White House

A new report says Major League Baseball and the Trump administration are discussing holding a professional baseball game in a national park. Details such as which park, teams or date are not yet known, and neither MLB nor the White House has confirmed the plan. The idea would follow earlier efforts to stage sporting events at iconic federal sites.

The Trump administration is retreating from a proposed executive order that would have increased White House control over National Institutes of Health grant decisions. Reporting by Semafor says the plan to tighten oversight of NIH funding appears to be dead after significant pushback from scientists, universities and lawmakers, who warned it would politicise medical research funding decisions.

US television networks are set to resume covering President Trump after the White House TV pool went dark for a week amid a standoff between the administration and CNN, which the White House has excluded. Network executives believe an indefinite suspension of coverage is untenable, even as CNN remains shut out. The standoff has raised fresh questions about press access to the president.

Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the White House's decision to bar a news outlet from press access, telling reporters that covering the president is 'a privilege, not a right'. His remarks came as legal challenges over the ban move through the courts. Press freedom groups and other news organizations have criticized the policy, arguing it restricts the public's access to information about the administration.