Politics Election category, Page 347
Minnesota GOP leader has family stake in gay conversion vote
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The top Republican in the Minnesota Senate, who helped defeat a proposed ban on so-called gay conversion therapy for minors, sent his daughter to a therapist opposed to gay relationships after suspecting she had a same-sex attraction when she was a teenager, the Star Tribune reported...
Farrakhan delivers insult while denying he’s anti-Semitic
CHICAGO — Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan referenced “Satanic Jews” in a speech denying allegations of anti-Semitism, misogyny and homophobia after Facebook banned him from the social media platform. During the speech Thursday at a Roman Catholic church on Chicago’s South Side, Farrakhan asserted people shouldn’t be angry...
Dems: Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine plea an attempt to impact 2020 election
NEW YORK — Democrats on Friday denounced a plan by President Donald Trump’s personal attorney to push Ukraine to open investigations that he hopes could benefit Trump politically, decrying it as an overt attempt to recruit foreign help to influence a U.S. election. Rudy Giuliani said he would to travel...
Republicans attack Richard Burr over decision to subpoena Trump Jr.Video
WASHINGTON — Just days after the Senate’s top Republican declared “case closed” on the Trump campaign’s involvement with Russian meddling in the 2016 election, a GOP-led Senate committee investigating the issue subpoenaed the president’s son, setting off howls from Republicans aimed at Sen. Richard Burr. Burr, a North Carolina Republican...
Trump to nominate Patrick Shanahan for top Pentagon postVideo
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday said he will nominate Patrick Shanahan to be his second secretary of defense. Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, has been leading the Pentagon as acting secretary since Jan. 1, a highly unusual arrangement for arguably the most sensitive Cabinet position. “Acting Secretary Shanahan has...
Trump says John Kerry ‘should be prosecuted’ for talking with IranVideo
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Thursday that former Secretary of State John F. Kerry “should be prosecuted” for speaking privately with Iranian officials and, the president claimed, discouraging them from negotiating with his administration. “He’s talking to Iran and has been, has many meetings and many phone calls and he’s...
New analysis: Trump deficits worse than promised
WASHINGTON — A new nonpartisan analysis says President Donald Trump’s budget plan would produce significantly larger budget deficits than promised when it was released in March, mostly because its estimates of economic growth are too rosy. The Congressional Budget Office estimate says Trump’s budget, if enacted in its entirety, would...
White House misspells Red Sox as ‘Red Socks’ for team’s Trump visit
A misspelling Thursday is irking some baseball fans. The Boston Red Sox were due for a visit with President Donald Trump at 3:45 in the afternoon but the White House misspelled the team’s name as “Red Socks” on the schedule. Ace White House staff work strikes again --> Glenn...
Trump promises more hurricane relief for Florida PanhandleVideo
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. — President Trump promised a swift infusion of federal aid to the Florida Panhandle seven months after devastating Hurricane Michael as he rallied supporters Wednesday for his re-election. Trump addressed a crowd of thousands at an outdoor amphitheater, looking to rally loyalists in the reliably Republican...
Coal miners appeal to Mitch McConnell to back a rescue of their pensions
WASHINGTON — He didn’t say no. A contingent of retired coal miners that has long been pressing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to back a fix for their soon-to-be insolvent pension fund, said Wednesday it had a positive meeting with the Kentucky Republican. “He didn’t make any promises,” said Phil...
Senate intelligence committee subpoenas Donald Trump Jr.Video
WASHINGTON — The Senate intelligence committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr., calling him in to answer questions about his 2017 testimony to the panel as part of its probe into Russian election interference. That’s according to two people familiar with the subpoena who discussed it on condition of anonymity. It’s...
House panel votes AG William Barr in contempt, escalating probe disputeVideo
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress, escalating the Democrats’ extraordinary legal battle with the Trump administration over access to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia report. The vote capped a day of ever-deepening dispute between congressional Democrats and President...
New York Senate OKs giving U.S. House Trump state tax return
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s Democrat-controlled Senate approved a bill easily Wednesday that would allow three congressional committees to get access to President Donald Trump’s state tax returns, giving Democrats a potential end-run around the administration’s refusal to disclose the president’s federal returns. The bill, which now goes to the...
Trump invokes ‘privilege,’ aims to block full release of Robert Mueller’s report
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is invoking executive privilege, reserving the right to block the full release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia probe, escalating President Donald Trump’s battle with Congress. The administration’s decision was announced just as the House Judiciary Committee was gaveling in to...
Trump says report he lost over $1 billion is ‘inaccurate’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says a New York Times report that his businesses lost more than $1 billion from 1985 to 1994 is “highly inaccurate.” The newspaper, citing information from Trump’s tax transcripts, reported business losses of $46.1 million in 1985, and a total of $1.17 billion in losses...
Tax returns from ’80s and ’90s reveal Trump lost over $1 billion in business deals
Donald Trump reported $1.17 billion in financial losses to the IRS between 1985 and 1994, a massive run of red ink that kept him from paying income taxes during most of that period, according to a report published late Tuesday in The New York Times. The Times said it had...
Trump may redefine poverty, cutting Americans from welfare rollsVideo
The Trump administration may alter the way it determines the national poverty threshold, putting Americans living on the margins at risk of losing access to welfare programs. The possible move would involve changing how inflation is calculated in the “official poverty measure,” the White House Office of Management and Budget...
FBI Director Christopher Wray tells Congress he has no evidence of ‘spying’ on Trump campaignVideo
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that he would not call the investigation of Trump campaign advisers in 2016 “spying” — distancing himself from language used by President Trump and Attorney General William Barr. “That’s not the term I would use,” Wray said in response to a question...
What’s the line of succession for British throne, U.S. presidency?
With the birth of the first child for Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife, Meghan Markle, the line of succession for the British throne is one notch longer. Where does the new — as yet unnamed — royal fall? Well, he’s seven in line, right behind his father....
GOP leader McConnell to say ‘case closed’ on Mueller probe
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is declaring “case closed” on the Russia probe and potential obstruction by President Donald Trump. The Republican leader, in his most significant public comments yet on the investigation, is expected to outline in a Tuesday speech how special counsel Robert Mueller’s “exhaustive” probe...
Joe Biden parody site outranks his official page on Google
Parody is the sincerest form of flattery, right? So, Joe Biden should feel pretty good. Although, on second thought … A parody Joe Biden website — joebiden.info — is outranking the Democratic presidential candidate’s official website — joebiden.com — in current Google searches. A recent Google search of “Joe Biden”...
Hundreds of former federal prosecutors: Trump would’ve been charged if not presidentVideo
More than 500 former federal prosecutors who worked in Republican and Democratic administrations have signed on to a statement asserting special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Trump — if not for the office he held. The statement — signed by myriad former career government...
Mnuchin rejects Democrats’ demand to hand over Trump’s tax returns, all but ensuring legal battleVideo
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday told House Democrats he would not furnish President Trump’s tax returns despite their legal request, the latest move by Trump administration officials to shield the president from congressional investigations. Mnuchin, in a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal,...
Democrats set to hold AG Barr in contempt over Mueller reportVideo
WASHINGTON — A House committee is poised to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress — the opening salvo in what could be a lengthy, acrimonious court battle between House Democrats and President Trump’s administration over special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler scheduled...
Trump again falsely claims Puerto Rico received billions more in federal disaster aid than it actually did
President Trump again falsely inflated the amount of federal disaster Puerto Rico has received since Hurricane Maria struck in 2017, saying the island “should be very happy” about the federal response. In two tweets Monday, Trump wrote, “Puerto Rico has been given more money by Congress for Hurricane Disaster Relief,...
