Politics Election category, Page 302
Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler says she will stop trading stocks in individual companiesVideo
ATLANTA — U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler says she will no longer invest in stocks for individual companies, an attempt to push past the criticism she faces about transactions made on her behalf during the coronavirus pandemic. Loeffler made the announcement in an opinion piece published by the Wall Street Journal....
Bernie Sanders drops 2020 presidential bid, clearing path for Joe Biden
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, who saw his once strong lead in the Democratic primary evaporate as the party’s establishment lined swiftly up behind rival Joe Biden, ended his presidential bid on Wednesday, an acknowledgment that the former vice president is too far ahead for him to have any reasonable...
Wisconsin voters wait for hours, others stay home amid virusVideo
MADISON — Despite federal health recommendations, thousands of Wisconsin voters waited hours in long lines outside overcrowded polling stations on Tuesday so they could participate in a presidential primary election that tested the limits of electoral politics in the midst of a pandemic. Thousands more stayed home, unwilling to risk...
Trump ousts inspector general set to oversee relief spendingVideo
President Donald Trump has removed the head of a team of U.S. auditors that will oversee the $2 trillion in federal coronavirus relief spending, his latest move against inspectors general who are supposed to serve as independent watchdogs. Trump ousted Glenn Fine from his position as acting Defense Department inspector...
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly reportedly offers his resignation
The acting secretary of the Navy offered his resignation Tuesday because of his handling of the coronavirus outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and the firing of its captain prompted sharp criticism, several news outlets have reported. Thomas Modly submitted his resignation letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper...
Sen. Rand Paul recovered from coronavirus; volunteering at hospitalVideo
FRANKFORT, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday that he has recovered from the coronavirus and has started volunteering at a hospital in his Kentucky hometown. The Republican lawmaker tested positive for the virus in March, becoming the first case of covid-19 in the Senate. “I appreciate all the...
Trump shakes up press team as White House deals with coronavirus
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump shook up his communications team on Tuesday, replacing his press secretary and adding new staffers as he grapples with the coronavirus pandemic. Stephanie Grisham, who had held the titles of press secretary and White House communications director since last June, is out after never holding...
Pandemic politics: Wisconsin primary moving forward
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin is asking hundreds of thousands of voters to ignore a stay-at-home order in the midst of a pandemic to participate in Tuesday’s presidential primary election, becoming a test case for dozens of states struggling to balance public health concerns with a core pillar of democracy. The...
Trump slams watchdog report on hospitals engulfed by coronavirusVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday disputed the veracity of a federal survey that found hospitals faced severe shortages of coronavirus test supplies, questioning whether its conclusions were skewed by politics. With coronavirus cases rocketing toward their expected peak, the nonpartisan Health and Human Services inspector general’s office reported...
Wisconsin court rules that primary can proceed on TuesdayVideo
MADISON — Voters in Wisconsin will likely face a choice on Tuesday of participating in a presidential primary election or heeding warnings from public health officials to stay away from large crowds during the coronavirus pandemic. The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday ordered the election back on, hours after Democratic...
Governors seize spotlight amid states’ coronavirus response
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Across America, as families stuck in their homes anxious and isolated by the new coronavirus, a new daily ritual is taking shape: tuning into the governor’s afternoon press briefing. Residents sequestered under a stay-at-home order in Ohio seem to hang on Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s every word,...
Intelligence official ‘disappointed’ after ouster by Trump
WASHINGTON — The ousted inspector general of the intelligence community says he is “disappointed and saddened” that President Donald Trump fired him, but he also encouraged other inspectors general to continue to speak out when they are aware of wrongdoing. Trump notified Congress late Friday evening that he intended to...
Trump tempers officials’ grave assessments with optimismVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. surgeon general said Sunday that Americans should brace for levels of tragedy reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, while the nation’s infectious disease chief warned that the new coronavirus may never be completely eradicated from the globe. Those were some...
Joe Biden raises idea of Democrats holding an online convention
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden said Sunday that the Democratic National Convention, already delayed until August because of the coronavirus, may need to take place online as the pandemic continues to reshape the race for the White House. The party “may have to do a virtual convention,” the former vice president...
Kentucky governor vetoes voter ID bill
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday vetoed a bill pushed by Republican lawmakers to require Kentucky residents to show a government-issued photo ID in order to vote. In his veto message, the governor said the measure would create an obstacle to voting, resulting in fewer people casting...
In pivot, Pelosi sees next relief bill with bipartisan goals
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that the next coronavirus aid bill should build on the bipartisan relief bills that Congress has passed so far rather than include broader Democratic agenda items such as infrastructure and rural broadband access. That’s a noteworthy pivot for the California Democrat, who...
In time of crisis, Trump-Pelosi relationship remains brokenVideo
WASHINGTON — Two of the most powerful people in Washington have not spoken in five months at a time when the nation is battling its worst health crisis in a century, one that has already killed more than 6,000 Americans and put 10 million others out of work. President Donald...
Trump administration ended pandemic early-warning program to detect coronavirusesVideo
Two months before the novel coronavirus probably began spreading in Wuhan, China, the Trump administration ended a $200 million pandemic early-warning program aimed at training scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to such a threat. The project, launched by the U.S. Agency for International Development in...
Coronavirus resets political calendar
Fears of coronavirus are resetting the political calendar in Pennsylvania and across the nation as the 2020 presidential election nears. Officials with the Democratic National Committee announced Thursday the party’s presidential nominating convention, previously scheduled for July 13 in Milwaukee, is rescheduled for Aug. 17. That announcement came as the...
Democratic convention moving from July to August
The Democratic National Committee is delaying its presidential nominating convention until the week of Aug. 17 after prospective nominee Joe Biden said he didn’t think it would be possible to hold a normal convention in mid-July because of the coronavirus pandemic. Convention CEO Joe Solmonese confirmed the decision in a...
Trump resists national shutdown, leaving it up to states
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is resisting calls to issue a national stay-at-home order to stem the spread of the new coronavirus despite his administration’s projections that tens of thousands of Americans are likely to be killed by the disease. One by one, though, states are increasingly pushing shutdown orders...
Squabbling over 4th coronavirus bailout bill begins, but passage is likely weeks away
WASHINGTON — Political squabbling over what Congress should do next to address the coronavirus pandemic has begun, and the only point of agreement so far seems to be that the fourth relief bill is likely weeks from being passed, if not longer. Just days after President Donald Trump signed a...
Inspector general finds more problems with FBI surveillance applications
WASHINGTON — A Justice Department watchdog has found more problems with FBI applications to a secret court that approves surveillance as part of counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations. The inspector general audit, released Tuesday, could play into the ongoing congressional debate over the program. In December, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz...
How will we vote? Outbreak revives debate on mail-in ballots
OLYMPIA, Wash. — As the coronavirus pandemic knocks primary election after primary election off schedule, Democrats argue the outbreak shows the country needs to move toward one of their longtime goals — widespread voting by mail — to protect the November election. But Democrats’ hopes for using the crisis to...
FBI reaches out to Sen. Richard Burr over stock sales tied to coronavirusVideo
WASHINGTON — The FBI has reached out to Sen. Richard Burr about his sale of stocks before the coronavirus caused markets to plummet, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. The outreach suggests federal law enforcement officials may be looking to determine whether the North Carolina Republican exploited advance...
