A violent thunderstorm that ripped through the nation's capital late Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A violent thunderstorm that ripped through the nation's capital late Tuesday afternoon knocked down a tree at the White House.

"It was a European Linden that was planted in 1940," said White House spokesman Bill Burton. "It is not a commemorative tree – meaning that it wasn't planted by a President to mark an occasion or individual. Tomorrow, the National Parks Service will likely grind it up into mulch to be used on the grounds."

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The White House will unveil reforms to the nation's international tax code on Monday intended to close loopholes for overseas tax havens and end tax incentives for creating jobs overseas.

Senior administration officials briefed reporters Sunday evening in a conference call ahead of the announcement that will be made by President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

The two components of the president's plan include reforms that ensure the tax code does not handicap companies seeking to create jobs at home, as well as reforms that reduce the amount of tax revenue lost to tax havens.

The White House is targeting companies that use loopholes in the law that allow them to legally avoid paying billions in taxes. It also focuses on wealthy individuals who break the law by creating hidden overseas accounts.

The Obama administration plans to raise $103.1 billion dollars by removing tax advantages for investing overseas and will use that money to help make a tax credit permanent, the officials said. The administration also hopes to raise $95.2 billion dollars over the next 10 years by cracking down on overseas tax havens.

The White House, under the plan, would eliminate the "check-the-box" provision which allows corporations to designate overseas subsidiaries as branches of the company, not subjected to taxes. This tax loophole enables companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

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(CNN) – President Obama shocked the White House Press Corps Friday afternoon when he crashed the daily briefing to announce Justice David Souter's retirement.

The surprise appearance took a little maneuvering and a lot of discipline from administration staff not to leak.

According to administration officials, President Obama was waiting for Justice Souter's letter to arrive to officially notify him of the retirement. But the letter didn't show up in time for Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to announce the news in his afternoon briefing. So Gibbs, after delaying the briefing for about 30 minutes, began his afternoon exchange with reporters anyway. He said he had no official confirmation that any Supreme Court Justice intended to step down. Then he went on to take reporters’ questions.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) — Vice President Joe Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, would serve as an adviser to President Obama on the Supreme Court vetting process, but he would not "lead" the vetting team, a White House aide told CNN.

"If there were to become a vacancy, the vice president's role would be as an advisor to the president," the aide said. "As a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he brings a lot of experience and knowledge of how this process works on the Hill – but reports he's leading or would be leading a 'vetting team' etc aren't true."

Listen: 44 with Ed Henry

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Barack Obama returns to Washington on Sunday night with his eye back on his domestic agenda and a plan to save government money.

On Monday, Obama will gather his full Cabinet together for the first timeas president and challenge it to cut a total of $100 million in the next 90 days, two senior administration officials said.

The officials spoke anonymously because the announcement had yet to come from the president, who returned Sunday from the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

The agencies would have to report how they saved on expenses after 90 days, the officials said.

A senior administration official described the edict as part of Obama's "commitment to go line by line through the budget to cut spending" and "reform the government." Read the rest of this entry »

The president moved on Tuesday. Most of the White House press corps didn’t.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) — While President Obama took off for home around Tuesday 2 pm ET from Baghdad aboard Air Force One, the bulk of the journalists who followed him on his European journey found themselves stuck in Turkey.

Several hours before the president took flight, the United crew providing transportation for the White House Press Corps' return discovered a problem with the United 777 scheduled to leave a few hours later.

It turns out the motor that moves the captain's left chair forward to reach the controls was broken.

Hearing the news, a few eager journalists began reporting it on Facebook and Twitter. Julie Mason of the Washington Examiner, who is a frequent blogger, reported the snafu around 11:30 am ET on her own Facebook page. She says immediately she began to hear speculation from other journalists that perhaps the president would have other surprise stops beyond Baghdad, and that this delay must have been a ploy by the White House to keep the press in position. (Turns out it really was just a broken seat.)

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Obama was awakened early in the morning with news North Korea launched a rocket.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (CNN) — Visiting Prague, Czech Republic, U.S. President Barack Obama was awakened at 4:30 a.m. Sunday with the news that North Korea had launched a rocket, as it had threatened to do over the past several weeks.

During his presidential campaign, Obama and former rival Hillary Clinton debated over who would be better qualified to take a hypothetical early-morning call of an international crisis. But in Prague, where both Obama and Clinton — now Secretary of State — are participating in the European Union summit, they acted in concert.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he personally woke up the president to tell him the launch had been confirmed. Obama consulted with his top aides — some by phone and others in person, as some are traveling with him. They included Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright, National Security Advisor General Jim Jones, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and various other intelligence officials.

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London, England (CNN) – President Barack Obama is meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday morning at the G-20 summit and hopes to set a date for a joint of U.S.-Russian summit to be held in Moscow this summer, two senior U.S. administration officials said.

The two leaders will also discuss the negotiations of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to reduce their nuclear arsenals, the officials said.

That treaty expires on December 5.

In addition, the meeting will include such subjects as the controversial plan for a U.S. missile defense system based in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, Iran, and the global economic crisis.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former President Jimmy Carter met Wednesday with National Security Adviser Jim Jones, White House officials said.

Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said the private briefing was planned in advance. "This is a general briefing as he has had with past administrations," she said in an e-mail.

During the meeting, President Barack Obama "dropped by" to greet Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said.

President Obama and Geithner will announce a plan to encourage lending to small businesses.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Monday will announce administration plans to make lending to small businesses more attractive, two senior administration officials confirm.

Many small businesses, suffering from dried-up coffers and unpaid bills, are having a tough time getting loans from lenders.

"We know that small businesses are the engine of growth in the economy, and we absolutely want to do things to help them," Christina Romer, who heads the Council of Economic Advisers, said on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday.

Romer said the government would pump "a significant amount" of money into boosting small business lending, but she did not reveal a total figure.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) — Two senior administration officials confirm that Daniel Fried will be named a special envoy to oversee the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Fried is currently assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs. The new job is intended to underscore the administration’s seriousness in shutting down the facility. Fried is a veteran diplomat who worked under former President George W. Bush. His main job will be to negotiate transferring Guantanamo detainees to third countries, mainly in Europe.

Romer chairs the Council of Economic Advisors.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — She is known for her cheery disposition and motherly demeanor, especially beside some of the dour faces that surround her, but Christina Romer, the president's chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisors, is delivering the cold, hard facts on the nation's new jobless numbers. Making her way from camera to camera, Romer is the face of the administration's bad news.

"I think there's no way we could or should spin these. They are terrible. We know that we've lost now more than 650,000 jobs each of the last three months, and that's a tragedy for the American families that are losing those jobs and for the whole economy," Romer told CNN.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the February unemployment figures, which showed an increase from 7.6 to 8.1 percent — numbers Romer said were not surprising. "I think the important thing is they were much of what we expected. But they are still very bad," she said. "The unemployment rate clearly went up a little bit more than the market had been expecting. The job loss is just what we were expecting."

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President Obama wrote Russian President Dmitry Medvedev seeking help in talks with Iran, sources say.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama has told Russia that the United States might not proceed with a missile defense system in eastern Europe if Iran drops plans for producing nuclear weapons, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

Obama raised the possibility in a letter to Russia seeking help in trying to end Iran's nuclear program, a senior administration official said. Contrary to news reports, it was not a secret letter, the official said.

Obama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the letter that the U.S. missile defense system in Russia's backyard would not be necessary if Iran stopped it own ambitions to build nuclear warheads and long-range ballistic missiles, the officials said.

The letter suggested Russia could have a role in reducing Iran's nuclear threat, and therefore could dissuade the United States from going forward with its plans to establish a missile base in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic.

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Administration officials say President Obama is expected to name Nancy Ann Min DeParle as his new director of the White House office on health reform this afternoon.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Administration officials say President Obama is expected to name Nancy Ann Min DeParle as his new director of the White House office on health reform this afternoon. The announcement is expected to come at the same East Room event where the president will name Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

DeParle's position, also referred to as White House health care czar, was initially to be filled by Obama's first HHS pick, former Senator Tom Daschle. DeParle would work with Sebelius as the President's point person to coordinate the administration's outreach to Congress regarding health care reform. It is not a cabinet position, but considered a key post.

Daschle was to hold both positions as someone who had health care expertise, and a former Senate Majority Leader with the Washington know-how to maneuver Obama's ambitious health care agenda through Congress, before tax problems derailed his nomination and he withdrew.

DeParle is a managing director at CCMO Capital, a private-equity firm. She is a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (medPAC), a group that advises Congress on Medicare payment and policy issues. She previously served a top health official in the Clinton administration. 

Obama administration officials say the health care czar position will be similar to the role Hillary Clinton played when, as First Lady, she attempted to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

(CNN) — Two senior administration officials say President Barack Obama will declare in his speech Friday at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina: "Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."

Related: Obama to pull most troops from Iraq by August 2010

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Several dozen mayors from across the country emerged from their meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday with one message — they are determined to get their money.

The mayors met with Obama to discuss the implementation of city-related funding from the $787 billion stimulus package.

"This plan does more to lay a new foundation for our cities' growth and opportunity than anything Washington has done in generations," Obama told them at a White House reception.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) — As auto giants General Motors and Chrysler face Tuesday's deadline to submit plans to show the government how they can repay billions in federal loans, the White House is creating a Presidential Task Force on Autos to oversee the restructuring of the auto industry, a senior administration official said.

The task force will include members from the Departments of Treasury, Labor, Transportation, Commerce, and Energy, the National Economic Council (NEC), the White House Office of Energy and Environment, the Council of Economic Advisers and the Environmental Protection Agency, the official said.

It will be overseen by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and NEC Director Larry Summers.

Geithner will oversee the loan agreements with the automakers.

Teams at the Treasury Department and  the National Economic Council are working with the automakers and stakeholders to prepare for their Tuesday submissions, the official said.
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President Obama will sign the economic stimulus bill Tuesday in Denver, Colorado, two officials said Saturday.

(CNN) — President Obama will sign the economic stimulus bill Tuesday in Denver, Colorado, two senior administration officials confirm to CNN.

Both officials cited a desire to get out of Washington — to go, in the words of one official, “out west in an area hit hard economically, away from the politics of Washington.”

The other official described Denver as “a place that will see the benefits of the bill in hiring workers.”

Obama traveled to areas hit hard by the economic downturn last week, holding town hall meetings in Elkhart, Indiana and Fort Myers, Florida. He met with workers at a Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Illinois on Thursday, after the company announced 22,000 layoffs.