Politics Election category, Page 369
Federal prosecutors subpoena Trump’s inaugural committee
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors in New York issued a subpoena Monday seeking documents from Donald Trump’s inaugural committee, furthering a federal inquiry into a fund that has faced mounting scrutiny into how it raised and spent its money. Inaugural committee spokeswoman Kristin Celauro told The Associated Press that the...
Not included in Capitol Hill’s friendly border negotiations: Trump
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill negotiators are toiling away on a deal Republicans and Democrats can support to fund border security — without the input of President Trump. While the government could once again shut down if Trump rejects their deal, congressional negotiators are betting they will get Trump’s signature on...
Trump to nominate David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist, as the next Interior secretary
WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Monday that he will nominate David Bernhardt, a veteran lobbyist who has helped orchestrate the administration’s push to expand oil and gas drilling as the Interior Department’s number-two official, to serve as the next secretary. If confirmed, Bernhardt, a 49-year old Colorado native known for...
Joe Lieberman says he sees no reason for Northam to resign
Former senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Conn., the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2000, offered a rare voice of support Monday for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, D, staying in office amid the controversy over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook. Lieberman, who became an independent late in his Senate...
Trump campaign takes steps to prevent a challenge within GOP
WASHINGTON — Worried about a potential Republican primary challenge, President Donald Trump’s campaign has launched a state-by-state effort to prevent an intraparty fight that could spill over into the general-election campaign. The nascent initiative has been an intense focus in recent weeks and includes taking steps to change state party...
Trump says he’ll reject U.S. intelligence assessments he disagrees with
WASHINGTON — Despite growing foreign-policy misgivings about him even within the Republican Party, President Trump insisted in an interview aired Sunday that he feels free to ignore the assessments of his intelligence chiefs and instead act on his own beliefs. In the interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the president...
Trump says release of Mueller report up to attorney general
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says it’s “totally up to” his attorney general whether the public gets to read special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report. Trump was asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” whether he’d have a problem with a public release. He said: “I don’t know. It depends. I...
Democrats fear Northam incident will hurt 2020 message
WASHINGTON — A racist photo in Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s yearbook entry has become a national political concern for Democrats, threatening to complicate their bid to draw a sharp contrast with President Trump and the Republican Party on race ahead of the 2020 election. As Northam defied a nationwide chorus...
White House claims Trump’s tan is the result of ‘good genes’
An official statement from the White House on President Trump’s complexion is that his skin color is the result of “good genes,” a senior administration official told The New York Times. Despite his orange glow and white around his eyes, the White House insisted he did not go under the...
Virginia Democrat says Gov. Northam won’t resign; he doesn’t think racist yearbook photo is him
RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia Democrat who has spoken with Gov. Ralph Northam has told The Associated Press that the governor now does not believe he was in a racist picture in his 1984 medical yearbook and has no immediate plans to resign. The official was not authorized to speak...
With government open again, Trump heads for Florida
PALM BEACH, Fla. — With the government open again, President Donald Trump at last headed Friday for a weekend at his happy place: his Mar-a-Lago private club on Florida’s southeastern coast. Trump typically spends many winter weekends at the Palm Beach estate, golfing at another nearby private club he owns...
Virginia governor’s medical school yearbook page shows men in blackface, KKK robe
RICHMOND - Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Friday acknowledged appearing in a “clearly racist and offensive” photograph in his 1984 medical school yearbook that shows a man in blackface next to another in a Ku Klux Klan robe. In a statement issued late Friday, Northam apologized for wearing a costume...
Trump’s State of the Union to focus on ‘choosing greatness’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is ready to deliver his State of the Union speech following a roller-coaster will-it-or-won’t-it-happen ride. His topic is to be “choosing greatness.” White House officials say Trump is not expected to dwell on the government shutdown or on the looming Feb. 15 deadline for a...
Trump suspends arms treaty to focus on China, Russia threats
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is pulling the plug on a decades-old nuclear arms treaty with Russia, lifting what it sees as unreasonable constraints on competing with a resurgent Russia and a more assertive China. The move announced Friday sets the stage for delicate talks with U.S. allies over potential...
Sen. Cory Booker joins the 2020 presidential race
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said Friday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for president, adding his name to a growing and increasingly diversified field of 2020 candidates intent on taking on President Trump. Booker made his announcement via an email and video to supporters, and he had...
Abortion quickly becomes key issue in Virginia politics
RICHMOND, Va. — A pitched debate about late-term abortions in Virginia erupted into all-out political warfare Thursday as Republicans — including President Donald Trump — sought to capitalize on Democratic missteps. Republicans accused Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, a folksy pediatric neurologist who is personal friends with many GOP lawmakers, of...
Proposed rules would shake up drug pricing by ending rebates to middlemen
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday proposed bringing transparency to one of the most secretive aspects of drug pricing by ending the widespread practice of rebates to middlemen — an effort to reduce what consumers pay for prescription medicine. Under draft rules announced by Health and Human Services Secretary...
Intelligence officials were ‘misquoted’ after public hearing, Trump claims
WASHINGTON — A day after ridiculing his top intelligence officials as “passive and naive” and claiming they were ignorant about world affairs, President Trump on Thursday said the media had fabricated a conflict, and that the officials were “misquoted” by the press after a public congressional hearing that was carried...
2 congressmen ask for Jared Kushner’s security clearance to be revoked
WASHINGTON — Democratic Reps. Donald S. Beyer of Virginia and Ted Lieu of California sent a letter Thursday to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney asking him to immediately strip senior adviser Jared Kushner of his security clearance. A recent NBC News report revealed that White House security...
Senate vote rebukes Trump on Syria, Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — In a bipartisan rebuke to President Trump, the Senate voted 68-23 on Thursday to advance an amendment that would oppose withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. The amendment by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell occurs after Trump called for a drawdown of troops in both of...
Bernie Sanders proposes estate tax of up to 77 percent for billionaires
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing to expand the estate tax on wealthy Americans, including a rate of as much as 77 percent on the value of estates above $1 billion. Sanders of Vermont, who’s considering a second run for president, said in a statement that his plan would apply...
Trump says State of the Union address to stress ‘unity’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says “unity” will be the theme of his State of the Union address next week, and says he respects Stacey Abrams, who will give the Democratic response. Trump told reporters Thursday that he’s familiar with Abrams from the 2018 Georgia governor’s race, which she narrowly...
Democrats gain in statehouses as some GOP lawmakers defect
TRENTON, N.J. — Democrats’ gains in state legislatures didn’t end with last November’s elections. Over the past two months, as lawmakers were sworn in and this year’s statehouse sessions got underway, Republicans in California, Kansas and New Jersey switched their party affiliations to become Democrats. They cited various reasons, but...
Sanders: God wanted Trump to be president
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told a Christian television station Wednesday that God “wanted Donald Trump to become president” so he could support “a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.” The early, abbreviated transcript provided by the conservative evangelical station CBN — Christian...
Congress introduces bills to train police to identify child sex traffickers
WASHINGTON — Though the scourge of child sex trafficking may seem like an intractable problem, a program designed by a state trooper in Texas has shown real results: hundreds of children rescued, and hundreds of pimps and kidnappers arrested, by patrol officers on mostly routine traffic stops, both in Texas...
