Politics Election category, Page 66
Millions have had student loans canceled under Biden — despite the collapse of his forgiveness plan
WASHINGTON — Despite failing to deliver his promise for broad student loan forgiveness, President Joe Biden has now overseen the cancellation of student loans for more than 5 million Americans — more than any other president in U.S. history. In a last-minute action on Monday, the Education Department canceled loans...
Incoming Trump team is questioning civil servants at National Security Council about their loyalty
WASHINGTON — Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by President-elect Donald...
A tough-on-crime approach is back in U.S. state capitols
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Within minutes of his inauguration Monday, new Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe is expected to issue a variety of orders targeting crime. The tone-setting move reflects a national trend. After a period of relaxed sentencing laws, a tough-on-crime approach is back in political favor in the U.S....
Vance says Jan. 6 participants who committed violence ‘obviously’ shouldn’t be pardoned
WASHINGTON — Vice President-elect JD Vance says people responsible for the violence during the Capitol riot “obviously” should not be pardoned, as President-elect Donald Trump is promising to use his clemency power on behalf of many of those who tried on Jan. 6, 2021, to overturn the results of the...
Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned after submitting his Trump report, Justice Department says
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department after submitting his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump, an expected move that comes amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead. The department disclosed Smith’s departure in a...
Trump is planning 100 executive orders starting Day 1 on border, deportations and other priorities
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is preparing more than 100 executive orders starting Day One of the new White House, in what amounts to a shock-and-awe campaign on border security, deportations and a rush of other policy priorities. Trump told Republican senators about the onslaught ahead during a private meeting...
Biden is still considering pardons for people who have been criticized or threatened by Trump
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday said he was still considering whether to give pardons to people who have been criticized or threatened by President-elect Donald Trump. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden said he and his aides were playing close attention to rhetoric from Trump and...
Trump nominates Pennsylvania RNC member Christine Toretti as ambassador to Sweden
A longtime Republican National Committee member from Pennsylvania who was twice unsuccessfully nominated for an ambassadorship during the first Trump administration will get a third go for the job. President-elect Donald Trump is nominating Christine Toretti, a RNC member from Indiana County, to be the next ambassador to Sweden. Trump...
FBI must be independent and above the partisan fray, outgoing director says in farewell address
WASHINGTON — The FBI must remain independent, above the partisan fray and “committed to upholding the rule of law,” outgoing Director Christopher Wray said in a farewell address just days before his expected retirement at the conclusion of the Biden administration following more than seven years on the job. “No...
Biden to deliver prime-time farewell to nation on Wednesday from Oval Office
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will deliver a farewell address to the nation Wednesday from the Oval Office, five days before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. The president’s remarks at 8 p.m. Eastern are set to be his last significant opportunity to speak to Americans and the world before...
Biden lets 800,000 Venezuelans and Salvadorans stay 18 months as Trump readies immigration crackdown
MIAMI — About 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 200,000 Salvadorans already living in the U.S. can legally remain another 18 months, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday, barely a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office with promises of hardline immigration policies. The decisions mark the Biden administration’s latest...
Greenland’s leader says his people don’t want to be Americans as Trump covets territory
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The prime minister of Greenland said Friday that the people of his mineral-rich Arctic territory do not want to be Americans, but he said he understood the U.S. interest in the island given its strategic location and he is open to greater cooperation with the United States....
Trump gets no-penalty sentence in his hush money case, while calling it ‘despicable’
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday to no punishment at all in his hush money case, an outcome that cements his historic conviction while letting him return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine. With Trump appearing by video...
Americans have dimmer view of Biden than they did of Trump or Obama as term ends, AP-NORC poll finds
WASHINGTON — As Joe Biden prepares to leave office, Americans have a dimmer view of his presidency than they did at the end of Donald Trump’s first term or Barack Obama’s second, a new poll finds. Around one-quarter of U.S. adults said Biden was a “good” or “great” president, with...
Biden to deliver a capstone address on his foreign policy legacy as he makes way for Trump’s return
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden plans to deliver a capstone address Monday on his foreign policy legacy, according to the White House. The outgoing president is expected to use his address at the State Department to highlight his administration’s efforts to expand NATO, rally dozens of allies to provide Ukraine...
American orange juice, steel will be on Canada’s list for retaliation if Trump imposes tariffs
TORONTO — Canada is looking at putting retaliatory tariffs on American orange juice, toilets and some steel products if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his threat to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian products, a senior official familiar with the matter said Thursday. The official said the wide-ranging...
IRS service improving, report to Congress says. But it’s still dogged by ‘delays, frustration’
As tax filing season begins, the Internal Revenue Service will struggle to provide “the quality service that taxpayers and tax professionals need, leading to delays, frustration, and unnecessary costs,” a report from the National Taxpayer Advocate reported. Erin Collins, the taxpayer advocate, has warned of service problems in the past,...
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman will become the chamber’s first Democrat to meet with President-elect Donald Trump since the election and plans to travel to Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The trip marks Fetterman’s continuing evolution from a leading surrogate for President Joe Biden into a Trump-friendly lawmaker...
Fetterman, DeLuzio among Democrats who support bill for deporting immigrants
A bill that lowers the threshold for detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants accused of criminal activity will head to the U.S. Senate on Friday, with support from two Western Pennsylvania Democrats. Sen. John Fetterman was the lone Senate Democrat to co-sponsor the Laken Riley Act, named for a 22-year-old Augusta...
No more fact-checking for Meta. How will this change media — and the pursuit of truth?
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts,” the late New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan memorably wrote four decades ago. That seems like a simpler time — especially when you consider Meta’s decision to end a fact-checking program on social media apps Facebook, Instagram and...
Trump gives GOP senators no set strategy as leaders struggle to craft his priorities
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump likes the idea of “one, big beautiful bill” for his top legislative priorities, but he emerged from a lengthy closed-door meeting with Republican senators late Wednesday open to other strategies as GOP leaders strain to develop a plan before the party gains full power in...
Trump, the ‘America First’ candidate, has a new preoccupation: Imperialism
NEW YORK — Donald Trump ran on a return to his “America First” foreign policy platform. The U.S., he said, could no longer afford to be the world’s policeman. On his watch, he pledged, there would be no new wars. But since winning a second term, the president-elect has been...
New book alleges that someone at Fox News gave Trump’s team an early look at town hall questions
PHOENIX — Someone inside Fox News gave Donald Trump’s presidential campaign the questions he would face ahead of a town hall the network produced in January 2024, a forthcoming book alleges, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. The claim appears in “Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return...
Jimmy Carter lauded for his humility and service in Washington before his return to Georgia
WASHINGTON — Jimmy Carter was celebrated Thursday for his personal humility and public service before, during and after his presidency during a funeral at Washington National Cathedral featuring the kind of pageantry the 39th U.S. president typically eschewed. All of Carter’s living successors were in attendance, with President Joe Biden,...
Trump’s Cabinet picks prepare for Senate confirmation hearings
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees will begin testifying before the U.S. Senate next week as Republicans rush to install the new Cabinet soon after the Jan. 20 inauguration. Several of Trump’s picks have caused consternation on Capitol Hill, perhaps none more so than former Fox News host Pete Hegseth...
