Politics Election category, Page 370
Democrats demand Mnuchin hold off on easing sanctions tied to Deripaska
WASHINGTON — Seven new Democratic chairmen of House committees demanded Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hold off on the planned easing of sanctions against three companies tied to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. “As the chairs of committees with oversight jurisdiction over the U.S. response to Russia’s attempts to interfere...
Paul Manafort shared polling data with Russian during presidential campaign, filing asserts
WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, apparently shared polling data during the 2016 presidential campaign with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business partner in Ukraine who allegedly has ties to Russian intelligence, according to a court filing released Tuesday. It’s unclear whether the information involved internal campaign data or...
Fact check: Do ex-presidents actually support Trump’s border wall?
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s recent claim that his predecessors endorsed his idea of a wall at the Mexican border got no support from the ex-presidents’ club. Trump stated in a Rose Garden news conference Friday: “This should have been done by all of the presidents that preceded me. And...
Networks to air Pelosi, Schumer rebuttal to Trump
NEW YORK — Television networks airing President Donald Trump’s Oval Office speech on his proposed border wall and the partial government shutdown have also committed to airing the Democratic response to the president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say they will make the case themselves....
The reality on the border: How much will a wall really help?
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says there is a security crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border that can be addressed only by spending $5.7 billion on a wall. Democrats have flatly refused to agree to the funding. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the wall an “immorality.” Trump will address the nation...
Eyeing 2020, Kamala Harris addresses prosecutorial past in memoir
WASHINGTON — As she nears a decision on whether to seek the presidency, Sen. Kamala Harris is taking on what could be a hurdle in a Democratic primary: her past as a prosecutor. In her memoir published Tuesday, the California Democrat describes herself as a “progressive prosecutor” and says it’s...
What to know ahead of Trump’s prime-time address on border wall
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will argue to the nation Tuesday night that a “crisis” at the U.S.-Mexico border requires the long and invulnerable wall he’s demanding before ending a partial government shutdown that has hundreds of thousands of federal workers fearing missed paychecks on Friday. Here is some of...
Trump claimed ex-presidents told him they wanted border wall, but four say it’s not true
President Trump during a lengthy appearance in the White House’s Rose Garden on Friday that predecessors told him they wanted a wall on the United States’ border with Mexico. He said so in the midst of an extended soliloquy about the border wall for which he has yet to find...
Trump will address nation, visit border to press for a wall
WASHINGTON — President Trump will address the nation on Tuesday night and travel on Thursday to the U.S.-Mexico border to press his case for a wall there, amid a partisan funding impasse over the issue that has kept the government partially shut down into a third week. The president tweeted...
The shutdown fight becomes a rhetorical war
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham went on national television Sunday morning and declared that there would be no deal to end the partial government shutdown until top Democrats stopped calling Republicans “racists” for supporting a U.S.-Mexico border wall. But none of the four top congressional Democrats negotiating an end to...
IRS will pay tax refunds during government shutdown, official says
The Internal Revenue Service will issue refunds to taxpayers even if the U.S. government shutdown extends into the filing season, a decision that may reduce political pressure on Congress and President Trump to reach a deal to reopen the federal government. “Tax refunds will go out,” the acting director of...
Elizabeth Warren fights Trumpism without dropping names during Iowa visit
ANKENY, Iowa — Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s first presidential campaign foray to this early voting state merged the economic views she has honed for years and the lesson learned by successful Democratic candidates in the midterm elections two months ago. She aimed directly at voters tempted by President Trump’s angry populism...
Analysis: Trump’s dealmaking faces test in shutdown standoff
WASHINGTON — The partial government shutdown is spotlighting the limitations of President Trump’s erratic negotiating style. With the impasse over Trump’s demand for border-wall funding dragging into a third week, the president’s zigzag tactics and messaging have angered Democrats and frustrated even some of the Republicans struggling to help find...
Pelosi and other Democratic leaders tread carefully on impeachment
WASHINGTON —— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants said Sunday that he time isn’t right for the new Democratic-led House to pursue impeachment of President Trump, despite a push in their party’s ranks for such action. But they didn’t rule it out, either. “If and when the time...
Trump says he needs to deal with Dem leaders to end shutdown
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump held out little hope Sunday that another round of talks between top aides and congressional staff would produce meaningful progress toward ending the partial government shutdown, seeming to undercut his team by saying he needed to deal directly with Democratic leaders. “Ultimately, it’s going to...
Trump says ‘not much headway’ in talks as shutdown drags on
WASHINGTON — White House officials and congressional aides emerged from talks to reopen the government without a breakthrough Saturday, though they planned to return to the table the following day. President Trump tweeted: “Not much headway made today.” The president later tweeted that he planned to go to his retreat...
Ocasio-Cortez jabs GOP over ‘faux-outrage’ following fellow Democrat’s comments
WASHINGTON - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., came to the defense of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., on Saturday - denouncing what she called “faux-outrage” over profane language Tlaib used while calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. “Republican hypocrisy at its finest: saying that Trump admitting to sexual assault on tape is...
Jerry Brown transformed California’s justice system – twice
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One of the advantages of being in government for 50 years, says California Gov. Jerry Brown, is “you get to make mistakes that you then get to correct.” For Brown, one of those missteps was the criminal justice overhaul he oversaw as a young governor during two...
California attorney general leads Trump resistance into 2019
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Xavier Becerra became perhaps the nation’s most influential attorney general when he was named California’s top lawyer two years ago, and he has since used his post atop what some call the “Resistance State” to pummel President Donald Trump’s administration with dozens of legal actions. Heading into...
Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want to talk impeachment, but some Democrats do
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had only been in office for a few hours when a handful of Democrats defied her persistent calls not to begin the new Congress by talking about impeachment. Just after Pelosi was sworn in on Thursday, longtime Democratic Reps. Brad Sherman of California and...
Top Democrats balk at new lawmaker’s profane Trump impeachment remarks
Senior Democrats quickly distanced themselves Friday from a freshman House member’s profanity-laced call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, the latest example of how some of the party’s newly elected members are pushing boundaries and creating headaches for leadership. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., told supporters Thursday that “we’re gonna go in...
Democrats, Trump meet on shutdown; they says he is resisting
WASHINGTON — With no shutdown resolution in sight, Democratic leaders urged President Donald Trump to reopen the government Friday in a White House meeting during which they said he indicated he could keep it closed for “months or even years.” Trump met with the congressional leaders for the second time...
House Democrats pass government funding bills Trump won’t sign
WASHINGTON — The new House Democratic majority passed two government funding bills late Thursday to open shuttered federal agencies that President Trump has said he will not sign, as Republicans predicted the partial government shutdown will be a long one. Before the votes Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated that Democrats will...
‘Trump Show,’ Act III: What to watch as House Democrats take control
WASHINGTON — Act III of the Trump presidency, which can often feel like an off-Broadway production, officially began at noon Thursday when Democrats took control of the House and everything changed for Donald Trump. Republicans controlled the House for the first two years, or acts, of the “Trump Show,” but...
Democrats plan to hold hearings on Medicare-for-all legislation
WASHINGTON – The new Democratic majority in the House will hold the first hearings on Medicare-for-all legislation, a longtime goal of the party’s left, after Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi lent her support for the process. “It’s a huge step forward to have the speaker’s support,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who...
