President Trump is once again denying that he backed down by ditching his plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, this time with a real head-scratcher of an explanation.

Trump spoke to reporters on Friday after announcing his administration would no longer pursue putting a citizenship question on the 2020 census, which came after he said last week that despite an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling, his administration was still "absolutely moving forward" with that plan and that he might sign an executive order to get it done.

"Not only didn't I back down, I backed up," Trump said on Friday.

Trump went on to argue that his new plan to get the information from federal agencies instead is "actually better" and that it will be "more accurate" this way, declaring that only the "fake news" would object to this characterization. The New York Times had previously reported that Trump's new order does little more than "reiterate plans the Commerce Department announced last year, making it less a new policy than a means of covering Mr. Trump's retreat from the composition of the 2020 census form." Brendan Morrow

GOP lawmakers aren't thrilled that President Biden is reportedly expected to announce that a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan will take place by Sept. 11, 2021.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called it a "grave mistake," while Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said it's a "reckless and dangerous decision," arguing that while "no wants a forever war ... I've consistently said any withdrawal must be conditions-based." (A Biden official said Tuesday that the withdrawal won't be conditional.)

A few other Republican senators got their shots in, as well. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), for one, didn't hold back, describing a full withdrawal as "dumber than dirt." He maintained that at the very least a "residual counterterrorism" force should remain as an "insurance policy against [the] rise of radical Islam in Afghanistan." Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) questioned the target date, which doubles as the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. "I think a random withdrawal just because you're celebrating an anniversary is not the right decision," she said, per Fox News.

Not everyone was so harsh. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) left the door open, saying that "If we're ready to go, I'll be be supportive," but adding "If we're not ready to go, I'll be making that very clear." Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), on the other hand, simply said he's happy the troops are presumably "coming home."

Then there's Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who also isn't a huge fan of Biden's reported new strategy, except on the basis that it's too late. He urged the White House to stick to the May 1 deadline, which was set in an agreement between the Trump administration and the Taliban, though he did concede that it's "better late than never." Tim O'Donnell

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday addressed the FDA and the CDC's decision to recommend a pause of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, arguing the move was not made "too quickly" and ultimately shows "how seriously we take safety."

Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, at a White House press conference spoke about the health agencies' recommendation that use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine be paused while officials look into six blood clotting cases. He stressed that "this is a very rare event" given that 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered in the United States, though he argued that officials weren't "pulling the trigger too quickly" with the pause.

"This is an unusual occurrence of a serious, adverse event that you want to make sure, before you go forward, you investigate it thoroughly, and that's exactly what they're doing," Fauci said. "They're pausing so that they can look at it more carefully."

The move to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over such a rare occurrence prompted some criticism, though, as well as concerns that it could lead to greater vaccine hesitancy. But Fauci argued it should only make Americans more confident in the process.

"The fact that a pause was done I think just is a testimony to how seriously we take safety, and why we have an FDA and a CDC that looks at this very carefully and hopefully will resolve it pretty soon, within days to weeks," Fauci said. "...So I think it's a very strong argument for safety, actually."

Fauci also stressed that there have been "no red flag signals" from the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines even though they have already been administered to tens of millions of Americans, which shows that "you're dealing with a really safe vaccine." Brendan Morrow

Former President Donald Trump released a statement Tuesday criticizing the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation to pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, baselessly suggesting the decision was politically motivated.

"The results of this vaccine have been extraordinary, but now it's [sic] reputation will be permanently challenged," Trump said. He then floated, without any evidence, that the FDA may have been playing favorites. "[The FDA] should not be able to do such damage for possibly political reasons, or maybe because their friends at Pfizer have suggested it," he said. He also didn't lose an opportunity to bring up his favorite subject: his loss in the 2020 presidential election, which he has blamed on everyone from the Supreme Court to other Republican politicians to the pharmaceutical companies that worked with his administration to craft a vaccine. "Remember, it was the FDA working with Pfizer, who announced the vaccine approval two days after the 2020 presidential election," he said in his Tuesday statement.

He then finished off the statement by boasting about vaccine development under his administration, and called for the Johnson & Johnson shot to be back in action quickly. Tim O'Donnell

President Biden on Tuesday eulogized the late Capitol Police office William "Billy" Evans as he lies in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

Biden described Evans, who was killed in the line of duty earlier this month when a driver slammed into Evans and another officer in a suspected attack on the Capitol, as a "hero." During the "intimate" address, Biden spoke directly to Evans' wife and two young children, telling them their husband and father is "still with you."

The president said that although he didn't personally know Evans, he knew people like him growing up. "He was the one who always kept his word," Biden said. "If he said he'd be there, he'd be there. He was the one who ... wasn't capable of saying 'no' when you needed him."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also spoke, calling Evans a "martyr for our democracy." Tim O'Donnell

President Biden is set to announce that all American troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks this year, The Washington Post reports.

Biden will reportedly reveal the new deadline this week, which will come after he said last month that it would be "hard to meet" the May 1 withdrawal deadline set under former President Donald Trump and negotiated with the Taliban.

"It is not my intention to stay there for a long time," Biden said in March. "...We will leave. The question is when we leave."

Biden also said at the time he "can't picture" U.S. troops still being in Afghanistan in 2022.

The president is planning for a "phased withdrawal" from Afghanistan between now and September, the Post writes. CNN confirmed the news that the roughly 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be withdrawn but noted it wasn't "immediately clear what will happen to several hundred U.S. special operations forces there."

But the Post quoted a source familiar with the deliberations as saying, "If we break the May 1st deadline negotiated by the previous administration with no clear plan to exit, we will be back at war with the Taliban, and that was not something President Biden believed was in the national interest." Brendan Morrow

The White House does not appear to be concerned about whether the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation to pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine may hinder its distribution strategy.

Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said in a statement Tuesday that because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up only a small percentage of the recorded shots in the U.S., the federal plan should remain intact without any major hiccups. "Over the last few weeks, we have made available more than 25 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna [vaccines] each week ... This is more than enough supply to continue the current pace of 3 million shots per day, and meet [President Biden's] goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office," the statement said.

Johnson & Johnson appointments scheduled for the next several days have already been canceled, but Zients said the Biden administration is working with state and federal partners to reschedule those for a dose of Pfizer or Moderna.

While the math may hold up for the White House's goals, there are still other factors to consider, including whether the FDA's decision leads to any noticeable increase in vaccine hesitancy, regardless of which shots are available. Tim O'Donnell