Obama rejected allegations his administration sought to cover up the truth and said GOP lawmakers had "political motivations."

The Obama administration on Monday called Iran's scheduled ceremonial leadership of disarmament talks at the United Nations “unfortunate and highly inappropriate” and announced the United States will respond by pulling its ambassador from the talks.

The U.S. mission to the UN however will still be sending lower-level negotiators to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. The conference is seeking to begin talks on a treaty banning the further production of highly enriched uranium and plutonium, a priority for the Obama administration that has long been held up by Pakistan.

“Boycotting would impede our ability to fully engage in the CD’s work,” a U.S. official told The Hill, “especially as we seek to break the long-standing deadlock on a verifiable fissile material cutoff treaty.”

British leaders are continuing to push for more "flexibility" in a European Union ban on arming the Syrian opposition, looking to open the door to direct weapons sales to rebel forces. 

Cameron Kerry will assume office as the acting secretary of Commerce at the end of May.

Forty-nine percent of respondents to a poll from Democratic firm PPP trust Clinton on the controversy to 39 percent for Republicans.

At a joint press conference, Obama said Russia had an "obligation" to broker a peaceful transition of power in Syria.

President Obama and United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday committed to completing an ambitious, comprehensive trade agreement that they hope will create a wave of global economic prosperity.

Appearing together at a joint press conference, Obama and Cameron vowed to pursue a deal without preconditions.

"That means everything is on the table, even the difficult issues, and no exceptions," Cameron said after meeting with Obama at the White House.

"It's worth the effort."

The formal trade talks are expected to begin by July, and Cameron said "there's a real chance now to get the process launched in time" for the Group of 8 summit that is being held next month in Northern Ireland

British Prime Minister David Cameron wants a global standard under which petroleum and mining companies will report their payments to governments, calling it a way to curb corruption in resource-rich nations.

Cameron, who is meeting with President Obama at the White House on Monday, called for the Group of Eight leading industrial nations to work on the effort at its June gathering in Ireland.

The prime minister, in a broader Wall Street Journal column backing free trade, said greater “transparency” must accompany more open global markets.

“[W]e must lift the veil of secrecy that too often lets corrupt corporations and officials in some countries run rings around the law. The G8 must move toward a global common standard for resource-extracting companies to report all payments to governments, and in turn for governments to report those revenues,” Cameron writes.

Rep. Cummings wrote to Issa on Monday asking that the authors be allowed to defend themselves in public from criticism.