Politics Election category, Page 349
Democratic pledges against big money come with an asterisk
WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders wants to crack down on outside groups that do political spending, though one is allied with his presidential campaign. Elizabeth Warren has vowed no untraceable “dark money” will help her White House bid, despite being backed by an organization that doesn’t disclose some of its donors....
U.S. officials say foreign election hacking is inevitable
WASHINGTON — The hacking of U.S. election systems, including by foreign adversaries, is inevitable and the real question is how the country responds, Trump administration officials said Wednesday. The comments by representatives from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security underscored the challenges for federal and state governments in trying...
Putin out-prepared Trump in key meeting, Rex Tillerson told House panel
WASHINGTON — Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Russian President Vladimir Putin out-prepared President Trump during a key meeting in Germany, putting the U.S. leader at a disadvantage during their first series of tête-à-têtes. The U.S. side expected the 2017 encounter...
New York puts Democrats a step closer to Trump tax returns
ALBANY — New York lawmakers gave final passage to legislation Wednesday that would allow President Trump’s state tax returns to be released to congressional committees that have, so far, been barred from getting the president’s federal filings. The Democrat-led Senate and Assembly both approved the measures Wednesday, sending them to...
Trump refuses to work with Dems while they investigate him
WASHINGTON — The curtains in the Cabinet Room were drawn. The Democrats were waiting. President Donald Trump came and went in all of three minutes. Round 2 of the president’s consultations with congressional Democrats on infrastructure went bust in a flash. Prospects for passing a large infrastructure bill evaporated Wednesday...
Mnuchin: I was unaware of IRS memo on tax returns
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday he has no idea who wrote a confidential Internal Revenue Service legal memo that says that tax returns must be given to Congress unless the president asserts executive privilege. Appearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Mnuchin said he was not aware...
Mystery of racist photo in governor’s yearbook left unsolved
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The mystery of whether Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was in the racist yearbook photo that nearly destroyed his career remains unsolved. A months-long investigation ordered up by Eastern Virginia Medical School failed to determine whether Northam is in the picture published in 1984 of a man...
New York moves to ensure Trump pardons can’t nix state charges
ALBANY — A presidential pardon won’t be enough to clear someone associated with the commander-in-chief of similar state charges under legislation approved by New York state lawmakers Tuesday. The bill, which now moves to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, revises the exceptions to the state’s double jeopardy law in an effort...
Housing Secretary Ben Carson confuses real-estate term with an OreoVideo
Ben Carson might do more for Oreo cookie sales than “Game of Thrones” ever did. But Carson, the housing secretary under President Trump, did not offer the promotion intentionally. On Tuesday, Carson appeared to think that a California Democrat was questioning him about the cookies during his congressional testimony, when...
House panel subpoenas Trump’s former top staffer, Hope HicksVideo
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday issued subpoenas to President Trump’s former top staffer Hope Hicks and ex-White House counsel Donald McGahn’s chief of staff as part of its expansive probe into potential abuse of power, public corruption and obstruction. The move to compel testimony from Hicks and...
New laws bring confusion, uncertainty for abortion clinics
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Abortion clinics are facing protesters emboldened by a flurry of restrictive new state laws as they reassure confused patients that the laws have yet to take effect, abortion providers said. “We have actually had many people calling and say, ‘Are you open? Are you still seeing patients?...
Ken Cuccinelli joining Trump administration in immigration role
WASHINGTON — The former attorney general of Virginia, whose name had been tossed around for months for an immigration role, will be joining the Trump administration, according to a White House official. Ken Cuccinelli will be taking a position within the Department of Homeland Security, according to the person, who...
House Democrats grill HUD’s Ben Carson on plan to evict undocumented immigrants
WASHINGTON — HUD Secretary Ben Carson on Tuesday defended the Trump administration’s proposal to purge undocumented immigrants - and their U.S.-born children - from government subsidized housing, citing the years-long waiting list of millions of “legal citizens.” “It seems only logical that taxpaying American citizens should be taken care of...
Dual briefings on Capitol Hill focus on Trump’s Iran policy
WASHINGTON — As questions mount over President Donald Trump’s tough talk on Iran, top national security officials headed to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to brief Congress. But skeptical Democrats sought out a second opinion, holding their own briefing with former Obama administration officials. The competing closed-door sessions Tuesday, unusual and...
Justin Amash’s impeachment remark causes conundrum for fellow RepublicansVideo
WASHINGTON — Rep. Justin Amash’s declaration that President Trump has engaged in “impeachable conduct” has put his fellow Republicans in a bind: stuck between an angry president who often seeks to punish his critics and their reluctance to penalize one of their own. Trump privately has vented to associates about...
In Pennsylvania, Trump touts 2020 chances, swipes at BidenVideo
MONTOURSVILLE — President Trump voiced confidence Monday in his ability to win Pennsylvania in 2020 and took a new swipe at one of his leading Democratic rivals, telling rallygoers in the state that native son Joe Biden had abandoned them by representing Delaware in the Senate. The president’s visit to...
Michael Cohen: Trump lawyer told him to falsely claim Moscow project ended in early 2016
WASHINGTON — Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former longtime personal attorney, told a House panel during closed-door hearings earlier this year that he had been encouraged by Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow to falsely claim in a 2017 statement to Congress that negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow ended in...
Judge denies Trump bid to quash House subpoena for years of financial records
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday lost an early round of his court fight with Democrats when a federal judge ruled that the president’s accounting firm must turn over his financial records to Congress as lawmakers seek to assert their oversight authority. Trump called the 41-page ruling from U.S. District...
White House blocks former counsel Don McGahn from testifying to CongressVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday blocked former counsel Donald McGahn from testifying to Congress, the latest act of defiance in the ongoing war between House Democrats and President Trump. McGahn, who Democrats hoped would become a star witness in their investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice, was subpoenaed...
Trump making 1st visit of 2019 to Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG, Pa. — President Donald Trump is coming to the battleground state of Pennsylvania for a rally hours before voters in a congressional district in the northcentral part of the state pick a new representative to go to Washington. Trump’s rally is Monday at a hangar by Williamsport Regional Airport...
Trump’s EPA shifts more environmental enforcement to states
BOKOSHE, Okla. — Susan Holmes’ home, corner store and roadside beef jerky stand are right off Oklahoma Highway 31, putting them in the path of trucks hauling ash and waste from a power plant that burns the high-sulfur coal mined near this small town. For years, when Bokoshe residents were...
Tax the wealthy and big companies for road repairs? Democrats divided
WASHINGTON — Should big corporations or the wealthy pay more taxes to repair the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure? Or should consumers pay for the roads they use with a higher gasoline tax? Democrats, who control the House of Representatives and have the power to block most legislation in...
Trump’s ‘great patriot’ farmers follow him into a trade war
MADRID, Iowa — Iowa farmer Tim Bardole survived years of low crop prices and rising costs by cutting back on fertilizer and herbicides and fixing broken-down equipment rather than buying new. When President Donald Trump’s trade war with China made a miserable situation worse, Bardole used up any equity his...
Trump tells anti-abortion activists to stay united for 2020
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump distanced himself from Alabama’s restrictive new abortion law by laying out differing personal views even as he urged anti-abortion activists to stay united heading into the 2020 election. In a series of tweets about abortion, Trump did not state whether he was for or against...
Michigan GOP congressman Justin Amash says Trump conduct is ‘impeachable’
WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman from Michigan on Saturday became the first member of President Donald Trump’s party on Capitol Hill to accuse him of engaging in “impeachable conduct” stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s lengthy investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But Rep. Justin Amash stopped...
