Today in the Trump Administration

Trump’s budget blueprint

President Trump will roll out his first budget blueprint Thursday morning that would increase defense spending by 10 percent, funding for Homeland Security programs by 6 percent and dramatically slash funding to both the State Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The proposal, which will go public at 7:00 a.m. ET, will cover both the current fiscal year as well as fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1. It does not have the force of law, and is only used as a guideline for congressional appropriators who have the power of the purse.

The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday that they had seen “no indications” that Trump Tower was wiretapped by the United States government during the 2016 campaign as claimed by President Trump.

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“Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016,” said Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., in a short joint statement.

House Republicans unveiled their long-awaited plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act earlier this month, and like any plan that would affect roughly one-sixth of the American economy, it contained a lot to digest.

Adding to the complexity is the fact that the House bill will almost surely be significantly adjusted by the time it reaches President Trump’s desk -- if it gets to his desk. Republican moderates and conservatives in the House are already demanding major changes, some of which seem mutually exclusive, and that’s before the bill even hits the Senate, where a number of key lawmakers have floated their own versions.

Michael Flynn received nearly $34,000 to attend event with Putin

A House committee investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn revealed today that Flynn received tens of thousands of dollars in 2015 from RT, the state-run Russian television network.

Trump pre-St. Patrick’s Day schedule

Meets with Prime Minister Enda Kenny, 10:30 a.m.

Speaker Ryan hosts St. Patrick’s Day luncheon for Mr. Trump, Kenny, members, 12 p.m.; photo op 1:14 p.m.

Remarks at St. Patrick’s Day reception, 6 p.m.

Health care plan

House Budget Committee marks up American Health Care Act, 10 a.m.

National Review Summit: Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller speaks

Recent Trump Administration News:

Federal judge in Hawaii puts Trump’s revised travel ban on hold



A federal judge in Hawaii has put President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban on hold.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson granted a temporary restraining order against key parts of Mr. Trump’s executive order on immigration, CBS News’ Paula Reid reports. He blocked enforcement of sections related to travel and refugees, and effectively gutted the order, which seeks to impose a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas to people from six predominantly Muslim nations and suspend the U.S. refugee program for all countries for 120 days.

The ruling applies across the U.S. and around the world, and prevents the order from going into effect Thursday. It was set to go into effect March 16 at 12:01 a.m.

Trump says tax return leak was “illegal” and a “disgrace”

President Donald Trump says he doesn’t know who released part of his 2005 tax return and described the disclosure as “illegal.”

“I have no idea where they got it but it’s illegal and they’re not supposed to have it and its not supposed to be leaked and it’s certainly not an embarrassing tax return at all but it’s an illegal thing they’ve been doing it, they’ve done it before and I think it’s a disgrace,” Mr. Trump told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in an interview airing Wednesday night.

The House Intelligence Committee’s top members, Chairman Devin Nunes and Ranking Member Adam Schiff, both of California, have so far not been presented by the Justice Department with any evidence backing up President Trump’s tweeted allegation that former President Obama tapped Donald Trump’s phones during the election. Nunes on Wednesday suggested the president could be wrong.

“I don’t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower,” he told reporters at the Capitol, and he said that if Mr. Trump’s allegations are taken literally, then “clearly the president was wrong.”

A top Senate Dem calls for more information from Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch

With less than a week until Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s hearings, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is calling for more information from the judge.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) wrote in a letter to Gorsuch Tuesday that he had not yet completed her request for a list of all “significant cases” in which he helped make decisions or “developed case strategy.”

Trump border wall: Texans receiving letters about their land

Even before Donald Trump was inaugurated, U.S. citizens who own land along the border reportedly began receiving letters from the Justice Department informing them that the federal government wants their land to build a fence (i.e. the president’s border wall), that it intends to acquire their land, and the amount of compensation the government is offering.

Yvette Salinas, a Texan whose ailing mother owns a small parcel of land with her siblings near the Rio Grande was informed by the “Declaration of Taking” letter sent by DOJ that her 1.2 acres was worth $2,900, according to a story in the Texas Observer. She told the Observer that the family’s 16 acres has been in her family for five generations. The government’s letter asks recipients to sign in order to receive compensation, acknowledge that they “do not have an interest” in the case or do not intend to make a claim. It doesn’t really say what landowners should do if, like Salinas, they don’t want to sell their land.

On Twitter, Trump criticizes reporter who revealed tax return

President Trump on Wednesday slammed the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist who revealed part of Mr. Trump’s 2005 tax return a night earlier on prime-time TV.

In a tweet, Mr. Trump said that David Cay Johnston’s claim that he received the documents in his mailbox is “fake news.”

Trump tax return gives rare look at president’s finances

Americans are getting a rare look at President Trump’s finances.

The White House confirmed details of the president’s 2005 federal tax return after its first two pages were leaked Tuesday.

Mr. Trump reported more than $150 million in income in 2005. He paid $38 million in federal income taxes.

Dan Coats confirmed as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence

The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s choice for national intelligence director.

Senators voted 85-12 Wednesday to approve the nomination of former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, making him the fifth person to hold the post created after the Sept. 11 attacks.

House GOP working on companion bill to Obamacare replacement to attract skeptics

House Republicans are working on a companion to their bill replacing “Obamacare,” a legislative second act that would ease cross-state sale of health insurance and limit jury awards for pain and suffering in malpractice lawsuits.

The problem: the so-called “sidecar” bill lacks the votes in the Senate.

Skeptics abound. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas called it “mythical legislation” in an interview Tuesday on the Hugh Hewitt radio show. In a tweet, conservative Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., suggested “Easter basket” might be a better description.

Revised travel ban to be scrutinized in court a day before it takes effect Thursday

The day before it is supposed to go into effect President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban will be scrutinized in federal courtrooms across the country on Wednesday.

In Maryland, a U.S. judge will hear arguments from the American Civil Liberties Union and others who want to stop the new directive and more than a half-dozen states are trying to derail the executive order affecting travelers from six Muslim-majority nations.

Rex Tillerson embarks on Asia trip amid Korea concerns

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is taking off for Japan, South Korea and China this week for his maiden trip to the region. Amid North Korean missile testing and after a campaign in which President Trump criticized all three countries, the trip is designed to cement U.S. commitment to allies and initiate a conversation on how to best tackle the North’s provocations.

The four-day trip will immerse Tillerson in an intensive diplomatic crash course -- he’ll meet each of the country’s foreign ministers and travel with the State Department’s top experts to the region.

As Tillerson makes connections with his counterparts, there are concerns about how seriously he will be taken, given his quiet posture thus far.

Rex Tillerson breaks precedent and brings only one reporter on trip to Asia

A reporter from a conservative-leaning website is the only media representative accompanying Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on his trip to Asia this week.

The website, the Independent Journal Review, said late Tuesday that IJR reporter Erin McPike is the lone journalist traveling with Tillerson on his tour to Japan, South Korea and China. The State Department confirmed the account. The trip is taking place amid escalating tensions with North Korea.

Rex Tillerson in Tokyo

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Tokyo, holds joint availability with Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida and they’ll hold a joint media availability, which will be Tillerson’s first press conference as secretary of state (time TBA).

Trump in Michigan, Nashville

He’ll speak in Ypsilanti, Michigan with automakers at 2 p.m. before heading to Nashville to lay a wreath and make remarks at the Hermitage (5:15 p.m.), Andrew Jackson’s birthplace and then at a campaign-style rally in the evening (7:30 p.m.).

Warren - Gorsuch

Sen. Elizabeth Warren holds press conference outside Supreme Court to protest nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to be an associate justice, 9:30 a.m.