Denis McDonough

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter used a personal email account for some work-related business earlier this year at the Pentagon, although he has since stopped such use of his personal email, the Pentagon said on Dec. 17.

The U.S. House of Representatives, defying a veto threat by President Barack Obama, overwhelmingly passed Republican-backed legislation on Nov. 19 to suspend Obama's program to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year and then intensify the process of screening them.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said April 22 that he did not expect the U.S. President Barack Obama to use the word ?genocide? in a statement to mark the 100th anniversary of the killing of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. 

The White House avoided referring to the World War I killings of Armenians as genocide on April 21, as a diplomatic row raged ahead of the tragedy?s 100th anniversary.

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and one of President Barack Obama?s top foreign policy advisors hosted Armenian American leaders at the White House to discuss the centennial.