Politics Election category, Page 297
Trump fumes as protesters stake out festive zone in Seattle
SEATTLE — Following days of violent confrontations with protesters, police in Seattle have largely withdrawn from part of a neighborhood where protesters have created a festival-like scene that has President Donald Trump fuming. Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan about the situation on Twitter and said the...
Nina Ahmad declares primary win over Michael Lamb in state auditor general race
Former Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Nina Ahmad declared victory Thursday over her closest competitor, Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb, in a six-way Democratic primary race for Pennsylvania auditor general. As of Thursday afternoon, Ahmad led Lamb by more than 80,000 votes with all but one voting district in Pennsylvania reporting, according to...
Jon Ossoff wins Georgia Senate primary; will face Perdue
ATLANTA — Jon Ossoff, a young Georgia media executive known for breaking fundraising records during a 2017 special election loss for a U.S. House seat, beat back a field of Democratic primary opponents to win a spot taking on Republican Sen. David Perdue in November. Ossoff received about 50.5% of...
Trump administration proposes sweeping asylum restrictions
SAN DIEGO — The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed sweeping restrictions on asylum, seeking to align a legal framework with the president’s efforts to limit immigration to the United States. The moves are only the latest in a series of measures that Trump has taken to limit asylum — this...
House Speaker Turzai to resign from Legislature effective Monday
Pennsylvania State House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, on Wednesday announced he will resign from the General Assembly effective Monday. Turzai, an abortion opponent, strong proponent of state support for charter and religious schools and the state’s energy industry, did not say what the future holds for him beyond the...
Vice President Mike Pence to visit Buffalo Township
Vice President Mike Pence will be in Buffalo Township on Friday, visiting an Oberg Industries facility. The visit will be the first stop on a nationwide “Great American Comeback Tour” by America First Policies, a conservative organization that promotes the policy agenda of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Pence will be...
Facing electoral headwinds, Trump brings back his 2016 team
As anyone who has ever heard him speak knows, President Donald Trump loves to relive 2016. He recycles old attack lines once aimed at Hillary Clinton. He recounts the drama of election night, complete with impersonations of stunned news anchors putting state after state (Pennsylvania! Wisconsin!) in the Republican’s column....
Trump administration opposes extending enhanced unemployment benefit
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration opposes a Democratic proposal to extend a $600 per week federal unemployment benefit approved in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said Tuesday. The $600 payment, which is in addition to normal unemployment benefits, “was the right thing to do,” Scalia said,...
AG William Barr says Secret Service told Trump to go to White House bunker
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr said that the U.S. Secret Service told Donald Trump to go to a secure part of the White House as large protests unfolded outside, contradicting the president’s account of what happened. “Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended that the president go...
Trump uses ‘defund police’ as political weapon against Biden
President Donald Trump is seeking to tie Joe Biden to activists’ calls to “defund the police” in an attempt to paint his likely 2020 opponent as weak on crime and vilify Democrats pushing for police reform, even though Biden hasn’t embraced the slogan. Two weeks of protests over the death...
As White House’s strong-arm tactics get pushback, Trump takes credit for peaceful protestsVideo
WASHINGTON — Asserting that “everything is under perfect control,” President Donald Trump claimed credit Sunday after a national wave of demonstrations against police abuses turned calmer, even as the White House faced fresh pushback over strong-arm tactics used against peaceful protesters. Protests appeared peaceful Sunday, a day after riot police...
Colin Powell backs Biden, says Trump has ‘drifted’ from ConstitutionVideo
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized President Donald Trump for threatening to use active-duty U.S. troops against protesters, saying it shows he has “drifted away” from the U.S. Constitution. In a CNN interview, Powell aimed a broad critique at Trump’s approach to the military, a foreign policy he said...
Democrats’ legislation would overhaul police accountability
WASHINGTON — Democrats are proposing to overhaul legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force episodes and ban police choke holds in legislation coming Monday in response to the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement, according to a draft outline obtained by The Associated...
New jobs report diminishes GOP appetite for more coronavirus aid
WASHINGTON — A stronger than expected jobs report could further scramble an already uncertain picture for passing a fifth and possibly final coronavirus aid bill. The positive statistics are feeding the wait-and-see approach of the White House and its GOP allies in Congress. Republicans say the numbers vindicate their decision...
Biden formally clinches Democratic presidential nomination
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden has formally clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, setting him up for a bruising challenge to President Donald Trump that will play out against the unprecedented backdrop of a pandemic, economic collapse and civil unrest. “It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented...
Mail ballots from Tuesday’s election push Biden over the top
WASHINGTON — After primaries and caucuses in 42 states and the District of Columbia, Joe Biden has won the last few delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president as states worked to tally a surge of mail ballots. Indiana, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island were among the seven states,...
President Donald Trump’s former top aide John Kelly sides with Jim Mattis over protests
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly said Friday he agrees with former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ criticism of the president’s hostility toward protests against police brutality. Kelly said he sides with Mattis’ view that Trump shouldn’t have threatened the use of active-duty troops to quell protests...
ACLU sues Trump administration over police force on protesters near White House
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration Thursday, alleging officials violated the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed from a park near the White House by police using chemical agents before President Donald Trump walked to a nearby church to take a photo. The...
Emotions run high as anti-lynching bill stalls in SenateVideo
WASHINGTON — A Senate impasse over a widely backed bill to designate lynching as a federal hate crime boiled over on Thursday in an emotional debate cast against a backdrop of widespread protests over police treatment of African Americans. Raw feelings were evident as Sen. Rand Paul — who is...
GOP’s Murkowski says she’s struggling with supporting Trump
WASHINGTON — Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski acknowledged Thursday that she’s “struggling” over whether she can support President Donald Trump given his handling of the virus and race crises shaking the United States. Murkowski, long a critic of the president’s, told reporters in Washington that she was thankful for the...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says he welcomes all, except Obama
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday said he would welcome any president to the state besides former President Barack Obama. The unprompted comment came during a coronavirus news conference in which the Republican governor took a phone call from President Donald Trump and sought to highlight...
At 40% participation, Tuesday’s primary turnout exceeded Allegheny County’s expectations
Forty percent of Allegheny County’s registered Democrats and Republicans voted in Tuesday’s primary election, one of the highest turnouts for a primary in recent years and one that exceeded county expectations, officials said Wednesday. A little more than 311,000 of Allegheny County’s 770,000 registered Democrats and Republicans voted, according to...
Casey, Toomey weigh in as Trump threatens military force
Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators are weighing in on President Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to protests following the death of George Floyd. On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, joined 20 other senators in sending a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper urging him to refrain from...
Obama steps out as nation confronts confluence of crisesVideo
Former President Barack Obama is taking on an increasingly public role as the nation confronts a confluence of historic crises that has exposed deep racial and socioeconomic inequalities in America and reshaped the November election. In doing so, Obama is signaling a willingness to sharply critique his successor, President Donald...
White House: Trump church visit akin to Churchill WWII roleVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s visit to a nearby church where he held up a Bible was a “leadership moment” akin to Winston Churchill’s inspection of bomb-damaged London during World War II, a comparison that drew swift condemnation from the author of a new...
