Politics Election category, Page 344
Utah Judge Michael Kwan suspended for bashing Trump online and in court
The Utah Supreme Court suspended a judge for six months without pay this week over disparaging remarks he made about President Trump online and in his courtroom. The court ruling points to several instances in which Judge Michael Kwan, who has sat on the justice court bench for the city...
White House claims without proof that FBI has ‘outrageous’ corruption Barr will uncoverVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House on Sunday brushed aside congressional Democrats’ concerns about Atty. Gen. William Barr being handed extraordinary powers to declassify sensitive intelligence as part of a probe into the origins of the investigation into Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election. Reflecting his anger over unflattering depictions...
Republican Will Hurd criticizes Trump for sharing heavily edited video of PelosiVideo
A Republican lawmaker said Sunday that he is concerned about President Trump’s sharing of a heavily edited video that spliced together several verbal pauses by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said that by sharing the video, Trump has escalated the debate over disinformation, which is “something...
State abortion bans may hand Democrats a political weapon
WASHINGTON — A flood of laws banning abortions in Republican-run states has handed Democrats a political weapon heading into next year’s elections, helping them paint the GOP as extreme and court centrist voters who could decide congressional races in swing states, members of both parties say. The Alabama law outlawing...
Judge blocks Trump from building sections of border wall
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge blocked on Friday President Donald Trump from building sections of his long-sought border wall with money secured under his declaration of a national emergency. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam, Jr., on Friday immediately halted the administration’s efforts to redirect military-designated funds for wall construction....
WWII Code Talker and longtime NM lawmaker dies at 94
SANTA FE, N.M. — John Pinto, a Navajo Code Talker in World War II who became one of the nation’s longest serving Native American elected officials as a New Mexico state senator, has died. He was 94. Senate colleague Michael Padilla confirmed Pinto’s death in Gallup on Friday after years...
Barr could expose secrets, politicize intelligence with review of Russia probe, current and former officials fear
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s new executive order giving the attorney general broad authority to declassify government secrets threatens to expose U.S. intelligence sources and could distort the FBI and CIA’s roles in investigating Russian interference in the 2016 elections, current and former U.S. officials said. On Thursday, Trump allowed...
Students’ pro-Trump hats blurred from Pa. high school yearbookVideo
Someone assembling the yearbook at an Adams County high school wiped the MAGA slogan from students’ hats. Two students at Littlestown High School wore caps with “Trump: Make America Great Again” across the front during spirit week in October, reports FOX43. A photo of the pair made it into the...
$19.1B in disaster aid stalls in House after single Republican objects
WASHINGTON — A House Republican lawmaker blocked a $19.1 billion disaster aid package on Friday, delaying a bill that would send federal funding to disaster affected areas across the country. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, voted to block the legislation, which has the support of President Donald Trump and passed the...
Trump orders declassification of information related to origins of Russia probe
WASHINGTON — President Trump directed the U.S. intelligence community on Thursday to “quickly and fully cooperate” with Attorney General William Barr’s investigation of the origins of the multi-year probe of whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. The move marked an escalation in Trump’s efforts to “investigate the investigators,” as...
Senate approves deal on disaster aid, leaves out border money Trump demandedVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a $19.1 billion disaster aid package, advancing legislation that would break a months-long impasse over federal funding for stretches of the country afflicted by natural disasters. A top Senate Republican said the White House has signed off on the bipartisan compromise. House...
Senate backs bill to stem flood of robocalls plaguing cellphones
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are fed up with the barrage of scam and nuisance calls plaguing them and their constituents and on Thursday, the Senate passed a bipartisan measure to combat robocalls. Senators voted, 97-1, to pass a bill designed to authenticate and block robocalls and enforce penalties on scammers who...
Faked Nancy Pelosi videos, slowed to make her appear drunk, spread on social media
Distorted videos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., altered to make her sound as if she’s drunkenly slurring her words, are spreading rapidly across social media, highlighting how political disinformation that clouds public understanding can now spread at the speed of the web. The video of Pelosi’s onstage speech Wednesday...
Donna Brazile: Biden would beat Trump in Pennsylvania despite president’s 2016 win
Joe Biden can take back a key battleground state that President Donald Trump won in 2016, according to ex-DNC Interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile. The former vice president can make up the less than one percentage point Trump won by in Pennsylvania over Hillary Clinton, Brazile claimed. “Look, I think it’s...
Pelosi questions Trump’s fitness; time for ‘intervention’?
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi openly questioned President Donald Trump’s fitness for office Thursday, suggesting a family or staff “intervention” after a dramatic blow-up at a White House meeting the previous day. Both the Republican president and Democratic leaders dug in a day after Trump stalked out of the...
Trump’s campaign centered on fighting Democrats, not policy
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump dropped the pretense of working with congressional Democrats on Wednesday and sent a clear message that his re-election campaign will be centered on condemning overzealous investigations rather than advancing a robust domestic policy agenda. Both sides may have feigned surprise at Trump’s angry outburst, in...
Democratic pledges against big money come with an asterisk
WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders wants to crack down on outside groups that do political spending, though one is allied with his presidential campaign. Elizabeth Warren has vowed no untraceable “dark money” will help her White House bid, despite being backed by an organization that doesn’t disclose some of its donors....
U.S. officials say foreign election hacking is inevitable
WASHINGTON — The hacking of U.S. election systems, including by foreign adversaries, is inevitable and the real question is how the country responds, Trump administration officials said Wednesday. The comments by representatives from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security underscored the challenges for federal and state governments in trying...
Putin out-prepared Trump in key meeting, Rex Tillerson told House panel
WASHINGTON — Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Russian President Vladimir Putin out-prepared President Trump during a key meeting in Germany, putting the U.S. leader at a disadvantage during their first series of tête-à-têtes. The U.S. side expected the 2017 encounter...
New York puts Democrats a step closer to Trump tax returns
ALBANY — New York lawmakers gave final passage to legislation Wednesday that would allow President Trump’s state tax returns to be released to congressional committees that have, so far, been barred from getting the president’s federal filings. The Democrat-led Senate and Assembly both approved the measures Wednesday, sending them to...
Trump refuses to work with Dems while they investigate him
WASHINGTON — The curtains in the Cabinet Room were drawn. The Democrats were waiting. President Donald Trump came and went in all of three minutes. Round 2 of the president’s consultations with congressional Democrats on infrastructure went bust in a flash. Prospects for passing a large infrastructure bill evaporated Wednesday...
Mnuchin: I was unaware of IRS memo on tax returns
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday he has no idea who wrote a confidential Internal Revenue Service legal memo that says that tax returns must be given to Congress unless the president asserts executive privilege. Appearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Mnuchin said he was not aware...
Mystery of racist photo in governor’s yearbook left unsolved
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The mystery of whether Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was in the racist yearbook photo that nearly destroyed his career remains unsolved. A months-long investigation ordered up by Eastern Virginia Medical School failed to determine whether Northam is in the picture published in 1984 of a man...
New York moves to ensure Trump pardons can’t nix state charges
ALBANY — A presidential pardon won’t be enough to clear someone associated with the commander-in-chief of similar state charges under legislation approved by New York state lawmakers Tuesday. The bill, which now moves to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, revises the exceptions to the state’s double jeopardy law in an effort...
Housing Secretary Ben Carson confuses real-estate term with an OreoVideo
Ben Carson might do more for Oreo cookie sales than “Game of Thrones” ever did. But Carson, the housing secretary under President Trump, did not offer the promotion intentionally. On Tuesday, Carson appeared to think that a California Democrat was questioning him about the cookies during his congressional testimony, when...
