Politics Election category
Melania Trump denied ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The question remains: Why now?
WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump’s seemingly out-of-the-blue statement Thursday denying affiliation with disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein left people still wondering Friday what prompted the public declaration at a time when the case had receded from the spotlight. Reading prepared remarks at the White House on Thursday, Melania Trump...
Shapiro, Garrity spar over Iran
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Treasurer Stacy Garrity are sparring this week over the war in Iran. Garrity, who is unopposed for the Republican nomination in this year’s race for governor, took exception Thursday to Shapiro describing the conflict as “the president’s war of choice.” In response to a reporter’s...
‘I am thinking about it,’ Kamala Harris says of 2028 presidential bid
NEW YORK — After chants of “run again!” filled the room, former Vice President Kamala Harris told African American activists on Friday that she’s actively considering another presidential bid. “I might. I am thinking about it,” Harris told Rev. Al Sharpton after he asked directly whether she was going to...
Pope amplifies criticism of Iran war and says ‘God does not bless any conflict’
ROME — Pope Leo XIV amplified his condemnation of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Friday, saying that “God does not bless any conflict” and certainly doesn’t side with those who drop bombs. Leo spoke during a gathering of top bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, an Eastern...
Vance warns Iran not to ‘play’ the U.S. as he departs for negotiations aimed at ending the war
WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance on Friday warned Iran not to “play” the U.S. as he headed overseas for negotiations aimed at ending the war. President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the 6-week-old conflict...
Hungary’s election could end Orbán’s journey from liberal firebrand to far-right leader
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the European Union’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, has taken a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired by the global far-right today. After dominating Hungarian politics for more than...
Date set for special election in Butler County state House district
A special election to replace former state Rep. Stephenie Scialabba, R-Cranberry, has been scheduled for August, but voters in the Butler County state House district could remain without a representative until late September. State House Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, on Wednesday scheduled the 12th District special election for Aug. 18....
U.S. abortion opponents want Trump’s FDA to act on abortion pill restrictions
/ U.S. abortion opponents are increasingly frustrated with the lack of action by President Donald Trump’s administration to stem the flow of abortion pills prescribed online that they view as undermining state abortion bans. A court ruling this week in a lawsuit the Louisiana attorney general brought against Trump’s Food...
Hasan Piker can stream, but can he stump?
Deep inside the sprawling campus acreage of Michigan State University, leftist political pundit and streamer Hasan Piker stood before a packed lecture hall, taking in a rapturous welcome. The crowd of about 400 people, many wearing hoodies and headphones, plus the occasional kaffiyeh scarf, had waited hours outside on a...
Republican fears grow as Democrats keep notching election victories ahead of midterms
MADISON, Wisc. — The bluntest assessment of Republican failures during this week’s elections in Wisconsin came from one of their own. “We got our butts kicked,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor. He was referring to Democratic victories in campaigns for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and...
For a 2nd time, Trump seeks to eliminate federal funding for tribal colleges and universities
For the second year in a row, the Trump administration is proposing slashing federal funding for tribal colleges and universities. President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal calls for a $1.5 trillion increase to defense spending and would carve billions of dollars out of programs that fulfill trust and...
‘Revolution’ or ‘chaos’: The massive stakes if a Republican becomes California governor
LOS ANGELES — If conservative commentator Steve Hilton is elected California’s next governor, as President Donald Trump wants, it would mark a “political revolution” for the liberal state, the candidate said. The state’s Democrat-controlled Legislature, “after all their years of lecturing us about democracy,” would be forced to work with...
Democrats grow bolder on talk about removing Trump from office after his Iran threats
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s threats to wipe out Iran, “a whole civilization,” ended the restraint that Democrats have mostly practiced when it comes to questions of removing him from office in his second term. By the dozens, Democrats came out to say that Trump should no longer serve in...
As Trump throws lifeline to coal plants, critics warn of higher costs and health risks
WASHINGTON — Before Donald Trump returned to the White House, the Biden administration and many electric utilities were building a future dominated by renewable energy. They aimed to replace coal, slashing greenhouse gases and reducing air pollution that kills more than a thousand people annually. Dozens of coal plants —...
Shapiro outraises Garrity by 10-to-1 margin in 1st quarter, filings show
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity raised more than $1 million for her gubernatorial campaign during the first three months of the year but was outraised by incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro by more than a 10-to-1 margin, campaign finance reports show. Garrity, a Republican from Bradford County, filed paperwork Tuesday showing that...
Trump is expected to meet NATO leader Rutte as he muses about pulling out of the military alliance
WASHINGTON — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is expected to meet with President Donald Trump on Wednesday to try to smooth over the president’s anger with the military alliance over the Iran war. Trump had suggested the U.S. may consider leaving the trans-Atlantic alliance after NATO member countries ignored his call...
Even as they praise Iran ceasefire, world leaders are whipsawed by Trump
BERLIN — World leaders expressed relief Wednesday that the United States, Israel and Iran had agreed to a temporary ceasefire, with President Donald Trump backing off his apocalyptic threat to escalate a war that had already set off a cascading series of global crises. But the relief was tempered by...
Trump-endorsed Republican Clay Fuller wins Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former House seat in Georgia
RINGGOLD, Ga. — Republican Clay Fuller on Tuesday won Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former U.S. House seat in Georgia, turning back a Democratic challenge with the help of President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Democrat Shawn Harris had led the first round of voting in March in a 17-candidate field, but couldn’t overcome...
Republicans unveil a $342 million battle plan to keep the Senate
The leading super political action committee for Senate Republicans is unveiling a nearly $350 million plan to preserve control of the Senate, aiming tens of millions of dollars at red-leaning states including Alaska, Iowa and Ohio as the midterm elections grow more competitive. Top officials at the group, the Senate...
Trump endorses Republican Steven Hilton for California governor, reordering wide-open race
LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump has endorsed Republican Steve Hilton for California governor, reordering a crowded, wide-open race to lead the nation’s most populous state. Trump posted late Sunday on his social media platform Truth Social that he has known Hilton for years and called the conservative commentator “a...
ICE says 13 arrested at PennDOT drivers’ license center in Armstrong County
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 13 people Friday at a PennDOT driver’s license center near Kittanning, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Jason Koontz, a DHS spokesman, said ICE was called by East Franklin police after “concerned citizens reported an abnormally large amount of individuals” outside the...
Here are the planned stops for immigrant rights activist’s 8-day walk to ICE detention center
Jaime Martinez’s eight-day walk from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Pittsburgh’s South Side to the agency’s detention center in Clearfield County will take him through Monroeville, Apollo and Indiana. The march envisioned by Martinez, executive director of immigrant advocacy group Frontline Dignity, will start about 8 a.m....
Trump’s go-it-alone certainty confronts the uncertainties of war
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump did not equivocate in his first live address to Americans about the war in Iran. “We’ve beaten and completely decimated Iran,” he said in a prime-time speech from the White House on Wednesday. “They are decimated both militarily and economically and in every other way.”...
Bondi struggled to prosecute Trump foes. But will a new attorney general make a difference?
WASHINGTON — Pam Bondi is out of her job after failing to deliver criminal cases against President Donald Trump’s political enemies. But there’s no guarantee her successor will have any better success at placating the president. Over the last year, Bondi’s Justice Department has encountered resistance from judges, grand jurors...
A look at how the Epstein files dogged Pam Bondi’s time as attorney general
NEW YORK — After Pam Bondi became U.S. attorney general last year, conservative influencers, online sleuths and others who wanted the government to disclose all it knew about Jeffrey Epstein thought they might have a champion in the Department of Justice. So did Jess Michaels, one of the legions of...
