Politics Election category, Page 262
GOP leader McConnell finally acknowledges Biden won election
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated Democrat Joe Biden as president-elect on Tuesday, saying the Electoral College “has spoken.” The Republican leader’s statement, delivered in a speech on the Senate floor, ends weeks of silence over President Donald Trump’s defeat. It came a day after electors met and...
‘Democracy prevailed’: Biden aims to unify divided nationVideo
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden told Americans on Monday that “democracy prevailed” as electors nationwide cast votes affirming his victory in last month’s election, saying the country’s governing principles withstood being “pushed, tested, threatened” by repeated, baseless claims of fraud championed by President Donald Trump. In a speech from...
Fate of new covid relief legislation may hinge on business liability protection
WASHINGTON — Congressional action on coronavirus relief legislation may hinge on a little-known question that turns out to be political dynamite: Should private businesses be immune from lawsuits involving covid-19? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, has been advocating for such a shield since spring at the urging of business...
Trump says AG William Barr resigning, will leave before Christmas
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr, one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, is resigning amid lingering tension with the president over the president’s baseless claims of election fraud and the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son. Barr went Monday to the White House, where Trump said the attorney general...
Michigan GOP lawmaker punished for not denouncing violenceVideo
LANSING, Mich. — A Republican lawmaker was disciplined Monday for not denouncing potential violence at the Michigan Capitol before Democratic presidential electors were to meet to vote for Joe Biden, who defeated President Donald Trump in the swing state. State Rep. Gary Eisen, of St. Clair Township, told WPHM-AM that...
Biden aides hope Electoral College vote is GOP turning point
WILMINGTON, Del. — Joe Biden’s aides have a message for President Donald Trump and his supporters: It’s long past time to move on. With the Electoral College set to formally elect Biden as president on Monday, his aides say they hope Republicans will consider their own long-term interests (and the...
Sen. Kelly Loeffler campaign: She had ‘no idea’ she posed with neo-Nazi
ATLANTA — The campaign of Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler is disavowing a photo circulating on social media of her posing with a longtime white supremacist at a recent campaign event, with less than a month to go until the runoff elections that will determine the balance of the...
Trump slams Supreme Court for refusing to overturn election, lashes out at Barr
President Trump unleashed an angry tweet storm Saturday at the Supreme Court for dismissing his effort to overturn his election loss — and took a new shot at Attorney General Bill Barr. He repeated his claims about election fraud and blasted the top court for rejecting the long-shot Texas lawsuit...
Trump loses Wisconsin case while arguing another one
MADISON, Wis. — President Donald Trump lost a federal lawsuit Saturday while his attorney was arguing his case before a skeptical Wisconsin Supreme Court in another lawsuit that liberal justices said “smacks of racism” and would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters only in the state’s most diverse counties. U.S....
Trump helicopter buzzes supporters rallying in Washington
WASHINGTON — Thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump returned to Washington on Saturday for rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost to Joe Biden. They cheered as Trump flew overhead on the Marine One helicopter on his way out of town for the...
As he rails on election, Trump largely mum on toll of virus
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has been highlighting lots of really big numbers this week: New highs for the stock market. The 100-plus House members backing a lawsuit challenging his election loss. The nearly 75 million people who voted for him. All the while, he’s looked past other staggering and...
AP source: Cuomo among contenders for attorney general pick
WASHINGTON — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is one of several contenders under consideration by President-elect Joe Biden for the role of attorney general, a person with knowledge of the search process said Friday. The other three contenders at the moment include former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, federal appeals court...
Paper apologizes for endorsing congressman backing overturn
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida newspaper apologized Friday for endorsing the reelection of a Republican congressman who supported a lawsuit that tried to have the Supreme Court overthrow the will of the voters in the presidential election. The Orlando Sentinel in an editorial said “to its horror,” U.S. Rep. Michael...
Veterans groups call for Wilkie’s dismissal after scathing audit
WASHINGTON — Three major veterans’ groups on Friday called for the immediate dismissal of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie following a scathing government audit that found he had acted unprofessionally if not unethically in the handling of a congressional aide’s allegation of sexual assault at a VA hospital. Iraq and...
Obama reunion? Joe Biden fills Cabinet with former White House leaders
President-elect Joe Biden is getting the old gang back together. Increasingly deep into the process of selecting Cabinet members and other senior staff, the incoming Biden administration has a distinctly Obama feel. There’s Denis McDonough, former President Barack Obama’s chief of staff who Biden announced on Thursday would be nominated...
Congress stuck as McConnell torpedoes emerging covid relief dealVideo
WASHINGTON — An emerging $900 billion covid-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers all but collapsed Thursday after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republican senators won’t support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal. McConnell’s staff conveyed to...
Pennsylvania blasts Texas’ bid in Supreme Court to overturn Biden’s election
HARRISBURG — Lawyers for Pennsylvania responded in the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to Texas’ effort to overturn the election result in four states for President-elect Joe Biden, calling it a “seditious abuse” of the courts that rests on conspiracy theories and falsehoods. Texas lacks standing to bring the challenge,...
CDC official says she was ordered to destroy emails to alter scientific reportVideo
WASHINGTON — A senior manager with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told congressional investigators she was ordered to delete an email suggesting attempted political interference by the Trump administration in coronavirus reports to the public, according to a transcript released Thursday. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., who released the...
Gun restrictions face uphill battle even under Biden
The gun debate in America will soon enter a new chapter with a Democrat in the White House after four years under President Donald Trump in which gun control advocates developed a long wish list for reform amid a spate of large-scale mass killings in places like Las Vegas, El...
Trump announces Israel-Morocco to normalize relations
WASHINGTON — Israel and Morocco have agreed to normalize relations, President Donald Trump said Thursday, marking the fourth Arab-Israeli agreement in four months. As part of the deal announced near the end of Trump’s term, the United States will recognize Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara region. Trump said...
Despite Trump’s venting and threats, Biden’s win is sealed
WASHINGTON — There’s plenty of noise but no cause for confusion as President Donald Trump vents about how the election turned out and vows to subvert it even still. This truth is self-evident: Joe Biden is on track to become president Jan. 20. The machinery of government and democracy is...
Senate falls short of halting Trump’s $23B arms sales to UAE
WASHINGTON — The Senate fell short Wednesday in trying to halt the Trump administration’s proposed $23 billion arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, despite bipartisan objections to the package of F-35 fighter jets and drones stemming from a broader Middle East peace agreement. Senators argued the sale of the...
Lawmakers act to avert shutdown, buying time for covid relief talks
WASHINGTON — Still spinning their wheels on covid-19 relief, lawmakers grabbed a one-week government funding extension on Wednesday that buys time for more talks — though there is considerable disagreement over who is supposed to be taking the lead from there. Amid the uncertainty, the House easily passed a one-week...
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe enters governor’s race
RICHMOND, Va. — Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has formally announced his candidacy for next year’s gubernatorial contest in a race that will serve as a barometer of voter sentiment during President-elect Joe Biden’s first year in office. McAuliffe held a news conference Wednesday outside an elementary school in Richmond,...
Retiring Rep. Kennedy says greed hinders aid to needy in farewell speech
WASHINGTON — Retiring Rep. Joe Kennedy III used his farewell speech from Congress on Wednesday to deride the “great lie of our times” that the government lacks the resources and will to help people in need. He said the real problem is greed, not scarcity. Speaking for five minutes on...
