Political Headlines
Mayorkas faces icy Senate Republicans day after impeachment case dismissed
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faced an icy reception from Senate Republicans on Thursday, one day after the swift dismissal of the GOP impeachment case brought against him over his handling of immigration policy and the southern border.Mayorkas was on Capitol Hill to testify about President Joe Biden's 2025 budget proposal and make the case to lawmakers for additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security.But what unfolded on Wednesday was still top of mind for some Republican senators, who blasted the secretary's leadership and scorned Democrats for voting down the impeachment articles against Mayorkas as unconstitutional."Yesterday, your impeachment trial ensued in the Senate," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in his opening statement. "I don't see ... Read More
Ignoring Trump, Arizona Republicans don’t want to move too fast to repeal 1864 abortion ban
Arizona state capitol building. Via KingWu/Getty Images(PHOENIX) -- Arizona's Republican lawmakers made clear on Wednesday, despite the controversy engulfing their state with the revival of a strict, Civil War-era abortion ban -- roiling the politics of the key battleground and drawing criticism from top conservatives like Donald Trump -- that it's not the time to move too quickly."Legislatures are not built for knee-jerk reactions," state House Speaker Ben Toma said during a floor session as the GOP majority, with one exception, blocked a Democratic-led effort to fast-track a bill to repeal the 1864 abortion ban that the Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled is enforceable."The last thing we should be doing today is rushing a bill through the legislative process to ... Read More
Biden, in counter to RFK Jr., to get endorsement of other Kennedy family members
Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz(WASHINGTON) -- President Joe Biden is wrapping up a three-day Pennsylvania campaign swing in Philadelphia on Thursday with an endorsement by 15 members of the politically famous Kennedy family -- a counter to the political threat from RFK Jr.In speech excerpts released by the Biden campaign from Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, she will say another Donald Trump presidency would "horrify" her father."We can say today, with no less urgency, that our rights and freedoms are once again in peril," Kennedy is expected to say. "That is why we all need to come together in a campaign that should unite not only Democrats, but all Americans, including Republicans, ... Read More
Supreme Court to decide if ban on homeless encampments is ‘cruel and unusual’
ABC News(GRANTS PASS, Ore.) -- Just past the outfield fence of the local little league ballpark, homeless residents of this sleepy Oregon town erect tents to spend the night protected from cold and rain.“It’s public access, plain and simple,” said Brandon, 38, a Grants Pass native who says the death of his wife three years ago plunged him into a financial crisis that cost him a permanent home.The city, seeing a menace in its parks, wants unhoused residents like Brandon prohibited from camping on public land.“When kids practice on that field and there’s needles and stuff like that,” said local state representative Dwayne Younker, “is it safe to have a kid play in the park where there's a tent 20 ... Read More
Sarah Sanders’ office potentially violated state law in $19K lectern controversy, audit finds
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, governor of Arkansas, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, May 2, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)(WASHINGTON) -- The little-seen, $19,000 lectern at the center of a controversy in Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' office was made available for viewing on Tuesday night -- after a monthslong audit into how the lectern was procured and paid for found that Sanders' staff potentially violated several state laws.The governor's office responded by characterizing the investigation as "a waste of taxpayer resources and time" and called the audit report "deeply flawed.""The facts outlined in the report demonstrate what the governor's office said all along: we followed the law, and the state was fully reimbursed with ... Read More
Johnson hawks $95 billion Israel, Ukraine aid package amid threats to speakership
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Speaker Mike Johnson and other House Republican leaders released a $95 billion foreign aid package Wednesday that provides funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan – as Congress continues to grapple with a response to actions taken by Russia, Iran and China that have defied the international community.The package includes $26.4 billion for Israel aid, including $4 billion to replenish Israel Iron Dome defense system, $60.8 billion for Ukraine aid, including $23 billion for replenishing weapons and $8.1 billion for Indo-Pacific aid.Johnson, who is facing a small revolt within his own conference and will need to rely on Democratic votes to advance the package, told members to expect a final passage vote on ... Read More
Biden promises union workers to keep US Steel ‘American-owned, American-operated’
Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images(PITTSBURGH) -- President Joe Biden on Wednesday continued his 2024 campaign swing through Pennsylvania, speaking to the United Steelworkers union as he proposed tripling tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum and denouncing the sale of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, promising union workers he will keep it a “totally American company.”“U.S. Steel has been an iconic American company for more than a century, and it should remain a totally American company," he said in Pittsburgh. "American-owned, American-operated by American union steel workers, the best in the world. And it’s -- that's going to happen, I promise you.”The acquisition by Japan’s Nippon Steel took one more step last week when U.S. Steel shareholders approved the $14.9 billion sale, despite ... Read More
Senate kills Mayorkas impeachment trial, votes both articles ‘unconstitutional’
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The Senate on Wednesday dismissed both impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, deeming them "unconstitutional."The trial against Mayorkas, long a target of Republican criticism over his handling of immigration policy and the southern border, lasted just three hours after senators were sworn in as jurors.The votes to dismiss both articles and adjourn the trial were along party lines, 51-49.House Republicans, back in February, approved two articles over what they called Mayorkas' failed leadership. The first article alleged Mayorkas willfully and systemically refused to comply with the law on immigration policy and the second accused him of breaching public trust. The Cabinet secretary, the first to be impeached in nearly 150 years, had called both ... Read More
Trump, campaigning after court, comments on jurors in historic trial and seeks to spotlight crime
ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Though he remains confined to a court room on most weekdays for his New York hush money trial, which began on Monday, former President Donald Trump is adapting his schedule and his message to try and boost his bid to return to the White House.On Tuesday evening, at the end of the second day of jury selection in his trial, Trump visited a bodega in Harlem, the scene of a fatal stabbing two years ago, to criticize what he said were Democratic failures in public safety.Trump singled out the Manhattan district attorney by name, echoing his repeated accusations that Democrats are soft on crime and that the charges against him are motivated by partisanship, which prosecutors ... Read More
Congressional committee grills Columbia University president on campus antisemitism
Getty Images - STOCK(NEW YORK) -- Columbia University President Nemat "Minouche" Shafik testified Wednesday before a congressional committee investigating antisemitism on the New York City campus after two of her counterparts at other elite colleges resigned amid a backlash over their responses at a previous hearing of the same panel.Prior to letting Shafik speak, Rep. Virginia Foxx, chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, opened the hearing by calling some elite U.S. colleges "hotbeds of antisemitism and hate.""Columbia University is one of the worst of those hotbeds and we’ve seen too little, far too late done to counter that and protect students and staff," Foxx, R-North Carolina, said. "Columbia stands guilty of gross negligence at best and, at ... Read More
Nikki Haley’s next move is going to a think tank after becoming major Trump critic
Brandon Bell/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Nikki Haley has been tapped to be a chair at the Hudson Institute conservative think tank, according to a statement from the group Monday morning, marking the first major move for the former 2024 Republican presidential candidate since she left the race."When our policymakers fail to call out our enemies or acknowledge the importance of our alliances, the world is less safe. That is why Hudson's work is so critical," Haley, who previously received the group's Hudson's Global Leadership Award, said in a statement."I look forward to partnering with them to defend the principles that make America the greatest country in the world," Haley said.She will be the Walter P. Stern chair, named for the group's ... Read More
Arizona Republicans block another Democratic effort to repeal 1864 abortion ban
Getty Images - STOCK(PHOENIX) -- Arizona Republicans on Wednesday again blocked a Democratic-led effort to repeal a controversial 19th-century ban on almost all abortions in the state, which the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled is enforceable.Democrats in the state House failed to overcome procedural obstacles to advance House Bill 2677, introduced by Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, to repeal the 1864 abortion law, which predates Arizona's statehood and only provides exceptions to save the life of the pregnant woman.Only one of the Republican representatives joined with the Democratic minority, leaving them one vote short of pushing the bill forward."The last thing we should be doing today is rushing a bill through the legislative process to repeal a law that ... Read More
Who are the key players in Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial?
Justin Lane/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Jury selection began Monday in former President Donald Trump's first criminal trial over allegations that he falsified business records to conceal criminal conduct. Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels are among the witnesses expected to testify in the weeks-long Manhattan trial.Trump is accused of allegedly engaging in a scheme with his then-attorney Michael Cohen and others to influence the 2016 election by suppressing negative information about Trump's alleged sexual encounter with adult actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. He has denied the affair and all wrongdoing in the matter.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg impaneled a grand jury to hear the hush money case in 2023, which eventually voted to indict Trump.Trump is facing ... Read More
Sen. Bob Menendez may blame wife in federal corruption trial, court filing shows
Sen. Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, with his wife Nadine Arslanian, leaves US District Court, Southern District of New York, in New York City on Sept. 27, 2023, after their arraignment. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)(WASHINGTON) -- Sen. Bob Menendez may blame his wife when he stands trial next month on political corruption charges, according to a court document unsealed Tuesday after news organizations, including ABC News, fought to make it public.The potential line of defense was filed secretly earlier this year, before the judge agreed Menendez and his wife would be tried separately due to Nadine Menendez’s undisclosed medical condition. The senator’s trial is scheduled to begin May 6 in Manhattan federal court.Defense attorneys said Menendez could ... Read More
Top of page
