Politics Election category, Page 366
Michael Cohen to be publicly questioned on hush payments and Trump’s truthfulnessVideo
WASHINGTON — House Democrats plan to publicly question Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, on issues including Trump’s business interests and compliance with tax laws, as well as hush-money payments to women during the 2016 election. The scope of the widely anticipated hearing planned for Wednesday by the House...
Trump Organization asks House panel to stop probes, citing alleged conflict of interest
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for the Trump Organization has asked the House Judiciary Committee to cease any investigations related to it, claiming that the panel’s work has been tainted by its hiring of an outside lawyer whose firm has represented Trump’s company. In a letter Monday to House Judiciary Committee...
Rep. Joyce calls for repeal of medical device tax
Saying a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices is stifling healthcare research and development, first-term Congressman John Joyce, R-Altoona, on Monday said he will cosponsor legislation to repeal the tax before it is reinstated for the 2020 calendar year. The tax was first implemented in 2013 as an effort to...
‘Target practice’: Critics slam NRA’s headline next to Pelosi, Giffords photo in magazine
WASHINGTON — Next to a photo of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and former Arizona lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords were the words “Target Practice.” It was the headline of a story in the National Rifle Association’s American Rifleman magazine, where the author, chief NRA lobbyist Chris Cox, criticized newly introduced bipartisan...
Schiff vows lawsuit for Mueller report if it’s not released
WASHINGTON — Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday that House Democrats will subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before Congress if his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election is not made public. Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on ABC News’ “This Week” that Democrats...
Congress mulls cap on what Medicare enrollees pay for drugs
WASHINGTON — With health care a top issue for American voters, Congress may actually be moving toward doing something this year to address the high cost of prescription drugs. President Trump, Democrats trying to retire him in 2020, and congressional incumbents of both parties all say they want action. Democrats...
Mueller: Manafort ‘brazenly violated the law’ for years
WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort committed crimes that cut to “the heart of the criminal justice system” and over the years deceived everyone from bookkeepers and banks to federal prosecutors and “members of the executive branch of the United States government,” according to a sentencing memo filed...
Biden’s 2020 opening? Dem field missing foreign policy hand
WASHINGTON — In town halls, television interviews and social media posts, Democratic presidential candidates are touting their support for “Medicare-for-all,” higher taxes on the wealthy and a war on climate change. But foreign policy, one of the chief responsibilities of a president, is largely taking a back seat on the...
Sen. Feinstein debates children over climate change
SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a group of San Francisco Bay Area students squared off over climate change in a sometimes tense exchange captured on video and widely shared on social media. The 15-minute video of the impromptu Friday meeting captures the students and Feinstein debating the...
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan blasts RNC for ‘unprecedented’ steps to shield Trump from a primary
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who is flirting with a 2020 White House run, on Thursday accused the Republican National Committee of taking “unprecedented” steps to shield President Trump from primary challengers. Hogan, who is being courted by Republican dissidents seeking an alternative to Trump, told Politico in an...
Tennessee gov. says he regrets wearing Confederate uniform
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was 17 when he joined the Kappa Alpha fraternity at Auburn University, which every spring held an “Old South” party where he and other members dressed in Confederate uniforms. The fraternity has since ended the tradition, and Lee, four decades removed from his...
New election ordered in disputed North Carolina House race
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s elections board Thursday ordered a new election in the nation’s last undecided congressional race after the Republican candidate conceded that his apparent victory was tainted by evidence of ballot-tampering by political operatives working for him. The State Board of Elections voted 5-0 in favor of...
Trump’s inaugural team scrambled to defend staff and record haul
NEW YORK — The leaders of President Trump’s inaugural committee saw trouble coming and tried to get ahead of it. It was January 2018, a year after the black-tie balls and candlelight dinners in Washington. Journalists were asking questions about how the Presidential Inaugural Committee had raised — and spent...
Mueller appears to be wrapping up 2-year investigation
WASHINGTON — Justice Department officials are preparing for the end of special counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and believe a confidential report could be issued in coming days, according to people familiar with the discussions. The special counsel’s investigation has consumed Washington...
Pennsylvania must keep up on voting systems, lawmakers told
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top elections official is warning that failing to replace voting machines by 2020 could make the state the only one without a voter-verifiable paper trail. Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania’s acting state secretary, also told senators Wednesday during an Appropriations Committee hearing that election-security experts agree that moving to...
Former Congressman Shuster joins lobbying firm
If anyone had any doubts about the speed of the revolving door in Washington, D.C., rest assured it still is spinning. Politics PA reports that Bill Shuster, the former Republican congressman from Bedford County who opted not to seek re-election last year, has a new gig in the nation’s capital...
Trump nominates Jeffrey Rosen for deputy attorney general to replace Rod Rosenstein
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday nominated Jeffrey Rosen, a longtime litigator and deputy transportation secretary, to replace Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney general. In his current post, the 60-year-old Rosen serves as the Department of Transportation’s chief operating officer and is in charge of implementing the department’s safety and...
Top ethics watchdog rejects Wilbur Ross’s financial disclosure form
WASHINGTON — The top federal ethics watchdog has rejected Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s 2017 financial disclosure form. The Office of Government Ethics declined to certify Ross’s latest financial disclosure because after reporting that he had sold off his shares in BankUnited Inc. that year, he actually sold the stock in...
Judge OKs suit aimed at halting Obama library in Chicago
CHICAGO — A federal judge gave the green light Tuesday to a parks-advocacy group’s lawsuit that aims to stop for good the delayed construction of former President Barack Obama’s $500 million presidential center in a Chicago park beside Lake Michigan. Supporters of the project had hoped the court would grant...
AP source: FBI had backup plan to save Russia probe evidence
WASHINGTON — The FBI developed a backup plan to protect evidence in its Russia investigation soon after the firing of FBI Director James Comey in the event that other senior officials were dismissed as well, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. The plan was crafted in the...
Flynn pushed to share nuclear tech with Saudis, report says
WASHINGTON — Senior White House officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite the objections of ethics and national security officials, according to a new congressional report citing whistleblowers within the administration. Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear...
Sen. Bernie Sanders says he’s running for president in 2020
WASHINGTON — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose insurgent 2016 presidential campaign reshaped Democratic politics, announced Tuesday that he is running for president in 2020. “Our campaign is not only about defeating Donald Trump,” the 77-year-old self-described democratic socialist said in an email to supporters. “Our campaign is about transforming our...
North Carolina elections head says ballots handled illegally
RALEIGH — A Republican operative conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation, North Carolina’s elections director said Monday, but the first session of a days-long hearing produced scant evidence that the GOP congressional candidate he worked for knew about it or even benefited. The director’s testimony came at the opening...
Trump handicaps 2020 Democratic contenders
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Kamala Harris had the best campaign roll-out. Amy Klobuchar’s snowy debut showed grit. Elizabeth Warren’s opening campaign video was a bit odd. Take it from an unlikely armchair pundit sizing up the 2020 Democratic field: President Donald Trump. In tweets, public remarks and private conversations,...
Border wall a complex issue for 2020 prospect Beto O’Rourke
EL PASO, Texas — When President Donald Trump visited Beto O’Rourke’s hometown to argue that walling off the southern border would make the U.S. safer, the former Democratic congressman and possible 2020 presidential hopeful was ready. As the president filled an El Paso arena with supporters, O’Rourke helped lead thousands...
