Politics Election category, Page 338
House rejects effort to force vote on impeaching President TrumpVideo
WASHINGTON — The House easily killed a maverick Democrat’s effort Wednesday to impeach President Trump for his recent racial insults against lawmakers of color, a vote that provided an early snapshot of just how divided Democrats are over ousting him as the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns rev up. Democrats...
House votes to hold William Barr, Wilbur Ross in contempt
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House voted Wednesday to hold two top Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas related to a decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The House voted, 230-198, to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary...
Judge: Michael Cohen campaign finance investigation over
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors have told a judge in New York they have concluded their investigation into campaign finance crimes committed by President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen. The closure of the case is the strongest suggestion yet that federal prosecutors have decided not to bring criminal charges against...
Rand Paul blocks Senate from funding 9/11 victims fund over budget concernsVideo
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky on Wednesday blocked a bipartisan bill that would extend victims’ compensation for the Sept. 11 attacks. The Bethel Park-born Paul, a Republican, questioned the bill’s 70-year time frame and claimed that the federal government already faces a $22 trillion debt. He said any new spending...
After ‘person of color’ quip, Rep. Mike Kelly clarifies: ‘We’re all created equal’
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, is defending comments he made to a reporter Tuesday, in the wake of President Trump’s tweets telling four congresswomen of color to “go back” to where they came from. “You know, they talk about people of color. I’m a person of color. I’m white,” Kelly...
Judge formally bans citizenship question from 2020 census
NEW YORK — A federal judge formally banned the citizenship question from the 2020 census on Tuesday, days after President Trump announced his administration would no longer seek to add it. Judge Jesse Furman signed an order after New York State Attorney General Letitia James and the American Civil Liberties...
A divided House votes for resolution condemning Trump’s ‘racist’ remarks
WASHINGTON — In a remarkable political repudiation, the Democratic-led U.S. House voted Tuesday night to condemn President Trump’s “racist comments” against four congresswomen of color, despite protestations by Trump’s Republican congressional allies and his own insistence he hasn’t “a racist bone in my body.” Two days after Trump tweeted that...
Polls show sour views of race relations in Trump’s America
Even before President Donald Trump’s racist tweets toward four Democratic congresswomen of color, Americans considered race relations in the United States to be generally bad — and said that Trump has been making them worse. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that the congresswomen should go back to the “broken and crime...
Facing censure, Trump insists ‘not a racist bone in my body’
WASHINGTON — Defiant in the face of widespread censure, President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that his tweets suggesting four Democratic congresswomen of color return to their countries “were NOT Racist,” and he appealed to fellow Republicans to “not show weakness” and to resist a House resolution condemning his words. “I...
Some in GOP rebuke Trump, but party leaders remain silentVideo
WASHINGTON — Top Republicans remained largely silent after President Trump said over the weekend that four women of color in Congress should “go back” to the countries they came from. By Monday, some in the party were speaking up. Several GOP senators, and some House Republicans, said Trump had gone...
Joe Biden campaigns as Obamacare’s top defender
Joe Biden is taking an aggressive approach to defending Obamacare, challenging not just President Trump but also some of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination who want to replace the current insurance system with a fully government-run model. The former vice president will spend much of the coming week...
Leave the U.S., Trump tells liberal Democratic congresswomenVideo
WASHINGTON — Starkly injecting race into his criticism of liberal Democrats, President Trump said Sunday that four congresswomen of color should go back to the “broken and crime infested” countries they came from, ignoring the fact that all of the women are American citizens and three were born in the...
Barr: Justice Dept. is ‘all in’ on criminal justice overhaul
EDGEFIELD, S.C. — Leroy Nolan has spent the last 26 years behind bars at a federal prison for a drug conviction. In the prison factory, he works making T-shirts, backpacks and other products that are later sold to government agencies, nonprofits and others. But what has become a decades-long routine...
Dems, Republicans air warring views on migrants’ conditions
WASHINGTON — Four House Democratic freshmen who recently toured detention stations for migrants along the Texas border told a House committee Friday of jam-packed, fetid holding areas “in front of the American flag” and accused President Trump of intentional cruelty to discourage future arrivals. Firing back, a quartet of Republicans...
Pennsylvania GOP settles fight over contested race for chair
Pennsylvania’s Republican Party is trying to amicably settle a contested race for chairman between a candidate who had backing from top Trump campaign officials and a rival who previously had support from many Trump-aligned party activists. Bernadette Comfort instead will serve as the Trump campaign’s chairwoman in the presidential battleground...
Trump accuses big tech of bias against conservative voices
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that big tech companies must not be allowed to censor the voices of the American people on social media, even as he hailed conservative critics for using the platforms to get around the “fake news filter.” Trump has weaponized social media to eviscerate...
Trump unloads on Paul Ryan after ‘American Carnage’ book excerpts
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump criticized former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday, calling him a “baby” and a “terrible speaker,” who didn’t know what he was doing. Trump unleashed his criticism on one of Wisconsin’s favorite sons just before leaving to go to the state he wants to...
Labor Secretary Acosta resigning amid Epstein deal scrutiny
WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said Friday he is resigning following renewed scrutiny of his handling of a 2008 secret plea deal with wealthy financier Jeffrey Esptein , who is accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. President Donald Trump, with Acosta at his side, made the announcement...
Trump administration plans immigration enforcement operation
CHICAGO — The Trump administration is moving forward with a nationwide immigration enforcement operation targeting migrant families, despite loud opposition from Democrats and questions over whether it’s the best use of resources given the crisis at the border. The operation could happen as soon as this weekend after being postponed...
McGrath flip-flops on Kavanaugh confirmation after backlash
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — U.S. Senate candidate Amy McGrath said she would have voted to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court and then just hours later she changed her mind. The Courier Journal reports that the reversal came after her comments were slammed on social media by both...
Candidate: Woman reporter needs chaperone to cover him
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Republican candidate for Mississippi governor says he would not let a woman journalist follow him while campaigning unless she was accompanied by a male colleague — and now he’s trying to raise campaign money based on that because he says the “liberal media” are attacking...
Trump directs government to revamp care for kidney disease
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the government to revamp the nation’s care for kidney disease so that more people whose kidneys fail have a chance at early transplants and home dialysis. Trump said his order was intended to increase the supply of donated kidneys, make...
Presidential hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand to campaign in Pittsburgh
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will bring her presidential campaign to Pittsburgh on Thursday. Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who has served in the U.S. Senate since 2009, is scheduled to meet with health care workers to discuss the rising cost of prescription drugs, according to a statement from the...
Murphy wins North Carolina GOP congressional primary runoff
RALEIGH, N.C. — A state legislator aided by hardline conservatives on Capitol Hill won the Republican nomination Tuesday for the North Carolina congressional district seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Walter Jones Jr. Voters in the 3rd District GOP primary runoff chose state Rep. Greg Murphy of Greenville...
Plan by Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez to declare climate emergency
WASHINGTON — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are teaming up on a measure that would designate climate change as an emergency, and they have won early support from one of Sanders’ fellow Democratic presidential candidates. The legislation to be introduced Tuesday in the House is...
