WASHINGTON – The White House press briefing with press secretary Sean Spicer will start around 1:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon. (Update: It's now scheduled to begin around 2 p.m.)
You can rewatch the White House press briefing right here
Here's what's going on in Washington today.
The search to replace Comey:
As President Donald Trump considers a replacement for fired FBI Director James Comey, lawmakers are urging the president to steer clear of appointing any politicians.
The advice came Sunday amid more criticism over Trump's dismissal of Comey during an FBI probe of Russia's meddling with last year's election and any ties to the Trump campaign. James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, said the Founding Fathers created three co-equal branches of government with checks and balances, but with Trump as president, that was now "eroding."
"I think, in many ways, our institutions are under assault, both externally -- and that's the big news here, is the Russian interference in our election system," Clapper said "I think as well our institutions are under assault internally."
When asked, "Internally, from the president?" Clapper responded, "Exactly."
The White House had no immediate comment. No White House aide appeared on the Sunday news shows, leaving Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to defend Trump. "The president is the CEO of the country. He can hire and fire whoever he wants," she said.
Lawmakers from both parties reprimanded Trump for his actions, which included shifting explanations from the White House for Comey's dismissal and an ominous tweet by Trump that warned Comey against leaks to the press because Trump may have "tapes" of their conversations.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said selecting an FBI agent to lead the agency would allow the nation to "reset." He dismissed as less desirable at least two of the 14 candidates under consideration, ex-FBI agent and former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.
"It's now time to pick somebody who comes from within the ranks, or has such a reputation that has no political background at all that can go into the job on Day 1," said Graham, R-S.C.
"The president has a chance to clean up the mess he mostly created," Graham said, adding: "I have no evidence that the president colluded with the Russians at all ... but we don't know all the evidence yet."
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, continued to argue that the president should consider Merrick Garland, the federal judge nominated to the Supreme Court last year by President Barack Obama but who was denied a hearing by Republicans. A former top aide to Sen. Mitch McConnell, Josh Holmes, said that McConnell is interested in the suggestion.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the new FBI director should be someone "not of partisan background" with "great experience" and "courage." Declining to comment on a Garland nomination, Schumer left open the possibility that Democrats might withdraw support for a new FBI director unless the Justice Department names a special prosecutor for the Russia probe.
Under Senate rules, Republicans could confirm an FBI director with 51 votes. Republicans hold 52 seats in the chamber to Democrats' 48.
Calling Trump's remarks about possible taped conversations "outrageous," Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said his panel or another committee would "absolutely" subpoena such tapes.
"We have got to make sure that these tapes, if they exist, don't mysteriously disappear," Warner said, adding that he hopes to have Comey testify in a public hearing before his committee.
The blowback against the firing of Comey angered the increasingly frustrated president, who made the decision after consulting only a small group of advisers, worried the news would leak out. Trump has openly vented his frustration with the media and Democrats on Twitter, musing about canceling press briefings and arguing that it's difficult for aides to know his thinking.
The administration has interviewed at least eight candidates to replace Comey, just over half of the 14 being considered. Trump has said a decision could come before he leaves Friday for the Mideast and Europe, his first overseas trip as president. He was also set to welcome foreign leaders to the White House, with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday and President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia on Thursday. A leader of the United Arab Emirates was scheduled to visit Monday.
Clapper and Schumer made their comments on CNN's "State of the Union"; Graham spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press"; Haley and Warner appeared on ABC's "This Week"; and Warner spoke on "Fox News Sunday" along with Lee and Holmes.
Turkish president visits White House
The United States is on a collision course with its NATO ally Turkey, pushing ahead with arming Syrian Kurds after deciding the immediate objective of defeating Islamic State militants outweighs the potential damage to a partnership vital to U.S. interests in the volatile Middle East.
The Turks are fiercely opposed to the U.S. plans, seeing the Kurdish fighters as terrorists. And when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the White House this week, the most he and President Donald Trump may be able to do is agree to disagree, and move on.
"The Turks see this as a crisis in the relationship," said Jonathan Schanzer at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The challenge is hardly new. Long before Trump took office, U.S. presidents have grappled with the fragility of partnering with Turkey's government and the Kurds to carry out a Middle East agenda.
Past administrations have sought a delicate balance. Too exuberant in its support for the Kurds, and the U.S. risks pushing ally Turkey toward U.S. geopolitical rivals like Russia or emboldening the Kurds to try to create an independent state — a scenario that would destabilize multiple countries in the region. Too little cooperation with the Kurds risks squandering a battlefield ally with proven effectiveness against extremist threats and who has staunchly supported Washington.
Trump has made his priorities clear.
His administration is arming Syrian Kurdish fighters as part of an effort to recapture the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State group's self-declared capital. Coupled with the U.S.-backed fight in the Iraqi city of Mosul, Raqqa is seen as a key step toward liberating the remaining territory the militants hold.
Turkey has been pressuring the U.S. to drop support for the Kurdish militants in Syria for years and doesn't want them spearheading the Raqqa effort. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish group, known as the YPG, a terrorist group because of its ties to the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party inside Turkey. The United States, the European Union and Turkey all agree the YPG is a terrorist organization.
The Turks fear any weapons the U.S. provides the Syrian Kurds could well end up with their ethnic brethren in Turkey, who've fought violently as part of a separatist insurgency for more than three decades. As a nod to Turkey's concerns, the Pentagon has promised tight monitoring of all weapons and greater intelligence sharing to help the Turks better watch over their frontiers. Kurds are an ethnic group predominantly concentrated along the borders of four countries — Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
But a face-to-face confrontation on the matter between Trump and Erdogan seems inevitable.
Erdogan and other top Turkish officials have pressed for the U.S. to reverse its strategy, however low the prospects of Trump changing his mind. As a result, experts see Erdogan using the meeting to confront Trump on a host of other Turkish grievances. Those include extraditing the Pennsylvania-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan blames for fomenting a failed coup last summer, and dropping U.S. charges against Reza Zarrab, a Turkish businessman accused of money-laundering and violating U.S. sanctions in Iran.
"I see this trip as a new milestone in Turkey-U.S. relations," Erdogan said, as he prepared to fly to Washington.
The U.S., too, has a wish list for Turkey. Washington is concerned by rising anti-Americanism in Turkey that Erdogan's government has tolerated since the July coup attempt. The U.S. also has pressed unsuccessfully for the release of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor, and other detained U.S. citizens.
Trump also has much at stake. His willingness to partner with authoritarian rulers and overlook their shortcomings on democracy and human rights have alarmed U.S. lawmakers of both parties. Trump's premise has been that he is focusing on deal-making. That puts added pressure on him to get results.
Trump has gone out of his way to foster a good relationship with Erdogan. After a national referendum last month that strengthened Erdogan's presidential powers, European leaders and rights advocates criticized Turkey for moving closer toward autocratic rule. Trump congratulated Erdogan.
Now, the American leader may try to cash in.
"Trump has prioritized protecting U.S. national security interests over lecturing allies on democratic values or human rights," said James Phillips, a senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Heritage Foundation. "I don't think the president will lose any sleep if he is criticized for meeting with President Erdogan, as long as it pays dividends for advancing his foreign policy agenda."
But Erdogan may not be amenable to accepting the U.S. military support for the Kurds in a quid pro quo. Last month, the Turkish military bombed Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, in one case with American forces only about six miles (10 kilometers) away. His government has insisted it may attack Syrian Kurdish fighters again. The U.S., whose forces are sometimes embedded with the Kurds, has much to fear.
Barack Aydin of the Washington-based Kurdish Policy Research Center, said the key ought to be a broader peace process between Erdogan's government and Kurdish opponents in Turkey, which would eliminate these problems.
"That would be a very good start," Aydin said.
Trump on violence against police:
President Donald Trump is asking the Justice Department to develop strategies to prevent and prosecute violent crimes against law enforcement.
Trump says in the Oval Office that police officers have "had it with what's going on" and notes that 118 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2016.
Trump signed a proclamation to mark Peace Officers' Memorial Week and Police Week. He was speaking Monday to the National Peace Officers' Memorial Service on Capitol Hill.
Trump told police officers with him in the Oval Office that "some of you have suffered greatly and we're going to take care of it."
Trump son going to school in Maryland:
First lady Melania Trump has announced that her son, Barron, will attend a private Episcopal school in Maryland beginning this fall.
Eleven-year-old Barron is finishing the current school year at a private institution in New York. He has been living there with his mother since Donald Trump took office in January.
The first lady announced Monday that -- beginning this fall -- Barron will become a student at the private St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland.
She says St. Andrews is known for its diverse community and its commitment to academic excellence.
Tuition ranges from more than $23,000 for pre-K to more than $40,000 for grades 9-12.
President Donald Trump has said his wife and youngest child will relocate to the White House after the current school year.
US accuses Syria of mass executions and burning the bodies
The Trump administration on Monday accused the Syrian government of carrying out mass killings of thousands of prisoners and burning the bodies in a large crematorium outside the capital.
The State Department said it believed that about 50 detainees a day are being hanged at Saydnaya military prison, about 45 minutes from Damascus. Many of the bodies, it said, are then being burned in the crematorium.
"We believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison," said Stuart Jones, the top U.S. diplomatic for the Middle East.
The department released commercial satellite photographs showing what it said is a building in the prison complex that has been modified to support the crematorium. The photographs taken over the course of several years, beginning in 2013, do not definitely prove the building is a crematorium, but they show construction consistent with such use. One photograph taken in January 2015 shows one area of the building's roof cleared of snow due to melt.
In presenting the photographs, Jones said Syrian President Bashar Assad's government "has sunk to a new level of depravity" with the support of Russia and Iran and called on both countries to use its influence with Syria to establish a credible ceasefire and begin political talks.