The Washington Post stories, Page 6
Construction set to begin to make White House fence taller
WASHINGTON — The White House is getting a taller fence for the first time in about a century as part of improvements beginning this summer for the perimeter of the grounds. Crews will replace the existing fence with a structure that will be about 13 feet tall, an increase of...
$19.1B in disaster aid stalls in House after single Republican objects
WASHINGTON — A House Republican lawmaker blocked a $19.1 billion disaster aid package on Friday, delaying a bill that would send federal funding to disaster affected areas across the country. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, voted to block the legislation, which has the support of President Donald Trump and passed the...
Trump approves sending more forces to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran
The Trump administration, facing rising tensions with Iran, plans to reinforce its military presence in the Middle East by sending another few thousand forces to the region to step up missile defense and surveillance, according to U.S. officials. The decision to send the additional forces to U.S. Central Command, which...
Senate approves deal on disaster aid, leaves out border money Trump demandedVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a $19.1 billion disaster aid package, advancing legislation that would break a months-long impasse over federal funding for stretches of the country afflicted by natural disasters. A top Senate Republican said the White House has signed off on the bipartisan compromise. House...
Faked Nancy Pelosi videos, slowed to make her appear drunk, spread on social media
Distorted videos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., altered to make her sound as if she’s drunkenly slurring her words, are spreading rapidly across social media, highlighting how political disinformation that clouds public understanding can now spread at the speed of the web. The video of Pelosi’s onstage speech Wednesday...
Lawmakers reach deal on disaster aid, minus border money Trump demanded, top senator says
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on Thursday announced an agreement on a multibillion-dollar disaster aid package, breaking a months-long impasse that held up critical federal funding for swaths of the country struck by natural disasters. The White House has signed off on a compromise measure, supported by congressional Democrats and Republicans, that...
Archie Bunker, George Jefferson meet again, sparks don’t exactly fly
Movin’ on back, ABC and Jimmy Kimmel conducted a fun but only partly successful exercise in nostalgia and cultural context Wednesday with “Live In Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons,’ ” a special restaging of two episodes of the classic, socially relevant...
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...
Fans who spent thousands on Women’s World Cup tickets irate to learn seats are not together
Victoria Amira convinced three friends to take what they’re calling the trip of a lifetime by promising that if they attended a match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup next month, she’d drive them to every vineyard in the south of France for the following two weeks. Amira, a government...
Qualcomm violated antitrust law, judge rules
Qualcomm violated antitrust law by brandishing its market dominance to squeeze excessive licensing fees from phone manufacturers, a federal judge in California ruled, delivering a major jolt to the critical components market for next-generation smartphones. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s ruling late Tuesday night sided with the Federal Trade Commission,...
‘The Voice’ finale: What Maelyn Jarmon’s victory over 3 country singers says about the showVideo
From Maelyn Jarmon’s very first audition on NBC’s “The Voice” in February, when she stunned the coaches with a haunting rendition of Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” it seemed likely that she would go far this season. This week, after she delivered her final performance - a captivating spin on Leonard...
Dead man’s parents can use his sperm to create his child, judge rules
Months after West Point cadet Peter Zhu died from injuries sustained in a tragic skiing accident — and lost what his parents said was his dream to have children of his own — a judge has ruled that his parents may use his frozen sperm to create a child. New...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Destructive tornadoes, severe flooding expected in Oklahoma, TexasVideo
A dangerous severe weather outbreak is set to play out across the southern Plains Monday afternoon and night. Forecasters expect a swarm of tornadoes, widespread flash flooding, and a barrage of hail and wind. Western and central Oklahoma and parts of the Texas Panhandle are expected to be hardest hit....
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...
McConnell, Kaine want to raise minimum smoking age to 21Video
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Monday planned to introduce a bill that would raise the federal minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21, a measure that they say is aimed at reducing teen use of e-cigarettes. The move, from...
5 things to know about Morehouse student-debt donor Robert F. Smith
Billionaire Robert F. Smith woke up the crowd at Morehouse College commencement ceremony Sunday when he veered off script to share a surprise: He’d be paying off all the student loans for the Class of 2019′s nearly 400 graduates. There was a moment of stunned silence before the grads and...
Trayvon Martin’s mother will run for office to push prevention of gun violence
Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, once called herself an unwilling participant in the movement against gun violence and fatal shootings of unarmed black men, a spokeswoman traveling the country to share a message she wished she didn’t have to tell. In her numerous speeches since Martin was killed in 2012,...
‘American Idol’ finale ends in an upsetVideo
Throughout the “American Idol” Season 17 finale Sunday night, the winner seemed almost too obvious; especially when Alejandro Aranda, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter from Pomona, California, performed an original track called “Out Loud.” At the end, the studio audience screamed and cheered so loudly that it nearly drowned out the judges....
As Trump escalates China trade dispute, economic ties lose stabilizing force in matters of national security
The United States for years relied on economic interdependence with China as a stabilizing force in relations with Beijing, with business between the two nations forming what former treasury secretary Hank Paulson used to call the “ballast” in U.S.-China affairs. But as President Trump escalates his trade dispute with Chinese...
In this wildly popular game, you kill a journalist
The mission is called “Breaking News.” It’s the seventh mission in the game, and it comes after you’ve upgraded your sniper rifle to shoot at a distance of nearly 1,000 feet with accuracy. By now, you’ve already taken out, among others, a gunman who allegedly killed several people at a...
