Politics Election category, Page 133
Court filing gives rare look inside FBI seizure of Pa. Rep. Scott Perry’s phone in 2020 election probe
HARRISBURG — Just how hard did some Republican members of Congress work to keep Donald Trump in office after his 2020 election loss? A court case is providing a few tantalizing clues. Snippets and short summaries of texts and emails sent by Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, a top Trump...
Trump declines to rule out abusing power to seek retribution if he returns to the White House
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump declined to rule out abusing power if he returns to the White House after Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity asked him Tuesday to respond to growing Democratic criticism of his rhetoric. The GOP presidential front-runner has talked about targeting his rivals —...
A 2nd Trump administration will ‘come after’ people in the media in the courts, ally says
NEW YORK — A Donald Trump ally who worked in his Justice Department said Tuesday that if the former president is elected again, his administration will retaliate against people in the media “criminally or civilly.” Kash Patel, who was also chief of staff in the Defense Department and held a...
Biden says he might not have sought reelection if Trump weren’t running
President Joe Biden said he might not be running for a second term if former President Donald Trump were not seeking to return to the White House, arguing Trump poses a grave threat to American democracy. “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running,” Biden, 81, told donors...
With George Santos out of Congress, special election to fill his seat set for February
ALBANY, N.Y. — A special election to pick a successor to George Santos, the New York Republican who was expelled from the U.S. House last week, will be held on Feb. 13, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday. The race for a seat representing some Long Island suburbs and a small...
Voting experts warn of ‘serious threats’ for 2024 from election equipment software breachesVideo
ATLANTA — An effort to access voting system software in several states and provide it to allies of former President Donald Trump as they sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election has raised “serious threats” ahead of next year’s presidential contest, according to a group of experts who...
New Pa. House rules sought to strengthen bipartisanship, but insiders say they didn’t work
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — During the chaotic start to this year’s legislative session, Pennsylvania House Democrats used their new majority to pass a high-profile set of changes...
North Carolina Rep. McHenry, who led House through speaker stalemate, won’t seek reelection in 2024
RALEIGH — North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, who presided temporarily over the U.S. House for three intense weeks while Republicans struggled to elect a permanent speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, announced Tuesday that he won’t seek reelection to his seat next year. McHenry, who was first elected to the House...
House Speaker Johnson is insisting on sweeping border security changes in a deal for Ukraine aid
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson told fellow Republicans on Tuesday that sweeping changes to U.S. border policy would be their “hill to die on” in negotiations over President Joe Biden’s nearly $106 billion package for the wars in Ukraine and Israel and other security needs. Johnson delivered the hard-line...
Ga. lawmakers advance congressional map keeping 9-5 GOP edge
ATLANTA — Brushing aside concerns that they may be breaking law that protects coalitions of nonwhite voters, Georgia state senators on Tuesday passed a new congressional map that would maintain a likely 9-5 GOP edge in the state’s delegation. The Senate voted 32-22 to pass the plan, which seeks a...
4th GOP debate will be key moment for young NewsNation cable network
NEW YORK — By airing the fourth Republican presidential primary debate scheduled for Wednesday — again, minus Donald Trump — the young NewsNation television network will almost certainly reach the largest audience in its history. Yet with two of the three debate moderators associated with conservative media and not NewsNation,...
AI’s future could be ‘open-source’ or closed; tech giants divided as they lobby regulators
Tech leaders have been vocal proponents of the need to regulate artificial intelligence, but they’re also lobbying hard to make sure the new rules work in their favor. That’s not to say they all want the same thing. Facebook parent Meta and IBM on Tuesday launched a new group called...
Biden is spending most of the week raising money at events with James Taylor and Steven Spielberg
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is making a big push to raise money for his reelection effort before the end of the year, appearing at seven events through next Monday — with more to come. Biden was traveling to Massachusetts on Tuesday to schmooze with donors at a trio of...
Ohio Republicans propose nixing home grow, increasing taxes in broad changes to legal marijuana
COLUMBUS — Banning marijuana growing at home, increasing the substance’s tax rate and altering how those taxes get distributed are among vast changes Ohio Senate Republicans proposed Monday to a marijuana legalization measure approved by voters last month. The changes emerged suddenly in committee just days before the new law...
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum ends 2024 Republican presidential bid days before 4th debate
BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum ended his long-shot presidential campaign on Monday, blaming his inability to resonate in the race on the Republican National Committee’s strict requirements to qualify for the debate stage. The second-term governor and wealthy software entrepreneur dropped his bid just hours before the...
Tracking Josh Shapiro’s 11 biggest campaign promises through his 1st year
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — During his run for governor, Josh Shapiro was boosted by his reputation as a deal-making coalition-builder. That standing ran into a different reality...
Biden’s allies in Senate demand that Israel limit civilian deaths in Gaza as Congress debates U.S. aid
WASHINGTON — As a cease-fire ticked down last week and Israel prepared to resume its round-the-clock airstrikes, Sen. Bernie Sanders and a robust group of Democratic senators had a message for their president: They were done “asking nicely” for Israel to do more to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza. Lawmakers...
Florida Republican chairman won’t resign over rape allegation, saying he is innocent
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The chair of Florida’s Republican Party says he will not resign over a woman’s allegation that he raped her, saying in an email to supporters that he is innocent. He did not address any specifics of the accusation that has roiled the state’s conservative politics. Christian...
DeSantis hits Iowa campaign milestone but is still far behind Trump, who again mocked his campaign
NEWTON, Iowa — Ron DeSantis completed his campaign promise to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties, crossing a symbolic but also tactical threshold by telling his audience in a central Iowa town “this should show you that I consider myself a servant, not a ruler.” Former President Donald Trump, who...
3 officials have left a pro-DeSantis super PAC in the group’s latest shake-up, AP sources say
DES MOINES, Iowa — Three senior members of a super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis left the group on Saturday, the latest sign of instability within the 2024 hopeful’s political operation just six weeks before the Iowa Republican caucuses. Kristin Davison parted ways with Never Back Down just after...
Trump denied immunity against U.S. election subversion charges
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is not entitled to absolute presidential immunity against criminal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday rejected Trump’s early efforts to get the federal indictment in Washington tossed out, including his contention...
Court pauses federal policy allowing abortion clinic operators to get grants — but only in Ohio
A federal appeals court has paused enforcement of a federal government regulation that allows abortion providers to receive federal family planning money — but only in Ohio, where state health officials said the policy took money away from them. Since 1981, federal policy has changed several times regarding whether programs...
Reschenthaler 1 of 2 Pa. lawmakers to vote against Santos expulsion
Western Pennsylvania lawmakers were split on the vote to expel George Santos from the U.S. House on Friday. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, was one of two from the Pennsylvania delegation to oppose expulsion. Santos, a New York Republican, had come under fire for a string of controversies, including lying about...
House expels New York Rep. George Santos; just the 6th such in history
WASHINGTON — The House voted on Friday to expel Republican Rep. George Santos of New York after a critical ethics report on his conduct that accused him of converting campaign donations for his own use. He was just the sixth member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues....
Lawsuits against Trump over Jan. 6 riot can move forward, appeals court says
WASHINGTON — Lawsuits against Donald Trump brought by Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the U.S. Capitol riot, can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trump’s request to dismiss the civil lawsuits that accuse him...
