Politics Election category, Page 359
AP source: Trump considers adding ‘immigration czar’Video
WASHINGTON — As he threatens to shut down the southern border, President Trump is considering bringing on a “border” or “immigration czar” to coordinate immigration policy across various federal agencies, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Trump is weighing at least two potential candidates for the post: former...
More officers may be reassigned to help border crush
EL PASO, Texas — The Trump administration says it may pull as many as 2,000 inspectors from border crossings to handle a surge of families arriving at the U.S.- Mexico border, many of them Central American asylum seekers. The temporary reassignments, up from 750 inspectors previously, threatens to slow the...
Official: Trump team overruled 25 security clearance denials
WASHINGTON — A career official in the White House security office says dozens of people in President Donald Trump’s administration were granted security clearances despite “disqualifying issues” in their backgrounds, such as concerns about foreign influence, drug use and criminal conduct. Tricia Newbold, an 18-year government employee who oversees the...
Manhattan tolls, plastic bag ban approved in New York budget
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s Democrat-controlled Legislature on Sunday passed a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags and expected to approve tolls for driving into the busiest sections of Manhattan starting in 2021 as part of a $175.5 billion state budget agreement worked out with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The Assembly...
Biden defends his behavior with women
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday he doesn’t believe he ever acted inappropriately toward women but will “listen respectfully” to suggestions he did. Biden, who is deciding whether to join the 2020 presidential race, released a new statement in response to allegations from a Nevada politician that...
Trump’s battle with ‘Obamacare’ moves to the courts
WASHINGTON — After losing in Congress, President Donald Trump is counting on the courts to kill off “Obamacare.” But some cases are going against him, and time is not on his side as he tries to score a big win for his re-election campaign. Two federal judges in Washington, D.C.,...
Brett Kavanaugh pivots as Supreme Court allows one execution, stops another
It’s difficult to say with certainty why the Supreme Court on Thursday night stopped the execution of a Buddhist inmate in Texas because he was not allowed a spiritual adviser by his side, when last month it approved the execution of a Muslim inmate in Alabama under the almost exact...
‘I was shocked’: Nevada Democrat accuses Biden of touching, kissing her without consent
A onetime Democratic nominee for Nevada’s lieutenant governor accused former vice president Joe Biden on Friday of touching and kissing her without her consent during her campaign in 2014, an experience she says left her feeling mortified, embarrassed and confused. In an essay published by “The Cut,” Lucy Flores wrote...
Poll: Most see women equal to men in politics
WASHINGTON — An all-time high of 84 percent of Americans believe women are just as suited emotionally for politics as men, according to a new survey that comes as the largest-ever field of women are running for president and with a record number serving in Congress. The growing acceptance of...
Donald Trump Jr. points father’s followers to new villain, new rallying cry
At President Donald Trump’s first rally since the end of the 22-month Russia investigation, his supporters shouted about a woman who is guaranteed not to feature opposite him on the ballot in 2020. She’s a Democrat, elected to Congress from New York. It wasn’t only Hillary Clinton - Trump’s adversary...
Harry Reid testifies exercise device injury cost him Senate
LAS VEGAS — Former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid told a Nevada jury Thursday that his career was cut short by injuries he suffered when a TheraBand exercise device slipped from his hand and he fell in his home bathroom in 2015. From a wheelchair on the witness stand in a...
Trump turns Mueller probe’s findings into political weapon
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Presenting himself as both vindicated and vindictive, a fired-up President Trump on Thursday turned the findings of the special counsel’s Russia investigation into a political weapon at a boisterous Michigan rally that was part victory lap, part 2020 campaign push. With Robert Mueller’s investigation largely over,...
McConnell moves to change Senate rules to speed up confirmation of Trump nominees
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is setting up a major fight in the Senate next week over the chamber’s rules, as Republicans plan to deploy a controversial procedural maneuver to speed up consideration of hundreds of lower-level Trump administration nominees. Agitated by Democrats slowing down consideration of...
Trump ditches proposal to slash Special Olympics funding
WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Thursday that he was backing off a budget request to eliminate funding for the Special Olympics, reversing course after his administration weathered days of criticism for the proposed cut. Speaking to reporters as he left the White House for a rally in Michigan, Trump said...
Clash between Republicans and Rep. Adam Schiff overshadows Russia intelligence hearing
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday demanded that Chairman Adam B. Schiff step down from his post in light of his repeated allegations that President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russians in the 2016 election, the latest in growing GOP attacks against the California Democrat. The heated,...
Trump orders Treasury, HUD to develop new plan for how home sales are financed
WASHINGTON — President Trump ordered federal regulators on Wednesday to develop plans to change the way the country finances the majority of its home purchases. The plan could upend decades of housing policy while finally reckoning with a major piece of unfinished business from the financial crisis — the fates...
Mueller report is more than 300 pages, AG tells top Democrat
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election spans more than 300 pages, a Justice Department official said Thursday. Attorney General William Barr confirmed the report’s length during a Wednesday phone call with Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. During...
Trump turns to health care with an eye on 2020
WASHINGTON — Buoyed by word that the special counsel didn’t find collusion with Russia, President Donald Trump is voicing new interest in policymaking, including a fresh effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare.” But Trump has few detailed policy proposals to back up his words, suggesting he’s as focused on highlighting...
After Mueller, Trump allies counsel against pardon push
NEW YORK — The end of the special counsel’s investigation sparked fresh speculation that President Donald Trump might pardon some of those charged in the probe. It’s also spawned a don’t-go-there chorus from some of Trump’s closest advisers and GOP allies. They’re warning that pardons could ignite a political firestorm...
Trump visits Michigan as Republicans confront ominous signs
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The 50 or so party faithful gathered at a western Michigan GOP headquarters prayed for President Donald Trump’s re-election and hummed with excitement about his upcoming visit — a meeting-turned-pep rally for the effort they’ll mount on his behalf in 2020. “Are we ready?” former Michigan...
Mueller’s evidence is likely a massive amount of material
WASHINGTON — Democrats say they want “all of the underlying evidence” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. But what is all of that evidence? Mueller’s team issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants and interviewed more than 500 witnesses. That means the special counsel likely compiled thousands,...
Federal judge blocks Medicaid work rules in blow to Trump
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Medicaid work requirements undermine the program’s mission of providing health care for the needy, dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to push the poor toward self-sufficiency. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., blocked work requirements for low-income...
Poll: Most Republicans want to see the full Mueller report
WASHINGTON — Most Republicans think the full Mueller report should be released to the public, a new poll has found. It’s a sharp departure from the position GOP lawmakers have established as they call for some parts of the report to be redacted. Fifty-six percent of the 405 Republicans surveyed...
Trump Fed pick Stephen Moore owes $75,000 to IRS, court document says
Stephen Moore, whom President Trump said he’ll nominate for a seat on the Federal Reserve, owes more than $75,000 in taxes and other penalties, according to the U.S. government. A federal tax lien filed in the circuit court for Montgomery County, Md., where Moore owns a house, says that the...
Trump administration scrambles to defend budget cut for Special Olympics
The Trump administration faced withering attacks from Democrats and others as it scrambled Wednesday to defend its proposal to cut federal funding for the Special Olympics. President Donald Trump’s budget plan slashes programs of all stripes, but the idea of cutting federal support for a beloved organization appeared to generate...
