Michael Birnbaum

@mbirnbaum.bsky.social

White House correspondent @washingtonpost.com.

"Fired" by Trump on the Celebrity Apprentice. Sentenced to prison for corruption. Prison sentence commuted by Trump in 2020 and pardoned in February. Now, Rod Blagojevich has a new gig: Foreign agent for the Republic of Srpska. w/ @bethreinhard.bsky.social @mbirnbaum.bsky.social wapo.st/4jhVWaA

Pardoned by Trump, Rod Blagojevich has new job: lobbying for Bosnian Serbs

The former Democratic governor of Illinois was previously pardoned by Trump for corruption charges.

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Distressed Ukrainian troops, veterans and families — including some on the brink of suicide — relied on a U.S.-funded hotline to get help. After Trump suspended almost all U.S. foreign aid programs for 90 days, the line went dark. @siobhanogrady.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Trump foreign aid cuts leave Ukrainians in limbo and asking why

A U.S.-funded organization to help war veterans is one of many organizations that have abruptly lost funding and can no longer carry out their work.

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EXCLUSIVE: Internal files detail frantic bid to contain fallout from Tulsi Gabbard meetings with Syrian dictator Assad. Her 2017 trip is expected to be a focus of questions from senators weighing her nomination to be director of national intelligence. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Files detail bid to contain fallout from Tulsi Gabbard meetings with Assad

Gabbard’s 2017 trip to Syria, where she met with authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad, is expected to be a focus of questions from senators weighing her nomination to be director of national intellige...

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Breaking news: Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire deal, in a major breakthrough including the release of Israeli hostages, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Live briefing: Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire, including release of Israeli hostages, senior U.S. official says

The first phase of the agreement brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt will halt, for now, a 15-month war that changed the Middle East.

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NEW: The White House is engaged in an 11th-hour scramble to provide Ukraine with billions of $ in additional weaponry, a massive effort that is generating internal concerns about its potential to erode U.S. stockpiles and sap resources from other flash points. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Biden surges arms to Ukraine, fearing Trump will halt U.S. aid

Biden’s Ukraine directive has stirred debate, as some officials worry it will cut too deeply into American stockpiles and jeopardize military needs elsewhere.

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Inside Biden's race to boost Ukraine's position before Trump takes office. Some allies ask why it didn't come earlier, when Kyiv was in a better position. Delay “gives Russia a sense of impunity,” Kurt Volker says. By Yasmeen Abutaleb, me, Ellen Francis www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Biden races to boost Ukraine’s position before Trump takes office

As Kyiv braces for the potential of difficult talks with Russia, Biden hopes providing land mines and allowing longer-range attacks will strengthen its hand.

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A U.S. businessman with past ties to Russia says he'll "de-Russify" the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if he buys it. But “there is nothing about a Nord Stream 2 revival that is in U.S. interests right now,” a U.S. official tells @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

American businessman makes play for Russian natural gas pipelines

An American businessman is seeking to acquire the Swiss company that controls Russia’s Nord Stream 2, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

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