Politics Election category, Page 247
Senate Republicans back Trump as impeachment trial nearsVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s defenders in the Senate on Sunday rallied around the former president before his impeachment trial, dismissing it as a waste of time and arguing that the former president’s fiery speech before the U.S. Capitol insurrection does not make him responsible for the violence of Jan. 6....
False narratives seeped in through multiple channels to fuel violence at the Capitol
Disinformation, misinformation and social media proved a potent brew in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Experts say it is important to understand the role each played in inciting protesters to sack the Capitol. But no one was surprised events...
Wyoming GOP censures Rep. Liz Cheney over impeachment vote
RAWLINS, Wyo. — The Wyoming Republican Party voted overwhelmingly Saturday to censure U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney for voting to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Only eight of the 74-member state GOP’s central committee stood to oppose censure in a...
Biden gives Calif. woman pep talk in weekly address revival
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Joe Biden gave a pep talk to a California woman who was laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic, during a conversation the White House said is part of an effort to help him engage more consistently with regular Americans. The White House on Saturday released...
5 key questions for Trump’s Senate impeachment trial
WASHINGTON — Arguments begin Tuesday in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump on allegations that he incited the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. A look at five key questions about what to expect when senators hear the case against the former president in the very...
Pa. legislature enacted 140 laws last year, only 27 addressed pandemic
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — In 2020, the coronavirus thrust state government into the lives of Pennsylvanians unlike any other time in recent history....
Biden back in Delaware as CDC recommends avoiding travel
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Joe Biden flew home to Delaware on Friday to spend the weekend with his wife and family, even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Americans forgo travel because of the coronavirus pandemic. The White House officials said the trip by Biden, his...
Republican group pressures GOP senators to convict Trump in impeachment trial
WASHINGTON — A Republican group plans to run ads in the home states of nearly two dozen GOP senators during next week’s impeachment trial, pressuring them to vote to convict former President Donald Trump and bar him from holding office again. The Republican Accountability Project is spending a half-million dollars...
Pa. Republicans mostly support Marjorie Taylor Greene in House committee ouster
Eight out of nine Pennsylvania Republicans in the House of Representatives stood with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, as Democrats led a successful move to strip committee assignments from the controversial Georgia Republican with a history of supporting conspiracy theories and making racist comments. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a...
Virus outbreaks stoke tensions in some state capitols
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — After only their first few weeks of work, tensions already are high among lawmakers meeting in-person at some state capitols — not because of testy debates over taxes, guns or abortion, but because of a disregard for coronavirus precautions. In Georgia, a Republican lawmaker recently was...
AP-NORC poll: Americans are split on Trump’s impeachment
WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans say former President Donald Trump bears at least some blame for the Capitol insurrection, and about half say the Senate should vote to convict him at the end of his impeachment trial. That’s according to a survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public...
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman files statement of candidacy for possible U.S. Senate run
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has taken further steps toward finalizing a possible bid for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat that will be open in the 2022 election. While he has not formally announced his bid for the seat, Fetterman, 51, filed a statement of candidacy this week with the Federal Election...
Voting company sues Fox, Giuliani over election fraud claims
MIAMI — A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its hosts and two former lawyers for former President Donald Trump — Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the U.S. presidential...
Sex worker tells GQ he and politician Andrew Gillum did drugs in a Miami Beach hotel
MIAMI — A feature-length story for a coming “Modern Lovers” issue of GQ magazine features a new revelation about the night that former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum was found inebriated in a Miami Beach hotel room with two other men and three bags of suspected crystal meth on the bed...
Dem-led House, drawing a line, kicks Greene off committees
WASHINGTON — A fiercely divided House tossed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off both her committees Thursday, an unprecedented punishment that Democrats said she’d earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories. Underscoring the political vise her inflammatory commentary has clamped her party into, nearly all Republicans voted against the Democratic...
Facing expulsion, Trump resigns from Screen Actors Guild
NEW YORK — Donald Trump has resigned from the Screen Actors Guild after the union threatened to expel him for his role in the Capitol riot in January. In a letter dated Thursday and addressed to SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris, Trump said he was resigning from the union that he...
Georgia town plans new election amid inquiry into 2019 vote
ARLINGTON, Ga. — A southwest Georgia town plans a new election after questions were raised about the city clerk’s actions in a 2019 vote. Arlington Mayor Raymond Williams tells WALB-TV that Superior Court Judge Joe Bishop last week set a new election date of March 16 for three city council...
Virus expert says she’s exploring bid for U.S. Senate in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director who became the face of Ohio’s early pandemic response, has stepped down from her nonprofit position to “carefully explore” running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate, she said Thursday. Acton would be vying for a coveted open seat...
Media grapples with how to cover Trump after White House
NEW YORK — Two weeks into Donald Trump’s post-presidency, it feels like he hasn’t really gone away. He’s stayed in the news, defying the tradition of former presidents abruptly falling off the radar upon their successor’s inauguration and despite the shutdown of his favored means of communication on Twitter. That...
Defend or rebuke? House GOP faces difficult vote over Rep. Marjorie Taylor GreeneVideo
WASHINGTON — House Republicans will be forced to go on the record, defending or rebuking Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has drawn bipartisan condemnation over her embrace of far-right conspiracy theories, racist comments, as well as her past endorsement of violence against Democrats. Democrats are expected to move forward Thursday...
Biden, at prayer breakfast, calls out ‘political extremism’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday called for a confrontation of the “political extremism” that inspired the U.S. Capitol riot and appealed for collective strength during such turbulent times in remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that asks political combatants to set aside their differences for...
House GOP keeps Liz Cheney as No. 3 leader, stands by Marjorie Taylor GreeneVideo
WASHINGTON — House Republicans decided Wednesday to stand by two GOP lawmakers who have polarized the party, voting to retain Rep. Liz Cheney as their No. 3 leader and saying they’d fight a Democratic push to kick Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off her committees. In a 145-61 vote by secret...
Sen. Bob Casey named to Senate Select Intelligence Committee
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said Wednesday he looks forward to having the opportunity to serve on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee as the nation faces threats of domestic terrorism at home and complex challenges abroad. Casey, D-Scranton, announced that he was named to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which...
Governor’s proposal would protect Florida candidates from being banned on social mediaVideo
TALLAHASSEE — On the same day former President Donald Trump’s lawyers argued that his words to the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol were protected by his First Amendment right to free speech, Gov. Ron DeSantis held a hastily called news conference to announce a proposal to penalize social media...
Senate leaders reach power-sharing deal in 50-50 chamber
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’s reached a two-year power sharing deal with GOP leader Mitch McConnell formally giving Democrats committee chairmanships and setting other ground rules, allowing the chamber to begin fully functioning after weeks of procedural limbo. The agreement announced Wednesday is based on a...
