Politics Election category, Page 334
Police, protesters fill French beach resorts for G-7 summit
BIARRITZ, France — Thousands of French police are setting up checkpoints and combing Atlantic beaches to secure the southwestern coast for the world leaders who are coming for the G-7 summit this weekend. Protesters, too, are setting up camp in towns near France’s border with Spain to prepare for protests...
White House dismisses payroll tax cuts as slowdown prevention
WASHINGTON — The White House dismissed the idea that the administration is looking to cut payroll taxes as a way to bolster consumer spending, as economic indicators increasingly point to a potential downturn. More tax cuts for individuals are being discussed, but payroll taxes aren’t under consideration at present, a...
In Indiana County, Trump loyalty seems as strong as everVideo
There’s a reason some people refer to Indiana County as Trump country. It has nothing to do with tony golf courses or glittering resorts. It has everything to do with how voters in the rural county that is home to one of the nation’s largest coal-fired power plants rallied behind...
After Rep. Justin Amash dumped Trump, his district may do same to him
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Eirran Betka-Pope was on her lunch break when she spotted hundreds of Donald Trump supporters protesting outside the office of Rep. Justin Amash, the first Republican on Capitol Hill to say Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the president. The protesters, who stood on the sidewalk...
Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow plays down fears of looming recessionVideo
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. — President Trump’s top economic adviser is playing down fears of a looming recession after last week’s sharp drop in the financial markets and predicting the economy will perform well in the second half of 2019. Larry Kudlow said in Sunday television interviews that consumers are seeing...
Roy Moore defamation lawsuit against accusers is paused
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A judge has paused a defamation suit filed by Roy Moore against women who accused him during his unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid of past misconduct. Circuit Judge Albert Johnson ruled last month case will be held on the administrative docket until a related defamation case against Moore...
Country’s largest tribal nation seeks congressional delegate
OKLAHOMA CITY — The newly elected chief of the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation plans to appoint the tribe’s first-ever delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, which is outlined in a nearly 200-year-old treaty with the federal government. In a letter Thursday to the speaker of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council,...
Trump asks aides about U.S. buying Greenland
WASHINGTON — Aiming to put his mark on the world map, President Donald Trump has talked to aides and allies about buying Greenland for the U.S. A Trump ally told The Associated Press on Thursday that the Republican president had discussed the purchase but was not serious about it. And...
House panel subpoenas former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee said Thursday it has subpoenaed President Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former White House chief of staff Rick Dearborn to publicly testify in its investigation of whether to pursue presidential impeachment. Both men are being called to appear Sept. 17 and discuss...
Israel bars entry to outspoken U.S. congresswomen
JERUSALEM — Israel said Thursday that it will bar two Democratic congresswomen from entering the country ahead of a planned visit over their support for a Palestinian-led boycott movement, a decision announced shortly after President Donald Trump tweeted that it would “show great weakness” to allow them in. The move...
Trump, in praising Xi, links Hong Kong protests to trade war
WASHINGTON — President Trump made what seemed to be an overture to the Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a series of tweets on Wednesday night that linked the protests in Hong Kong to the continuing trade conflict between the United States and China. Trump praised Xi as “a great leader”...
Trump official: Statue of Liberty’s poem is about Europeans
A top Trump administration official says the famous inscription on the Statue of Liberty, welcoming “huddled masses” of immigrants to American shores, was referring to “people coming from Europe” and that the nation is looking to receive migrants “who can stand on their own two feet.” The comments on Tuesday...
John Daly pushes back against claims that Trump cheats at golf
Professional golfer John Daly played a round on Monday with President Donald Trump and pushed back against claims that he cheats at the game. Daly went on to say that another president, Bill Clinton, was a golf cheat. Daly and Trump played a round against another group at Trump National...
Trump amplifies conspiracy theories from perch of presidency
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — With a pair of weekend retweets, President Trump amplified an unfounded conspiracy theory. It was hardly the first time. His political career began the same way. Trump has a long history of spreading falsehoods drawn from the conservative fringe. His unlikely rise to the White House was...
Trump overhauling enforcement of Endangered Species Act
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday rolled out some of the broadest changes in decades to enforcement of the landmark Endangered Species Act, allowing the government to put an economic cost on saving a species and other changes critics contend could speed extinction for some struggling plants and animals....
Steve Bannon floats idea of Michelle Obama run against TrumpVideo
WASHINGTON — Democrats eager to oust President Trump in 2020 could pin their hopes on an 11th-hour bid by former first lady Michelle Obama rather than the roughly two dozen candidates now in the mix, former White House strategist Steve Bannon suggested. “I don’t see anybody that’s on this stage...
Trump-McConnell 2020? Senate leader takes on role of wingman
WASHINGTON — It’s not quite “Trump-McConnell 2020,” but it might as well be. As he runs for reelection, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is positioning himself as the president’s wingman, his trusted right hand in Congress, transformed from a behind-the-scenes player into a prominent if sometimes reviled Republican like none...
Trump: Kim wants to meet again, apologized for missile tests
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. — President Donald Trump said Saturday that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un wants to meet once again to “start negotiations” after joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises end. He also said Kim apologized for the flurry of recent short-range missile tests that has rattled U.S. allies in the...
Democrats use Iowa event to attack Trump — not each other
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa — The crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates descended Friday night on a small town in northern Iowa, delighting a raucous crowd of activists and operatives by largely attacking President Donald Trump rather than each other. Some of the loudest applause at the Wing Ding fundraiser came...
Trump says he wants background checks, reassures NRA
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday he believes he has influence to rally Republicans around stronger federal background check laws as Congress and the White House work on a response to last weekend’s mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. At the same time, Trump said he had assured the...
Trump picks Joseph Maguire as new acting national intelligence director
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday named Joseph Maguire, the nation’s top counterterrorism official, as acting national intelligence director, part of a leadership shake-up at the agency that oversees 17 U.S. spy agencies. Maguire will become acting director on Aug. 15, the same day that National Intelligence Director Dan Coats’...
Mitch McConnell wants to consider gun background checks in fall
WASHINGTON — Shifting the gun violence debate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday he now wants to consider background checks and other bills, setting up a potentially pivotal moment when lawmakers return in the fall. The Republican leader won’t be calling senators back to work early, as some are...
Trump fundraiser puts billionaire host Stephen M. Ross on the defensiveVideo
WASHINGTON — A billionaire New York investor and owner of the Miami Dolphins who is hosting a high-dollar fundraiser for Donald Trump on Friday also has a financial interest in the president’s business empire — including his iconic Manhattan tower. Shortly after Trump’s election, Stephen M. Ross tried to take...
Ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe sues Justice Department over his firingVideo
WASHINGTON — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe sued the Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr, claiming he was illegally fired last year for allegedly failing to fully disclose conversations he had with a reporter about pending investigations. Barr’s predecessor, Jeff Sessions, fired McCabe in March 2018, just before...
Trump says he’s considering commutation for Blagojevich
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he’s “very strongly” considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving a 14-year prison term on multiple federal corruption convictions. Trump suggested more than a year ago that he was considering a commutation for Blagojevich, who then filed paperwork...
