Outside the Beltway

The proof of a quid pro quo is coming from inside the President’s own Administration.

Defying the Commander-in-Chief’s order will almost certainly ruin a good man’s career.

The man who sparked the investigation into the President’s illegal conduct has been outed in a futile attempt to discredit it.

Yesterday’s testimony by Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman including information particularly damaging to the President and his defenses to the charges against him in the Ukraine matter.

A top U.S. diplomat involved in Ukraine policy confirmed the existence of a quid pro quo regarding U.S aid to Ukraine.

New testimony from a former Trump adviser details how Rudy Giuliani was able to hijek American foreign policy.

New reports indicated that the President’s contacts with Ukraine’s President set off alarm bells inside the White House.

A second potential whistleblower and an apparent criminal referral from the CIA’s top lawyer make a bad week even worse for Donald Trump.

Not surprisingly, there are other phone call transcripts and other communications that further complicate Trump’s position.

A note in the whistleblower’s complaint suggests other transcripts, like the Zelensky call, that have been buried.

Working as the President’s private attorney, Rudy Giuliani has spent months working behind the scenes to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son.

John Bolton was not a good National Security Adviser, but the real problem with Trump Administration foreign policy comes from the man at the top.

Yes, he was terrible at his job. But one can’t break that which is already broken.

President Trump continues to have an odd obsession with nuclear weapons.

President Trump’s nominee to be the next Director of National Intelligence is quite simply not qualified for the position he has been nominated to.

Iran announced that it was exceeding another limitation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, upping the already tense situation in the Persian Gulf

In memos to his superiors, the British Ambassador to the United States had an exceedingly frank, and negative, assessment of the current occupant of the White House.

President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un met at the Demilitarized Zone for what amounts to their third summit in a year. As with the previous two, there was nothing of substance accomplished.

Stephanie Grisham, presently a top aide to First Lady Melania Trump, has been named the new White House Press Secretary and Communications Director.

The latest is about deportations

Patrick Shanahan is out as nominee to be Secretary of Defense after questions were raised during his background investigation.

Tensions are increasing in the Persian Gulf as the Iran war hawks seem to be winning the battle for the President’s support.

The Trump Administration is taking an unnecessarily militaristic approach toward Iran, and that poses real dangers for the country and for the Middle East.

Lacking any real support from the military or police, the attempted coup against Nicolas Maduro has predictably failed.

A WaPo writer takes a round-about path to demonstrate the obvious.

The President of the United States and the most-talked-about freshman Representative in ages could not be more different.

Terrorists aren’t walking across the desert to get here. Flying is so much easier.

Citing substantial cooperation, Special Counsel Robert Mueller is recommending no jail time for former Trump associate Michael Flynn.

My latest for The National Interest.

BREAKING NEWS from multiple major news outlets.

Three months after the Singapore summit, evidence grows that North Korea is still making nuclear weapons.

The Trump Administration is inviting Vladimir Putin to Washington, D.C. for a second summit in the fall. What could possibly go wrong?

We still don’t know what President Trump and Vladimir Putin talked about or agreed to during their two-hour meeting on Monday.

One day after an embarrassing performance at the Helsinki Summit, President Trump an absurd, completely unbelieve walk back of things the entire world heard him say loud and clear.

America promised immigrants who volunteered to serve in our military a fast track to citizenship. Now, we’re throwing them out.

A thinly-sourced report says Yes.

Once again, President Trump seems intent on insulting a major American ally.

Frank Carlucci, who served as President Reagan’s last Secretary of Defense, has died at 87.

Despite advice from advisers, the President continues to use unsecured devices to communicate outside of White House channels.

The National Security Advisor has broken up the team that manages global epidemics for no apparent reason.

They hired Israeli Private Investigators to dig up dirt on former Obama officials, including Ben Rhodes and Colin Kahl.

Running for and being President of the United States has been very lucrative for the family business.

President Trump is talking about pulling American troops out of Syria, but his own White House is contradicting him.

In selecting John Bolton as his National Security Adviser, Donald Trump has signaled to the world that he’s likely to take action that will only serve to make the world a more dangerous place.

The incoming National Security Advisor reportedly wants to purge those who aren’t sycophants.

Uh oh.

Theresa May’s government has not hit Russian oligarchs nearly as hard as they deserve because the UK benefits from turning a blind eye.

H.R. McMaster appears to be on the way out as National Security Adviser. The important question is, who replaces him?

The British prime minister and outgoing US Secretary of State declared a red line crossed. There’s no reason to think this White House will follow through.

The President tried bringing something akin to a traditional policy process to the White House. Now he’s rebelling against it.