WASHINGTON — Linda Tripp, whose secretly recorded conversations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky led to the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died Wednesday at age 70. Her death was confirmed by attorney Joseph Murtha. He provided no further details. In August 1994, Tripp became a public affairs specialist...
Walters: The Pardon Power, for Good or Ill
The power of presidents and governors to overrule judges and juries by pardoning convicted felons or commuting their sentences is a vestige of ancient monarchial authority. As one history of the pardon power puts it: “The prerogative of mercy made its debut on the statutory rolls of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs during the...
GOP Veterans of Clinton’s Impeachment Urge Caution on Trump
WASHINGTON — Some have regrets. A few can’t talk about it. Others would do it all again. But the Republicans who carried out President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 are unanimous in urging caution and restraint as Congress embarks on yet another impeachment struggle, this time over accusations that President Donald Trump...
Alan Kreuger, 58, Economist for Obama and Clinton, Takes Own Life
Alan Krueger, a groundbreaking Princeton University economist who served as a top adviser in two Democratic administrations and was an authority on the labor market, has died, according to a statement from the university Monday. The economist took his own life during the weekend, according to a separate statement from...
'Dogs Fall at Home to Air Force for 1st Time Since Clinton Presidency
The Air Force Academy hadn't won a men's basketball game in Fresno since Bill Clinton's first term in the White House. The Falcons had lost nine straight times in Fresno and came into the Save Mart Center on a two-game losing skid and with a 10-15 record. But Caleb Morris...
What Is Known About Mail-Bomb Suspect and Case
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities took a man into custody Friday in Florida in connection with the mail-bomb scare that earlier widened to 12 suspicious packages, the Justice Department said. Law enforcement officers were seen on television examining a white van, its windows covered with an assortment of stickers, in the...
Zakaria: Trump's Blame Game Is Risky Business
The strong reaction to President Donald Trump's news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their Helsinki summit has yet to abate, despite administration attempts to contain the damage. Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria describes it as "the most embarrassing performance by an American president I can think of." Equally troubling, Zakaria...
Kavanaugh's Views of Presidential Power Drawing Questions
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's past writings that a president should not be distracted by lawsuits and investigations could become a flashpoint in what's already shaping up to be a contentious confirmation battle. With special counsel Robert Mueller investigating whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice, questions about whether...
Moral Leadership? It Evaporated With Clinton and Trump.
"Democrats surrendered this standard in their defense of President Bill Clinton. Republicans are abandoning this standard in their defense of President Trump. There is apparently no remaining constituency for the belief that high office should involve moral leadership." These are the powerful words of conservative Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson,...
We Bet Few Cable Talking Heads Could Pass This Impeachment Quiz
February 24 marks the 150th anniversary of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency in 1865 after the death of Abraham Lincoln. It was the first — but not the last — time in American history that a president was impeached, and took place less than three...