Political News

Trump’s anti-mask crusade is coming back to bite him

President Donald Trump’s refusal to set an example by wearing a face covering, despite growing evidence that it may be one of the most effective ways to slow America’s increasingly disastrous coronavirus pandemic, was always a political statement. Now, as the clinical and electoral damage builds from a resurgent virus that is close to racing…

Jeff Sessions appears to refer to celebrated Black scholar as ‘some criminal’

Alabama US Senate candidate and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared to refer to Henry Louis Gates Jr., a celebrated Black Harvard University scholar, as “some criminal” in a New York Times Magazine article published Tuesday. Gates had been wrongfully arrested by a Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer in 2009 as he tried to enter his…

Trump struggles to say what he would do with another term for second time in a week

It was a do-over of a softball question, but President Donald Trump still seemed to struggle to answer what he would do with a potential second term in an interview that aired Wednesday evening. The President said he hadn’t heard the criticism of his answer the last time he was asked the question, by Fox…

Biden tops Trump with $141 million fundraising haul in June

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden outraised President Donald Trump with a $141 million fundraising haul in June as each campaign gears up for the general election. The Biden campaign announced its fundraising amount for the month late Wednesday night. It’s the second month in a row Biden and the Democratic Party have outperformed Trump’s…

Trump’s aides debate a new virus approach as President claims it will ‘disappear’

A divide has emerged inside President Donald Trump’s inner circle over whether he should turn his attention back to the coronavirus pandemic or continue to focus on reopening the economy, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. As cases surge in dozens of states, Trump has remained mostly silent on the matter, focusing instead on…

House passes small business loan Paycheck Protection Program extension by unanimous consent

The US House passed an extension of the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program fewer than 24 hours after the program shut its doors, moving one step closer to reopening the cornerstone small business coronavirus relief effort. The House passed the extension, which would keep the program open to applications to August 8, unanimously. The measure…

Households with children hit hardest by the pandemic recession, Census reports

American households with children are being disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and missed housing payments due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new analysis from the Census Bureau. The latest House Pulse Survey shows that about 11.8 million children live in households that missed a mortgage or rent payment or sought a deferment, while…

GOP senators downplay Trump’s veto threat over renaming military bases

Senate Republicans have a simple message after President Donald Trump dashed off a late-night tweet Tuesday threatening to veto their must-pass defense policy bill over the renaming of bases named for Confederate leaders: Give it some time. Republicans responded to Trump’s tweet on Wednesday by noting that the bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, is…

FBI firearm background checks set another all-time record in June

More and more Americans appear to be arming themselves following a month of continued fears over the deadly coronavirus pandemic and images of some rioters causing damage after hijacking peaceful protests demanding racial justice. The FBI conducted more than 3.9 million background checks associated with the sale, transfer or permitting of firearms in June, making…

Democrats team for effort to end doctrine shielding police as GOP backs off

Three senators proposed a bill Wednesday to end qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that critics say is shielding law enforcement and government officials from accountability. The legislation, proposed by Democratic Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, codifies that qualified immunity…

Trump’s resistance led intel agencies to brief him less and less on Russia

President Donald Trump‘s resistance to intelligence warnings about Russia led his national security team, including those who delivered the President’s Daily Brief to brief him verbally less often on Russia-related threats to the US, multiple former Trump administration officials who briefed Trump, were present for briefings and who prepared documents for his intelligence briefings tell…

Biden criticizes Trump administration appointees with history of Islamophobic and offensive comments

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said this week that two recent Trump administration appointees to the Pentagon and US Agency for International Development “have no business serving in high positions in our government” because of past Islamophobic and offensive comments on social media. “In Washington, ‘personnel is policy.’ Yet, President Trump continually chooses individuals…

Fact-checking Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s attacks on Dr. Fauci

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Tuesday evening took some direct shots at Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the President’s coronavirus task force. Specifically, Patrick took issue with comments that Fauci had made earlier in the day during a Senate hearing, when he…

Trump continues to claim he wasn’t briefed on Russian bounties intelligence

President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that he was not briefed on potential Russian bounties on US troops because it “didn’t rise to the occasion,” and that “many” intelligence officers “didn’t believe it happened at all.” Trump made the claim despite conflicting reports — including a US official telling CNN that intelligence about the bounties was…

Trump says he’s ‘all for masks,’ but believes coronavirus will ‘disappear’

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would have “no problem” wearing a face mask in public in certain circumstances — a pivot from his months-long refusal to wear a mask in public at events where social distancing was not always observed. When asked whether he would wear a mask, Trump told Fox Business in…

Senate Republicans fiercely oppose DC statehood as political ‘power grab’

Several Republican senators blasted the House-passed Washington, DC statehood bill on Wednesday, calling the legislation unconstitutional and a “Democratic power grab” that would “empower the most radical agenda in modern American politics.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joined GOP Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, all up for reelection this…

Richmond mayor invokes emergency powers to remove Confederate statues from city

The Democratic mayor of Richmond, Virginia, invoked his emergency powers on Wednesday to remove multiple Confederate monuments in the city, including a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, from the city’s historic Monument Avenue. Crews spent part of Wednesday afternoon removing the Jackson statue as scores of onlookers watched the monument honoring the late…

AOC, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley launch joint fundraising committee ‘Squad Victory Fund’

Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts are launching a joint fundraising committee called the “Squad Victory Fund,” the latest effort by the well-known freshmen lawmakers to support one another and their advocacy for progressive priorities. The Squad Victory Fund will be…

DC mayor says Trump’s July 4th celebration goes against best health guidance

The mayor of Washington, DC, said Wednesday that she has informed the Department of Interior that the Trump administration’s planned July Fourth celebration in Washington goes against health officials’ guidance amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We know that this is a special event for the Department of the Interior. We communicated to them that we do…

Fact check: White House press secretary makes two false claims about the Iraq War in one sentence

Facing a barrage of questions over President Donald Trump’s handling of intelligence about alleged Russian bounties to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded Tuesday by arguing that Trump has long worked to keep troops out of harm’s way. Among the things McEnany said was that Trump is “on record…

Former Joint Chiefs chairman rips Trump’s threat of military force: ‘Our fellow citizens are not the enemy’

Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, has rebuked President Donald Trump’s threats to use the military on protesters, writing that “our fellow citizens are not the enemy, and must never become so.” “Even in the midst of the carnage we…

Judge in Flynn case has mastered the art of surprise

Michael Flynn’s attorney and conservative commentator Sidney Powell sent Judge Emmet Sullivan a copy of her book in 2014, about a criminal case he handled where he obliterated the Justice Department’s work. Writing to the judge she’s called a hero, the Texas-based lawyer inscribed on the third page: “Judge Emmet Sullivan, to all those who…