President Donald Trump said Friday that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to thank him for comments he made about the President's efforts to grow the American economy. Trump, speaking with reporters at the White House before he left to address a graduation ceremony at the National FBI Academy, said the call was "great." He also once again denied any collusion between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russian operatives.

President Trump said Wednesday that he plans to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller, laying the groundwork for a high-stakes meeting that could shape the course of the Russia investigation. “I'm looking forward to it," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked whether he would submit to questioning by Mueller's team. "I would do it under oath," he added.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein visited the White House in December seeking President Donald Trump's help. The top Justice Department official in the Russia investigation wanted Trump's support in fighting off document demands from House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. But the President had other priorities ahead of a key appearance by Rosenstein on the Hill, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

The justice department has backed special counsel Robert Mueller over a lawsuit filed against him by Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, and argued that the case should be dismissed. Manafort sued Mueller on 3 January, saying his office’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election exceeded its legal authority.

Lawyers for President Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to four people briefed on the matter, raising the specter of a monthslong court battle over whether the president must answer questions under oath.

A man apparently shot himself beyond the north fence line outside the White House Saturday, a law enforcement official told CBS News' Pat Milton. U.S. Secret Service responded to the sound of shots fired. U.S. Secret Service tweeted they were responding to reports of a man "allegedly suffered a self-inflicted gun shot wound," adding that there were no other injuries, and medical personnel are tending to the male victim.

President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn is resigning, the White House announced on Tuesday. Cohn, who had been rumored just weeks ago as a potential next chief of staff, will leave the White House in the wake of his fierce disagreement with the President's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Cohn is expected to leave in the coming weeks, the White House said. "Gary has been my chief economic adviser and did a superb job in driving our agenda, helping to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms and unleashing the American economy once again.

Donald Trump is holding a meeting with the video game industry Thursday, but the official list of attendees is very light on people who make games. Only two publisher executives will be present, as will the head of the industry’s trade group. But also present in the room are two of the most vocal critics of the industry, including one who coined the term “murder simulators,” referring to action games.

President Donald Trump's personal assistant, John McEntee, was fired Monday for unspecified security reasons and was removed from the White House, according to a Tuesday report from The Wall Street Journal. He has now joined Trump's re-election campaign. McEntee, who served on Trump's winning presidential campaign beginning in 2015, joined the administration after the election. He was escorted off the White House grounds on Monday over an "unspecified security issue," the Journal reported, citing sources.

U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to replace his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, but the move is not expected to be made immediately, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

When President Donald Trump was sworn into office, much of the science community braced for the worst. Trump had long shown a stubborn disregard for any scientific knowledge that differed from his beliefs. Many scientists wondered what havoc the new president, empowered by a Congress controlled by Republicans, might wreak on the policies that affected their work.

Some top Trump administration officials have been pushing for stricter actions toward Russia in recent weeks amid escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries, The New York Times reported Friday. Senior officials have been actively considering additional sanctions and measures to take against Moscow, according to the report, following Russia's move this week to remove 60 American diplomats and close the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg.

President Trump has reportedly invited Vladimir Putin to the White House for a visit, according to a statement from the Kremlin. Putin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters Monday that during a March 20 phone conversation, Trump “suggested that the first meeting could be held in Washington” between the two leaders. “If everything goes well, I hope that the American side would not refuse its proposal to discuss the possibility of organizing the summit talks.”

The Trump administration openly threatened one of the cornerstones of California's environmental protections Monday, saying that it may revoke the state's ability under the Clean Air Act to impose stricter standards than the federal government sets for vehicle emissions. The announcement came as the administration confirmed it is tearing up landmark fuel economy rules that formed a key part of the effort by the Obama administration and California officials to combat global warming...

US special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating a private consulting firm established in Israel and is linked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Wall Street Journal reported. In a report published on Monday, the newspaper cited individuals familiar with the case as saying that the firm, Wikistrat, was contracted to work for the UAE by lobbying the US to support a 10-month blockade imposed on Qatar by several Arab countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The week at the Environmental Protection Agency has been a brutal low point in what many staff members refer to as the most difficult year in its near half-century history. An avalanche of allegations of ethical misconduct by the EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, has heaped embarrassment upon a watchdog struggling to adapt to the industry obeisance demanded by the Trump administration.

Washington (CNN)The United States and North Korea have been holding secret, direct talks to prepare for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, a sign that planning for the highly anticipated meeting is progressing, several administration officials familiar with the discussions tell CNN.

The computer expert who alleges a trove of Facebook data was improperly used to help President Donald Trump's campaign in the 2016 election says he will cooperate with a Justice Department investigation. Christopher Wylie is a whistleblower and former employee of the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which has come under criticism over reports that it swiped the data of about 50 million Facebook users to sway elections.

Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort has trouble in his own house. According to court documents, one of Manafort’s former employees led an FBI agent to a storage locker filled with paperwork on Manafort’s businesses and finances. The person’s name is redacted from the filings. But he’s now at the center of a fight over evidence that could play a significant role in the government’s case against Manafort. “People do strange things when confronted with authoritative FBI agents,” said Sol Wisenberg, a criminal defense attorney with Nelson Mullins.

President Trump has pardoned Scooter Libby, the George W. Bush administration aide convicted of lying to the FBI in an investigation into a leak of the identity of a covert CIA agent. The pardon marks a stunning epilogue to a story of Bush administration intrigue, as Libby was a central figure in attempts to discredit reports that the government manipulated intelligence in order to justify the invasion of Iraq.