President Obama is tackling a large domestic agenda at the same time as a new CIA controversy begins to brew.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — As President Obama tries pressing ahead with his domestic agenda focused on health care and energy reform, several potential investigations threaten to steal the focus in Washington.

The most recent controversy: The revelation that Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta told House and Senate intelligence committees that former Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the spy agency to keep Congress in the dark for eight years about a still-secret counterterrorism program.

The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who confirmed she learned of the former vice president's order during a recent closed-door briefing by Panetta, expressed outrage.

"That's something that should never, ever happen again," Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-California, said on Fox News Sunday. "I think this is a problem, obviously."

A knowledgeable source familiar with the matter said the counterterrorism program in question was initiated shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. The program, the source notes, was on-again, off-again and was never fully operational. Panetta has since put an end to the program, according to the source.

Efforts to contact Cheney for reaction were unsuccessful. CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano has declined to comment on the report.

David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst, says that while this is the last thing the Obama administration wants to deal with, it's "starting to mushroom into a life form of its own."

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Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to step down in late July has rankled both Republicans and Democrats.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin caught the political world by surprise when she announced that she will resign at the end of July.

Her decision has not only rankled political pundits and observers in Alaska and across the country, it has, oddly enough, united Democrats and Republicans in confusion.

But the 45-year-old governor's future could be aimed at being the ultimate GOP superstar, whether it's giving million-dollar speeches, traveling the lower 48 states on a book tour or even getting her own TV show.

Read More: Virginia and NJ Republicans non-committal on Palin

John Ridley of National Public Radio says she has the potential to be a Republican "kingmaker."

"She was never going to be president of the United States. But who's got all the sway in the Republican Party right now? It's the political pundits; it's the talk show hosts; it's the people who are not responsible to an electorate," Ridley told CNN's Campbell Brown. "I would not be surprised if around 2011 people are circling around Sarah Palin, saying, 'please, anoint us for the road to the White House.' She's never going to be president but possibly a kingmaker."

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South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admits to an affair Wednesday at the state Capitol in Columbia.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — It has been a rocky couple of weeks for the Republican Party as high-profile, traditional-values politicians have faced embarrassing sex scandals.

First it was Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, who admitted in a news conference two weeks ago to having an affair with a former staffer.

Then, last week, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford trumped Ensign.

After days in which his whereabouts were unknown by his wife and staff (who thought he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail), Sanford held a tear-filled and rambling news conference to admit to an affair with an Argentine woman, and to apologize to his staff and the voters of South Carolina for not disclosing where he was.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama's speech to the Muslim world on Thursday faced mixed reaction abroad — and a very clear directive at home from Republicans and conservatives: The United States cannot ruin its relationship with Israel.

Speaking in Cairo, Egypt, the president took on the heated and controversial Palestinian-Israeli conflict by endorsing a two-state solution and urging compromise between "two peoples with legitimate aspirations."

The United States, he said, "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."

Those Jewish settlements are spread throughout the Palestinian-controlled West Bank. Israel maintains the settlements are needed, while Palestinians say they are an obstacle to the peace process.

Calling America's "strong bond" with Israel "unbreakable," he said, "It is based upon cultural and historical ties and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied."

House Minority Leader John Boehner on Thursday blasted Obama's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian question.

"He seemed to … place equal blame on the Israelis and the Palestinians. I have concerns about this," the Ohio Republican said. "The Israelis have the right to defend themselves."

Boehner's Republican colleague, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, added that "there was a sense in here of a moral equivalency between those who are driving for a Palestinian state and the state of Israel."

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New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed a bill Wednesday legalizing same-sex marriage in his state.

(CNN) — New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed same-sex marriage into law Wednesday night.

The bill, which passed the House 198-176 on Wednesday, also was approved by the state Senate 14-10.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation — the nation's primary lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media advocacy and anti-defamation organization — applauded Lynch's decision.

"Gov. Lynch's signing of the marriage equality bill grants legal protections for same-sex couples in New Hampshire to take care of and be responsible for each other," said the organization's president, Neil Giuliano.

"As people get to know the loving and committed couples at the heart of marriage equality, our culture is moving to equality."

Both chambers had previously voted to approve same-sex marriage but Lynch said he would sign the bill into law only if the legislature added new language to protect religious institutions that did not want to perform such marriages.

"We can and must treat both same-sex couples and people of certain religious traditions with respect and dignity," Lynch had said. "I believe this proposed language will accomplish both of these goals."

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President Obama hopes to start a 'new chapter of engagement' with the Muslim world, a spokesman says.

(CNN) – Winning the hearts and minds of a majority of people is a nearly impossible feat, especially when you're a politician.

And it's even harder when religion is involved, namely Islam, which some estimates put at 1 billion followers.

But President Obama looks to do just that Thursday as he delivers what the White House is billing as a major speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, Egypt.

Obama hopes to start "a new chapter of engagement" between the United States and the Muslim world, speechwriter Ben Rhodes said Wednesday.

This engagement would be based on mutual respect and mutual interest, and Obama plans to speak "openly and candidly" about issues that have caused "tensions in the Muslim world," Rhodes said. "This can't be just [about] what we're against, but what we're for."

Obama asked staff members to "cast a wide net" to gather a range of viewpoints, including those of Muslim-Americans, as he was preparing his Cairo comments, Rhodes disclosed.

But just as the White House lays out its vision, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden purportedly issued another statement Wednesday, saying U.S. policy in Pakistan has generated "new seeds of hatred and revenge against America."

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Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell will face the winner of the June 9 Democratic primary.

(CNN) — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele praised Bob McDonnell Saturday for receiving the official party nomination in the state's gubernatorial race, and said he is part of a "Republican renaissance that starts this year in Virginia."

“I would like to congratulate Bob McDonnell for being selected by Virginia Republicans today as their candidate for governor," Steele said in a statement. "It is going to be a tough fight, but we are well positioned for victory in November."

Steele said the RNC is committed to devoting its "full attention and significant resources" to helping McDonnell take back the governor's mansion in November.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe is now in the final weeks of a tough three-way primary battle for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He has received an enthusiastic endorsement this year by former President Bill Clinton.

Democratic Sen. Carl Levin is challenging former Vice President Cheney's recent claims about the effectiveness of the Bush administration's use of harsh interrorgation techniques.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney's claims — that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked — are wrong.

Levin, speaking at the Foreign Policy Association's annual dinner on Wednesday, said an investigation by his committee into detainee abuse charges over the use of the techniques — now deemed torture by the Obama administration — "gives the lie to Mr. Cheney's claims."

The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques."

"I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added.

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Judge Sonia Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court justice if confirmed.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Republican Party risks further alienation from Hispanics by challenging the nomination of Sonia Sotomayer, who would become the first Hispanic, and third woman, on the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, President Obama nominated 54-year-old Sotomayor — who is of Puerto Rican descent — to replace the retiring Justice David Souter.

Sotomayer is a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, named to that post by President Bill Clinton when she was a U.S. District Court judge, nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

The barbed comments about Sotomayer began almost as soon as the announcement was made at the White House on Tuesday.

Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh called Sotomayor a "reverse racist" on his show. Limbaugh, who is known for stirring up controversy, said he hopes Obama's nominee fails.

"Do I want her to fail? Yeah. Do I want her to fail to get on the court? Yes. She'd be a disaster on the court," he said. "Do I still want to Obama to fail as president? Yeah. … He's going to fail anyway, but the sooner the better here so that as little damage can be done to the country."

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she was misled about the use of enhanced interrogation techniques.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Newt Gingrich continued his attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Saturday, saying she "defamed everyone" in the intelligence community and he can't "see how she can serve as speaker if it turns out that she has lied about national security both to the House and to the rest of the country.”

"I would expect at that point a motion of censure, and I think under the rules of the House, you can't serve for the rest of that term if you've been censured," Gingrich, a former Republican speaker of the House, said in an interview with CNN.

Pelosi has been under fire from critics who say she was fully briefed on the controversial waterboarding technique — now deemed torture by the Obama administration — in 2002 and 2003. On Thursday, the California Democrat accused CIA officials of misleading her, reiterating a claim that she was briefed on such techniques only once — in September 2002 — and that she was told at the time the techniques were not being used.

Pelosi said the briefing she received from the CIA was incomplete and inaccurate, and she called on the CIA to release a full transcript of the briefing.

The dispute over intelligence prompted CIA Director Leon Panetta to stand up for the agency Friday in a letter to CIA employees and challenge Pelosi on her assertion that the CIA had misled her.

"There is a long tradition in Washington of making political hay out of our business. It predates my service with this great institution, and it will be around long after I'm gone. But the political debates about interrogation reached a new decibel level yesterday when the CIA was accused of misleading Congress," Panetta said in a letter to employees.

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(CNN) – University of Notre Dame senior Emily Toates, like many in the Catholic faith, is angry over her school's decision to give President Obama an honorary degree at this weekend's commencement.

She's doing something about it: skipping the event.

"I do not feel comfortable going and celebrating him as the university hands him an honorary degree — in a sense honoring his policies," Toates said.

On Sunday, Obama will become one of many sitting U.S. presidents to deliver the commencement address at the Catholic institution. The honor comes much to the chagrin of anti-abortion groups and Catholics protesting the president's pro-choice, pro-stem cell research views.

ND Response, an anti-abortion student group that Toates is working with, will boycott the graduation ceremony in protest. Other anti-abortion groups have started petitions against Obama's appearance and have plans to protest his visit to the South Bend, Indiana, campus.

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(CNN) — New Hampshire Gov. Jon Lynch said Thursday that he will sign into law a bill allowing same-sex couples to wed — but only after the state legislature agrees to his terms.

"This morning, I met with House and Senate leaders, and the sponsors of this legislation, and gave them language that will provide additional protections to religious institutions," he said in a statement. "This new language will provide the strongest and clearest protections for religious institutions and associations, and for the individuals working with such institutions.

"…But following that tradition means we must act to protect both the liberty of same-sex couples and religious liberty. In their current form, I do not believe these bills accomplish those goals."

Lynch said if the state legislature passes the new language, he will sign the bill into law. Otherwise, he will veto the measure.

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The Iraqi Ministry of Justice gave journalists an inside look at the prison formerly known as Abu Ghraib.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Obama has ordered government lawyers to object to the planned release of additional detainee photos, the White House said Wednesday.

The Defense Department was set to release hundreds of photographs showing alleged abuse of prisoners in detention facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The president was concerned about harm to the troops," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday afternoon. "The president, as you all know, met with his legal team last week because he did not feel comfortable with the release of the photos."

Gibbs added, "the president reflected on this case and believes that they have the potential to pose harm to the troops. … Nothing is added by the release of the photos."

The release was ordered in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. It followed Obama's decision to release Bush-era CIA documents showing that the United States used techniques like waterboarding, considered torture by the current administration.

But the announcement Wednesday is a reversal of what Gibbs said April 24, when he argued that the White House had no problem releasing the photos, based on the court decisions handed down.

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Pentagon officials say more than $300,000 was spent on a New York flyover by a 747 plane used as Air Force One

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House indicated Wednesday that a report and a photo from the controversial low-altitude New York flyover by a 747 plane used as Air Force One could be released soon.

Earlier, White House officials had said that there were no plans to release photos to the public.

But the tone seemed to change on Wednesday.

"The report, I believe, will be concluded at some point this week. We'll release its findings and release a photo," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said during his daily press briefing.

The review, led by Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, will focus on "why that decision was made and to ensure that it never happens again," Gibbs said.

The flyover, officials said, was a training mission — it was also a government-sanctioned photo shoot.

Military officials also estimate that the mission and the photo shoot, aimed updating file photos of Air Force One — cost around $328,835 in taxpayer money

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President Obama faces daunting foreign and domestic policy challenges in the next 100 days.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — After passing the 100 days benchmark, President Obama pushes on with a daunting task ahead of him: Tackling foreign and domestic issues while dealing with a Republican Party opposed to nearly all his major economic initiatives.

President Obama faces daunting foreign and domestic policy challenges in the next 100 days.

The second 100 days will be a critical test of Obama's power in getting key legislative priorities — such as economic recovery, health care, energy and immigration — passed.

With recent polls showing the American public giving him a job approval rating in the mid-60s, he already starts off on the right footing.

But a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll out Monday suggests that Obama is personally more popular than his policies. The poll showed that three in four Americans feel Obama has the personal qualities a president should have. But when the respondents were asked if they agree with the president on the issues, that number drops to 57 percent.

For Republicans, the support is more than lackluster: Only 28 percent say Obama is doing a good job.

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Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, said Saturday that the U.S. should embrace nuclear technology.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, made a strong push Saturday for investment in a power source commonly used in France: nuclear energy.

“Now the debate in Congress is shifting to the size of your electric and gasoline bills and to climate change," the Tennessee Republican said in the weekly GOP address Saturday. "So guess who has one of the lowest electric rates in Western Europe and the second lowest carbon emissions in the entire European Union. It’s France."

Watch the full address

Nuclear plants provide 80 percent of France's electricity, according to Alexander, who added that the country even sells "electricity to Germany, whose politicians built windmills and solar panels and promised not to build nuclear plants."

“So you’d think that if Democrats want to talk about energy and climate change and clean air, they’d put American-made nuclear power front and center. … We say find more American energy and use less … and one place to start is with 100 more nuclear plants," he said.

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Some congressional Democrats are calling for an investigation into controversial CIA interrogation techniques.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Who knew what, and when?

Those questions, focused on recently released Bush-era CIA memos detailing "enhanced interrogations" of suspected al Qaeda members — are now being posed inside the Beltway, as calls by Democrats for an independent investigation into torture allegations have become louder.

House Minority Leader John Boehner said Thursday that the release of what he described as the "torture" memos is politically motivated.

"Last week, they [Obama administration] released these memos outlining torture techniques. That was clearly a political decision and ignored the advice of their Director of National Intelligence [Dennis Blair] and their CIA director [Leon Panetta]," Boehner said.

The Ohio Republican pointed out that he saw a partial list of the number of members of the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans "who were briefed on these interrogation methods and not a word was raised at the time, not one word."

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Michigan, also blasted concerns being raised by Democrats.

"Only now that we have a new administration are people coming out who were aware of these programs saying wait a minute, these were terrible programs. In reality, two, three years ago, they signed off on it, they voted for legislation that funded these programs, and now all of a sudden these are terrible practices," he said.

But when asked whether or not she raised objections to the interrogation measures at the time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — a then-ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee — vehemently said "we were not, I repeat, we were not told that waterboarding or other enhanced methods were used."

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President Obama says in a new op-ed running in several newspapers that it's time for the U.S. to pursue greater relations with 'our neighbors.'

(CNN) – In an op-ed running in several newspapers throughout Latin America, President Obama said it's time for the United States to "move in a new direction" regarding policies affecting the Americas.

"Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors. We have been too easily distracted by other priorities, and have failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas," Obama wrote. "My Administration is committed to the promise of a new day. We will renew and sustain a broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on behalf of our common prosperity and our common security."

The op-ed — in English, Portugese and Spanish — ran in the following newspapers: Trinidad Express (Trinidad & Tobago), St. Petersburg Times, Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.

It also ran in Grupo De Diarios America (GDA) affiliate newspapers across the world, such as La Nacin (Argentina), O Globo (Brazil), La Nacin (Costa Rica) and El Universal (Mexico).

Obama, who is in Mexico Thursday, heads to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago this week, where issues affecting Latin American-U.S. relations will be on the table — as well as broader themes of parternship and leadership.

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President Obama travels to Mexico on Thursday as the country deals with a violent surge in drug crimes.

(CNN) — President Obama travels to Mexico on Thursday as the United States' neighbor to the south continues to wrestle with increasingly deadly drug wars.

Obama recently announced a crackdown on border violence and on the smuggling of cash and weapons into Mexico — a step that could mark an end to a blame game over where responsibility for the violence lies.

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the president designated three Mexican organizations, which he says are involved in drug trafficking, to face hefty financial sanctions under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. The law, signed by President Bill Clinton in December 1999, authoritizes the president to impose penalties against foreign drug kingpins — and organizations that do business with them, according to the Treasury Department.

The president's action comes ahead of his trip to Mexico — along with attending the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago later this week — where drug violence will undoubtedly be debated. It's traditional for the new U.S. president to go north and south early on. Obama traveled to Canada in February.

Authorities on both sides of the border blame powerful drug cartels for escalating bloodshed. Analysts have said the bulk of the violence takes place along the U.S. border, particularly in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua and Tijuana — as well as on Mexico's western coast.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) — Two Republican congressmen ripped Congressional Black Caucus members for ignoring Cuba's "myriad gross human rights abuses" Thursday, saying this week's caucus trip to the island nation ignored the plight of political prisoners under the Castro regime.

They also urged the Obama administration to refrain from easing trade embargo or travel restrictions until the Cuban government releases all "prisoners of conscience," shows greater respect for freedom of religion and speech, and holds "free and fair" elections.

The call from Reps. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, and Frank Wolf, R-Virginia, came three days after the administration signaled that new rules on family travel and remittances to Cuba may be announced before President Obama goes to the Summit of the Americas on April 17.

It also followed statements from several Black Caucus members Tuesday arguing for consideration of an end to the trade embargo and other diplomatic restrictions placed on Cuba for five decades.

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