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Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer is releasing a book next summer. Spicer has signed a deal with Regnery Publishing, conservative book publisher.  His forthcoming book, titled "The Briefing," will focus on his "turbulent tenure" behind the lectern before resigning in July, according to the book's official description. The book promises to shed "new light on the headline-grabbing controversies of the Trump administration’s first year," the description states. Spicer worked as the communications director for the Republican National Committee before being named as now-President Donald Trump's press secretary during the transition. His tenure got off to a rocky start when he made his first appearance in the White House briefing room the day after Trump took office and read a statement to the press about the size of the crowd at the inauguration. His resignation came the day after the Trump administration marked it...

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee say they're suing the Trump Administration for withholding documents about Trump's luxury hotel in Washington, D.C. President Trump's administration being taken to court over his business interests again. It's the fifth legal claim targeting the president's businesses. The lawmakers allege the administration won't give them information about the hotel's finances. They're also seeking material that could shed light on whether Trump is engaging in any self-dealing. The Democrats say that lack of transparency hinders the committee from holding the president accountable for possible conflicts of interest. "This hotel is not just a building with Donald Trump's name on it," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee's top Democrat. "It is a glaring symbol of the Trump Administration's lack of accountability, and a daily reminder of the refusal by Republicans in Congress t...

The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on a slew of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies Tuesday in its latest push to isolate the rogue nation over its nuclear weapons development and deprive it of revenue. The Treasury Department also designated a North Korean corporation involved in exporting workers overseas. The action came a day after the United States returned North Korea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. “These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea’s trade and its deceptive maneuvers.” Among the companies targeted were four Chinese-based companies and one Chinese individual said to have deep commercial ties with North Korea. The sanctions were imposed under a Septe...

TPS is an immigration status allowed by law for certain countries experiencing dire conditions, such as a natural disaster, epidemic or war. It protects individuals from deportation and authorizes them to work in the US. The Trump administration has announced it will end the Temporary Protected Status designation for Haiti by July 2019, potentially forcing tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants to either leave the US or live in the shadows. In May, former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who now serves as White House chief of staff, extended the protection from deportation for Haitians for an additional six months. When Kelly temporarily extended the status for Haiti, which had received the designation after an earthquake devastated the island in 2010, he warned the nearly 58,700 recipients living in America to prepare their affairs for going back to Haiti or to find another way to apply to stay in the United States. "Based on all available informa...

The United States banned imports from Zimbabwe in 2014 because of a lack of data on conservation efforts there. Now the United States agency says it is satisfied with Zimbabwe’s actions and believes such hunts can be beneficial for the species by bringing money to local communities and providing incentives to conserve elephants. The Trump administration will begin allowing hunters to bring into the United States “trophy” elephants killed in Zimbabwe, reversing a 2014 ban on a practice that has received intense scrutiny in recent years. Though African elephants are protected under the Endangered Species Act, the law allows the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to authorize imports of trophies if the agency finds that the hunts in which the animals were killed contribute to the survival of the species. The Zimbabwean government, it added, was contributing to efforts to combat poaching and working with partners to improve elephant management. The reversal of th...

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said on Wednesday that he would leave the federal agency this month. Removing a major opponent to the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle business regulations and unfetter Wall Street. As the bureau’s first director, Richard Cordray, a Democrat appointed by President Barack Obama, has been an active watchdog whose role took on outsize significance in an increasingly partisan Washington. To many Republicans, he embodied the kind of overaggressive policing that they contend hamstrings businesses and quashes innovation. To Democrats, he was a champion of the public, fighting predatory companies and abusive practices that rip off ordinary people.

The Trump administration has signaled a desire to wind down the protections of Temporary Protected Status, which is an immigration status allowed by law for certain countries experiencing dire conditions, such as a natural disaster, epidemic or war. TPS protects individuals from deportation and authorizes them to work in the US. Without TPS, those individuals revert to whatever status they had previously -- which could leave large numbers as undocumented immigrants. The Trump administration will end the protected immigration status of thousands of Central Americans who have been living in the US nearly two decades, urging Congress to act if it wants to spare those individuals from being uprooted. Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Elaine Duke has decided to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Nicaragua with a 12-month delay, the department announced Monday night. DHS also said Duke has not been able to reach a decision on Honduras despite different agen...