Washington, D.C.

We were watching this Tuesday as President Donald Trump spoke to reporters as he returned to the White House after a visit to Maryland. During his remarks, Trump said that he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible case of plague at a Siberian research institute. He was also asked what the U.S. intelligence community was saying about the case, saying the U.S. is in "very deep discussions" on the topic. Trump took a number of questions before returning to the White House. 

We are learning more this week as the Protect College Sports Act makes it way through Congress. LiveNOW’s Andy Mac is speaking with Amanda Christovich from Front Office Sports as the Senate now debates the legislation before a final vote. The PCSA is a bipartisan bill spearheaded by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) that aims to bring governance to college sports. 

We are learning more this Monday after reports that the federal government spent taxpayer money to air three different TV ads featuring President Donald Trump. The White House has defended the ads by reportedly comparing them to PSAs created to highlight new drug coverage under Medicare and signups for the Affordable Care Act exchanges that were made by past administrations. LiveNOW’s Andy Mac is learning more about the legal questions that have been brought against the Trump administration in response to these new ads with Katherine Doyle from The Washington Post. 

We are learning more about President Donald Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from reporting at the White House. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the administration to restore access to the outlets. Despite the order and the return of these reporters to the White House, according to CNN, some of their journalists were turned away when attempting to cover the ongoing state dinner that Trump is hosting in Washington, D.C. 

LiveNOW is getting the latest details as China's President Xi Jinping arrives in the United States on Wednesday for a series of meetings with President Donald Trump. Reports indicate that Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrived at Joint Base Andrews in the evening. China’s Xi hasn't visited the nation's capital in more than a decade. LiveNOW’s Anna Marsick is speaking with Orville Schell, the VP of the Center on US-China Relations at Asia Society, as reports continue to emerge related to exactly what the two world leaders will be speaking about. 

We are learning more this week as the Trump administration is now reportedly being sued by CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. This comes after President Donald Trump announced he would ban the media outlets from the White House. The lawsuit aims "to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle ⁠that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes," the news outlets said. BrieAnna Frank, USA TODAY's First Amendment reporter, joins LiveNOW’s Andy Mac to learn more about the extent of the ban. 

We watched this Thursday as President Donald Trump welcomed more than 100 hunters, anglers, and outdoor industry leaders to dinner inside the White House Rose Garden. One main talking point from the night is Trump’s effort to reverse some Biden-era restrictions that had impacted hunters and fishermen over the past few years. He signed a pair of executive orders in the Oval Office ahead of his speech. These orders reportedly work to expand "America's public lands and waterways."