Politics Election category, Page 260
Trump campaign appeals another ballot case in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump’s campaign continues to press lawsuits over Pennsylvania’s election, appealing another case it lost to the state Supreme Court, this time over fewer than 2,000 ballots in a suburban Philadelphia county. The appeal, filed Friday, is one of at least four pending cases in which Trump...
Biden picks Michigan Gov. Whitmer to help plan inauguration ceremony
President-elect Joe Biden is giving Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer a role in his inauguration on Jan. 20. Whitmer was named a co-chair for Biden’s inauguration along with five other Democrat elected officials who served as advisors to his campaign. Michigan’s governor also was in consideration to be Biden’s running mate,...
Trump cementing death penalty legacy up to Biden inaugural
CHICAGO — As Donald Trump’s presidency winds down, his administration is ratcheting up the pace of federal executions despite a surge of coronavirus cases in prisons, announcing plans for five starting Thursday and concluding just days before the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. If the five go off...
Georgia Senate runoff: Loeffler, Warnock face off in heated debateVideo
ATLANTA — U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and the Rev. Raphael Warnock faced off in their first, and possibly only, one-on-one debate Sunday night at the Atlanta Press Club, trading barbed attacks in their fight for the right to represent Georgia in the Senate for the next two years. Over the...
U.S. Supreme Court moves up deadline in congressman’s bid to upend Pa. election results
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Supreme Court moved up a key deadline Sunday for Pennsylvania officials to respond to a last-minute bid by one of Trump’s top boosters in Congress to decertify the state’s elections results. Previously, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who oversees emergency matters arising out of Pennsylvania...
Biden picks California AG Xavier Becerra to lead HHS, pandemic response
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration’s coronavirus response. If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, 62, will be the first Latino to head the...
A bleak outlook for millions facing cutoff of jobless aid
INDIANAPOLIS — Tina Morton recently faced a choice: Pay bills or buy a birthday gift for a child? Derrisa Green is falling further behind on rent. Sylvia Soliz has had her electricity cut off. Unemployment has forced aching decisions on millions of Americans and their families in the face of...
GOP leaders ask Congress to reject Pa.’s electors for Joe Biden
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 — More than 60 Republicans, including the top...
Pandemic, partisan attacks exposed gaps in Pa.’s new mail-in voting law
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 — Before any threat of a deadly, fast-spreading...
House votes to decriminalize marijuana at federal level
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House on Friday approved a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level, reversing what supporters called a failed policy of criminalization of pot use and taking steps to address racial disparities in enforcement of federal drug laws. Opponents, mostly Republicans, called the bill...
White House communications boss Alyssa Farah exits in bow to Trump’s defeat
WASHINGTON — Alyssa Farah resigned as White House communications director on Thursday, in one of the first high-profile staff departures since President Donald Trump’s loss in the November election. She said in a statement she is leaving her post in order to “pursue new opportunities” but did not describe her...
Among first acts, Biden to call for 100 days of mask-wearingVideo
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden said Thursday that he will ask Americans to commit to 100 days of wearing masks as one of his first acts as president, stopping just short of the nationwide mandate he’s pushed before to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The move marks a notable shift...
Supreme Court again asked to block Biden win in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Fresh off another rejection in Pennsylvania’s courts, Republicans on Thursday again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the battleground state, while the state’s lawyers say fatal flaws in the original case mean justices are highly unlikely to grant it. Republican U.S. Rep....
Trump aide banned from Justice Department after trying to get case info
WASHINGTON — The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the...
‘Mistakes were made’ at maskless election hearing held by covid-positive lawmaker, Pa. Senate leader says
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 — The top Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate acknowledged Wednesday “mistakes were made” and necessary coronavirus safety precautions were ignored...
VP-elect Harris picks Tina Flournoy to be her chief of staff
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has named Tina Flournoy, a veteran Democratic strategist and aide to the Clintons, as her chief of staff, the transition team announced Thursday. Flournoy’s appointment as Harris’ top staffer adds to a team of advisers led by Black women. Harris, who is of...
In video, Trump recycles unsubstantiated voter fraud claimsVideo
WASHINGTON — Increasingly detached from reality, President Donald Trump stood before a White House lectern and delivered a 46-minute diatribe against the election results that produced a win for Democrat Joe Biden, unspooling one misstatement after another to back his baseless claim that he really won. Trump called his address,...
Restaurant jaunts create credibility issue for politiciansVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — Their messaging has been clear: wear a mask, stay 6 feet apart from others, and most importantly: stay home! But their actions aren’t living up to the rhetoric, creating a real political problem for some of the most vocal leaders in California’s fight to contain the coronavirus....
U.S. lawmakers unveil anti-slavery constitutional amendment
NEW YORK — National lawmakers are expected on Wednesday to introduce a joint resolution aimed at striking language from the U.S. Constitution that enshrines a form of slavery in America’s foundational documents. The resolution, spearheaded and supported by Democratic members of the House and Senate, would amend the 13th Amendment’s...
GOP objects to Biden nominees, a sign of what’s to come
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks are quickly running into the political reality of a narrowly controlled Senate that will leave the new Democratic administration dependent on rival Republicans to get anything done. Under leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican senators will hold great sway in confirming Biden’s nominees regardless...
Report: Trump considers 2024 announcement during Biden’s inauguration
President Donald Trump teased supporters Tuesday night that he may announce a run to retake the White House in 2024 and he may skip the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021. According to a report by Politico, Trump told a crowd at a White House Christmas party that he’s thinking...
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says free college amounts to a ‘socialist takeover’
In a veiled swing at President-elect Joe Biden’s education plans, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday blasted the push for free college as a “socialist takeover of higher education” that could damage the nation’s economy. Speaking at an online conference hosted by the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office, DeVos...
Justice Department probing potential bribery, lobbying scheme for pardonVideo
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating whether there was a secret scheme to lobby White House officials for a pardon as well as a related plot to offer a hefty political contribution in exchange for clemency, according to a court document unsealed Tuesday. Most of the information in the...
Sen. Mitch McConnell says he’s revising his covid relief planVideo
WASHINGTON — Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he’s revising his scaled-back covid-19 relief bill with the goal of passing a significant downpayment during the lame-duck session and then revisiting the topic next year. The Kentucky Republican made the announcement after President-elect Joe Biden called upon lawmakers to follow...
AG William Barr appoints John Durham as special counsel in Russia probe investigation
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr has given extra protection to the prosecutor he appointed to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, giving him the authority of a special counsel to complete the work without being easily fired. Barr told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he had appointed...
