NBC News' messy hiring and firing of former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel puts a spotlight on television's practice of paying on-air political contributors.

The Biden administration has named former Rep. Joe Kennedy III as America's special envoy to Northern Ireland.

The House Jan. 6 committee has interviewed former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and is in negotiations to talk to several other former members of Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

As Donald Trump considers another White House run, polls show he's the most popular figure in the Republican Party.

Members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection are holding their first prime-time hearing to share what they have uncovered about then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

CBS' hiring of former Trump administration official Mick Mulvaney and MSNBC's discussions about bringing on White House press secretary Jen Psaki after she's left the Biden administration have troubled some journalists at the networks.

Former President Donald Trump remains the most popular figure with the GOP base as he considers another bid for the White House.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to a former Justice Department lawyer who positioned himself as an ally of Donald Trump and aided the Republican president’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election.

The latest round of subpoenas from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection may help uncover the degree to which former President Donald Trump, his campaign and White House were involved in planning the rally that preceded the riot.

Hiring at the Kansas City site remains well below the roughly 550 high-paying jobs local leaders had anticipated. However, he said those frustrations have dealt more with reports published by other USDA agencies, and that some farmers may be confusing them. For example, a two-year research project on pollinators such as honeybees was shelved because the entire team working on it left the agency rather than move to Kansas City. In October 2016 — before Trump's first year in office — ERS had 318 permanent employees, according to USDA data. “And here in the United States, what we do with groups like that — we can’t send them to Siberia, so we send them to Kansas City.”

Leadership positions sit vacant at the U.S. Geological Survey’s climate science centers. The ranks of scientists who carry out environmental research, enforcement and other jobs fell in several agencies — sharply in some — under former President Donald Trump, federal data shows. Scientists say federal environmental research could be hobbled for years by the loss of experienced scientists. The Trump administration said the relocation to Kansas City was to save money. Inspections and compliance monitoring by the agency fell 28% under Trump, EPA figures show.

President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate Rohit Chopra as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, tapping a progressive ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren to helm the agency whose creation she championed. Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs banker, tightened oversight of the complex financial transactions that helped cause the Great Recession. Consumer and investor advocate groups praised the selections of Gensler and Chopra. Mulvaney had been a vocal critic of the consumer agency and made deep changes to it, softening regulations on payday loans, for example, and pulling back on enforcement efforts. As one of two Democratic commissioners on the five-member Federal Trade Commission, Chopra has been an outspoken critic of practices by big companies, especially tech giant Facebook.

It said that if any former employees or independent contractors for the campaign took part, “they did not do so at the direction of the Trump campaign.”At least one was working for the Trump campaign this month. The AP’s review found at least three of the Trump campaign aides named on the permit rushed to obscure their connections to the demonstration. Between mid-March and mid-November, Donald J. Trump for President Inc. paid Wren $20,000 a month, according to Federal Election Commission records. Maggie Mulvaney, a niece of former top Trump aide Mick Mulvaney, is listed on the permit attachment as the “VIP Lead.” She worked as director of finance operations for the Trump campaign, according to her LinkedIn profile. Trump’s presidential campaign paid Event Strategies $1.3 million in 2020 for “audio visual services,” according to the campaign finance records.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Friday he will skip President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, refusing to fulfill the outgoing president's traditional role in the peaceful transition of power and undercutting his own message just one day earlier on the need for “national healing and unity." Historian Douglas Brinkley said that while attending the inauguration “would be a wonderful olive branch to the country,” he wasn't surprised by the decision. “Donald Trump doesn’t want to be in Washington as the second-fiddle loser standing on stage with Joe Biden,” he said. “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump said in a tweet. White House counsel Pat Cipollone has repeatedly warned Trump that he could be deemed responsible for inciting Wednesday’s violence.

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2020, file photo, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks at the Phoenix International Academy in Phoenix. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao on Thursday became the highest-ranking administration officials to resign over the pro-Trump insurrection. Neither impeachment nor ouster under the 25th Amendment was considered probable with less than two weeks left in Trump's presidency. Yet many White House aides, both senior officials and lower-level staff, were struggling with whether or when to exit, according to two people familiar with internal deliberations at the White House. “They’re all going to have their historic revisionism, they’re all going to have their own imaginary heroism,” Wilson said.

WASHINGTON – With 13 days left in his term, President Donald Trump finally bent to reality Thursday amid growing talk of trying to force him out early, acknowledging he’ll peacefully leave after Congress affirmed his defeat. Trump led off a video from the White House by condemning the violence carried out in his name a day earlier at the Capitol. Deprived of that social media lifeblood, Trump remained silent and ensconced in the executive mansion until Thursday evening. Staff-level discussions on the matter took place across multiple departments and even in parts of the White House, according to two people briefed on the talks. Few aides had any sense of the president’s plans, with some wondering if Trump would largely remain out of sight until he left the White House.

President Donald Trump’s former acting White House chief of staff resigned his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland on Thursday, saying “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.”Mick Mulvaney joined a growing list of Trump administration officials who are leaving following the violent riot at the Capitol on Wednesday. He served as acting White House chief of staff from January 2019 until March 2020. I can’t stay,” Mick Mulvaney told CNBC, which was first to report the resignation. “Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in.”

The U.S. Capitol Police says an officer who was injured after responding to riots at the Capitol has died. ___7:20 p.m.President Donald Trump is conceding to President-elect Joe Biden and condemning the violent supporters of his who stormed the nation’s Capitol. He was a web developer and founder of Trumparoo, a social media site for supporters of President Donald Trump. ___2:35 p.m.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she’s seeking the resignation of Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund a day after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. ___2:30 p.m.Canadian-based e-commerce company Shopify Inc. has removed online stores affiliated with U.S. President Donald Trump, saying his actions have violated the company’s policies.

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump, who defied political gravity with his extraordinary rise from reality star and businessman to the presidency, has fallen back to earth. “Even in defeat, Donald Trump has exceeded expectations and helped other Republicans do the same,” said GOP consultant Michael Steel, who has worked on Capitol Hill and for campaigns. “When Donald Trump loses there will never be a peaceful transition to power,” said Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer-turned-critic Michael Cohen. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has become a particular favorite with the president’s loyal supporters on the campaign trail, meaning the Trump name could endure. Many of Trump’s supporters see his influence continuing.

Former Obama NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco, a scientist at Oregon State University, said in an email that high level officials put politics and their own jobs above public safety. By the time the two tweets were posted, Alabama was no longer in the hurricane centers warning cone, although it had been in previous days. Jacobs said things went crazy in the middle of the night.Then-NOAA communications chief Julie Kay Roberts told the inspector generals office that Walsh told her there are jobs on the line. The report said there was no credible evidence found to say that jobs were threatened. The Inspector General instead selectively quotes from interviews, takes facts out of context.The White House declined comment.