Politics Election category, Page 254
Trump acquitted, denounced in historic impeachment trial
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump was acquitted Saturday of inciting the horrific attack on the U.S. Capitol, concluding a historic impeachment trial that spared him the first-ever conviction of a current or former U.S. president but exposed the fragility of America’s democratic traditions and left a divided nation to come to...
AP: GOP leader Mitch McConnell will vote to acquit Trump
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell will vote to acquit Donald Trump in the former president’s impeachment trial. That’s according to a source familiar with McConnell’s thinking who was not authorized to publicly discuss the decision and spoke on condition of anonymity. Word of McConnell’s decision came Saturday before...
Trump lawyers argue impeachment based on ‘hatred,’ not facts
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyers accused Democrats of waging a campaign of “hatred” against the former president as they sped through their defense of his actions and fiery words before the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, hurtling the Senate toward a final vote in his historic trial....
Cuomo administration ‘froze’ over nursing home data requests
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide told Democratic lawmakers that the administration took months to release data revealing how many people living at nursing homes died of covid-19 because officials “froze” over worries the information was “going to be used against us.” Republicans who term the...
Trump lawyer mistakenly refers to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger
Fumble! It has not been a great week for former Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor. The lead lawyer of former President Donald Trump’s defense team during an unprecedented second impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate committed a gaffe Friday afternoon that brought some humor to the serious charges against...
Philadelphia-area lawyer defending Trump accustomed to political disaster
HARRISBURG — Bruce L. Castor Jr. answered his cellphone, but he had no time to talk. “I’m 12 minutes from prime time,” he said, before heading to the well of the U.S. Senate to defend his client, Donald Trump, as one of the defense lawyers in the ex-president’s second impeachment...
Trump impeachment trial: Defense wraps up case in 3 hoursVideo
WASHINGTON — The defense attorneys for Donald Trump have wrapped up their presentation in the former president’s impeachment trial. Lawyers argued for three hours Friday that former President Donald Trump didn’t incite the Jan. 6 rally crowd to riot at the U.S. Capitol and that his words were merely figures...
John Fetterman: ‘Race played no role’ in shotgun-wielding chase of Black jogger he mistook for criminalVideo
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman on Thursday rebuffed criticism stemming from a 2013 decision to grab his 20-gauge shotgun and chase after someone he thought might be a shooter on the run but turned out to be an unarmed jogger. The incident resurfaced this week with the ambitious, progressive Democrat’s newly...
White House says it will defer to CDC on reopening schoolsVideo
Facing criticism that President Joe Biden has not acted aggressively enough on reopening schools, the White House on Thursday said it’s aiming for a full reopening but will defer to science experts on how to achieve it in the middle of a pandemic. The White House drew criticism this week...
Senators advance Cardona for Education, Walsh for Labor
WASHINGTON — The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday advanced the nominations of Miguel Cardona to be Education secretary by a vote of 17-5, and Martin J. Walsh to be Labor secretary, 18-4. If confirmed by the full Senate, both would face immediate challenges in their respective...
Rioters acted on Trump’s ‘order,’ Democrats insist in impeachment trialVideo
WASHINGTON — House prosecutors concluded two days of emotional arguments in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial late Thursday, insisting the Capitol invaders believed they were acting on “the president’s orders” to stop Joe Biden’s election, the deadly culmination of Trump’s pattern of spreading false and violent rhetoric that will continue to...
How a leading anti-Trump group ignored a crisis in its ranks
Last June, the Lincoln Project was on a high. Led by several prominent former Republican consultants, its slickly produced ads attacking President Donald Trump made it perhaps the best known of the so-called Never Trump organizations. The group tried to claim a higher moral ground in an effort to purge...
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley derided by critics for ‘ignoring’ impeachment testimonyVideo
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was criticized for his actions of indifference on Wednesday during the impeachment trial for Donald Trump. The freshman senator, who has sworn to be an impartial juror for the trial, appeared to be a spectator. Hawley was “sitting up in the gallery with his feet...
Pa. Attorney General Shapiro files memorandum in Trump impeachment
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro does not have a role in the ongoing impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, but he wanted to ensure U.S. senators sitting as jurors understand Pennsylvania’s role in the Nov. 3 election. Shapiro, a Democrat, who repeatedly defended the state’s election as free and...
Bill would allow firing of striking West Virginia teachers
CHARLESTON — A West Virginia lawmaker has renewed an attempt to punish teachers for striking in a state where work stoppages have occurred in two of the past three years. Senate Education Committee chairwoman Patricia Rucker, a Jefferson County Republican, introduced a bill Wednesday on the first day of the...
Top Michigan Republican stands by Capitol ‘hoax’ comments
LANSING, Mich. — One of Michigan’s highest-ranking Republicans on Wednesday stood by his false claims that it is a “hoax” to blame supporters of then-President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, in a private conversation with Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist...
Police beg for help, senators flee in Trump trial video
WASHINGTON — Prosecutors unveiled chilling new security video in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Wednesday, showing the mob of rioters breaking into the Capitol, smashing windows and doors and searching menacingly for Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as overwhelmed police begged on their radios for help. In...
Trump fumes, GOP senators baffled by legal team’s debutVideo
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump fumed that his attorneys’ performance on the opening day of his second impeachment trial was a disaster, as allies and Republican senators questioned the strategy and some called for yet another shakeup to his legal team. Trump, who was watching the proceedings in Washington...
Michigan GOP Leader Mike Shirkey calls Capitol riot a ‘hoax from day one’Video
LANSING, Mich. — A Republican legislative leader in Michigan apologized Tuesday after falsely claiming supporters of President Donald Trump were not involved in the deadly attack at the U.S. Capitol, having called it a “hoax.” Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, of Clarklake, made the remarks last Wednesday while meeting with...
Senate agrees to hear Trump case, rejecting GOP argumentsVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial opened Tuesday with graphic video showing the former president whipping up a rally crowd to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” against his reelection defeat, followed by images of the deadly attack on Congress that came soon after. In an...
Black farmers unconvinced by Tom Vilsack’s ‘root out’ racism vow
BELLE PLAINE, Kan. — President Joe Biden’s nomination of Tom Vilsack to lead the Agriculture Department received a chilly reaction from many Black farmers who contend he didn’t do enough to help them the last time he had the job. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor who served eight years as...
Justice Department seeks resignations of Trump-era U.S. attorneys
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department will ask U.S. attorneys who were appointed by former President Donald Trump to resign from their posts, as the Biden administration moves to transition to its own nominees, a senior Justice Department official said Monday. But the U.S. attorney overseeing the federal tax probe involving...
What’s ahead as Trump impeachment trial beginsVideo
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial begins Tuesday, forcing the Senate to decide whether to convict him of incitement of insurrection after a violent mob of his supporters laid siege to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. While Trump’s acquittal is expected, Democrats hope to gain...
Senate confirms McDonough as Veterans Affairs secretary
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 87-7 Monday to confirm Denis McDonough to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, making him the second nonveteran in history to helm the massive federal agency that oversees health care and other benefits for the nation’s veterans. McDonough, 51, received a muted reception from veterans...
Georgia election officials investigate Trump telephone call
ATLANTA — Georgia’s secretary of state’s office on Monday opened an investigation into a phone call between Donald Trump and the state’s top elections official in which the then-president said he wanted to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state, an official said. Walter Jones, a spokesman...
