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Most governments and people in Europe agree with Trump’s stated premise that they need to spend more on their militaries — and stop their historical, postwar reliance on the United States. But Trump’s unpredictability still causes great anxiety on the Continent, particularly his repeated questioning of the mutual defense promise at the heart of NATO, which was established after World War II to counter the Soviet Union.NATO members voted Wednesday to more than double their defense spending targets to 5% of gross domestic product, acceding to Trump’s demand. This caused some disquiet when Trump first suggested it in January, but…

Zohran Mamdani didn’t just score more first-place votes Tuesday night in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary — he also prompted his closest rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to concede before the night was over, making the city’s ranked choice tabulation feel like a formality.While Mamdani’s supporters claim the outcome was no surprise, Cuomo had widely been considered a probable first-round winner until the election, with Mamdani and allied candidates organizing to deny him a ranked-choice majority via cross-endorsements.However, several key factors ultimately swung the race in Mamdani’s favor.Defying polling expectationsTwo of the most recent pre-election, nonpartisan polls had Cuomo…

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for South Carolina over its effort to defund Planned Parenthood, concluding that individual Medicaid patients cannot sue to enforce their right to pick a medical provider.The court held in a 6-3 ruling on ideological lines with the conservative justices in the majority that the federal law in question does not allow people who are enrolled in the Medicaid program to file such claims.The ruling authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch is a boost to the state’s effort to prevented Planned Parenthood from receiving funding through Medicaid, a federal program for low-income people that…

The Trump administration plans to hold a classified briefing for senators today on recent U.S. airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear sites amid a partisan political debate over the true impact of the bombing raids on Tehran’s nuclear program.The White House is expected to send four senior officials to brief senators: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, is not scheduled to take part in the briefing, according to the…

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei broke his weeklong silence Thursday, claiming in a televised speech that his country had secured a victory over Israel and delivered a “slap in the face” to Washington.Hours earlier, Iran’s government also approved legislation to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, a move that will stymie efforts to assess the damage from U.S. airstrikes and monitor uranium enrichment.“The Islamic Republic emerged victorious and, in return, delivered a harsh slap to America’s face,” Khamenei said after eight days of silence. The United States had “entered a direct war” because it felt like Israel…

WASHINGTON — The White House plans to limit intelligence sharing with members of Congress after an early assessment of damage caused by U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites leaked this week, a senior White House official confirmed to NBC News. The administration specifically plans to post less information on CAPNET, the system used to share classified material with Congress, the official said. The decision, which almost certainly won’t sit well with Democrats, comes as top Cabinet officials are set to provide a classified briefing to members of the Senate on Thursday afternoon about the strikes.“The administration should immediately undo this…

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is set to conclude its nine-month term Friday with a flurry of rulings, including a closely watched case concerning President Donald Trump’s attempt to end automatic birthright citizenship.The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has six cases left to decide of those in which it heard oral arguments in the current term, which began in October.Other cases are on such issues as voting rights, religious rights and health care.Follow live politics coverage hereThe one that has attracted the most attention is the birthright citizenship dispute, which focuses not on the lawfulness of the proposal…

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday handed a major win to the Trump administration by allowing it for now to take steps to implement its proposal to end automatic birthright citizenship.In a 6-3 vote, the court granted a request by the Trump administration to narrow the scope of nationwide injunctions imposed by judges so that they apply only to states, groups and individuals that sued.That means the birthright citizenship proposal can likely move forward at least in part, although the specifics remain to be seen and it could still be blocked by courts on other grounds.Follow live politics coverage…

A top Republican senator is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, slashing the workforce of an organization that has expanded since it was created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Under a bill by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the chair of the Intelligence Committee, the ODNI’s staff of about 1,600 would be capped at 650, according to a senior Senate aide familiar with the proposed legislation. ODNI’s workforce was about 2,000 in January, but National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has already overseen a reduction of about 20% as part of…

WASHINGTON — At least three federal prosecutors who worked on cases against Jan. 6 rioters were fired Friday by the Justice Department, according to more than half a dozen current and former officials familiar with the dismissals.A copy of one of the dismissal letters seen by NBC News was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, notifying the recipient that they were “removed from federal service effective immediately.” No reason for the removal was stated in the letter.One of the fired employees had been based overseas.The Justice Department declined to comment Friday night.Follow live politics coverage here.The Trump administration in late…