Primary voting got underway in Texas this week, marking the official beginning of the 2018 congressional election campaign. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and about one-third of the 100 Senate seats will be on the ballot, with huge political consequences for President Donald Trump, his Republican allies and opposition Democrats. VOA National…
read morePresident Donald Trump is presenting a skewed picture of the decline of manufacturing in making his case for import penalties that could spark a trade war. A look at his latest statement on the subject as he prepares to impose heavy tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum: TRUMP: “From Bush 1 to present, our Country…
read moreThe U.S. special counsel in the Russian election meddling investigation has learned of two conversations in which President Donald Trump asked witnesses about matters discussed with investigators, the New York Times reported Wednesday. The newspaper, which cited three unidentified people familiar with the matter, said Trump told an aide that White House counsel Donald McGahn…
read moreThe U.S. special counsel investigating possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election has gathered evidence that a secret meeting in the Seychelles in January 2017 was an attempt to set up a back channel between the incoming Trump administration and the Kremlin, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. Erik Prince, founder of military contractor Blackwater and…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has won an arbitration proceeding against adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, his spokeswoman said Wednesday, a day after Daniels sued Trump for the right to speak about the “intimate relationship” she claims they had. A lawyer for Trump filed the arbitration proceeding against Daniels last week to seek a restraining order to…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as early as Thursday, with some trading partners receiving temporary exemptions. White House officials said Mexico and Canada would get a 30-day exception that could be extended. On Twitter Thursday, Trump said “We have to protect and build our Steel and…
read moreThe U.S. Justice Department has reached an agreement with congressional investigators to hand over confidential records about a failed gun-trafficking operation during the Obama administration known as “Fast and Furious.” In a statement issued Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department would share the documents with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on…
read morePresident Donald Trump is selling Hispanic business owners on his new tax cuts. Trump is delivering the keynote address Wednesday at the annual legislative summit of the Latino Coalition. It’s his first time addressing Hispanic business owners. The president says the $1.5 trillion package of tax cuts he signed late last year have finally given…
read morePresident Donald Trump once presided over a reality show in which a key cast member exited each week. The same thing seems to be happening in his White House. Trump’s West Wing has descended into a period of unparalleled tumult amid a wave of staff departures, yet the president insists it’s a place of “no…
read moreWomen running for Congress surged to big wins and Democrats smashed recent turnout levels in Texas’ first-in-the-nation 2018 primary elections, giving Republicans a potential glimpse of what’s ahead in the first midterms under President Donald Trump. Energized and angry Democrats in Texas, where the GOP has dominated for decades, came out in force to surpass…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was welcomed to Ethiopia Wednesday on the red carpet by Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu on the first stop on his official visit to Africa, a resource-rich continent that is becoming more closely linked with China on matters such as trade and aid. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also…
read moreTexas Democrats turned out in force ahead of the first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday in what could be an early hint of a midterm election backlash against President Donald Trump, though their party remains a long shot to dent Republican political dominance of the state. Democratic early voting across Texas’ 15 most populous counties more than doubled that…
read moreInterior Secretary Ryan Zinke says his agency should be a partner with oil and gas companies that seek to drill on public land and that long regulatory reviews with an uncertain outcome are “un-American.” Speaking Tuesday to a major energy-industry conference, Zinke described the Trump administration’s efforts to increase offshore drilling, reduce regulations, and streamline…
read moreNotable firings and resignations from President Donald Trump’s White House since he took office last year. March 6, 2018: Economic adviser Gary Cohn Feb. 28, 2018: Communications director Hope Hicks Feb. 27, 2018: Deputy communications director Josh Raffel Feb. 7, 2018: Staff secretary Ron Porter Dec. 13, 2017: Communications director for the White House Office…
read moreTop economic adviser Gary Cohn is leaving the White House after breaking with President Donald Trump on trade policy, the latest in a string of high-level departures from the West Wing. Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, has been the leading internal opponent to Trump’s planned tariffs on imports of steel and…
read moreAttorney General Jeff Sessions will travel to California to make a major announcement about sanctuary policies that limit local and state cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Sessions is expected to speak Wednesday to law enforcement officials at an annual gathering of the California Peace Officers’ Association in Sacramento. Trump administration officials have promised to crack…
read moreTwo years ago, just one Texas Democrat volunteered to run against Republican Rep. John Culberson in a metro Houston congressional district. This year, not even that failed Democrat’s double-digit loss could scare seven Democrats away from jumping in the race. As primary season opens on Tuesday with the Texas vote, Democrats across the country…
read moreThe Trump administration’s proposal to expand offshore drilling off the Pacific Northwest coast is drawing vocal opposition in a region where multimillion-dollar fossil fuel projects have been blocked in recent years. The governors of Washington and Oregon, many in the state’s congressional delegation and other top state officials have criticized Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s…
read moreWashington became the first state Monday to set up its own net-neutrality requirements after U.S. regulators repealed Obama-era rules that banned internet providers from blocking content or impairing traffic. “We know that when D.C. fails to act, Washington state has to do so,” Gov. Jay Inslee said before signing the measure that lawmakers passed with…
read moreIf Mexico, the U.S. and Canada don’t renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement in two months, Washington might put the talks on the back burner until after a new Mexican president is elected or takes office, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer said Monday. He spoke after the seventh round of renegotiation talks wrapped…
read moreThe head of the World Trade Organization told member states on Monday they must prevent “the fall of the first dominoes” in a trade war and warned of a real risk of triggering an escalation of global trade barriers and a deep recession. World trade policy is in turmoil because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s…
read moreIsabel dos Santos, the former head of Angola’s state-owned Sonangol oil company, is denying her successor’s allegations that she engaged in questionable business dealings related to the firm. In a 13-page typed statement released late Sunday, Dos Santos – Africa’s richest woman, with a net worth that Forbes business magazine estimates at $2.6 billion –…
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