Politics Election category, Page 59
Democrats elect Ken Martin, the party leader in Minnesota, as their national chair
OXON HILL, Md. — Democrats on Saturday elected Ken Martin, the party leader in Minnesota, as the national chair, turning to a low-profile Midwestern political operative to coordinate their resistance to Donald Trump’s presidency. Martin succeeds Jaime Harrison of South Carolina atop the Democratic National Committee. Harrison did not seek...
U.S. military conducts airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has conducted airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trump’s second term. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by U.S. Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government. An...
Colleges around the U.S. cautiously navigate Trump’s DEI crackdown
PHILADELPHIA — In Boston, Northeastern University renamed a program for underrepresented students, emphasizing “belonging” for all. In New Jersey, a session at Rutgers University catering to students from historically Black colleges had to be abruptly canceled. And around the U.S., colleges are assessing program names and titles that could run...
Health data disappears as Trump administration targets ‘gender ideology’
Public health data disappeared from websites, entire webpages went blank and employees erased pronouns from email signatures Friday as federal agencies scrambled to comply with a directive tied to President Donald Trump’s order rolling back protections for transgender people. The Office of Personnel Management directed agency heads to strip “gender...
Philly DA: Local officials don’t have to comply with Trump administration’s immigration crackdown
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Friday local elected officials and law enforcement cannot be forced to comply with the Trump administration’s “Nazi stuff,” referring to the president’s planned crackdown on immigration. “Local law enforcement can volunteer to do Nazi stuff,” said Krasner, a Democrat. “I’m sure I...
RFK Jr. kept asking to see the science that vaccines were safe. After he saw it, he dismissed it
WASHINGTON — The man who hopes to be President Donald Trump’s health secretary repeatedly asked to see “data” or “science” showing vaccines are safe — but when an influential Republican senator did so, he dismissed it. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent two days this week insisting to senators that he’s...
White House says Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will come Saturday. No word on exemptions
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said, but it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in...
Conspiracies, espionage, an enemies list: Takeaways from a wild day of confirmation hearings
WASHINGTON — Conspiracy theories about vaccines. Secret meetings with dictators. An enemies list. President Donald Trump’ s most controversial Cabinet nominees — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel — flooded the zone Thursday in back-to-back-to-back confirmation hearings that were like nothing the Senate has seen in modern...
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to oversee U.S. spy agencies, grilled about Snowden, Syria and Russia
WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike Thursday during a fiery confirmation hearing focused on her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward...
Trump consoles crash victims then dives into politics with attack on diversity initiatives
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned the actions of the army helicopter pilot and air traffic controller ahead of a deadly midair collision in Washington and quickly veered into politics to speculate that Democrats and diversity initiatives shared blame for the deaths of 67 people. As Trump spoke,...
Trump’s FBI chief pick, Kash Patel, insists he has no ‘enemies list’ and won’t seek retributionVideo
WASHINGTON — Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, insisted to deeply skeptical Democrats on Thursday that he did not have an “enemies list” and that the bureau under his leadership would not seek retribution against the president’s adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes. “I have...
President Trump sounds the same. His White House — so far — couldn’t be more different
NEW YORK — The marathon Q&A sessions are back, along with the cream Oval Office rug and the Diet Coke button on the Resolute Desk. So, too, are the late-night social media posts that ricochet across the globe and the barrage of executive orders. But in 10 days, Donald Trump...
Donald Trump talks so much that even his White House stenographers are struggling to keep up
WASHINGTON — The White House stenographers have a problem. Donald Trump is talking so much, the people responsible for transcribing his public remarks are struggling to keep up with all the words. There were more than 22,000 on Inauguration Day, then another 17,000 when Trump visited disaster sites in North...
Fact focus: No evidence that $50 million was designated by the U.S. to buy condoms for Hamas
During a signing ceremony Wednesday for the Laken Riley Act, President Donald Trump claimed that his administration had “identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas.” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, made a similar claim on Tuesday during her debut press briefing,...
Meta agrees to pay $25 million to settle lawsuit from Trump after Jan. 6 suspension
WASHINGTON — Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against the company after it suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to three people familiar with the matter. It’s the latest instance of a large...
Pentagon agency pauses celebrations for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month and more
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department’s intelligence agency has paused observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance and other cultural or historical annual events in response to President Donald Trump’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal workplace. The instructions were published...
Senate confirms Lee Zeldin to lead Environmental Protection Agency as Trump vows to cut climate rules
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday confirmed Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a key role to help President Donald Trump fulfill his pledge to roll back major environmental regulations, including those aimed at slowing climate change and encouraging use of electric vehicles. The vote was 56-42...
Bishop’s sermon falls on deaf ears as Trump sets new tone in D.C.
President Donald Trump made his return to the White House when he was sworn in last week. In his first week, he signed more executive orders than any other president. These swift actions signaled the beginnings of the second Trump administration’s attempts to make good on promises made during campaign...
While signing Laken Riley Act, Trump says he’ll send ‘worst’ criminal migrants to Guantanamo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed the Laken Riley Act into law, giving federal authorities broader power to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally who have been accused of crimes. He also announced at the ceremony that his administration planned to send the “worst criminal aliens” to a...
Trump’s orders take aim at critical race theory and antisemitism on college campuses
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is ordering U.S. schools to stop teaching what he views as “critical race theory” and other material dealing with race and sexuality or risk losing their federal money. A separate plan announced Wednesday calls for aggressive action to fight antisemitism on college campuses, promising to...
What is the Office of Personnel Management? Trump is relying on this agency to reshape government
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s new tool for reshaping the federal government is a relatively obscure agency, the Office of Personnel Management. The agency has offered millions of federal workers eight months of salary if they voluntarily choose to leave their jobs by Feb. 6. The unconventional plan shows both...
Trump White House rescinds memo freezing federal grants after widespread confusion
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s budget office on Wednesday rescinded a memo freezing spending on federal grants, less than two days after it sparked widespread confusion and legal challenges across the country. The Monday evening memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget sparked uncertainty over a crucial...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. struggles to answer questions on Medicare, Medicaid at confirmation hearingVideo
WASHINGTON — In a contentious confirmation hearing to become the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. struggled to answer questions about Medicare and Medicaid, programs that affect tens of millions of Americans, or to provide details about how he would work to drive down health care costs. Kennedy...
After rebuke from legislative leaders, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pledges to veto immigration bill
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promised Wednesday to veto a sweeping immigration bill, in the latest escalation of a statehouse showdown between the governor and the state’s Republican legislative leadership, who have sparred over whose proposals would best carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The bill, which...
After talking tough during campaign, Trump appears to ease up on China at start of presidency
WASHINGTON — On the campaign trail last year, President Donald Trump talked tough about imposing tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese goods and threatened to renew the trade war with China that he launched during his first term. But now that he’s back in the White House, Trump appears...
