WASHINGTON—Despite rain showers, a large crowd of people turned out Thursday in the nation’s capital for President Donald Trump’s Independence Day celebration, dubbed a “Salute to America,” which included a parade and fireworks afterward.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan announced Thursday he was “declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party,” saying July Fourth seemed like the ideal day to reveal his decision. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Amash wrote that “the two-party system has evolved into an existential threat to American principles and institutions.” He added that “preserving liberty means telling the Republican Party and the Democratic Party that we’ll no longer let them play their partisan game at our expense.

When Camille Vella-Wilkinson first ran for political office in 2010, she remembered the advice of hardened campaigners: avoid controversial issues and focus instead on what she hoped to accomplish as a councilwoman for the city of Warwick, R.I. But one of the first doors she knocked on would change all of that.

The door opened, and an older gentleman wearing a crucifix peered at her. She gave a quick spiel to convince him of why he should support her bid.

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that reports his administration had decided to print 2020 census forms without a controversial citizenship question were “incorrect, or, to state it differently, FAKE!” An attorney with the Department of Justice said Tuesday the federal government would begin printing the forms without the question after the U.S.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced Wednesday that his country will increase its nuclear fuel enrichment after Sunday to “any amount that we want,” in defiance of the cap set by the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. “Our level of enrichment will no longer be 3.67,” Rouhani told the IRIB news agency.

Members of a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents made racist, sexually explicit, and callous comments about migrants and Hispanic members of Congress, according to a report published by ProPublica on Monday. Close to 9,500 current and former Border Patrol members were members of the group, the news site noted.

Iran announced Monday it had breached a key limit on how much nuclear fuel it can stockpile under a 2015 deal with world powers. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed the announcement to the state-run IRNA news agency, adding, “if Europeans do what they have to do, our measures are reversible.”