Politics Election category, Page 342
Trump administration switches off rule for thriftier light bulbs
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration turned its deregulatory focus Wednesday to light bulbs, scrapping a rule that would have phased out less energy efficient incandescent bulbs. The move slows a years-long push by Congress and past administrations to switch Americans to LED bulbs and other lighting using less electricity. President...
Brexit turmoil continues as lawmakers defy U.K.’s Johnson
LONDON — British lawmakers battling Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to leave the European Union without a divorce deal cleared their first big hurdle Wednesday, approving in principle a bill to block his actions and sending it on for further debate. In a second straight day of parliamentary turmoil, the...
Mitch McConnell says he’s waiting on Trump to chart path on guns
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are waiting for the White House to chart a path forward on gun violence legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, effectively putting the burden on President Donald Trump to decide the GOP’s legislative response to the spate of mass shootings that included another deadly...
Pence aide defends stay at Trump property in Ireland
DUBLIN — A top aide to Vice President Mike Pence is defending Pence’s decision to stay at one of President Donald Trump’s properties while in Ireland amid criticism by Democrats that he is enriching Trump at taxpayers’ expense. Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, told reporters aboard Air Force Two...
Trump: ‘I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of a Category 5’ hurricane. There have been 4 during his presidencyVideo
During a Federal Emergency Management Agency briefing Sunday about Hurricane Dorian, President Trump expressed disbelief that a Category 5 storm was possible. “I’ve seen some Category 4s, you don’t even see that many of them. But a Category 5 is something that, I don’t know if I’ve ever even heard...
Trump says he’ll work with Congress to stop mass shootings
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump expressed a commitment Sunday, hours after the latest deadly mass shooting, to work with a divided Congress to “stop the menace of mass attacks.” He said any measures must satisfy the competing goals of protecting public safety and the constitutional right to gun ownership and...
Trump aide Madeleine Westerhout, who was his longtime Oval Office gatekeeper, resigns
WASHINGTON — An aide and gatekeeper to President Trump resigned from the White House staff on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter. Madeleine Westerhout, whose formal title was special assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations, had worked for Trump since the transition. The president...
‘Conservative’ string attached to $50 million college gift
FAIRFAX, Va. — A $50 million gift made earlier this year to Virginia’s largest public university was given specifically to “promote the conservative principles of governance,” newly released documents show, raising concerns from critics that it compromises academic freedom at the school. George Mason University announced the gift earlier this...
Donald Trump gets statue in wife’s homeland of Slovenia
SELA PRI KAMNIKU, Slovenia — There’s no mistaking it depicts Donald Trump: a large wooden statue of the U.S. president has been erected in Slovenia, the homeland of his wife Melania. The nearly 26-foot high construction shows Trump with his trademark hair style, blue suit, white shirt and a long...
Trump attacks Fox News, but the network remains silent
NEW YORK — The one constant with President Donald Trump’s increasingly frequent attacks on Fox News has been the network’s refusal to respond, even as the president complains that “Fox isn’t working for us anymore.” In recent days, however, some Fox personalities like Bret Baier, Juan Williams and Brit Hume...
Watchdog: Comey violated FBI policies in handling of memos
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s inspector general says former FBI Director James Comey violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with President Donald Trump. The watchdog office says Comey broke FBI rules by giving a memo containing unclassified information to a friend with instructions to share...
Trump reportedly tells officials he’ll pardon those who break law to build border wallVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has told officials that he would pardon them if they’re convicted of breaking any laws in the rush to complete several hundred miles of border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of the 2020 election, according to The Washington Post. The Post reports that the...
Trump’s pitch for Doral golf resort to host G-7 draws Democratic probeVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pitch for his Doral golf resort in Miami as the site for next year’s Group of Seven summit of world leaders will be probed as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s inquiry into potential impeachment articles. “The committee will broaden its ongoing investigation to include...
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says she’s ending 2020 presidential bidVideo
WASHINGTON — Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand is dropping out of the presidential race as a campaign that once looked poised to ride strong #MeToo credentials to formidability was instead plagued by low polling and major fundraising struggles. The 52-year-old New York senator said Wednesday that she was suspending her campaign. That...
U.K.’s Johnson moves to suspend Parliament ahead of Brexit
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson maneuvered Wednesday to give his political opponents even less time to block a no-deal Brexit before the Oct. 31 withdrawal deadline, winning Queen Elizabeth II’s approval to suspend Parliament. His critics were outraged. Though Johnson previously had refused to rule out such a...
Is a 3-D printed gun free speech? This isn’t your 1791 right to arms
NEW YORK — It’s a question of who’s violating the U.S. Constitution when it comes to print-at-home guns — the federal agency accused of recklessly deregulating the weapons or the states that claim they’re a threat to public safety. A federal judge could provide an answer any day now —...
Deutsche Bank has tax returns sought by House Democrats
NEW YORK — Deutsche Bank AG has confirmed that it has tax returns requested by U.S. lawmakers seeking financial information for President Donald Trump and his family. Whose returns are those? That’s still a secret. The disclosure was made by the bank in a letter filed Tuesday in response to...
Trump’s White House dismisses Taylor Swift’s VMA plea, calls the Equality Act ‘poison’Video
Taylor Swift’s movement-stirring global influence apparently does not extend to President Donald Trump’s White House. The Trump administration has issued a response to the pop star’s MTV Video Music Awards speech, which urged the White House to acknowledge her petition to the Senate in support of the Equality Act demanding...
Biden health plan aims far beyond legacy of ‘Obamacare’
WASHINGTON — Wrapping himself in the legacy of “Obamacare,” Joe Biden is offering restless Democrats a health care proposal that goes far beyond it, calling for a government plan almost anybody can join but stopping short of a total system remake. Recent polls show softening support for the full government-run...
Bernie Sanders picks up union endorsement in visit to Pittsburgh
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders picked up the endorsement of a Pittsburgh-based union Monday after a Downtown stop. The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America endorsed Sanders, a Vermont senator who is among those leading a crowded field seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in...
Trump portrays G-7 as a lovefest, papering over differences
BIARRITZ, France — Never mind his differences with world leaders on China, trade, Russia, Iran and more. President Donald Trump’s takeaway message from the Group of Seven summit in France was “unity.” In fact, “flawless” unity. During this year’s gathering of leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies, Trump went to...
Trump says he wouldn’t profit from a G-7 summit at Doral, claims presidency has cost him billionsVideo
President Donald Trump said Monday that the Group of 7 summit — an annual gathering of world leaders representing powerful democracies — could take place next year at his own golf resort in Florida. If the summit were to take place at one of Trump’s private hotels, that means the...
GOP Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin resigning from Congress
MADISON, Wis. — Republican Rep. Sean Duffy, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump who was on the cast of MTV’s “The Real World” before he went into politics, announced Monday that he is resigning from his Wisconsin congressional seat to spend more time with his family. Duffy, 47, posted...
Pa. prosecutor won’t charge ex-Rep. Brian Ellis over sex assault claim
HARRISBURG — A prosecutor said Monday he believes a crime occurred but does not plan to charge a former state representative who resigned during an investigation into allegations he sexually assaulted a woman four years ago. Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo said he agreed with a conclusion in a...
Ex-Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio running to try to get his job back
PHOENIX — Nearly three years after he was voted out of office, the former metro Phoenix sheriff pardoned by President Donald Trump on a conviction related to rounding up immigrants in the country illegally is going after his old job. Republican Joe Arpaio announced his 2020 campaign for Maricopa County...
