Politics Election category, Page 257
Trump’s court appointments will leave decades-long imprint
WASHINGTON — On this, even President Donald Trump’s most fevered critics agree: He has left an imprint on federal courts that will outlast his one term in office for decades to come. He used the promise of conservative judicial appointments to win over Republican skeptics as a candidate. Then as...
Thousands of ballots will be audited as part of Pa.’s post-election review
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. This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — At least 64 counties in Pennsylvania have...
Trump golfs in Florida as covid relief hangs in the balance
PALM BEACH — After tossing a grenade that threatens to blow up a massive covid relief and government funding bill and force a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic, President Donald Trump spent his Christmas Eve golfing in Florida. Failure to agree on the bill could deny checks...
House Republicans block $2,000 virus checks despite Trump demand
WASHINGTON — House Republicans shot down a Democratic bid on Thursday to pass President Donald Trump’s longshot, end-of-session demand for $2,000 direct payments to most Americans before signing a long-overdue covid-19 relief bill. The made-for-TV clash came as the Democratic-controlled chamber convened for a pro forma session scheduled in anticipation...
Trump pardons former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Roger Stone
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued pardons and sentence commutations for 29 people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, in the latest burst of clemency in his final weeks at the White House. The actions bring to nearly 50 the...
Covid relief bill morphs into a test of GOP loyalty to Trump
Threatening to tank Congress’ massive covid relief and government funding package, President Donald Trump’s demand for bigger aid checks for Americans confronts Republicans traditionally leery of such spending with an uncomfortable test of allegiance. On Thursday, House Democrats who also favor $2,000 checks will all but dare Republicans to break...
Trump vetoes defense bill, setting up possible override voteVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency. The bill affirms 3% pay raises for U.S. troops and authorizes...
As he seeks to overturn Pa.’s election, Trump invites state’s GOP senators to White House lunch
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 — As he seeks to overturn Pennsylvania’s election results in the courts, President Donald Trump invited Republican members of the...
Trump’s threat plunges covid talks – and GOP – into tumult
The video message that plunged Washington into chaos was filmed in secret. President Donald Trump stood in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, holiday garland and gleaming ornaments draped on the fireplace behind him, and spoke into the camera not to deliver warm Christmas wishes, but to threaten to detonate...
Trump’s presidential legacy, by the numbers
Words matter. But numbers tell stories, too. Presidential historians and others will plumb them as they assess President Donald Trump’s legacy, Trump’s presidency is reflected in a broad range of numbers representing everything from the U.S. death toll during the coronavirus pandemic to the miles of his “big, beautiful wall”...
Trump lashes out at S.D. senator: ‘He will be primaried in 2022’
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — President Donald Trump took to social media to lash out at South Dakota U.S. Sen. John Thune, saying his political career is over. The attack on Thune comes following remarks by the 59-year-old Republican about efforts by some GOP members in the U.S. House to reject...
Trump hands Hope Hicks, Richard Grenell prestigious government positions
Just a few days before Christmas, President Donald Trump is in a giving mood. On Tuesday, Trump announced that a slate of aides and loyalists would be assigned to federal advisory boards and commissions as he looks to reward his allies in the final stages of his presidency. The president...
Trump assails covid relief bill, suggests he may not signVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is assailing the bipartisan $900 billion pandemic relief package that Congress just passed and is suggesting that he may not sign it. Trump complained in a video that he tweeted out Tuesday night that the bill delivered too much money to foreign countries, but not...
Trump pardons 15, commutes 5 sentences, including GOP allies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including Republican allies, a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad. Trump also commuted the sentences of five others. While it is not unusual for presidents to grant...
Writing off more of that ‘3-martini lunch’ is causing a stirVideo
WASHINGTON — Stuffed into the new emergency relief package is a morsel that President Donald Trump has long had on the buffet of his economic wish list: restoring full tax breaks for restaurant business meals. But experts say it’s scant immediate help for an industry reeling from the pandemic, while...
Biden addresses covid bill, holiday pandemic precautionsVideo
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday expressed empathy with struggling families and applauded Congress for passing the coronavirus relief bill as the nation deals with a covid-19 surge that’s casting a shadow over the Christmas holiday. He called out to frontline workers, scientists, researchers, clinical trial participants and...
High court opening tops Pennsylvania’s 2021 judicial races
HARRISBURG — Statewide judicial races will be among Pennsylvania’s most closely watched election contests in the coming year, with lawyers and judges around the state already lining up supporters and trying to figure out if they can raise enough money to win. The marquee race will be for Supreme Court,...
Congress approves $900B covid relief bill, sending to TrumpVideo
WASHINGTON — Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in covid-19 cases and deaths. Lawmakers tacked on a $1.4 trillion catchall spending bill and thousands of pages...
Biden gets covid-19 vaccine, says ‘nothing to worry about’
NEWARK, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden on Monday received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe. The president-elect took a dose of Pfizer vaccine at a hospital not far from his Delaware...
Probe: Trump officials attacked CDC reports about coronavirus spread
WASHINGTON — Trump administration political appointees tried to block or change more than a dozen government reports that detailed scientific findings about the spread of the coronavirus, a House panel investigating the alleged interference said Monday. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said his coronavirus subcommittee investigators have found evidence of a...
AG William Barr: ‘No reason’ for special counsel on election, Hunter Biden
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr used his final public appearance to undercut President Donald Trump on multiple fronts Monday, saying he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel to look into the president’s claims about the 2020 election or to name one for the tax investigation of President-elect...
As end approaches, Trump gets doses of flattery, finality
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s administration is ending how it began, with over-the-top declarations of praise for the chief executive. But now the flattery is mixed with a sense of finality as key people in the president’s orbit are beginning to turn the page and acknowledge his defeat. Trump...
AP sources: Trump floats Sidney Powell as special counsel
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump floated naming lawyer Sidney Powell, who was booted from his campaign’s legal team after pushing unfounded conspiracy theories, as a special counsel investigating allegations of voter fraud. During a Friday meeting at the White House, Trump went as far as discussing getting Powell security clearance,...
Trump downplays Russia in 1st comments on cyberattack
WASHINGTON — Contradicting his secretary of state and other top officials, President Donald Trump on Saturday suggested without evidence that China — not Russia — may be behind the cyberattack against the United States and tried to minimized its impact. In his first comments on the breach, Trump scoffed at...
Pence, top congressional leaders get vaccines; Trump absent
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence and the leaders of the House and Senate received their first doses of the covid-19 vaccine on Friday as they tried to reassure the American public that the shot is safe. Pence, in a live-television event, celebrated the milestone as “a medical miracle” that...
