for five days Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, 83, is in a medically induced coma after suffering severe brain hemorrhaging, his attorney told CNN affiliate TV Panama. The hemorrhage occurred after Noriega underwent surgery to have a benign tumor removed from his brain. “He is in intensive care following a second open cranial surgery in less than eight hours,” lawyer Ezra Ángel said. “The situation is delicate. He is in critical condition and we hope he recovers in the coming hours.” Noriega will be kept in the medically induced coma for a minimum of five days, his attorney told TV Panama. Noriega came to power in the 1980s, and by 1983 controlled Panama’s armed forces and civilian government. Relations between the United States and Noriega-led Panama broke down in the years that followed due to growing unrest. In 1989, then-US President George H.W. Bush invaded Panama on a mission to oust Noriega under the banner “Operation Just Cause.” Noriega’s 1991 trial, and eventual conviction, in US court on drug smuggling and racketeering charges was called the “trial of the century” by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Noriega served an almost 20-year prison sentence in the United States. He has been serving a seven-year sentence he received from a French court for laundering €2.3 million ($2.9 million) in 2010. Noriega was extradited from France in 2011 to serve the remainder of his sentence in Panama. In October, a court granted his request to recover from surgery in the hospital rather than in prison.


President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Japan of using a “bowling ball test” to cheat US auto companies out of selling cars to Japanese consumers. A White House spokeswoman said Thursday he was joking. “It’s the bowling ball test. They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and drop it on the hood of the car,” Trump said of Japan during a fundraising speech in Missouri, according to audio obtained by The Washington Post and confirmed to CNN by an attendee. Related article Trump says he made up trade claims in meeting with Trudeau “If the hood dents, the car doesn’t qualify. It’s horrible,” Trump told the donors. Trump did not go into further details. But Japan and other international markets do have higher safety standards for automobiles, particularly to protect pedestrians’ heads when they are struck by vehicles, Grant Faulkner, vice president of auto industry consultants LMC Automotive, told CNN. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, asked about the comment on Thursday, said Trump was “obviously … joking.” “The President has been talking about unfair trade practices for decades. It is not new for him. Part of the reason he was elected was to end unfair trade practices and push for free, fair and reciprocal trade so American goods can compete in more foreign markets,” she said. “Obviously, he is joking about this particular test but it illustrates the creative ways some countries are able to keep American goods out of their markets.” There are other reasons US auto manufacturers struggle to sell to Japanese consumers. In particular, drivers there typically prefer much smaller cars given the nation’s dense urban environments and tight parking spaces, Faulkner said. The President also said he is looking to use his administration’s new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to persuade Japan to manufacture more automobiles in the US. CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Dan Merica contributed to this report.


Prosecutor: The raid began around 4:20 a.m. and a gunfight lasted about an hour Official: French authorities carried out this raid after picking up phone communications The suspects were "about to move on some kind of operation," police sources say French authorities took the offensive Wednesday, raiding a purported hideout of the suspected ringleader in last week’s deadly Paris attacks in an operation that ended with eight detained, two dead and potentially more bloodshed thwarted. But what about that suspected ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud? At one point, authorities believe he was holed up on the third floor of an apartment building in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Wednesday. Whether he was there when scores of heavily armed French police launched their assault at 4:20 a.m. Wednesday (10:20 p.m. ET Tuesday) is unknown. Related video New video of Saint Denis raid emerges Some residents in the area told CNN they saw Abaaoud recently in the neighborhood and at a local mosque. Investigators zeroed in on the building after picking up phone conversations indicating that a relative of Abaaoud might be there. They met fierce resistance from the start, including an armored door, a woman who blew herself up and bullets flying back and forth for about an hour. The French officers even used powerful munitions, which led to one floor of the building collapsing. That violence produced rubble that included body parts, on which investigators are conducting DNA tests. Neither Abaaoud nor suspect Salah Abdeslam, for whom authorities have been hunting since the attacks, were among those detained in the operation, Molins said. Related article Who were suspects in Paris terror attacks? French President Francois Hollande held up the vicious back-and-forth as further proof that “we are at war” with ISIS. “What the terrorists were targeting was what France represents. This is what was attacked on the night of November 13,” he said. “These barbarians targeted France’s diversity. It was the youth of France who were targeted simply because they represent life.” ISIS first drew international attention for taking over swaths of Iraq and Syria, leaving a trail of violence and destruction in its wake. And its efforts to bring terror to the global stage seem to be growing. This month alone, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, the downing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt and a pair of suicide bombings in Beirut. France had already been part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS with airstrikes. But the country has stepped up its efforts since the series of shootings and explosions in Paris last week, which killed 129 people. Read more: France demands EU help in ISIS war Now, Hollande has proposed extending France’s state of emergency for three more months – a measure that, among other things, gives authorities greater powers in conducting searches, holding people and dissolving certain groups. To go after the Islamist extremist group, the French President also said he would appeal to world leaders – including meeting next week with U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have been at odds on what to do in Syria. “There is no more … divide. There are only men and women of duty,” he said. “We must destroy this army that menaces the entire world, not just some countries.” Paris attacks: What you need to know Whoever was inside the Saint-Denis apartment on Wednesday appeared to be “prepared to act” in possibly another attack, Molins said, noting their weaponry, structured organization and determination. Some 110 police swarmed on the diverse, working-class area that is home to the Stade de France sports stadium, where three suicide bombings took place days earlier. Paris attack survivor details horrors inside concert hall They first went into one apartment that had been under surveillance since Tuesday, a Paris police source said. Related video Explosions heard at scene of Paris suburb raid Telephone communications on a wiretap by French and Belgian security agencies indicated a woman at the residence was Abaaoud’s cousin, a Belgian counterterrorism official told CNN. That raid led them to another apartment on the same street. Molins described it as a complex operation. For almost an hour, he said, there was uninterrupted gunfire as police tried to get into the apartment. The violent standoff left residents in the area, already shaken by last week’s attacks, startled and scared. “We could see the bullets,” a woman, who identified herself only as Sabrine, told CNN affiliate France 2. “We could feel the building shaking.” Three people in the Saint-Denis building itself, including one with a bullet wound in the arm, are among the eight detained, according to Molins. The others include the person who loaned the apartment to the suspected terrorists and his friend. Two of the eight held were hospitalized, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told France Info radio. Related gallery French raid in Saint-Denis Five French officers, meanwhile, were slightly wounded, while a police dog died in the operation, according to police. Saadana Aymen, a 29-year-old who lives one street down, couldn’t believe what was happening in his neighborhood. “When you think of Saint-Denis, you don’t think of terrorists,” he told CNN. “I’m shocked! Why would the terrorists pick this neighborhood?” Paris victims from all walks of life That wasn’t the only place where French authorities fanned out Tuesday night into Wednesday as they worked to find suspects tied to the attacks and cracked down on security. The Interior Ministry announced 118 searches led to the detention of at least 25 people, the confiscation of 34 weapons and the discovery of illicit drugs in 16 instances. In recent days, hundreds of similar operations have been conducted, the ministry said, resulting in 64 people being held and 118 put under house arrest. Authorities have not provided details about the arrests or said what connection they could have to Friday’s attacks. Molins said investigators are working to piece together where terrorists were in the days and hours leading up to the attacks – and with whom they had contact. They’ve encountered at least one piece of evidence that could help them in their search: One of the attacker’s cell phones was found in a trash bin outside the Bataclan theater, where most of Friday’s victims were gunned down. A message on the phone, according to Molins, said, “Here we go, it’s starting.” Authorities are trying to determine who the message was sent to, he said. And they’re still trying to determine whether the suspected ringleader in the attack is still on the run, or whether his remains were found in the rubble. Analysis: Why Paris explosives are a key clue Complete coverage of Paris attacks CNN’s Atika Shubert and Saskya Vandoorne contributed from Saint-Denis; Paul Cruickshank, Scott Bronstein, Margot Haddad and Tim Lister contributed from Paris; Nima Elbagir from Brussels; Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz contributed from Washington; Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley, Khushbu Shah and Naima Kouider contributed from Atlanta; Euan McKirdy contributed from Hong Kong; Jethro Mullen wrote from Hong Kong; Greg Botelho, Catherine E. Shoichet and Brian Walker wrote from Atlanta.


A top commander in the U.S. military voiced concern Friday over a recent decision by the Pentagon to open up combat positions to women. Marine Gen. John Kelly, the outgoing head of Southern Command, told reporters that in contemplating action on the battlefield, the key question is whether or not it makes the armed forces more lethal. “If the answer to that is yes, then do it,” Kelly said. “If the answer to that is no, clearly don’t do it. If the answer to that is, it shouldn’t hurt, I would suggest that we shouldn’t do it, because it might hurt.” Last month, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that the military would open some 220,000 jobs to women – including infantry, armor, reconnaissance and some special operations units –that had been previously only open to men. Related video Carter: Military combat roles open to women Kelly also said he anticipated pressure from “the agenda-driven people here in Washington” on future military leaders “to lower standards” in order to bolster the numbers of women in combat. The Pentagon has maintained that it would not lower standards to accept women, and several women have struggled in the most rigorous training courses and failed to advance. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, also a Marine, had advocated keeping some military roles restricted to men during the review when he served as the commandant of the Marine Corps. The Marines have been seen as the most reluctant branch to open up all combat jobs to women. Kelly, whose own son was killed in combat in Afghanistan, was particularly candid in his assessment of future standards for women in the military as commanders work to integrate them into new roles. Kelly, who is retiring from the Marine Corps, will be succeeded by Navy Vice Adm. Kurt Tidd later this month.

Pentagon decision to open combat positions to women


Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters Friday that the administration is “close” to finalizing a plan going forward in Afghanistan. He stressed that putting together an overall strategy “takes time” and added, “this is hard work so you’ve got to get it right, that’s all there is to it and we are working to get it right.” Mattis had said on several previous occasions that a decision would come by mid-July. When asked by reporters if the delay is because of political issues, he replied: “I hope it’s a political decision. You fight wars for a reason.” Mattis added, “once you get the policy right then you have to get the strategy right.” Mattis insisted that there is no stalemate in Afghanistan. “It’s not like we just stalled out here … We have changed what we’re doing. But I have not used the authority that has been granted to me, I’m going to figure it out before we — last thing I want to do is send troops in there and find I sent troops in for something I just canceled, these troops go in harm’s way so you have to be careful.” Related article Afghan security personnel killed in apparent friendly fire Two defense officials close to the discussion on Afghanistan policy tell CNN that the top US commander for Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson is likely to get what he is requesting. The officials say that an additional 3,000 to 4,000 more troops are likely to be sent to the country. However, the officials caution that no final decision has been made. What remains unclear is whether the troop increase would involve sending additional US forces or just topping off the unfulfilled NATO requirement from US allies. Mattis acknowledged how precious forces are for the US and allies: “There will be some allies who are willing to send more troops. We are aware of that. But again their troops are as precious to them as ours are to us so we’ve got to get this thing right.” Approximately 8,000 US troops are currently in Afghanistan. Mattis also hinted that an official troop number increase may not be made public, “I think we’ll certainly give the framing principles. Wherever we can give the plan in a way that doesn’t jeopardize the lives or the mission, we’ll do it. I don’t want to tell the enemy that (how many troops). …  You know me I am always going to be conservative, if it’s going to endanger the troops: nope, not going to talk about it.”

US administration's Afghanistan strategy


17 police officers are under investigation for possible mishandling of Stephen Port'scbs case Rape victims only went to police after killings became known London police are reviewing the deaths of dozens of men who used sex-enhancing drugs amid concerns that cases previously dismissed as drug overdoses may be additional victims of serial killer Stephen Port. Port, 41, was found guilty of murdering four gay men and drugging and sexually assaulting seven others by a jury at London’s Old Bailey on Wednesday. The Metropolitan Police Service told CNN they had identified at least 58 deaths from poisoning by the date-rape drug GHB between June 2011 and October 2015 – the period in which Port carried out his crimes. “It is not known if these deaths were related to chemsex activities. In many cases police involvement was limited, with the matter dealt with by the coroner,” a police spokesman told CNN. “A review of these deaths is now underway to establish any suspicious circumstances.” Police say there is so far nothing to suggest the cases are linked to Port. Port had denied all the charges against him but was found guilty of the murders of fashion student  Anthony Walgate, 23; Gabriel Kovari, 22, originally from Slovakia; fellow chef Daniel Whitworth, 21; and forklift truck driver Jack Taylor, 25. READ MORE: Serial killer drugged, raped victims Police also are under fire for not fingering Port earlier as a killer and possibly saving some victims’ lives. Seven police officers are under investigation for gross misconduct over their handling of the case, and another 10 police officers have been accused of misconduct. Anthony Walgate, 23Walgate, Stephen Port’s first victim, was originally from Hull, northern England, but came to London to study fashion. He worked as a male escort to help fund his studies.After overdosing him with GHB, Port dumped his body and called the police, saying he had found the dead man by chance. Port was tracked down through his phone number, and after he was found to have lied to police, he was charged and later jailed for eight months.Gabriel Kovari, 22Originally from Slovakia, police say Kovari came to London “to begin a new life.” He moved into Port’s apartment after they met on a dating website, and the killer agreed to put him up on the sofa, rent free. Kovari’s body was found by a dog walker in a graveyard, some 500 meters from Port’s flat. He was propped up against a wall, wearing sunglasses, next to a bag of his belongings.Daniel Whitworth, 21Whitworth, a trainee chef, met Port through the Fitlads dating site. His body was found by the same dog walker in the same spot as Kovari. His phone was missing and Port had placed a fake suicide note in his hand, in which he appeared to confess to the death of the young Slovakian the month before. Jack Taylor, 25Forklift truck driver Taylor lived with his parents in east London, not far from Port’s home. After drinking with friends in a local gay club, he went home and saw his father, before hooking up with Port on gay dating app Grindr and taking a taxi to his flat. His body was found near the graveyard, in similar circumstances to Whitworth and Kovari. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating “how officers responded to the four deaths before the homicide investigation was launched, including the nature of the investigative work undertaken, how evidence was examined and how similarities between the cases were considered,” it said in a statement. Port, who lived alone in Barking, east London, was arrested after the first death but only charged with perverting the course of justice – which meant he was able to carry on killing after serving a short jail term. He lured his victims to his home using online dating sites and then either injected them with drugs or spiked their drinks using “poppers,” Viagra and sleeping pills as well as GHB and crystal meth. Port then dragged the bodies of his victims out into the street and left them slumped against walls not far from where he lived, police said. GHB was found in the bodies of each of the four men who died. And in three of the four deaths, drugs were planted on or near victims’ bodies to make it look as though they had overdosed. Port will be sentenced on Friday. “Port is a highly devious, manipulative and self-obsessed individual who has not once shown a shred of remorse for his actions,” said Commander Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime and Operations command. He said Port was “motivated by his overwhelming desire to have sex with younger gay men while they were unconscious through drugs.” None of the sexual assault victims had contacted police before Port was charged in relation to the four deaths. “I hope Port’s conviction today offers reassurance to the LGBT community that if you have been a victim of crime our officers will take you seriously, treat your situation with the utmost sensitivity and do their very best to bring offenders before the courts,” said Cundy. “We can’t rule out the fact there may be other victims out there who suffered at Port’s hands and have yet to come forward. We would appeal for them to contact us as soon as possible.”


Tillerson pointed to his own comments condemning racism For months, reports have indicated Tillerson's frustrations in the top diplomatic post Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that President Donald Trump “speaks for himself” when asked whether the President’s response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, raised questions about Trump’s values. The brief remark from the top Cabinet official appeared to be the latest subtle sign of a gap between Tillerson, a former globe-trotting oil executive, and the freewheeling President, who ran a campaign in large part against how the US interacts with pillars of the international community. It also points to a distance between Trump and some of his team on Charlottesville. Tillerson said on “Fox News Sunday” that the United States was committed to freedom and “equal treatment of people the world over” when posed the question by anchor Chris Wallace. “I don’t believe anyone doubts the American people’s values,” Tillerson said. “And the President’s values?” Wallace asked. “The President speaks for himself,” Tillerson said. Related article Tillerson aide: Constitution, not Trump, 'speaks for the country' Tillerson’s comment was in response to a line of questioning about a United Nations committee issuing a warning to the United States about racism and hate crimes, saying US leaders had not sufficiently condemned white supremacy. Trump was widely criticized for his response to the racially motivated violence in Charlottesville, in which he said “both sides” – white supremacists and those protesting them – were responsible for the clashes that left one woman dead and dozens injured. Trump initially blamed the violence on “many sides,” but amid mounting criticism, he called out white supremacists and hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan specifically a couple of days later. Then, the next day, he generated further controversy with his “both sides” remark during a press conference at Trump Tower. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tillerson’s remarks, and the State Department said it would get back to CNN if there was “anything to share.” Tillerson’s comment followed a curious line from Defense Secretary James Mattis about problems in the US that he said had not manifested themselves in the military. Speaking to service members in a video picked up by The Guardian, Mattis said, “Our country right now, it’s got problems we don’t have in the military.” “You just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it,” Mattis said. And Gary Cohn, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, reportedly mulled resignation after Trump’s response to Charlottesville, people familiar with the situation told CNN. Cohn stayed, but he told the Financial Times that the administration “can and must do better” on condemning hate groups. In the Fox interview with Tillerson, Wallace asked if he was trying to distance himself from Trump explicitly. “Are you separating yourself from that, sir?” Wallace continued. “I made my own comments as to our values as well in a speech at the State Department last week,” Tillerson replied. In that speech earlier this month, Tillerson delivered a condemnation of both hate and those who “protect or accept hate speech” in any form – a sharp contrast with some of the comments made by Trump. “It’s simply important to say – although I think it’s well understood and embraced, I’m certain, by everyone in this room – we all know hate is not an American value, nowhere is it an American value,” the top US diplomat said. In the past, Tillerson has come under fire for saying, as he did in May, that US foreign policy should sometimes separate values such as freedom, human dignity and “the way people are treated” from policies it pursues around the world. In the interview on Sunday, Tillerson denied an ongoing fight in the administration was occurring between “nationalists” like the recently departed Steve Bannon and “globalists,” referring to people who advocate for increased international cooperation and free trade. But in practice, Tillerson’s State Department has found itself on occasion grappling with both the President’s words and aides seeking to steer foreign policy. Just months into the job, the difficulties for Tillerson played out on the world stage – from his attempt to mediate the Gulf region’s dispute over Qatar’s alleged involvement in terrorism being reshaped by tweets from the President, to the former Exxon Mobil chief’s inability to sway Trump on staying in the Paris climate agreement. Related article Here are the Republicans denouncing Trump by name Tillerson did not attend the speech in which Trump made his decision on the Paris agreement public, and the State Department did not say why the nation’s top diplomat was not present for the announcement of a major foreign policy move. For his part, Tillerson downplayed the significance of the decision Trump had treated with so much fanfare. Differences between Tillerson and Trump became further pronounced when reports suggested he was mulling stepping down from the job. Then Tillerson took an unannounced vacation in July, and State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert declined to say if the secretary was happy with his role. When Tillerson came back, he said his relationship with Trump was “good” and that he would stay on the job as long as Trump let him. But his comments on Sunday indicated the policy gap that has existed between Trump and Tillerson from the start might still be in place. CNN’s Nicole Gaouette contributed to this story.


Congress comes back Tuesday from a five-week summer recess Congress's agenda includes the Iran nuclear deal, funding the government and the visit of Pope Francis Get ready for the September scramble. After more than a month off, lawmakers return to Washington on Tuesday facing the most frenetic agenda in recent memory. By the middle of September, Congress will have to decide whether to block President Barack Obama’s historic nuclear deal with Iran. Lawmakers are also staring down a September 30 deadline to avert the second government shutdown in two years – a debate that’s increasingly divisive as it becomes tied to the Planned Parenthood controversy. And in between these two showdowns, Pope Francis will become the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of Congress – a speech that will almost certainly highlight issues that make both parties uncomfortable. In a Congress that has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent years, lawmakers have struggled to address even the most basic issues without drama. With so many historic decisions to make at once, this is sure to be a September to remember. Here’s what to expect: House and Senate votes on the Iran nuclear agreement are expected this week, but they are more about messaging since the White House has already secured enough votes to preserve the deal. Last week, Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski became the 34th Democrat to come out in favor of the agreement, giving the President the votes to uphold a veto on a Republican resolution to block it. Supporters continue to try to get enough support from undecided senators to prevent Republican leaders from even holding a vote on the controversial deal. They need 41 votes to block debate and currently are just shy of that threshold. Related gallery What is the Iran deal, and can it pass through Congress? While the fight on the Iran deal is over in practical terms, the political war over the issue will continue through the next election, when Republicans vow they will elect a president who will roll back the agreement. Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner argue that a majority of both chambers oppose the deal and point to some polls that show most Americans are critical. “If people vote for me, they know they’re voting to get rid of that deal on the first day of my presidency,” promised Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a presidential candidate. The rhetoric will escalate Wednesday when a tea party group has scheduled a rally outside the Capitol to oppose the Iran deal. Headlining the gathering will be two Republican presidential candidates: Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The deadline for Congress weighing in on the nuclear agreement is September 17. If both chambers are able to pass the resolution to block it, the House would vote first on overriding the President’s veto. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi proclaimed last week that she is “confident we will sustain the President’s veto in both houses of Congress.” The hottest ticket in Washington will be to the September 24 speech by the extraordinarily popular Pope Francis in the House chamber. Boehner, who is Catholic, has tried to secure a papal appearance since he was first elected to Congress in 1990. Related gallery Pope Francis Only a select few will get a seat inside. Boehner imposed a rule barring former members from using their floor privileges to attend, and each congressional office is given just one ticket for a seat in the visitor’s gallery. Due to intense interest, a series of Jumbotrons will be set up on the West Front of the Capitol so the public can watch. The Pope is expected to appear briefly on a Capitol balcony to see the crowd. A limited number of tickets close to the balcony will go to House and Senate offices, some of which are setting up lotteries online to decide which constituents will get the coveted passes. McConnell told reporters last month: “We have more requests for this appearance than anything anybody can ever recall around here.” Even as members from both parties say they are excited about the Pope’s speech, there could be awkward moments. Most Republicans don’t agree with Pope Francis’ statements criticizing capitalism and promoting permissive immigration policies. Many Democrats are at odds with the social policy positions of the Catholic Church, although the Pope has made some modifications recently. Here we go again. Congress faces a September 30 deadline to pass legislation to fund the government, but a fight over abortion politics is threatening another possible shutdown. Republican leaders are expected to unveil a short-term funding bill that keeps federal agencies running through the fall or mid-December, but conservatives want to strip out federal funding for Planned Parenthood. That’s a non-starter for most Democrats, and the White House says the President would veto such a bill. Multiple congressional committees launched investigations this summer into Planned Parenthood after an anti-abortion group released a series of videos that it says prove that some affiliates are selling fetal parts for profit. The group denies the allegations and has released its own report saying the videos are heavily edited. McConnell, who has repeatedly insisted there will be no shutdown, acknowledges Republicans don’t have the votes to force the President’s hand on the issue. “I would remind all of your viewers: The way you make a law in this country, the Congress has to pass it and the President has to sign it,” McConnell told WYMT, a Kentucky TV station, last week. He added, “The President has made it very clear he’s not going to sign any bill that includes defunding of Planned Parenthood, so that’s another issue that awaits a new president hopefully with a different point of view about Planned Parenthood.” An effort to pass a bill defunding the group failed last month in the Senate. But Cruz – who in the past has led high-profile efforts to block legislation he opposes – has vowed to use every procedural tool at his disposal to ban federal funds for Planned Parenthood. House and Senate Republican leaders are urging their members to focus on the investigations, not another spending fight they don’t think they can win. They believe the public hearings can potentially increase public pressure on Democrats and the White House. One idea leaders are considering is to include a provision to defund Planned Parenthood into a separate legislative package that repeals key parts of Obamacare. The so-called “reconciliation” bill allows the Senate to pass legislation related to the deficit with a simple majority, not the 60 votes most legislation needs to pass the Senate. While approval of a short-term “continuing resolution” averts a shutdown, it’s a temporary Band-Aid. Partisan fights over the annual spending bills have caused the process to stall out, and leaders from both sides say the only way to find any medium- or long-term solution is to broker some type of broad bipartisan budget deal between the White House and Capitol Hill. “Our Democratic friends want to spend more on everything. We’d like to spend more on defense. And so there will be a sort of grand negotiation here in the fall between the two sides over just how big the discretionary budget of the United States government ought to be and how it ought to be spent,” McConnell told WYMT. Congress will also need to address the debt ceiling, and that could be potentially wrapped into some kind of year-end budget deal. The debate over the nation’s borrowing authority is always contentious because conservatives don’t want to increase the debt limit without imposing new spending cuts. Those Senate Republicans running for president are expected to try to use their positions to make a mark in the crowded 2016 GOP field in the hopes they can raise their poll numbers after weeks of Trump dominance. That’s likely to cause McConnell headaches given the list of high priority bills he needs to get done this fall. Boehner also has to deal with familiar fights with members of the right in his conference. Earlier this summer, one conservative, North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, attempted to oust Boehner by offering a resolution to remove him as speaker. The challenge went nowhere, and Meadows told CNN that for now he’ll hold off pushing for a floor vote until he evaluates how much input from him and other conservatives is included in leadership decisions in September. “The only fair thing to do is see if that process is fixed,” Meadows told CNN by phone last week. Funding for federal roads, bridges and transit projects will expire at the end of October so Congress will need to come up with a proposal to add money to the highway trust fund. After 35 short-term extensions, leaders of both chambers are hoping to find agreement on a five- or six-year deal.