President Donald Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh, a politically connected conservative judge, for the Supreme Court Monday, setting up a ferocious confirmation battle with Democrats as he seeks to shift the nation’s highest court further to the right.

The House on Thursday passed a GOP-backed short-term spending bill that would fund the government through Feb. 16. 

Democrats Doug Jones and Tina Smith have officially been sworn in as U.S. senators on Wednesday. Smith is replacing former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, and Jones fills the seat held by Republican Jeff Sessions, now the attorney general. Jones' election reduces the Republican majority to 51-49.

In a now-infamous video unearthed shortly before the 2016 election, President Donald Trump bragged in 2005 that his celebrity status has allowed him to grope women without their consent. 

Sen. Al Franken announced from the Senate floor Thursday that he will be resigning in the coming weeks, after the majority of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate urged him to step aside. Multiple women accused Franken of inappropriately touching them or attempting to kiss them. 

President Donald Trump is throwing his full support behind embattled Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race.