Tag Archives: White House

Trump fires communications director Scaramucci in new White House upheaval

FILE PHOTO: New White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, flanked by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, speaks at the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. July 21, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

By Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump ousted recently hired White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci on Monday over an obscene tirade, sources familiar with the decision said, in the latest staff upheaval for the six-month-old administration.

The move, coming just 10 days after the Republican president named Scaramucci to the post, took place on the first day of work for Trump’s new chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, who sources said was seeking to impose order on a White House riven with factions and backbiting.

“There’s a new sheriff in town,” said Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser.

A Republican close to Trump said the president fretted on the weekend over what to do about Scaramucci, calling his advisers to ask their opinion, all of whom told him the tough-talking aide had to go.

Trump was annoyed about Scaramucci’s lewd comments to The New Yorker magazine published last Thursday and at how the abrasive New York financier appeared to inflate the strength of their friendship, since he had started the 2016 presidential election cycle as a fundraiser for two Trump rivals, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush.

Trump decided it was time to cut him loose, the source said.

Kelly, who also wanted him removed, summoned Scaramucci to Kelly’s office on Monday morning and fired him on the spot, the official said. It was one of Kelly’s first acts as chief of staff.

“A great day at the White House!” Trump tweeted on Monday evening.

The departure of Scaramucci followed one of the rockiest weeks of Trump’s presidency in which a major Republican effort to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system failed in Congress and both his spokesman and previous chief of staff left their jobs as White House infighting burst into the open.

Scaramucci’s comments to The New Yorker included a profanity-laced attack against then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon.

“The president certainly felt that Anthony’s comments were inappropriate for a person in that position,” spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

In a change from previous procedure at the Trump White House, all staff will now report to Kelly, including Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, Sanders said.

A Republican official close to the White House said Kelly had been given wide authority to impose order on the unruly Trump White House.

“Things will run with regular order,” the official said, adding that even the president’s daughter and her husband, who both have senior roles at the White House, are “not above the law.”

At a dinner on Saturday night at Trump’s hotel near the White House, Trump told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to expect some staff changes, the official said. Kelly attended the dinner as well.

INNER CIRCLE

Tensions in Trump’s inner circle erupted last week when Scaramucci assailed Priebus and Bannon, two of the West Wing’s most senior figures. He accused Priebus of leaking information to the media. Priebus later resigned.

Trump appeared on Monday with Kelly in the Oval Office and in a Cabinet meeting where he predicted the new chief of staff would do a “spectacular job.” He praised Kelly for his tenure overseeing border security issues at the Department of Homeland Security.

“With a very controversial situation, there’s been very little controversy, which is really amazing by itself,” Trump said.

Republicans fear that staff chaos at the White House could derail any attempt to revive efforts to repeal and replace the Obamacare healthcare law and a plan to overhaul the U.S. tax system.

The U.S. dollar hit a more than 2-1/2-year low against the euro on Monday on month-end portfolio adjustments and uncertainty over the U.S. political outlook after Scaramucci’s departure.

Aside from domestic challenges, Trump is weighing how to respond to North Korea’s latest missile test – a sore point between Washington and Beijing. Trump has been critical of China, North Korea’s closest ally, saying it should do more to rein in Pyongyang.

He is also dealing with several investigations into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and has been frustrated that the probes are also looking into potential collusion by his campaign. Moscow rejects the charge it tried to swing the election in Trump’s favor, and Trump denies his campaign had anything to do with such interference.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Mark Hosenball; Writing by Alistair Bell and Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Trump replaces chief of staff Priebus with retired General Kelly

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters about the departure of his Chief of Staff Reince Priebus as he arrives aboard Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S. July 28, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

By Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump replaced his beleaguered White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, after only six months on the job on Friday, installing retired General John Kelly in his place in a major shake-up of his top team.

Trump announced the move in a tweet a day after his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, accused Priebus of leaking information to reporters in a profanity-laced tirade.

Kelly, 67, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, is currently secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and will assume the chief of staff post on Monday. He was hired with the goal of bringing more discipline to the White House, a senior White House official said.

Trump issued his decision just as he landed aboard Air Force One after a visit to Long Island and hours after Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare failed in the Senate.

Priebus was on the plane with the Republican president and made no comment. Reporters had noticed no sign of stress from Priebus during the day.Priebus told CNN he had been talking to Trump for some time about exiting the White House, and is the latest in a long line of officials to leave or not take a job at the White House.

“The president has a right to hit a reset button. I think it’s time to hit the reset button,” Priebus said in a televised interview from the White House. “He intuitively determined that it was time to do something different, and I think he’s right.”

Trump had lost confidence in Priebus, privately questioning his competence after major legislative items failed to pass the U.S. Congress, a Trump confidant said.

A source close to Priebus said the former Republican National Committee chairman turned in his resignation on Thursday night, after Scaramucci’s rant against him was published by the New Yorker magazine.

A senior White House official said Trump had informed Priebus two weeks ago that he would be replacing him and that the move had no connection to Scaramucci, whose hiring a week ago prompted Sean Spicer, a Priebus ally, to abruptly resign as press secretary.

After frequent conversations with Kelly, Trump recently warmed up to the idea of naming Kelly chief of staff to more effectively manage personnel and offered it to him earlier this week, a senior White House official said.

KELLY ‘A STAR’

Carrying an umbrella, Trump approached reporters as he stepped off Air Force One, with rain storming down.

“Reince is a good man. John Kelly will do a fantastic job. General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. He’s a great, great American. Reince is a good man,” Trump said.

Priebus’ 189-day tenure was the shortest in modern history for a White House chief of staff. He had hoped to stay on at least a year but struggled to manage his unpredictable boss and was unable to get a handle on conflicting factions in the White House who have frequently squabbled.

In a statement, Priebus said it had been one of the great honors of his life to serve Trump and the country.

“I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the president’s agenda and policies. I can’t think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me and I wish him God’s blessings and great success,” he said.

Trump loyalists had chafed at Priebus, feeling he had installed his RNC allies at the White House and overlooked the people close to Trump who helped get him elected president in November.

But Priebus allies felt he was an important link to establishment Republicans in Washington as the capital attempted to adjust to the anti-establishment style of the president.

“He has served the president and the American people capably and passionately,” House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said of his close friend in a statement. “He has achieved so much, and he has done it all with class. I could not be more proud to call Reince a dear friend.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said she did not think Priebus’ exit would affect the White House’s relationship with the Republican Party.

“I think we’ve still got a good relationship. We’re going to continue working with the party and doing what we came here to do,” she said.

Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke will become the acting chief of the department on Monday, DHS said in a statement.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, is among those being considered for Homeland Security secretary, a DHS official said.

(Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe and David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Trump to sign Russia sanctions, Moscow retaliates

FILE PHOTO - U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

By Eric Beech and Andrew Osborn

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will sign legislation that imposes sanctions on Russia, the White House said on Friday, after Moscow ordered the United States to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff and said it would seize two U.S. diplomatic properties in retaliation for the bill.

The U.S. Senate had voted almost unanimously on Thursday to slap new sanctions on Russia, forcing Trump to choose between a tough position on Moscow and effectively dashing his stated hopes for warmer ties with the country or to veto the bill amid investigations in possible collusion between his campaign and Russia.

By signing the bill into law, Trump can not ease the sanctions against Russia unless he seeks congressional approval.

Moscow’s retaliation, announced by the Foreign Ministry on Friday, had echoes of the Cold War. If confirmed that Russia’s move would affect hundreds of staff at the U.S. embassy, it would far outweigh the Obama administration’s expulsion of 35 Russians in December.

The legislation was in part a response to conclusions by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and to further punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Late on Friday, the White House issued a statement saying Trump would sign the bill after reviewing the final version. The statement made no reference to Russia’s retaliatory measures.

Russia had been threatening retaliation for weeks. Its response suggests it has set aside initial hopes of better ties with Washington under Trump, something the U.S. leader, before he was elected, had said he wanted to achieve.

Relations were already languishing at a post-Cold War low because of the allegations that Russian cyber interference in the election was intended to boost Trump’s chances, something Moscow flatly denies. Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russian officials.

The Russian Foreign Ministry complained of growing anti-Russian feeling in the United States, accusing “well-known circles” of seeking “open confrontation”.

President Vladimir Putin had warned on Thursday that Russia would have to retaliate against what he called boorish U.S. behavior. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Friday that the Senate vote was the last straw.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by telephone that Russia was ready to normalize relations with the United States and to cooperate on major global issues.

Lavrov and Tillerson “agreed to maintain contact on a range of bilateral issues”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry said the United States had until Sept. 1 to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the number of Russian diplomats left in the United States after Washington expelled 35 Russians in December.

‘EXTREME AGGRESSION’

It was not immediately clear how many U.S. diplomats and other workers would be forced to leave either the country or their posts, but the Interfax news agency cited an informed source as saying “hundreds” of people would be affected.

A diplomatic source told Reuters that it would be for the United States to decide which posts to cut, whether occupied by U.S. or Russian nationals.

An official at the U.S. Embassy, who declined to be named because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said the Embassy employed around 1,100 diplomatic and support staff in Russia, including Russian and U.S. citizens.

Russian state television channel Rossiya 24 said over 700 staff would be affected but that was not confirmed by the foreign ministry or the U.S. embassy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement said the passage of the bill confirmed “the extreme aggression of the United States in international affairs”.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met outgoing U.S. ambassador John Tefft on Friday to inform him of the counter measures, Russian news agencies reported. The U.S. Embassy said Tefft had expressed his “strong disappointment and protest”.

Most U.S. diplomatic staff, including around 300 U.S. citizens, work in the main embassy in Moscow, with others based in consulates in St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was also seizing a Moscow dacha compound used by U.S. diplomats for recreation, from Aug. 1, as well as a U.S. diplomatic warehouse in Moscow.

In December, the outgoing Obama administration seized two Russian diplomatic compounds – one in New York and another in Maryland – at the same time as it expelled Russian diplomats.

Trump and Putin met for the first time at a G20 summit in Germany this month in what both sides described as a productive encounter, but Russian officials have become increasingly convinced that Congress and Trump’s political opponents will not allow him to mend ties, even if he wants to.

The European Union has also threatened to retaliate against new U.S. sanctions on Russia, saying they would harm the bloc’s energy security by targeting projects including a planned new pipeline to bring Russian natural gas to northern Europe.

A European Commission spokesman in Brussels said the bloc would be following the sanctions process closely.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov, Polina Devitt, Jack Stubbs and Denis Pinchuk in Moscow, Patricia Zengerle and Ayesha Rascoe in Washington; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Grant McCool and Christian Schmollinger)

Washington refocuses on tax; anti-tax activist sees bill in September

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, speaks before the dedication of a statue of the late Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Ginger Gibson and David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional Republicans are ramping up discussions on overhauling the U.S. tax code that a prominent Republican anti-tax advocate said on Wednesday will produce a bill by September with a hefty corporate tax cut.

Grover Norquist, head of the anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform and a lobbyist close to Republican leaders, said a “Big Six” group of Republican tax decision-makers was targeting the end of this month for producing a basic framework for a bill to be introduced in September.

“The House, the White House and the Senate have been meeting for a couple months. They’ll have a package in September,” said Norquist, a conservative tax and small-government activist who has met with Big Six members.

The group met on Wednesday evening and two members who emerged 45 minutes later said they were united on tax principles but offered no comment on whether they had agreed to a framework.

“We’re all on one page, on one unified page,” White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said.

House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady also told reporters there was unity and to expect a statement in coming days.

Central to the discussion is the 35 percent corporate income tax rate, how much it can be cut and whether a cut can be made permanent. The White House wants to slash the rate to 15 percent for seven years, while congressional Republicans are trying to settle on a permanent rate that does not increase the deficit.

President Donald Trump and his representatives on the Big Six – Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin – are “really excited about the 15 percent rate” for corporations, Norquist said.

The congressional Big Six members are Brady, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch.

Norquist has played a key role in tax negotiations in Washington for years.

Trump is insisting on lowering the tax rate for pass-through businesses, now taxed at the top individual tax code rate, to 15 percent, Norquist said.

The Big Six agree that Trump’s 15 percent corporate rate cannot be achieved on a permanent basis without adding to the federal deficit, administration officials said.

Such a steep tax rate cut would mean a revenue loss of more than $2 trillion over a decade, independent analysts say.

To solve the deficit issue, the White House is open to making the 15 percent rate temporary, with an expiration in seven years, Norquist said. That would conflict with Republicans in Congress who want a permanent tax overhaul, but it would ensure rates would not have to be renewed during Trump’s presidency.

Mnuchin said on Wednesday morning that the administration would be “sensitive to increasing the debt.”

“We are very close to releasing a detailed plan and I can assure you that we believe that detailed plan will be responsible on the impact on the economy and the cost to the debt,” he said.

Under current law, companies adhere to complex depreciation schedules for how long it takes for equipment to wear out and lose value.

Business groups have called for “100 percent expensing,” a policy that would let companies write off the entire price of equipment in the year of purchase. Former President Barack Obama pushed for temporary 100 percent expensing as a economic stimulus to help reverse the recession when he took office.

The White House is considering a three-year window to allow 100 percent expensing, Norquist said. After the three years, the rate would return to 50 percent, which is the current law.

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Dan Grebler and Bill Trott)

Trump warns Iran over detained Americans: White House

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he leaves a Made in America roundtable meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S. July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran would face “new and serious consequences” unless all unjustly detained American citizens were released and returned, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

Trump urged Iran to return Robert Levinson, an American former law enforcement officer who disappeared more than 10 years ago in Iran, and demanded that Tehran release businessman Siamak Namazi and his father, Baquer.

The statement capped a week of rhetoric against Tehran. On Tuesday, Washington slapped new economic sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program and said Tehran’s “malign activities” in the Middle East undercut any “positive contributions” coming from the 2015 nuclear accord.

Those measures signaled that the Trump administration was seeking to put more pressure on Iran while keeping in place an agreement between Tehran and six world powers to curb its nuclear program in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.

Friday’s statement said Trump and his administration were “redoubling efforts” to bring back all Americans unjustly detained abroad.

An Iranian court sentenced 46-year-old Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Baquer Namazi to 10 years in prison each on charges of spying and cooperating with the United States.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained Siamak in October 2015 while he was visiting family in Tehran, relatives said.

The IRGC arrested the father, a former Iranian provincial governor and former UNICEF official in February last year, family members said.

Levinson, a former agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and for the Drug Enforcement Administration, disappeared in Iran in 2007 and the U.S. government has a $5 million reward for information leading to his safe return.

An Iranian court sentenced Xiyue Wang, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen graduate student from Princeton University, to 10 years in jail on spying charges, Iran’s judiciary spokesman said on Sunday.

“Iran is responsible for the care and wellbeing of every United States citizen in its custody,” the White House said in the statement.

Separately, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Oman’s foreign affairs minister, Yusuf bin Alawi on Friday.

Washington has in the past sought Oman’s mediation to help in securing the release of detained Americans abroad. Last year American prisoners held captive by Yemen Houthi rebels were released after Omani mediation.

Oman also paid bail that ultimately helped in the release of three American hikers in 2010 and 2011.

(Reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by James Dalgleish, Toni Reinhold)

Sean Spicer resigns as Trump seeks to repair public image

FILE PHOTO: White House spokesman Sean Spicer holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 8, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House spokesman Sean Spicer resigned on Friday, ending a brief and turbulent tenure that made him a household name, amid further upheaval within President Donald Trump’s inner circle.

A White House official confirmed the departure of Spicer, 45, and said Trump had named Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci as his new, top communications official.

While not a surprise, Spicer’s departure was abrupt and reflected heightened turmoil within Trump’s legal and communication teams amid a widening investigation into possible ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Kremlin.

Parodied memorably by Melissa McCarthy on the “Saturday Night Live” sketch comedy show for his combative encounters with the White House press corps, Spicer became one of the Trump administration’s most recognized figures.

He invited controversy from the beginning, attacking the news media in his debut appearance as press secretary for reporting what he called inaccurate crowd numbers at Trump’s inauguration.

“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” he said, an assertion that quickly drew scorn.

While the White House official gave no reason for Spicer’s resignation, the New York Times reported that he had quit over Scaramucci’s appointment. Spicer had been serving as both press secretary and communications director, but with a lower profile recently.

Spicer was targeted by critics for what they said were false or misleading statements. In recent weeks, he has less frequently taken the lectern in the White House press room.

From the start, Spicer and other Trump aides sought to shake up the status quo in White House dealings with the media, including cutting back daily televised news briefings and replacing them with audio briefings only.

When Trump tapped Spicer for the job of press secretary, he was spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

Separately, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the possible Trump-Russia ties, has asked White House officials to preserve any records of a meeting last year between the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer, a source with knowledge of the request said on Friday.

The White House said deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders will give an on-camera briefing on Friday afternoon.

(Writing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Susan Heavey; Editing by Kieran Murray and Jonathan Oatis)

White House deregulation push clears out hundreds of proposed rules

U.S. President Donald trump speaks during a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans to discuss healthcare at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By David Shepardson and Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said Thursday it had withdrawn or removed from active consideration more than 800 proposed regulations that were never finalized during the Obama administration as it works to shrink the federal government’s regulatory footprint.

In a report, the Trump administration said it had withdrawn 469 planned regulatory actions that had been part of the Obama administration’s regulatory agenda published last fall. Officials also reconsidered 391 active regulatory proceedings actions by reclassifying them as long-term or inactive “allowing for further careful review,” the White House said.

The administration’s move to eliminate regulations makes good on a much-repeated Trump campaign promise to promote business-friendly policies. Investors have also anticipated the action, helping to push share prices higher on hopes fewer regulations will unfetter business growth and lead to higher corporate profits.

The Trump administration has identified nearly 300 regulations related to energy production and environmental protection it plans to rescind, review or delay across three agencies – the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior and Energy Departments.

Trump had already identified several of the regulations as targets in his March executive orders on energy, but they will now undergo a formal rulemaking process to be rescinded or revised.

In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to place “regulatory reform” task forces and officers within federal agencies in what may be the most far reaching effort to pare back U.S. red tape in recent decades.

Trump has vowed a sweeping cut in U.S. regulations and previously ordered agencies to repeal two rules for every new one adopted.

The Interior Department is reviewing an Obama-era rule that directed companies to reduce venting and flaring and methane leaks from oil and gas production on federal and tribal land, according to a White House semi-annual government wide regulation report.

Representatives of the oil and gas industry cheered.

“We just got through eight years of a regulatory onslaught, aimed at curtailing oil and gas production. So we are very supportive of the administration’s efforts to roll back regulation,” said Kathleen Sgamma, head of the Western Energy Alliance representing oil and gas drillers in Western states.

She said membership was particularly pleased about the effort to repeal the methane rule, which the industry estimated would have cost about $50,000 per well. Methane is one of the gases scientists say is driving global climate change.

The U.S. Transportation Department said it would review a number of Obama administration proposals that were close to being finalized including making automobile event data recorders mandatory, requiring sounds for electric cars and updating some crash test dummy standards.

The Energy Department listed dozens of energy efficiency standards for commercial and household appliances that it would review.

Much of the effort is aimed at rolling back or blocking regulations proposed during the Obama administration.

The White House said the regulatory agenda “represents the beginning of fundamental regulatory reform and a reorientation toward reducing unnecessary regulatory burden on the American people.”

The plan drew condemnation.

“Six months into the administration, the only accomplishments the president has had is to rollback, delay, and rescind science-based safeguards,” said Yogin Kothari of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Today’s release of the regulatory agenda confirms just as much. It continues to perpetuate a false narrative that regulations only have costs and no benefits.”

The regulatory agenda calls for the U.S. Labor Department to rescind an Obama-era rule that prohibits restaurants and bars from forcing servers to share their tips with untipped employees such as cooks and dishwashers. That 2011 tip-pooling regulation is also the subject of a legal challenge by the National Restaurant Association, which has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the rule.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Valerie Volcovici and Robert Iafolla in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders and Nick Zieminski)

U.S. Senate Republicans set repeal vote as healthcare overhaul sinks

FILE PHOTO - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to the media about plans to repeal and replace Obamacare on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S. on June 27, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell set a vote on a straight repeal of Obamacare after efforts to overhaul the healthcare law collapsed, but the new approach unraveled within hours on Tuesday in a sharp setback for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.

The disarray in the Republican-controlled Senate rattled financial markets and cast doubt on the chances for getting Trump’s other domestic policy priorities, such as tax reform, through a divided Congress.

Repealing and replacing Obamacare has been a top Republican goal for seven years, and Trump made the promise a centerpiece of his White House campaign. The overhaul’s failure calls into question not only his ability to get his agenda through Congress but that of the Republican Party to govern effectively.

Saying he was disappointed, Trump told reporters at the White House that “we’re probably in that position where we’ll just let Obamacare fail.”

“We’re not going to own it, I’m not going to own it. … Republicans are not going to own it. We will let Obamacare fail, and then the Democrats are going to come to us,” he said.

McConnell gave up on efforts to overhaul the 2010 Affordable Care Act late on Monday after it became clear he did not have the votes. Instead, he announced plans to vote in coming days on a two-year transition to simply repeal the healthcare law with no replacement.

“We will now try a different way to bring the American people relief from Obamacare,” McConnell said on Tuesday as he opened the Senate, where the Republicans hold a razor-thin 52-48 majority. “I think we owe them at least that much.”

But Republican Senators Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska quickly announced they would not back repeal, dooming the fledgling effort. With Democrats united in opposition, Republicans can only afford to lose two votes to pass the measure in the Senate.

(Writing by John Whitesides; Additional reporting by Caroline Humer in New York and Ginger Gibson, Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Tom Brown, Nick Zieminski and Jonathan Oatis)

U.S. threatens Syria, says Assad is planning chemical weapons attack

FILE PHOTO: Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Croatian newspaper Vecernji List in Damascus, Syria, in this handout picture provided by SANA on April 6, 2017. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

By Jeff Mason and John Walcott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that he and his military would “pay a heavy price” if it conducted a chemical weapons attack and said the United States had reason to believe such preparations were underway.

The White House said in a statement released late on Monday the preparations by Syria were similar to those undertaken before an April 4 chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians and prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to order a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base.

“The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

“If … Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price,” he said.

White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on potential U.S. plans or the intelligence that prompted the statement about Syria’s preparations for an attack.

Trump, who took to Twitter not long after the statement went out, focused his attention on a Fox News report related to former President Barack Obama and the 2016 election rather than developments in Syria.

Trump ordered the strike on the Shayrat airfield in Syria in April in reaction to what Washington said was a poison gas attack by Assad’s government that killed 87 people in rebel-held territory. Syria denied it carried out the attack.

Assad said in an interview with the AFP news agency earlier this year that the alleged April attack was “100 percent fabrication” used to justify a U.S. air strike.

The strike was the toughest direct U.S. action yet in Syria’s six-year-old civil war, raising the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Assad’s two main military backers.

‘ABNORMAL ACTIVITY’

U.S. and allied intelligence officers had for some time identified several sites where they suspected the Assad government may have been hiding newly made chemical weapons from inspectors, said one U.S. official familiar with the intelligence.

The assessment was based in part on the locations, security surrounding the suspect sites and other information which the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to describe.

The White House warning, the official said, was based on new reports of what was described as abnormal activity that might be associated with preparations for a chemical attack.

Although the intelligence was not considered conclusive, the administration quickly decided to issue the public warning to the Assad regime about the consequences of another chemical attack on civilians in an attempt to deter such a strike, said the official, who declined to discuss the issue further.

At the time of the April strike, U.S. officials called the intervention a “one-off” intended to deter future chemical weapons attacks and not an expansion of the U.S. role in the Syrian war.

The United States has taken a series of actions over the past three months demonstrating its willingness to carry out strikes, mostly in self-defense, against Syrian government forces and their backers, including Iran.

The United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Twitter: “Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia and Iran who support him killing his own people.”

Washington has repeatedly struck Iranian-backed militia and even shot down a drone threatening U.S.-led coalition forces since the April military strike. The U.S. military also shot down a Syrian jet earlier this month.

Trump has also ordered stepped-up military operations against the Islamic State militant group and delegated more authority to his generals.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and John Walcott; Additional reporting by Eric Beech, Patricia Zengerle, and Michelle Nichols; Writing by Yara Bayoumy and Jeff Mason; Editing by Paul Tait)

White House says it retains right to self-defense in Syria; Moscow warns Washington

A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the Mediterranean Sea June 28, 2016. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan U. Kledzik/Handout via Reuters

By Steve Holland, Phil Stewart and Andrew Osborn

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – The White House said on Monday that coalition forces fighting Islamic State militants in Syria retained the right to self-defense as Russia warned it viewed any planes flying in its area of operations as potential targets.

Tensions escalated on Sunday as the U.S. military brought down a Syrian military jet near Raqqa for bombing near U.S.-allied forces on the ground, the first time Washington had carried out such an action in the multi-pronged civil war.

It was also the first time the U.S. Air Force had shot down a manned aircraft since May 1999.

In a move that will fan tensions between Washington and Moscow, Russia made clear it was changing its military posture in response to the U.S. downing of the jet.

Russia, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said it would treat U.S.-led coalition aircraft flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as potential targets and track them with missile systems and military aircraft. It stopped short of saying it would shoot them down.

The Russian Defence Ministry said it was also immediately scrapping a Syrian air safety agreement with Washington designed to avoid collisions and dangerous incidents.

Moscow accused Washington of failing to honor the pact by not informing it of the decision to shoot down the Syrian plane despite Russian aircraft being airborne at the same time.

Washington hit back, saying it would “do what we can to protect our interests.”

“The escalation of hostilities among the many factions that are operating in this region doesn’t help anybody. And the Syrian regime and others in the regime need to understand that we will retain the right of self-defense, of coalition forces aligned against ISIS,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

The U.S. military said it was repositioning its aircraft over Syria to ensure the safety of American air crews targeting Islamic State.

The White House also said it would work to keep lines of communication open with Russia amid the new tensions. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the United States was working to restore a “deconfliction” communications line with Russia meant to avoid an accidental clash over Syria.

Marine General Joseph Dunford said there were still communications between a U.S. air operations center in Qatar and Russian forces on the ground in Syria, adding: “We’ll work diplomatically and military in the coming hours to re-establish deconfliction.”

The U.S. Central Command had issued a statement saying the downed Syrian military jet had been dropping bombs near U.S.-backed SDF forces, which are seeking to oust Islamic State from the city of Raqqa.

It said the shooting down of the plane was “collective self-defense” and the coalition had contacted Russian counterparts by telephone via an established “de-confliction line to de-escalate the situation and stop the firing.

Russia is supporting Assad militarily with air power, advisers and special forces as he tries to roll back Islamic State and other militant groups. Unlike the United States, it says its presence is sanctioned by the Syrian government.

Adding to the tension, Iran launched missiles at Islamic State targets in eastern Syria on Sunday, a strike seen as a projection of military power into part of Syria identified as a top priority by Damascus and its allies.

(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Peter Cooney)