Politics Election category, Page 295

WASHINGTON — A veteran FBI agent who wrote derogatory text messages about Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Tuesday charging that the bureau caved to “unrelenting pressure” from the president when it fired him. The suit from Peter Strzok also alleges he was unfairly punished for expressing his political opinions, and...

Three days after a pair of mass shootings rocked the nation, a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators is promoting legislation that would standardize procedures for gun license denials across the country. Pennsylvania is among 13 states that operate their own background checks on individuals attempting to purchase firearms using the...

WASHINGTON — If President Donald Trump is serious about strengthening gun laws in the wake of two mass shootings, he should demand that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put a House-passed bill strengthening background checks up for a vote, congressional Democrats said Monday. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the...

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia will only deploy new intermediate-range missiles if the United States does, following the demise of a key nuclear pact, and called for urgent arms control talks to prevent a chaotic arms race. Putin issued his statement after the 1987 Intermediate-Range...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Democratic presidential candidates sought to lay blame Sunday on President Donald Trump following a pair of mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, saying his language against minorities promotes racial division and violence. At public events and on television, several candidates pointed to a need for more gun...

BALTIMORE — Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings took the high road in inviting President Donald Trump and other Americans to visit Baltimore but declining to respond in kind to the barrage of presidential tweets and comments disparaging him and the majority-black city he has long represented. “We are a great community,”...

LAS VEGAS — Democratic presidential candidates expressed outrage Saturday that mass shootings have become chillingly common nationwide and blamed the National Rifle Association and its congressional allies after a gunman opened fire at a shopping area near the Texas-Mexico border. “It’s not just today, it has happened several times this...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A coalition of states sued the Trump administration Friday for the second time to block a planned reduction in the penalties automakers pay when they fail to meet fuel economy standards. Twelve states and the District of Columbia sued the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for replacing...

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders — once again making a play for blue-collar workers — has received donations from across the country, including much of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Maps created by The New York Times show Sanders receiving a higher number of donations across Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh region — areas with...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says his pick for national intelligence director has decided to withdraw from the running, citing unfair media coverage. In a tweet Friday, Trump said Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas had decided to stay in Congress. Questions about Ratcliffe’s experience have dogged him since Trump...

BALTIMORE — U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings provided details Friday of a break-in at his Baltimore home last weekend, saying he scared the intruder away by yelling. President Donald Trump alluded to the incident with a new tweet Friday morning: “Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed....

President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he will put an end to two deadly diseases for Americans. “The things we’re doing in our country today, there’s never been anything like it. We will be ending the AIDS epidemic shortly in America and curing childhood cancer very shortly,” he said...

SAN ANTONIO — U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, an ex-CIA undercover officer and the lone black Republican in the House of Representatives, says he won’t seek a third term next year. The San Antonio Republican’s announcement came in a statement Thursday posted on his House web page. He’s the third Texas...

WASHINGTON — It’s the last federal report on honeybee populations we’ll see — at least for a while — and the numbers for California show the number of colonies are still decreasing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in July that it would no longer be funding a nationwide annual...

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved a $2.7 trillion spending agreement negotiated between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House, sending the deal to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. The bill passed 67-28. It was approved with more Democratic votes than Republican, a potential embarrassment for the...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are suffering an early exodus ahead of next year’s elections, hampering their uphill prospects for recapturing control from Democrats as lawmakers chafe under life in the minority, today’s razor-edged partisanship and the tweets and tantrums of President Trump. Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, this week became the...

WASHINGTON — Some of the Democratic presidential contenders dug in their heels with unsupported rhetoric about immigration, the economy and more Wednesday night as they scrambled to stay in contention for the winnowed-down debates to come. Several persisted in their distorted depiction of caged migrant children as a singular cruelty...

Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared to try to diffuse tension between he and fellow Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Wednesday’s debate, but some don’t like his tactic. CNN’s microphones appeared to pick up Biden telling Harris D-Calif., “Go easy on me kid,” to which the senator appeared to...

At first, it looked like the rematch was on. Sen. Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden, standing at center stage at the Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, were clearly ready to reprise their prior debate face-off, training their focus on each other as the debate began. But the...

DETROIT — Liberal firebrands Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren slapped back against moderate rivals who ridiculed “Medicare for All” during a fierce Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night in which lesser-known pragmatists warned that “wish-list economics” would jeopardize the presidency. The tug-of-war over the future of the party early in the...

DETROIT — Democrats gathering in Detroit for a pivotal presidential debate will have to decide, once again, how to respond to President Donald Trump while presenting their own vision for the country. Candidates are sure to use the high-profile setting on Tuesday and Wednesday to blast Trump’s recent string of...