Politics Election category, Page 63
Rep. Barry Loudermilk to lead select subcommittee to continue Jan. 6 probe
WASHINGTON — Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who has led the charge for House Republicans to reexamine the events of Jan. 6, 2021, is slated to continue his probe this Congress under the auspices of Jim Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee, according to Speaker Mike Johnson. Johnson announced Wednesday his intent...
Law enforcement groups criticize Trump pardons for Jan. 6
WASHINGTON — The Capitol Police union and other law enforcement groups sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s pardons for his supporters who attacked the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, a move that cut against years of pro-police messaging from Republican members of Congress. The union wrote in a statement Tuesday...
Elon Musk clashes with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over Trump-supported Stargate AI data center project
Elon Musk is clashing with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the Stargate artificial intelligence infrastructure project touted by President Donald Trump, the latest in a feud between the two tech billionaires that started on OpenAI’s board and is now testing Musk’s influence with the new president. Trump on Tuesday had...
House passes immigrant detention bill that would be Trump’s 1st law to sign
WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that requires the detainment of unauthorized migrants accused of theft and violent crimes, marking the first legislation that President Donald Trump can sign as Congress, with some bipartisan support, swiftly moved in line with his plans to crackdown...
Pentagon sending 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Wednesday it has begun deploying 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border, putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration. Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said the troops...
Trump administration freezes many health agency reports and online posts
The Trump administration has put a freeze on many federal health agency communications with the public through at least the end of the month. In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dorothy Fink told agency staff leaders Tuesday...
U.S. adults want border security action but mostly oppose arrests in schools, churches, poll shows
WASHINGTON — Many U.S. adults are on board with the idea of beefing up security at the southern border and undertaking some targeted deportations, according to a poll. But as President Donald Trump begins his second term with a series of sweeping executive orders on immigration, the findings suggest his...
Trump administration shuts down White House Spanish-language page and social media
Within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new administration took down the Spanish-language version of the official White House website. The website now gives users an “Error 404” message. It also included a “Go Home” button that directed viewers to a page featuring a video montage of Trump in...
Trump administration directs all federal DEI staff be put on paid leave
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ‘s administration is directing that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave, and that agencies develop plans to lay them off, according to a memo Tuesday from the Office of Personnel Management. The memo follows an executive order Trump signed...
Pete Hegseth’s former sister-in-law alleges abuse against 2nd wife in affidavit to Senate
WASHINGTON — Senators vetting the nomination of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary received an affidavit Tuesday from a former sister-in-law alleging that the onetime Fox News host was abusive to his second wife, to the point where she feared for her safety. Hegseth denies the allegations. The sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth,...
Trump highlights partnership investing $500 billion in AIVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the...
Trudeau says Canada will respond to U.S. tariffs as Ontario’s premier says Trump ‘declared war’
TORONTO — Canada’s outgoing prime minister and the leader of the country’s oil rich province of Alberta are both confident Canada can avoid the 25% tariffs President Donald Trump says he will impose on Feb. 1. Justin Trudeau and Danielle Smith will argue that Canada is the energy super power...
At inaugural prayer service, bishop pleads for Trump to ‘have mercy’ on LGBTQ+ people and migrantsVideo
WASHINGTON — At the inaugural prayer service, the Right Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, made a direct appeal to President Donald Trump to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and undocumented migrant workers. Referencing Trump’s belief that he was saved by God from assassination, Budde said, “You...
Sen. John Fetterman had ‘zero clue’ that he took a photo with a Jan. 6 rioter, his office says
Sen. John Fetterman inadvertently took a photo Monday with the rioter who grabbed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and posed with it during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The photo came the same day President Donald Trump took the oath of office and hours before Trump...
States sue to stop Trump’s order blocking birthright citizenship
Attorneys general from 18 states sued Tuesday to block President Donald Trump’s move to end a decades-old immigration policy known as birthright citizenship guaranteeing that U.S.-born children are citizens regardless of their parents’ status. Trump’s roughly 700-word executive order, issued late Monday, amounts to a fulfillment of something he’s talked...
Fetterman says he’s not planning on switching parties
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., shot down rumors he plans to jump to the Republican Party after meeting with President Donald Trump. “It’s not going to happen,” Fetterman told Semafor on Monday night. “And even if I wanted to do that, that is a rocket sled to Palookaville to try to...
Trump wants to pull the U.S. out of the World Health Organization again. Here’s what may happen next
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years — a...
Trump orders federal agencies to recognize only 2 sexes that are ‘not changeable’
President Donald Trump signed executive orders Monday asserting that the U.S. government recognizes only two sexes that are “not changeable,” and reversing Biden administration directives on LGBTQ+ rights. One of the new orders says that “male” and “female” are defined based on reproductive cells and at the point when a...
Elon Musk salute at inauguration interpreted by some as Nazi gesture
Elon Musk’s salute at a Monday inauguration party for President Donald Trump was interpreted by many observers online as a “Heil Hitler” gesture. Musk, 53, spoke to a crowd of Trump supporters at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., after Trump was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol. While thanking...
Vice President Vance swears in Marco Rubio as secretary of state, Trump’s 1st Cabinet member
WASHINGTON — Marco Rubio was sworn in as secretary of state Tuesday, by newly inaugurated Vice President JD Vance. Vance, who served as a senator alongside Rubio, called him a “bipartisan solutions seeker.” Rubio said Trump’s primary priority will be furthering the United States’ interests and that anything the government...
Rundown of President Trump’s executive orders on Day 1 — from pardons to TikTok
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has begun his promised flurry of executive action on Day 1. With his opening rounds of memoranda and executive orders, Trump repealed dozens of former President Joe Biden’s actions, began his immigration crackdown, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accords and sought to keep...
Many Western Pennsylvanians put politics aside for moment as Trump sworn in a 2nd time
As temperatures in Washington, D.C., lingered around 27 degrees Monday morning, state Rep. Jill Cooper sported an electric-heated jacket as she bounced between events celebrating the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Frigid temperatures, making the inauguration the fourth-coldest one on record, forced festivities indoors — the first time since Ronald...
Senators are working into the evening hoping to confirm Trump’s 1st Cabinet nominees
WASHINGTON — Senators returned to the Capitol Monday for a late-evening session pushing ahead on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, with voting possible to confirm Sen. Marco Rubio as the nation’s secretary of state on Inauguration Day. Rubio is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and the Florida Republican...
Ramaswamy won’t serve on Trump’s efficiency commission; he’s mulling run for Ohio governor
Vivek Ramaswamy is no longer part of the government efficiency commission that President Donald Trump selected him to lead alongside billionaire Elon Musk. Ramaswamy’s departure from the Department of Government Efficiency was confirmed hours after Trump took office Monday. Ramaswamy, who sought the 2024 Republican nomination for president, has signaled...
Trump says he’s withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement again
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he will again withdraw the United States, a top carbon polluting nation, from the landmark Paris climate agreement, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and once again distancing the U.S. from its closest allies. The White House announcement, which came...
