Politics Election category, Page 6
Senate GOP blocks push for legal action over Epstein law
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leadership blocked a Democrat-backed measure Thursday that would direct the chamber to take legal action over the Justice Department’s much-criticized handling of the Jeffrey Epstein documents. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, on the floor, criticized the Trump administration’s response to the law Congress passed last year...
ICE should ‘surround’ polling places in midterm elections, Steve Bannon says
Far right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon is calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to “surround” polling places in the upcoming midterm elections, a move that would amount to an unprecedented effort to intimidate voters. The ally of President Donald Trump claimed that ICE agents, who have spearheaded the president’s nationwide...
Slotkin rejects Justice Department request for interview on Democrats’ video about ‘illegal orders’
WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan is refusing to voluntarily comply with a Justice Department investigation into a video she organized urging U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders” — escalating a dispute that President Donald Trump has publicly pushed. In letters first obtained by The Associated Press,...
Homeland Security shutdown grows more likely as Republicans rebuff Democrats’ ICE demands
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that demands made by Democrats for new restrictions on federal immigration officers are “unrealistic” and warned that the Department of Homeland Security will shut down next week if they do not work with Republicans and the White House. Democrats say they...
Trump vows to donate any proceeds from $10 billion IRS lawsuit
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would donate any money he received in a $10 billion lawsuit that he filed against the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service over an unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns to the press during his first term in office. “Any money that I...
On Capitol Hill, Treasury Secretary Bessent’s testimony descends into insults, shouting matches
WASHINGTON — A hearing about oversight of the U.S. financial system devolved into insults several times Wednesday as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clashed with Democratic lawmakers over fiscal policy, the business dealings of the Trump family and other issues. Appearances by treasury secretaries on Capitol Hill are more typically known...
Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk won’t seek reelection to U.S. House
ATLANTA — Georgia Republican U.S. House member Barry Loudermilk, who has been active in efforts to discredit Democratic-led investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, announced Wednesday that he won’t seek reelection this year. Loudermilk has served in Congress since 2015. He is part of a wave of incumbents...
Judge appears skeptical of Trump’s latest bid to nix his hush money conviction
NEW YORK — A federal judge appeared poised to again reject President Donald Trump’s bid to erase his hush money conviction, slamming his lawyers Wednesday for legal maneuvers he said amounted to taking “two bites at the apple.” Directed by an appeals court to take a fresh look at the...
Trump says Washington has waited 200 years for the arch he wants to build. Not quite
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says history is on his side. He wants to build a towering arch near the Lincoln Memorial and argues that the nation’s capital first clamored for such a monument two centuries ago — even going so far as to erect four eagle statues as part...
Vance says U.S. seeks to create a critical minerals trading bloc with its allies to counter China
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration wants to create a critical minerals trading bloc with its allies that will use tariffs to maintain price floors and defend against China’s tactic of flooding the market to undermine any potential competitors. Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the trade war over the...
Democrats demand ‘dramatic changes’ for ICE, including masks, cameras and judicial warrants
WASHINGTON — Democrats are threatening to block funding for the Homeland Security Department when it expires in two weeks unless there are “dramatic changes” and “real accountability” for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies who are carrying out President Donald Trump’s campaign of federal immigration enforcement...
Top Republicans throw cold water on ‘nationalizing’ elections
WASHINGTON — As many Republicans in Congress push for action on a voter ID bill, its future remains uncertain — and key voices in the GOP say they are wary of increasing federal involvement in elections. “I’m supportive of only citizens voting and showing ID at polling places. I think...
Fetterman calls on Senate to pass rail safety bill 3 years after toxic derailment near Ohio-Pa. line
On the third anniversary of an Ohio toxic train derailment just over the Pennsylvania line, Sen. John Fetterman is demanding that Congress act on a bipartisan railroad safety bill languishing in committee. “As I’ve said before, this derailment was a tragedy, and it’s something we could have prevented,” said Fetterman...
Clintons finalize agreement to testify in House Epstein probe, bowing to threat of contempt vote
WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finalized an agreement with House Republicans Tuesday to testify in a House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein this month, bowing to the threat of a contempt of Congress vote against them. Hillary Clinton will testify before the House...
Shapiro proposes record $53.3B in spending for coming fiscal year
Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday unveiled a proposed $53.3 billion budget for the coming fiscal year that would use nearly $4.6 billion, or more than half, of the state’s largest reserve fund to balance. Shapiro said in an address to a joint session of the state House and Senate that...
Trump signs bill to end partial government shutdown, setting stage for next fight
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a roughly $1.2 trillion government funding bill Tuesday that ends the partial federal shutdown that began over the weekend and sets the stage for an intense debate in Congress over Homeland Security funding. The president moved quickly to sign the bill after the House...
Trump says Republicans should federalize state voting rules
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called on Republicans to seize control of election processes from individual states, signaling that he may push for drastic measures to change the dynamics of the midterm elections. “Amazing that the Republicans aren’t tougher on it,” Trump said in an interview Monday with former FBI...
Gov. Shapiro wants to ban cellphones from Pennsylvania schools
Gov. Josh Shapiro is backing a proposal to ban cellphones from Pennsylvania classrooms, joining a growing chorus of parents, teachers, and officials seeking to curb school disruptions and detach kids from addictive devices. “It’s time for us to get distractions out of the classroom and create a healthier environment in...
Speaker Johnson faces tough choices as partial government shutdown drags and debate over ICE deepens
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson faces tough days ahead trying to muscle a federal funding package to passage and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown as debate intensifies over the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement operations. Johnson signaled he is relying on help from President Donald Trump to ensure...
Fundraising hauls show RNC vastly outpacing Democrats ahead of midterm elections
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee has vastly outpaced Democrats in the crush for cash ahead of the midterm elections, holding a nearly $100 million advantage at the close of 2025, according to year-end filings to the Federal Election Commission. As Democrats have struggled in the Trump era, the RNC...
Music’s biggest stars use the Grammys stage to protest Trump’s immigration crackdown
Entertainment’s awards season has coincided with the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in Minneapolis, forcing artists to decide whether and how to join the growing cultural revolt against immigration crackdowns. Pushback from music’s biggest stars was visible Sunday from the Grammys red carpet and throughout the telecast. Activists spent the...
Grammys host Trevor Noah takes aim at Nicki Minaj and Trump, drawing ire from the president
LOS ANGELES — Trevor Noah once again roamed through the audience during his monologue to open the Grammy Awards, taking pokes at the stars while standing right next to them, but he saved his most pointed jokes for absentees, and elicited an angry post from the president. ” Nicki Minaj...
Pa.’s budget impasse ended in November. It’s already time to talk about the next budget
Here we go again. Pennsylvania’s latest budget impasse, which dragged on for 135 days, just ended in mid-November. Now, less than three months later, state government leaders are preparing to begin the often-tortured process of trying to hammer out a budget for the coming fiscal year. The budget process formally...
Sen. John Fetterman supports ICE agents’ mask use amid rising doxxing threatsVideo
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, during a Fox News interview on Sunday, said he was in support of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks to protect them and their families from being identified and pursued by left-wing protesters. “Some of those agents wearing masks, primarily that’s driven by...
Texas stunner: Democrat Taylor Rehmet flips Republican state Senate district Trump won by 17 pointsVideo
Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas in Saturday’s special election, continuing a string of surprise victories for Democrats across the U.S. in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House. The Republican president immediately distanced himself from the loss in a district...
