Thursday, 13 August 2026

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced her resignation effective end of August, citing desire to spend more time with her young family. At 28, she was the youngest White House press secretary in history.

A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration's lawsuit against Harvard University alleging the institution failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment during Gaza war protests, ruling the incidents described were 'isolated and episodic.'

The Kennedy Center board voted to inscribe Trump's name on the building as 'Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump' and to close the main campus for two years of renovations, directly challenging a federal judge's May order requiring the removal of Trump's name.

The Trump administration announced plans to equip Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with electric shock gloves capable of delivering painful shocks to detainees, with White House border czar Tom Homan defending the devices as alternatives to lethal force.

A third detainee at Newark's Delaney Hall immigration detention facility died after experiencing a seizure while in custody. Jose Chajon-Raxon was hospitalized and later released from custody before his death, raising concerns about medical care at ICE facilities.

The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed for more than 250 days in support of the Iran war, with reports of food shortages, broken plumbing, and deteriorating conditions aboard. Pentagon officials disputed the reports, but Congress members expressed concern for crew welfare.

The Department of Homeland Security conducted extensive surveillance of left-leaning groups and anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota, including infiltrating chats, sending undercover agents, and obtaining financial records of organizations never accused of crimes, reportedly beginning days after an ICE shooting.

Democratic lawmakers sent letters to President Trump demanding he disclose who manages his stock portfolio, which gained $2 billion last year, citing over 30 suspicious trades preceding favorable government announcements.

The Trump administration finalized a rule ending federal support for gender-affirming care through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), blocking funds for vulnerable children and making it harder to access healthcare.

An appeals court dismissed a case challenging Trump's use of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act for deportations, dodging a major ruling on the law's constitutionality in the context of alleged gang members from Venezuela.

Congressional Democrats demanded a formal briefing after it emerged that Cabinet officials, aides, and reporters were kept aboard the original Air Force One as an unwitting decoy while Trump secretly transferred to a smaller jet amid an alleged Iranian assassination plot during the NATO summit in Turkey. Passengers including Secretary of State Rubio and Treasury Secretary Bessent were not informed of the threat. Sen. Chris Coons called it a "despicable incident of disrespect," saying staff should have been allowed to disembark rather than "taking off on the No. 1 target in the whole region."