Politics Election category, Page 357
Sen. Edward Markey to give away campaign donations from Robert Kraft
BOSTON— U.S. Sen. Edward Markey planned to donate campaign contributions he received from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who is charged with soliciting prostitution in Florida, to an organization that works to end human trafficking. Markey received $3,600 in donations from Kraft during the Massachusetts Democrat’s first campaign for...
Pentagon lists possible project cuts to pay for border wall
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon sent a 20-page list of military construction projects to Congress on Monday that might be slashed to pay for President Trump’s wall along the Mexican border. Democrats expressed hope that by knowing which local projects could be targeted, lawmakers would be likelier to override Trump’s veto...
Democrats call for counterintelligence investigation of massage parlor boss Cindy Yang
WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress are asking the FBI to investigate former Florida massage parlor owner Li “Cindy” Yang after the Miami Herald and others reported on Yang’s access to President Trump and work to get Chinese business executives access to political fundraisers. In a letter sent Friday to FBI...
Pennsylvania lawmaker Brian Ellis facing sex assault claim quits House
HARRISBURG — A Western Pennsylvania state lawmaker resigned Monday, two months after being stripped of a chairmanship over allegations he had sex with a woman against her will while she was blacked out. Republican state Rep. Brian Ellis, who has not been charged with any crime, wrote in a letter...
Iowa Rep. Steve King posts meme bragging red states have ‘8 trillion bullets’
WASHINGTON — Rep. Steve King posted a meme during the weekend about a hypothetical civil war between “blue states” fighting over which bathroom to use and “red states” with trillions of bullets. The post is an image of two figures composed of traditionally Democratic-leaning and Republican-leaning states in fighting postures...
Fox News hires Donna Brazile as political contributor
NEW YORK — Fox News says it has hired former Democratic National Committee chief Donna Brazile as a political commentator. Brazile had been let go from a similar role at CNN in 2016 after it was revealed that she had shared material about topics that would be addressed at a...
Trump calls Joe Biden a ‘low I.Q. individual’
Looking ahead to the 2020 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump fired a shot at former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday morning with a tweet calling him “another low I.Q. individual!” Trump said in the post, “Joe Biden got tongue tied over the weekend when he was unable to properly...
Beto O’Rourke says he raised $6.1M online in 1st 24 hours
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke raised more than $6 million online during the first 24 hours after he announced his White House bid, the highest 24-hour number reported by any candidate, his campaign said Monday. The “record-breaking” $6.1 million came “without a dime” from political action committees, corporations...
Kansas hopes to resurrect proof-of-citizenship voting law
SALT LAKE CITY — A federal appeals court will hear arguments Monday over the constitutionality of a struck-down Kansas statute that had required people to provide documents proving their U.S. citizenship before they could register to vote. In a case with national implications for voting rights, Kansas faces an uphill...
RNC links ‘noted Irishman’ Beto O’Rourke’s heritage to 1998 DWI arrestVideo
The Republican National Committee on Sunday sent out a tweet linking Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s Irish heritage to his 1998 drunken-driving arrest, in an attack that Democrats and some Republicans criticized as being based on stereotypes. Republicans have previously sought to focus attention on O’Rourke’s DWI arrest, but...
Kirsten Gillibrand declares candidacy for president after campaigning for months
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York announced her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination Sunday, casting herself as the party’s strongest champion of reversing President Trump’s agenda. Gillibrand, who started an exploratory committee in January, has been campaigning for months. But she used a video announcement online to draw new...
Trump and first lady attend church service on St. Patrick’s Day
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spent St. Patrick’s Day morning worshipping at the “Church of the Presidents” near the White House. Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, joined parishioners for Sunday’s 11 a.m. service at St. John’s Church, a historic yellow church across from the White House and...
White House aide says ‘absurd’ to link mosque shooter, Trump
WASHINGTON — A top White House official said Sunday that President Donald Trump “is not a white supremacist” and attempts to tie him to the alleged New Zealand mosque shooter are “absurd.” Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff, described the New Zealand shooter as a “disturbed individual” and “evil...
Trump claims not ‘really’ a rise in white nationalism after racist kills dozens of Muslims in New Zealand
A racist gunman had only hours earlier killed dozens of Muslims in New Zealand and hate crimes in the U.S. have been on the rise since he took office — but President Donald Trump shrugged Friday when asked if he considers white nationalism a growing problem. “I don’t really,” the...
Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign staff will join a union
Employees on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign are joining a labor union, officials announced Friday, a historic move that comes amid a Democratic primary featuring intense competition for working-class voters. All campaign employees below the rank of deputy director will be represented by the United Food & Commercial Workers Local...
Gore: US getting close to political shift on climate change
ATLANTA — Former Vice President Al Gore believes the U.S. is nearing a political tipping point, with the 2020 Democratic presidential field offering voters the chance to replace President Donald Trump with someone “committed heart and soul” to combating climate change. Gore, who emerged as a leading climate activist after...
O’Rourke’s history with big pro-GOP donors
EL PASO, Texas - Before Beto O’Rourke became the darling of liberal online donors, his top financial backers hailed from a different set entirely: wealthy businessmen who have sought political influence by collectively donating millions of dollars to Republicans. Several of El Paso’s richest business moguls donated to and raised...
GOP senators appear ready to block Trump border declaration
WASHINGTON — The Republican-led Senate is set to deal President Donald Trump a rebuke on his declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border, with the only remaining question how many GOP senators will join Democrats in defying him. Republicans are predicting that Thursday’s showdown vote will result in...
Beto O’Rourke says, ‘I’m running,’ heads to Iowa
Beto O’Rourke starts a three-day trip to Iowa on Thursday, taking a first — and very high profile ◊ step into the crowded Democratic field for president, four months after narrowly losing a Texas Senate race that propelled him to national stardom. By Saturday night, the three-term congressman from El...
7 file papers to run for 2 Pennsylvania Superior Court seats
HARRISBURG — Four Democrats and three Republicans have filed petitions to get on primary ballots for a seat on Pennsylvania’s mid-level appellate court that handles civil and criminal appeals from county courts. Filings were due Tuesday for the May 21 primary for two open Superior Court seats. Democrats filing include...
Streets weren’t so mean to Howard Schultz’s Brooklyn peers
BROOKLYN — When Howard Schultz tells people why he should be president of the United States, the billionaire often tells a story of a poor kid who escaped from the chaos and cacophony of a Brooklyn housing project to become the architect of a global coffee behemoth. The man who...
Manafort gets 7 years in prison, then faces fresh N.Y. charges
WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to a total of seven and a half years in prison on federal charges Wednesday, then was hit almost immediately with fresh state charges in New York that could put him outside the president’s power to pardon. In Washington, U.S....
Trump sees advantage in debate over Israel, anti-Semitism
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump can’t get enough of Rep. Ilhan Omar. As Democrats try to turn the page after the freshman lawmaker’s remarks, criticized by some as anti-Semitic, ignited an embarrassing, intra-party fight, the Republican president is trying to prolong and weaponize the issue for his 2020 campaign, asserting...
Compromise seeks to limit president’s emergency declarations
WASHINGTON — The White House and Republican senators sought compromise on limiting presidents’ powers to unilaterally declare national emergencies, as chances improved that President Donald Trump might avoid a long-expected rejection by Congress of his effort to divert billions more for building barriers along the Mexican border. As a Thursday...
Trump lenders subpoenaed by New York attorney general in new probe
NEW YORK — New York’s attorney general opened a new line of inquiry into President Trump’s business dealings, issuing subpoenas to Deutsche Bank AG and Investors Bank over loans for real estate projects and a failed bid to buy the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, according to a person familiar...
