The White House is releasing details of President Donald Trump's 2027 budget, including a $1.5 trillion defense spending request. That's the largest of its kind in decades. The Republican president had indicated even before the war against Iran that he wanted to increase defense spending to modernize the military. He's also calling for a 10% cut in non-defense discretionary spending. The president's annual budget does not carry the force of law. Instead, it reflects an administration's priorities and provides a road map to Congress, which handles spending issues. But Congress is free to reject it and often does.

Donald Trump won the presidency by promising to lower costs and end wars. A year and a half later, he is a wartime president contemplating whether to send U.S. ground troops into an expanding conflict in Iran. Gas prices are spiking and Trump is urging Americans to be patient. Everything adds up to a perilous situation for Republicans in the midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. The president did little to sell the war to skeptical voters before it started, and he defended his leadership on Wednesday night in his first major presidential address on the conflict.

Pam Bondi is out of her job after failing to deliver criminal cases against President Donald Trump's political enemies. But there's no guarantee her successor will have any better success at placating the president. Over the last year, Bondi's Justice Department has encountered resistance from judges, grand jurors and its own workforce in trying to establish criminal conduct by one Trump foe after another. A new attorney general will confront not only Trump's demand for political prosecutions — a constant dating back to his first term in the White House — but also the same skeptical court system, and factual and legal hurdles, that have impeded efforts to deliver the sought-after results.

President Donald Trump's new White House ballroom has gotten final approval from a key commission. This comes after a federal judge ordered a halt to construction unless Congress approves the project. The Trump-appointed chair of the National Capital Planning Commission said the agency moved ahead with Thursday's vote because the judge's ruling affects construction activities, not planning. The ballroom is estimated to cost $400 million and has faced opposition and legal challenges. The Republican president aims to complete the ballroom project before his term ends in 2029. The ballroom will include security upgrades and is funded by donations and public dollars for security enhancements.

President Donald Trump says he'll soon sign an order to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees who have gone without paychecks during the partial government shutdown that has reached 48 days. He announced the unilateral move in a social media post Thursday. He's blaming Democrats for the impasse while thanking Republican leaders for their work this week in trying to end the standoff. The Republican president used a similar maneuver to resume pay for the Transportation Security Administration. Trump's latest intervention is expected to apply to other non-law enforcement employees at the department, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard and support staff.

President Donald Trump says Pam Bondi is out as his attorney general. Bondi's departure ends the contentious tenure of a Trump loyalist who upended the Justice Department's culture of independence from the White House, oversaw firings of career employees and investigated the Republican president's perceived enemies. Thursday's news follows months of scrutiny over the Justice Department's handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking investigation, which made Bondi the target of angry conservatives. Trump has named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting attorney general, though three people familiar with the matter say he has privately discussed Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin as a permanent pick.

TMZ is turning its celebrity lens on Congress, tracking lawmakers on recess as a nearly six-week Department of Homeland Security shutdown drags on. Viral videos of senators in airports, Las Vegas and Disney World have fueled backlash and intensified pressure for lawmakers to return. That pressure now extends beyond social media, with unions and President Donald Trump all urging Congress back to Washington. But even if they return, there is no clear path to a deal. A bipartisan Senate agreement collapsed after House Republicans rejected it, leaving lawmakers at a deeper impasse and raising fresh questions about how — or whether — the standoff can end.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have announced what they're calling a path forward to fully funding the Department of Homeland Security and ending a record partial government shutdown. According to the plan, most of the department could be funded through an agreement with Democratic senators, with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans would then later try to fund those agencies through party-line budgeting legislation. Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy certain to face opposition from Democrats, if not the GOP's own ranks.