Politics Election category, Page 253
State Rep. George Dunbar elected caucus chair
A fellow Westmoreland County lawmaker has been elected to fill the Republican caucus leadership post left vancant by the death of state Rep. Mike Reese. Rep. George Dunbar, R-Penn Township, will serve as majority caucus chair for the 2021-22 legislative session, a caucus spokesman said Tuesday. Reese, 42, of Mt....
McConnell backs off Senate filibuster fight with Schumer
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell backed off his demand that Senate Democrats preserve the procedural tool known as the filibuster, easing a standoff with new Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as the two negotiated a power-sharing agreement in the closely divided chamber. McConnell said late Monday he had essentially...
As 2nd Trump impeachment trial draws near, Sen. Pat Toomey remains on the fence
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey remained uncommitted Monday on whether he would vote to convict former President Donald Trump even as the House prepared to deliver the impeachment charge to the Senate. Toomey, who has said he will not seek reelection in 2022, has been a harsh critic of Trump in...
Trump impeachment goes to Senate, testing his sway over GOPVideo
WASHINGTON — Democrats marched the impeachment case against Donald Trump to the Senate Monday night for the start of his historic trial, but Republican senators were easing off their criticism of the former president and shunning calls to convict him over the deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol. It’s an...
Pa. Congressman Scott Perry acknowledges introducing Trump to Justice lawyer
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican from the Harrisburg area, acknowledged Monday that he introduced former President Donald Trump to a Department of Justice attorney sympathetic the president’s false election claims, and who later joined Trump in a plot to pressure Georgia officials to overturn the results in...
Janet Yellen wins Senate approval as 1st female treasury secretary
The Senate on Monday approved President Joe Biden’s nomination of Janet Yellen to be the nation’s 78th treasury secretary, making her the first woman to hold the job in the department’s 232-year history. Yellen, a former chair of the Federal Reserve, was approved by the Senate on a 84-15 vote,...
Supreme Court set to decide in Feb. whether to hear Rep. Mike Kelly’s election case
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to announce in as soon as a month whether it will hear the election case of U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, who started his legal fight against the results of the presidential race within weeks after fellow Republican Donald Trump lost the White House to...
Department of Justice watchdog to probe if staff tried to alter election outcomeVideo
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s inspector general has opened an investigation into whether department staff members sought to use the agency to alter the outcome of the 2020 election and overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. The department didn’t say what prompted Inspector General Michael Horowitz to open the inquiry, but...
House sending Trump impeachment to Senate, GOP opposes trial
WASHINGTON — As the House prepares to bring the impeachment charge against Donald Trump to the Senate for trial, a growing number of Republican senators say they are opposed to the proceeding, dimming the chances that former president will be convicted on the charge that he incited a siege of...
Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio won’t seek reelection
CINCINNATI — Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said Monday that he won’t seek reelection due in part to how it’s gotten “harder to break through the partisan gridlock and make progress,” and plans to end a career in federal government spanning more than three decades. Portman’s announcement comes...
Dominion Voting Systems sues Giuliani for $1.3B over election claimsVideo
Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who led the former president’s efforts to question the results of the 2020 election, including in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit seeks more than $1.3 billion in damages for the voting machine company, a target for conservatives...
Biden to drop Trump’s military transgender ban
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to issue an executive order to reverse a Pentagon policy that largely bars transgender individuals from joining the military, dumping a ban ordered by President Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office, a person briefed on the decision tells...
Biden to reinstate covid travel rules, add South Africa
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday will formally reinstate covid-19 travel restrictions on non-U.S. travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss...
Ex-Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders running for Arkansas governor
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sarah Sanders, Donald Trump’s former chief spokeswoman and one of his closest aides, announced Monday she’s running for Arkansas governor, vying for political office even as the former president’s legacy is clouded by an impeachment charge that he incited the deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol....
Growing number of GOP senators oppose impeachment trialVideo
WASHINGTON — A growing number of Republican senators say they oppose holding an impeachment trial, a sign of the dimming chances that former President Donald Trump will be convicted on the charge that he incited a siege of the U.S. Capitol. House Democrats, who will walk the impeachment charge of...
Pa. Democrats call for Rep. Scott Perry to resign after reports he urged Trump to use a lawyer against Biden win
They couldn’t beat him at the polls in November, but leaders of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party on Sunday called for Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, an outspoken Donald Trump supporter who represents Harrisburg, Hershey and York, to resign following news reports he urged Trump to use a lawyer from Philadelphia to...
At 78 and the oldest president, Biden sees a world changed
WASHINGTON — When Joe Biden took the oath of office as the 46th president, he became not only the oldest newly inaugurated U.S. chief executive in history but also the oldest sitting president ever. Biden was born Nov. 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 78 years, two months and...
History pitches challenges as experts, activists express hopes for Joe Biden’s time in White House
A new day, and a new moment for America. Time to let the healing begin. Republicans, Democrats and people across the nation echoed those themes when expressing their hopes for Joe Biden’s new administration and a future less fraught with anger and division in the United States. “There are times...
Britain’s Boris Johnson presses Biden for new trade deal
WASHINGTON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made clear to President Joe Biden on Saturday that he’s eager to forge a new U.S.-U.K. trade deal. The push for a new deal came in a broad-ranging call between the two leaders that touched on the global response to the coronavirus pandemic...
FBI: Texan charged in Capitol riot tweeted ‘Assassinate AOC’
DALLAS — A 34-year-old Texas man has been arrested for allegedly taking part in the storming of the U.S. Capitol this month and posting violent threats, including a call to assassinate Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Garret Miller, who is from the Dallas suburb of Richardson, was arrested...
Mexican leader says Biden offers to give $4B to Central America
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s first calls to foreign leaders went to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at a strained moment for the U.S. relationship with its North American neighbors. Mexico’s president said Saturday that Biden told him the U.S. would send $4...
Democrats make federal election standards a top priority
Democrats plan to move quickly on one of the first bills of the new Congress, citing the need for federal election standards and other reforms to shore up the foundations of American democracy after a tumultuous post-election period and deadly riot at the Capitol. States have long had disparate and...
Coronavirus guidelines now the rule at White House
WASHINGTON — Testing wristbands are in. Mask-wearing is mandatory. Desks are socially distanced. The clearest sign that there’s a new boss at the White House is the deference being paid to coronavirus public health guidelines. It’s a striking contrast to Donald Trump’s White House, which was the epicenter of no...
Austin wins Senate confirmation as 1st Black Pentagon chief
WASHINGTON — Lloyd J. Austin, a West Point graduate who rose to the Army’s elite ranks and marched through racial barriers in a 41-year career, won Senate confirmation Friday to become the nation’s first Black secretary of defense. The 93-2 vote gave President Joe Biden his second Cabinet member; Avril...
Schumer: Trump impeachment trial to begin week of Feb. 8
Opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial for Donald Trump on the charge of incitement of insurrection for the Capitol riot will begin the week of Feb. 8. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the schedule Friday evening after reaching an agreement with Republicans, who had pushed to delay the...
