Politics Election category, Page 288
Sally Yates denies anti-Trump politics in Obama’s Flynn inquiry
WASHINGTON — A key player in the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn testified that President Barack Obama and his deputies focused solely on national security, not anti-Trump politics, in discussing what to do about Flynn’s dealings with Russia’s ambassador. “Something like that would have set off alarms...
Trump considering giving convention speech from White House
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’s considering delivering his Republican convention acceptance speech from the White House after his initial plans to hold the event in two battleground states were foiled by coronavirus concerns and health restrictions. The move would mark an unprecedented use of public property...
Biden won’t go to Milwaukee to accept Democratic nominationVideo
Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee to accept the Democratic presidential nomination because of concerns over the coronavirus, party officials said Wednesday, signaling a move to a convention that essentially has become entirely virtual. It is the latest example of the pandemic’s sweeping effects on the 2020 presidential election...
Navy cuts ties with museum over video of dogs biting man in Colin Kaepernick jerseyVideo
A viral video led to the Navy severing ties with an independent SEAL museum in Fort Pierce, Fla., according to a report from the Associated Press. The video, taken in 2018, shows four dogs in a K-9 demonstration latching onto a man in protective gear and draped in the No....
Progress ‘long ways away’ as urgency grows on coronavirus reliefVideo
WASHINGTON — Frustrated Senate Republicans re-upped their complaints on Tuesday that Democratic negotiators are staking too hard a line in talks on a broad coronavirus relief bill, but pressure is mounting for progress as covid-weary senators are eager to return to their home states for the August recess. Another negotiating...
Trump backs off mail voting attacks in Florida as Democrats build huge advantageVideo
WASHINGTON — In an abrupt reversal, President Donald Trump now is encouraging voters in the critical swing state of Florida to vote by mail after months of criticizing the practice, and only days after threatening to sue Nevada over a new vote-by-mail law. His encouragement follows a surge in Democratic...
Trump’s demand for U.S. cut of a TikTok deal is unprecedentedVideo
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s demand that the U.S. government get a cut from a potential Microsoft purchase of TikTok is the latest unprecedented scenario in an unprecedented situation. Microsoft is in talks to buy parts of TikTok, a forced sale after Trump threatened to ban the Chinese-owned video...
‘A line in the sand’: Both sides dig in on virus relief billVideo
WASHINGTON — Negotiators on a huge coronavirus relief bill reported slight progress after talks resumed in the Capitol, with issues like food for the poor and aid to schools struggling to reopen safely assuming a higher profile in the talks. Multiple obstacles remain, including an impasse on extending a $600-per-week...
House panel calls new postal chief Louis DeJoy to explain mail delays
WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee has invited the new postmaster general to appear at a September hearing to examine operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service that are causing delays in mail deliveries across the country. The plan imposed by Louis DeJoy, a Republican fundraiser who took over the...
Trump fires Tennessee Valley Authority chair, cites hiring of foreign workersVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he had fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority, criticizing the federal-owned corporation for hiring foreign workers. Trump told reporters at the White House that he was formally removing chair Skip Thompson and another member of the board, and he threatened...
Prosecutor seeking Trump’s taxes cites probe of his business for possible fraudVideo
NEW YORK — A Manhattan prosecutor trying to get President Donald Trump’s tax returns told a judge Monday that he was justified in demanding them, citing public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.” Trump’s lawyers last month said the grand jury subpoena for the tax...
Women with ties to Pittsburgh hired to help Joe Biden’s Pennsylvania campaign
Two staff members with ties to Pittsburgh-area politics will help to lead former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in Pennsylvania, the campaign announced Monday. Nikkilia Lu, a political organizer and strategist who served as the Western Pennsylvania political director for Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ and the Pennsylvania...
Mike Pompeo says Trump to take broad action on Chinese softwareVideo
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump plans to take action on a what he sees as a broad array of national security risks presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday. Pompeo’s remarks followed reports that Microsoft is in advanced talks to...
Pelosi says GOP condescends to jobless by plan to trim benefitsVideo
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Republican lawmakers and the White House are engaging in “condescension” when they suggest a $600-per-week federal unemployment enhancement is too high and should be scaled back or ended. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke on ABC’s “This Week” about progress toward a new coronavirus...
Clock is ticking on Trump comeback as early voting nears
WASHINGTON — It’s getting late early. President Donald Trump is privately reassuring Republicans anxious about his deficits to Democrat Joe Biden, noting there are three months until Election Day and reminding them of the late-breaking events that propelled his 2016 comeback. But four years later, the dynamics are very different....
Despite virus threat, Black voters wary of voting by mail
DETROIT — Despite fears that the coronavirus pandemic will worsen, Victor Gibson said he’s not planning to take advantage of Michigan’s expanded vote-by-mail system when he casts his ballot in November. The retired teacher from Detroit just isn’t sure he can trust it. Many Black Americans share similar concerns and...
Trump suggests he might want to take on income inequality
President Trump suggested he might be interested in pushing for policy that addresses the widening income gap in the U.S., but didn’t suggest a plan. Trump commented in a retweet about how much some prominent billionaires have increased their net worth during the coronavirus pandemic, while tens of millions of...
Trump’s faith outreach aims to cast Democrats as the enemy
President Trump’s reelection campaign is courting religious voters in part by seeking to portray Democrats as a threat to religious freedom — a pitch amplified by disputes over the issue during the coronavirus pandemic. During a recent event outside Atlanta hosted by the campaign’s evangelical outreach effort, Christian surrogates touted...
Negotiators report progress in covid-19 aid talks
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers participating in rare weekend talks on a huge coronavirus relief measure reported progress Saturday, as political pressure mounts to restore a newly expired $600-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit and send funding to help schools reopen. “This was the longest meeting we had, and it was more productive than...
Arizona congressman tests positive for virus; 2nd this week
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee said Saturday he tested positive for the coronavirus days after he sat close to another member of the panel, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who also tested positive. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said in a statement he has the virus but,...
Joe Biden nears final decision on his vice presidential choice
WASHINGTON — As Joe Biden nears the announcement of his vice presidential choice, the top contenders and their advocates are making final appeals. The campaign hasn’t finalized a date for naming a running mate, but three people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans said a public...
Trump says he’ll act to ban TikTok in U.S. as soon as Saturday
NEW YORK — President Trump said he will take action as soon as Saturday to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a source of national security and censorship concerns. Trump’s comments were made after published reports that the administration is planning to order China’s ByteDance to...
Engel subpoenas Pompeo for records on Biden’s role in Ukraine
NEW YORK — The Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for State Department records already given to Republican-led Senate committees that are trying to tie former Vice President Joe Biden to wrongdoing in Ukraine. “Secretary Pompeo has turned the State Department into...
Trump’s Twitter blocking is center of new free speech lawsuit
NEW YORK — President Trump was accused of continuing to block critics from his Twitter account two years after a judge said silencing detractors on the social media platform was a violation of the First Amendment. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf...
Trump, GOP suggest temporary fix for $600 jobless benefitVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House and some of its Republican allies in the Senate are signaling they want to extend, at least temporarily, a $600-per-week expanded jobless benefit that has helped keep families and the economy afloat during the covid-19 pandemic. The move looks to be too little, too late...
