National security adviser H.R. McMaster has been ousted from his position amid rumors that President Donald Trump has been unhappy with his performance.

The Washington Post reported Thursday evening that Trump had decided to remove McMaster and that others might follow.

According to five sources familiar with the developing story, Trump had hoped to ensure that the three-star Army general was not publicly humiliated the way Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was. He also hoped to line up a successor prior to shoving McMaster out.

McMaster has been one of few to disagree with Trump on major issues. He is also still on active duty, so he would have to continue on somewhere in the military.

Trump officials are encouraging conservative allies in Congress to prevent “sanctuary cities” from receiving federal funds as part of a spending bill that must pass next week to avoid another government shutdown.

The most conservative wing of the House Republican conference supports the idea of defunding these cities, which, as Vox’s Dara Lind explained, limit when they’ll help federal immigration agents detain unauthorized immigrants. This faction is open to the idea of getting it into the spending bill. With the White House’s backing, their resistance could pressure House Speaker Paul Ryan, even if he doesn’t want to inject additional controversy into the spending debate.
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This spending bill is again shaping up to ignore Trump’s immigration priorities, and it’s possible the president could threaten a veto again.

He’s repeatedly called for a government shutdown as some kind of remedy for congressional gridlock, and while Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress have been rightfully wary of letting it get to this point again, Trump and his conservative allies seem willing to go that far.

Senate Republicans say they are confident about expanding their majority even while their party faces strong political headwinds amid growing sentiment that GOP control of the House is in serious jeopardy.

Sen. Cory Gardner (Colo.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), gave colleagues a pep talk during a private meeting Tuesday, pointing out poll numbers showing Republicans beating five vulnerable Democratic incumbents.

“He said if the election were held tomorrow, we’d pick up five seats,” said a Republican senator who heard Gardner’s comments and said the “upbeat” outlook was based on public polling.

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The lawmaker who requested anonymity said Gardner’s comments reflect a prevailing view within the Senate Republican Conference that any possible Democratic wave is likely to be felt more in the House than the Senate.

But another explanation has grown in prominence in recent days: That targeting Skripal was a way of testing how isolated Britain has become after its vote to leave the European Union in 2016.

The idea was posited by Chatham House fellows James Sherr and John Lough, who said Moscow may be attempting to establish whether Britain's European allies will support retaliation, or "simply send their best wishes."

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And if Putin is testing how adrift Britain is following Brexit, Glees said he will not like the results.

"There’s the ultimate irony: We’ve held up two fingers up to the European Union [and said] 'we’re going with Trump.' When actually, the European 27 have come out very strongly with Theresa May," the professor said.

Mueller, whose team has spent the last 10 months investigating possible Trump-related wrongdoing connected to Russia, is interested in high-level get-togethers Nader participated in after the presidential election, according to three people familiar with the case.

The first took place in Trump Tower in New York in December 2016 and brought together Nader, Kushner, Bannon — whom Trump fired last August — and Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates. The second occurred a month later in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Seychelles and involved Nader, bin Zayed, former Blackwater boss Erik Prince and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian banker close to President Vladimir Putin.

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On Wednesday, an official in the Czech Republic told The Associated Press that Nader is a convicted pedophile and served time in a Prague prison around that time.

Nader was convicted by Prague's Municipal Court of 10 cases of sexually abusing minors and sentenced to a one-year prison term in May 2003, said Marketa Puci, the court spokeswoman. She said the crimes occurred between 1999 and 2002.

"Does the President accept that Conor Lamb won in Pennsylvania-18?" a reporter asked Deputy White House Spokesperson Raj Shah on Air Force One Wednesday afternoon.

The simple answer would have been, "Of course." But nothing the Trump White House can be that simple, everything has to be shrouded in obfuscation.

"So let me say a few things, just very briefly, about that race," Shah told reporters, according to the press poll report. "You know, the President's engagement in the race turned what was, you know, a deficit for the Republican candidate into what is, essentially, a tie."

Going into the weekend Conor Lamb was up six points in the latest poll.

"Also, you know, the Democrat in the race really embraced the President's policies and his vision, whereas he didn't really embrace Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Leader," Shah claimed, which is astonishingly false.

"I'm not going to comment beyond that on the race; I'll let the political officials do that. But those are just the White House's observations on the election last night."

At a fundraiser on Wednesday, Donald Trump boasted that he made up information about a trade deficit he believes the United States has with Canada during a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Washington Post reports that Trump made the comments during a 30-minute speech in Missouri, as he “heaped praise on himself” and blasted U.S. allies he thinks are taking advantage of the country.

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“Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in—‘Donald, we have no trade deficit,’” Trump continued. “He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.”

Trump bragged to GOP donors that he told “proud” Trudeau, “wrong, Justin, you do.”

“I didn’t even know,” Trump admitted. “… I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid.”