White House

The administration is pushing the ballroom as a privately funded modernization and legacy build. - Construction continues after Jan 22 court hearing where judge questioned legal authority; review presentations completed, votes scheduled for Feb 19 (CFA) and March 5 (NCPC)

The legal and procedural challenges intensified in late January as federal Judge Richard Leon signaled deep skepticism of the administration's claim that the president can tear down "an icon that's a national institution" and fund reconstruction with $400 million in private donations. At a January 22 hearing on the National Trust's request for a preliminary injunction, Leon questioned whether Trump has legal authority to proceed and called the private-funding mechanism a "Rube Goldberg contraption." He's expected to rule in February. Three days later, Trump declared on Truth Social that "IT IS TOO LATE" to stop the project, claiming materials including structural steel, marble, and bulletproof glass have already been lined up.

Updated Jan 29

U.S. executive branch weighing whether to intervene militarily in support of Iranian protesters. - Reviewing military options for Iran intervention

Iran's judiciary chief announced January 14 that detained protesters face fast-track trials and executions despite Trump's warning of "very strong action," as the death toll reached at least 2,571 according to Human Rights Activists News Agency—quadrupling in just two days and exceeding any crackdown since the 1979 revolution. Erfan Soltani, 26, became the first protester sentenced to death after a four-day proceeding without legal representation, though his execution was postponed amid international outcry. The U.S. began evacuating hundreds of troops from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar—home to 10,000 personnel and Central Command's forward headquarters—positioning them out of range should Trump's threatened strikes trigger Iranian missile retaliation.

Updated Jan 14

The Trump White House drives the policy shocks — boat strikes, DEI cuts, climate rollbacks — that the NDAA now codifies or constrains. - Trump signed NDAA into law December 18, codifying parts of more than a dozen executive orders.

President Trump signed a nearly $901 billion defense bill into law on December 18, 2025, cementing the 65th consecutive year Congress has passed a National Defense Authorization Act. The measure delivers troops a 3.8% pay raise, locks in $800 million in weapons support for Ukraine over two years, sets troop floors in Europe and South Korea that defy Trump's withdrawal instincts, and rewires how the Pentagon buys weapons through sweeping acquisition reforms branded as the SPEED Act. It also repeals the 2002 Iraq War authorization while embedding Trump-era cuts to climate and diversity programs across the military.

Updated Jan 9

Washington is trying to prevent a patchwork of state AI laws—by force if needed. - Pushing for federal preemption; pressuring states to stop AI regulation

New York just told the biggest AI labs: if something goes seriously wrong, you don’t get to bury it. Under the RAISE Act, large “frontier AI” developers must publish a safety approach and report “critical harm” incidents to the state within 72 hours after determining one occurred—backed by civil penalties capped at $1M for a first violation and $3M for later violations, far below the bill’s earlier (June) penalty structure cited in subsequent reporting.

Updated Dec 21, 2025

Set the political direction: treat Venezuelan oil logistics as a coercive battlefield. - Driving the blockade threat and broader Venezuela pressure campaign.

Trump’s Venezuela “blockade” threat is no longer just rhetoric—it’s being scaffolded by fresh Treasury actions and a widening target universe. Since the blockade announcement, Washington has added new Venezuela-linked sanctions and separately hit Iran’s shadow-fleet network, expanding the pool of already-sanctioned vessels that could be swept into real-world stop-and-search enforcement if they touch Venezuela’s trade.

Updated Dec 20, 2025

Using federal funding as a pressure tool—and turning each court loss into the next escalation. - Political driver of the pressure campaign and public messaging

Harvard won. A federal judge said the government unlawfully cut off Harvard’s research money—then ordered the taps turned back on. Now the Trump administration is appealing, keeping a cloud over a sprawling research portfolio that runs from medical breakthroughs to national-security science.

Updated Dec 19, 2025

The White House is using executive authority to force momentum in a rulemaking it can’t legally shortcut. - Issued executive order directing rescheduling acceleration and expanded cannabinoid research

Trump’s executive order instructing DOJ to fast-track marijuana’s move to Schedule III immediately triggered a familiar split-screen: public health and industry groups cheered the potential research and tax impacts, while House Republicans organized opposition, urging Trump to keep marijuana in Schedule I.

Updated Dec 18, 2025

The presidency set the policy: ICC pursuit of U.S./Israel triggers sanctions consequences. - Created the ICC sanctions legal framework via E.O. 14203

The U.S. just sanctioned two sitting International Criminal Court judges—because they helped keep the Israel-related Gaza case alive. It’s a rare thing in diplomacy: Washington using the same financial weapon it uses on oligarchs and terror networks against a courtroom.

Updated Dec 18, 2025

The White House provided the top-down mandate to unwind Biden-era Alaska restrictions. - Set Alaska policy direction via executive order and bill signings

BLM’s rollback of the 2024 NPR-A protections isn’t new news—but today is when it becomes real. As of December 17, 2025, the rescission is officially in effect, wiping out the Biden-era rule that tried to hardwire stronger guardrails into how the Western Arctic gets developed.

Updated Dec 17, 2025

Washington is the indispensable signer—without U.S. backing, “binding” guarantees risk becoming theater. - Driving the U.S. peace framework and dispatching envoys to close a deal

Zelensky just did something he once treated as untouchable: he offered to drop Ukraine’s NATO bid. Not as surrender, but as a trade—Kyiv gives up the alliance path, and the West gives Ukraine legally binding protection strong enough to scare Moscow off for good.

Updated Dec 14, 2025

The policy’s political engine—selling the fee as reform and directing agencies to execute it. - Issued proclamation and public rationale; coordinating implementation

The Trump administration didn’t just tighten H‑1B visas. It put a $100,000 toll booth on “new” petitions—and dared employers to pay up. Now twenty states are trying to blow up that toll booth in federal court, calling it an illegal end-run around Congress.

Updated Dec 13, 2025

The Trump White House drove the union rollback through aggressive executive orders and litigation. - Issuing and defending executive orders curbing federal bargaining rights

Donald Trump tried to rewrite federal labor law with a single March executive order, yanking collective bargaining rights from most of the civil service under a sweeping "national security" label. On December 11, the House — powered by a rare discharge petition and 20 Republican defections — voted 231–195 to tear that order up.

Updated Dec 12, 2025