George W. Bush

Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration national security official, speaks at the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago. Troye has launched a campaign for Congress in Virginia. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo

April 14 (UPI) — Saying, “Trump doesn’t scare me,” Olivia Troye, a former counterterrorism and homeland security adviser in the first administration of President Donald Trump, launched a campaign for Congress as a Virginia Democrat on Tuesday.

“I took [Trump] on when it mattered the most, and I’m ready to do it again,” she said in a campaign video posted on YouTube. “It’s time to send some real courage to Congress.”

The former Republican, who was also a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, resigned before the presidential election in2020. She became a vocal critic of Trump’s attitude toward the coronavirus pandemic and appeared in an ad for Republican Voters Against Trump to share those criticisms.

In her launch video, Troye said “the evil I saw in that White House was staggering.”

“Too many families are struggling to get by while Washington looks the other way,” she said. “I won’t because I’ve lived it. Virginia deserves someone who’s been through the fire, who isn’t afraid to fight for our freedom, for our values, for our future.”

Troye, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, worked in the Pentagon during the George W. Bush administration, as an intelligence officer in the Department of Homeland Security and as an adviser for then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Details of Troye’s run depend in part on a vote planned April 21 in Virginia, Politico reported. If voters approve a redistricting measure in that vote, she’ll run in the state’s 7th Congressional District, while Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., will run in the 1st Congressional District.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha Bomgardner, attend inauguration ceremonies in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. Pool photo by Chip Somodevilla/UPI | License Photo

April 3 (UPI) — Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was taken to a Philadelphia hospital after a Federalist Society dinner in his honor last month, the court confirmed Friday.

Alito “felt ill during an event in Philadelphia” on March 20, a Supreme Court spokesperson said in a statement to the media.

“Out of an abundance of caution, he agreed with his security detail’s recommendation to see a physician before the three-hour drive home,” spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said. “After that examination and the administration of fluids for dehydration, he returned home that night, as previously planned. Justice Alito was thoroughly checked by his own physician, and he returned to work the following Monday for oral argument.”

Alito, 76, is the court’s second-oldest justice. He was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2005.

Sources told ABC News that those who saw him at the event said he looked tired and was not as engaging as usual. They said he stayed seated when people came by to greet him during the dinner.

The dinner capped off a daylong symposium by the society titled, “An Examination of the Jurisprudence of Samuel Alito,” which featured several of his former law clerks, law professors and attorneys who practice before the court. It was at the University of Pennsylvania law school.

Alito was not there during the day, as he was driving from Washington. The court was in session to hand down opinions, but Alito was on the road.

April 1 (UPI) — A federal judge has blocked construction of President Donald Trump‘s $400 million White House ballroom, ruling the New York real estate developer does not have congressional authorization to continue the project.

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon for the District of Columbia wrote in the ruling.

Trump has said building a White House ballroom had been a dream of his since before he was president. Construction of the 90,000-square-foot building began with the demolition of the East Wing of the White House in October. Initially said to cost $200 million, the ballroom’s price tag has since doubled. Trump has said it will be financed by private donors.

In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration to halt construction, arguing the project has not been authorized by Congress as required by U.S. law.

In response, the Trump administration has claimed Congress has already given him authority to construct the project, pointing to a statute that Leon, a President George W. Bush appointee, said only permits the president “to conduct ordinary maintenance and repair of the White House.”

Leon said the Trump administration’s understanding of the law assumes Congress has granted “nearly unlimited power to the President to construct anything, anywhere on federal land in the District of Columbia, regardless of the source of funds.”

“This clearly is not how Congress and former Presidents have managed the White House for centuries, and this Court will not be the first to hold that Congress has ceded its powers in such a significant fashion,” he said in the 35-page ruling.

For Trump to continue with the project, he can ask Congress to either appropriate the funds or approve of another funding scheme, he said.

“Unfortunately for Defendants, unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!”

In awarding the National Trust for Historic Preservation an injunction, Leon delayed its enforcement for 14 days in acknowledgment that the Trump administration intends to appeal his decision and that stopping an ongoing construction project may raise logistical issues.

“We are pleased with Judge Leon’s ruling today to order a halt to any further ballroom construction until the Administration complies with the law and obtains express authorization to go forward,” Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization, said in a statement.

“This is a win for the American people on a project that forever impacts one of the most beloved and iconic places in our nation.”

Trump lambasted the decision on his Truth Social platform.

“He is WRONG! Congressional approval has never been given on anything in these circumstances, big or small, having to do with construction at the White House,” he said in a statement.

In an earlier statement issued after the ruling was made, Trump insulted the National Trust for Historic Preservation as “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics.”

According to the White House Historical Association, Congress has long been responsible for appropriating funds for the care, repair, refurnishing and maintenance of the White House, and Congress approved the Truman-era reconstruction project from 1948 to 1952.