WASHINGTON – The White House resumed its daily press briefings after returning from President Trump's first foreign trip this past weekend.
You can rewatch Tuesday's breifing below:
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Here's what has been going on in Washington this morning:
WH communications director Michael Dubke resigns
White House communications director Michael Dubke has resigned.
Kelly Conway, White House counselor, has told The Associated Press that Dubke handed in his resignation before President Donald Trump left for his international trip earlier this month.
In an interview on Fox News on Tuesday, Conway said Dubke "made very clear that he would see through the president's international trip, and come to work every day and work hard even through that trip because there was much to do here back at the White House."
More Trump Tweets
President Donald Trump says Russian officials "must be laughing at the U.S."
U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Moscow tried to meddle in the 2016 presidential election by hacking Democratic emails. A special counsel is now investing whether Trump's associates may have colluded with Russia during the campaign.
Trump tweeted Tuesday: "Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News."
President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of Germany following Chancellor Angela Merkel's suggestion that her country needs to adopt a more independent stance in world affairs.
Trump posted a tweet Tuesday saying "we have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military. Very bad for U.S. This will change."
Trump rattled some in Europe with his statements on NATO last week.
Merkel said Tuesday Germany's relations with the United States are of "outstanding importance" but it must engage with other key nations going forward. She also suggested in the wake of the Trump visit that Europe's relationship with Washington had shifted significantly and reiterated her position that "we in Europe have to take our fate into our own hands."
Sources: Russians discussed 'derogatory' info about Trump, associates
Russian government officials discussed having potentially "derogatory" information about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and some of his top aides in conversations intercepted by U.S. intelligence during the 2016 election, according to two former intelligence officials and a congressional source.
One source described the information as financial in nature and said the discussion centered on whether the Russians had leverage over Trump's inner circle. The source said the intercepted communications suggested to US intelligence that Russians believed "they had the ability to influence the administration through the derogatory information."
But the sources, privy to the descriptions of the communications written by U.S. intelligence, cautioned the Russian claims to one another "could have been exaggerated or even made up" as part of a disinformation campaign that the Russians did during the election.
The details of the communication shed new light on information U.S. intelligence received about Russian claims of influence. The contents of the conversations made clear to U.S. officials that Russia was considering ways to influence the election -- even if their claims turned out to be false. More on this from CNN.
Justices will hear Ohio appeal over purging voter rolls
The Supreme Court will decide whether Ohio wrongfully purged eligible voters from the state's registration list.
The justices on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal from state officials defending the process against challengers who say it's illegal.
Civil liberties groups had challenged the state's program for removing thousands of people from voter rolls based on their failure to vote in recent elections. A federal appeals court ruled last year that the process violates the National Voter Registration Act.
Ohio officials argue that the process used by Ohio for more than 20 years is constitutional and fully complies with state and federal laws.
Groups challenging the practice said Ohio was unfairly disenfranchising eligible Ohio voters.
Blayne Alexander reports the Russia investigation is front and center once again today for the White House with news that presidential confidant and son-in-law Jared Kushner tried to create a secret backchannel with Russia during the transition. That comes as a top White House communications official is stepping aside, and the administration is scrambling to create a "war room" to battle leakers and critics.
US warns pro-Syrian forces to leave border area
The United States is telling pro-Syrian government forces to move away from an area near the Jordanian border where the coalition is training allied rebels.
The warning comes less than two weeks after the Americans bombed Iranian-backed troops there who didn’t heed similar warnings.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, says the U.S. dropped leaflets over the weekend telling the forces to leave the established protected zone.
Davis says the U.S. has seen pro-Syrian government militias patrolling and gathering in the desert around Tanf. The area has been considered a “deconflicted” zone under a U.S.-Russian understanding.
Davis says “hundreds” of pro-government forces are in the region.