President Trump

The White House is telling Congress that hostilities with Iran have "terminated" despite the continued presence of U.S. armed forces in the region. That message in a letter Friday from President Donald Trump effectively skirts a May 1 legal deadline to gain approval from members of Congress to continue the war with Iran. That deadline was already set to pass without action from Republican lawmakers who are deferring to the president. Trump also makes clear in the letter that the war may be far from over. The letter brings into stark relief the bold but legally questionable assertion of presidential power at the heart of Trump's war.

President Donald Trump was reported uninjured and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents after an unspecified threat. There did not immediately appear to be any injuries, and one law-enforcement official said a shooter opened fire. The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall at the Washington Hilton as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. "Out of the way, sir!" someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. Some in the crowd reported hearing what they believed to be five to eight shots fired. The banquet hall — where hundreds of prominent journalists, celebrities and national leaders were awaiting Trump's speech — was immediately evacuated.It was not immediately clear what happened.

Gov. Ron DeSantis went on a renaming spree Tuesday. The spree came as he signed into law a transportation measure.

President Donald Trump says U.S. forces will "finish the job" in Iran soon as "core strategic objectives are nearing completion." He offered a full-throated defense of the war Wednesday night in his first national address since the conflict began more than a month ago. Trump got a wide audience and a chance to articulate clear objectives for the war after weeks of changing goals and often contradictory messages — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors and airstrikes pounded Tehran. But he spent much of his time repeating some of the same things he said in recent weeks. He promised U.S. forces would continue to hit Iran very hard.

President Donald Trump on Thursday fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, after mounting criticism over her leadership of the department, including the handling of the administration's immigration crackdown and disaster response. Trump says he'll nominate in Noem's place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin. Trump made the announcement on social media Thursday, two days after Noem faced a grilling on Capitol Hill from GOP members as well as Democrats. Trump says he'll make Noem a "Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas," a new security initiative he says will focus on the Western Hemisphere.

An American soldier from Winter Haven, Florida, has been identified as one of the six U.S. casualties in the Iran war. Three other soldiers were also identified. Israel stepped up airstrikes on Iranian missile launchers and a nuclear research site, and Iran retaliated against Israel and across the Gulf region, disrupting energy supplies and travel. As explosions rang out in Tehran and in Lebanon — where Israel said it struck Hezbollah militants — the American embassy in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. consulate in the United Arab Emirates came under drone attacks. Four days into a war that President Donald Trump suggested would last several weeks but perhaps longer, hundreds of people have been killed in Iran, including people Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.

The Supreme Court has struck down President Donald Trump's far-reaching global tariffs, handing him a significant loss on an issue crucial to his economic agenda. Friday's decision centers on tariffs he unilaterally imposed under an emergency powers law, including the sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs levied on nearly every other country. The Republican president has called the case one of the most important in U.S. history and said a ruling against him would be an economic body blow to the country. But legal opposition crossed the political spectrum, including libertarian and pro-business groups typically aligned with the GOP. Administration officials have said they expect to keep the tariff framework in place under other authorities.

President Donald Trump has issued the first vetoes of his second term, rejecting two bipartisan natural resources bills. The Tuesday vetoes had the effect of punishing backers of the bills who had opposed the president's positions on other issues. Trump vetoed drinking water pipeline legislation from Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a longtime ally who broke with the president over releasing files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He also rejected legislation that would have given the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida more control over some of its land. The tribe was among groups suing the administration over an immigration detention center in the Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz."

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is criticizing Attorney General Pam Bondi's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and broadly defending Donald Trump's second presidency in a series of interviews published Tuesday. Wiles told Vanity Fair that Bondi mismanaged the Epstein case with talk about a "client list" sitting on her desk. On Venezuela, Wiles says Trump will continue to be aggressive, and she also is defending Trump's retribution against people he perceives as political enemies. After the story was published, Wiles disparaged it as a "disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history." She did not deny the quotes that were attributed to her.

Tensions are beginning to boil over in South America, as the United States contemplates taking military action against Venezuela.