Politics Election category, Page 285
Rep. Adam Schiff delays deposition of Homeland Security whistleblower
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says the committee is scheduled to depose a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower on Friday, pushing the closed-door testimony back four days due to a dispute with the Trump administration over his appearance. A subpoena may be necessary, said Rep. Adam...
2nd GOP senator a ‘no’ to filling court seat before election
WASHINGTON — A second Republican senator came out in opposition to filling a vacant Supreme Court seat before the Nov. 3 election while Speaker Nancy Pelosi asserted without details that the Democratic-led House has “options” for stalling or preventing President Donald Trump from quickly installing a successor to the late...
Trump pledges to nominate woman for Supreme Court, pushes Senate to move quickly
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Saturday promised to put forth a female nominee in the coming week to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, pushing the Republican-controlled Senate to consider the pick without delay. Taking the stage at a North Carolina rally...
Arizona Senate race could play crucial role in confirmationVideo
PHOENIX — If Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly wins a seat in the U.S. Senate, he could take office as early as Nov. 30, shrinking the GOP’s Senate majority at a crucial moment and complicating the path to confirmation for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. Kelly has maintained a consistent...
Evangelicals in Trump’s base hope for Pennsylvania repeat
HARRISBURG — President Trump’s homestretch push to repeat his razor thin victory in Pennsylvania four years ago won’t happen without white evangelicals, and there are signs that critical component of his coalition hasn’t lost the faith. It’s a group that has often made the difference for Republicans on the Pennsylvania...
What’s next with the Supreme Court vacancy?Video
WASHINGTON — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is putting the Senate in unchartered political terrain. There’s no recent precedent for a confirmation vote so close to a presidential election. President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the Republican-run Senate to consider “without delay” his upcoming nomination, even...
Ginsburg’s death draws big surge of donations to DemocratsVideo
WASHINGTON — Democrats raised more than $50 million in the hours after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, demonstrating how the liberal icon’s passing and the contentious nomination fight that lies ahead have already galvanized the party’s base. The jaw-dropping sum was raised by 4 p.m. Saturday after news...
After Ginsburg: McConnell pledges quick vote on successor
WASHINGTON — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just over six weeks before the election cast an immediate spotlight on the high court vacancy, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly vowing to bring to a vote whoever President Donald Trump nominates. McConnell, in a statement just...
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive yet towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87. Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said. Her death just over six weeks before...
Democrats set to unveil stopgap bill to prevent shutdown
WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Friday prepared a temporary spending bill that is needed to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month — and that would allow lawmakers to leave Washington to campaign. It’s a lowest-common-denominator, bare-minimum measure that befits a deeply polarized Congress. Even so, it...
Presidential town hall a deciding factor of some undecided voters
Currying favor with Pennsylvania voters such as Laura Galvas, Alexandra Stehman and Flora Cruceta could prove crucial in the battle to claim Pennsylvania’s 20 Electoral College votes this fall. Like the other participants in ABC’s Philadelphia Town Hall — where they had an opportunity to question President Trump last week...
Judge blocks Michigan’s ban on transporting voters to polls
LANSING, Mich. — A federal judge has blocked Michigan’s longstanding ban on transporting voters to the polls, ruling it conflicts with U.S. election law. District Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis in Detroit issued an injunction Thursday against enforcing the restriction in November’s presidential election. A form of the prohibition has been...
Trump’s vaccine ambitions contradict his own health expertsVideo
President Donald Trump once again promised that a covid-19 vaccine for Americans could be ready within weeks, a timeline faster than has been deemed possible or likely by the scientific agencies overseeing the effort and the companies developing the products. Trump’s optimistic promises have left him in a battle with...
Trump heads to Pittsburgh on Tuesday for airport rally
Like he did at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe earlier this month, President Donald Trump is holding another airport hangar rally. This one is Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Pittsburgh International Airport in Moon Township, the campaign announced Thursday. The president’s rally at Atlantic Aviation, 300 Horizon Drive,...
‘It will destroy our country’: Trump targets school curriculums that aim to teach truth about slaveryVideo
President Donald Trump painted a grim and divisive portrait of the state of American education on Thursday, claiming that anything from elementary schools to colleges are being overrun by “radical” teachers bent on destroying “our children” with “Marxist doctrines.” The president was talking about an educational framework known as critical...
Why the ruling against Wolf’s covid-19 restrictions faces long odds on appeal, explained
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — A federal judge sent a shockwave through Pennsylvania politics this week when he ruled that several actions taken...
Ex-Pence adviser says Trump bungled virus; she’s voting for BidenVideo
WASHINGTON — A former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who also served on the White House coronavirus task force says President Donald Trump once suggested that covid-19 might be a good thing because it would stop him from having to shake hands with “disgusting people.” Olivia Troye is the...
Attorney General Bill Barr under fire over comparison of virus lock-in to slaveryVideo
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr drew sharp condemnation Thursday for comparing lockdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic to slavery. In remarks Wednesday night at an event hosted by Hillsdale College, Barr had called the lockdown orders the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history” since slavery. His comments,...
FBI director Chris Wray says antifa is an ideology, not an organizationVideo
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Chris Wray told lawmakers Thursday that antifa is an ideology, not an organization, testimony that puts him at odds with President Donald Trump, who has said he would designate it a terror group. Wray did not dispute that antifa activists were a serious concern, saying that...
Biden campaign outlines tax proposals ahead of Scranton town hall meeting on CNN
Calling the upcoming election “Park Avenue vs. Scranton,” Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign issued a series of tax policy proposals Thursday ahead of his town hall meeting tonight on CNN. The 8 p.m. event will be held in Scranton. Although they stressed controlling the covid-19 pandemic remains Biden’s top...
Democrats accuse Pompeo, allies of cover-up over inspector general firing
WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Wednesday detailed their suspicions that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a small group of loyalists orchestrated the firing of the agency’s inspector general, as he was investigating Pompeo’s personal conduct, and then attempted a cover-up. The House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing with three top...
USW lights up iconic Pittsburgh landmarks with Biden-Harris message without permission
Corey Barsky was more than a little miffed Tuesday night when he saw a giant Biden-Harris logo projected on the façade of the towering Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland campus. Barsky, who is vice chair of the Pitt College Republicans, said the projection that included the...
Michael Caputo, controversial HHS official installed by White House, taking medical leave of absence
WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo will take a 60-day medical leave of absence, following a torrid five-month stint that included efforts to downplay the covid-19 pandemic. Caputo’s tenure was capped by a livestreamed Facebook video echoing...
Top Pa. Republican’s campaign sues journalists over public records costs
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — The campaign committee of the state Senate’s top Republican is suing a publication of LNP Media Group and...
Trump denies downplaying virus, casts doubt on mask usageVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Fielding compelling questions about voters’ real-world problems, President Donald Trump denied during a televised town hall that he had played down the threat of the coronavirus earlier this year, although there is an audio recording of him stating he did just that. Trump, in what could well be...
