Politics Election category, Page 365
Intelligence officials were ‘misquoted’ after public hearing, Trump claims
WASHINGTON — A day after ridiculing his top intelligence officials as “passive and naive” and claiming they were ignorant about world affairs, President Trump on Thursday said the media had fabricated a conflict, and that the officials were “misquoted” by the press after a public congressional hearing that was carried...
2 congressmen ask for Jared Kushner’s security clearance to be revoked
WASHINGTON — Democratic Reps. Donald S. Beyer of Virginia and Ted Lieu of California sent a letter Thursday to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney asking him to immediately strip senior adviser Jared Kushner of his security clearance. A recent NBC News report revealed that White House security...
Senate vote rebukes Trump on Syria, Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — In a bipartisan rebuke to President Trump, the Senate voted 68-23 on Thursday to advance an amendment that would oppose withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. The amendment by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell occurs after Trump called for a drawdown of troops in both of...
Bernie Sanders proposes estate tax of up to 77 percent for billionaires
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing to expand the estate tax on wealthy Americans, including a rate of as much as 77 percent on the value of estates above $1 billion. Sanders of Vermont, who’s considering a second run for president, said in a statement that his plan would apply...
Trump says State of the Union address to stress ‘unity’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says “unity” will be the theme of his State of the Union address next week, and says he respects Stacey Abrams, who will give the Democratic response. Trump told reporters Thursday that he’s familiar with Abrams from the 2018 Georgia governor’s race, which she narrowly...
Democrats gain in statehouses as some GOP lawmakers defect
TRENTON, N.J. — Democrats’ gains in state legislatures didn’t end with last November’s elections. Over the past two months, as lawmakers were sworn in and this year’s statehouse sessions got underway, Republicans in California, Kansas and New Jersey switched their party affiliations to become Democrats. They cited various reasons, but...
Sanders: God wanted Trump to be president
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told a Christian television station Wednesday that God “wanted Donald Trump to become president” so he could support “a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.” The early, abbreviated transcript provided by the conservative evangelical station CBN — Christian...
Congress introduces bills to train police to identify child sex traffickers
WASHINGTON — Though the scourge of child sex trafficking may seem like an intractable problem, a program designed by a state trooper in Texas has shown real results: hundreds of children rescued, and hundreds of pimps and kidnappers arrested, by patrol officers on mostly routine traffic stops, both in Texas...
Democratic candidates face political risks when pressed on health care specifics
When Sen. Kamala D. Harris spoke about health care at a CNN forum Monday evening, she threw her support behind a “Medicare-for-all” plan, sounding similar to other candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. But when pressed for details, the senator from California explained the idea in a way most Democrats...
Stacey Abrams to give Democrats’ response to State of Union
WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer says former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Schumer told reporters Tuesday that he asked Abrams three weeks ago and he was “delighted” when she accepted. The role elevates Abrams...
Pentagon to send thousands more troops to southern border, mostly for surveillance
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is preparing to dispatch several thousand more U.S. troops to the southern border as the military shifts its operations there from improving security at ports of entry to the vast areas between them that are less controlled, defense officials said Tuesday. Acting defense secretary Patrick M....
Mitch McConnell warns against early exit from Syria, Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the Islamic State and al-Qaida militants still pose a “serious threat” to the United States and cautioned the Trump administration against an early exit from Syria and Afghanistan. The comments by McConnell, R-Ky., appeared to be a pushback against the...
Trump friend Roger Stone pleads not guilty in Russia probe case
WASHINGTON — Roger Stone, a longtime adviser and confidant of President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges in the Russia investigation after a publicity-filled few days spent torching the probe as politically motivated. The political operative and self-proclaimed dirty trickster appeared for his arraignment at the federal courthouse...
AP-NORC poll: President Trump’s marks on the economy slip
WASHINGTON — The public continues to give President Donald Trump his best ratings on the economy, but a new poll finds the share who approve of how he’s handling that issue has slipped since last fall. And as his promise of a U.S.-Mexico border wall brought a stalemate over funding...
Trump dismisses tell-all book ‘Team of Vipers’ as ‘made up stories’
WASHINGTON — President Trump is dismissing — and potentially bolstering sales — of a new tell-all book by a former White House aide, calling it “made up stories and fiction.” The book by Cliff Sims, called “Team of Vipers,” is the latest in a series of insider accounts by journalists...
Michael Cohen will testify in another closed-door House meetings after getting new lawyers
NEW YORK — Michael Cohen has agreed to back-to-back congressional testimony and has found a new legal team. The prison-bound former personal attorney to President Trump will testify behind closed doors before at least two congressional committees next month — and he has hired new lawyers to represent him in...
Mueller investigation is ‘close to being completed,’ acting attorney general says
WASHINGTON — The head of the Justice Department said Monday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is nearing an end - the first official acknowledgment that the probe that has ensnared President Trump may soon reach a conclusion. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker made the comment during a news...
Nancy Pelosi invites Trump to give State of the Union on Feb. 5
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday accepted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s invitation to deliver his State of the Union speech on Feb. 5, a week later than originally scheduled because of the partial government shutdown. “It is my great honor to accept,” Trump said in a letter to Pelosi. “We...
Washington baker apologizes for ‘Build that Wall’ cookie
SEATTLE — A Washington state baker is apologizing for a politically charged Valentine’s Day cookie that generated an uproar on social media. KING-TV reports that Ken Bellingham, who owns Edmonds Bakery, has gotten phone calls from frustrated customers about the heart-shaped cookie with “Build that Wall” in frosting letters. The...
Shutdown projected to cause $3B permanent hit to economy
WASHINGTON — The federal government shutdown will cause slight permanent harm to the economy — about $3 billion — according to a report Monday by the Congressional Budget Office. The report says the five-week shutdown has slowed growth in the near term but that most of the lost growth “will...
Roger Stone says he will ‘testify honestly’ when asked if he would consider cooperating with Mueller
Roger Stone said he will “testify honestly” when asked whether he would consider cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller after he was charged with lying, obstruction and witness tampering in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. “That’s a question that I’d have to determine after my attorneys...
Sen. Kamala Harris says the powerful seek to divide America
OAKLAND, Calif. — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Sunday that those in power are trying to turn people against each other, which she says is “not our America.” Harris, a first-term U.S. senator from California who announced her candidacy last Monday, rallied supporters outside City Hall in Oakland, her...
Trump sets odds of reaching deal on wall at less than 50-50
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday that the odds congressional negotiators will craft a deal to end his border wall standoff with Congress are “less than 50-50.” As hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers prepared to return to work, Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he doesn’t think...
Analysis: Give first round to Pelosi over Trump in shutdown skirmish
WASHINGTON — In the year’s first test of divided government, give round one to Nancy Pelosi. And it wasn’t really competitive. When the record 35-day partial federal shutdown began before Christmas, Pelosi was just a month removed from her vote-by-vote struggle for enough Democratic support to become House speaker. To...
Conservatives say Trump caved, but confident he’ll get wall
WASHINGTON— No retreat, no surrender is how President Donald Trump frames his decision to temporarily reopen the government while still pursuing a border wall deal. Some of his conservative backers have a different take: “pathetic” and “wimp.” Other Trump supporters seem willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt,...
