WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had plenty to talk about during his latest big campaign rally, regaling a friendly crowd in New Jersey with his thoughts about impeachment, the economy, the border wall, local politics and much more. But the president was conspicuously quiet about one big issue that has...
GOP Squirms as Bolton Prepares to Dish on Trump White House
WASHINGTON — For much of the last 20 years, John Bolton was a conservative poster child, a Republican hawk whose worldview helped shape the GOP establishment’s approach to dicey foreign policy questions. Now, as President Donald Trump's former national security adviser prepares to dish on his days in the White...
Trump Peace Plan Could Boost Embattled Israeli Leader
WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington Sunday night vowing to “make history” at a planned meeting with President Donald Trump for the unveiling of the U.S. administration's much-anticipated plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the high-profile meeting in Washington looks set to serve mostly as...
Bolton Book Pressures GOP to Allow Senate Witnesses
WASHINGTON — Pressure is increasing on senators to call John Bolton to testify at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial after the revelation that a draft of a book by the former national security adviser undercuts a key defense argument — that Trump never tied withholding military aid to Ukraine to his demand...
Early Voting Means 2020 Primary Is Already Here for Millions
SACRAMENTO — The Iowa caucuses are more than a week away, but millions of Americans are already free to vote. Early voting in the crush of Super Tuesday states that hold primaries on March 3 amounts to a parallel campaign for the Democratic nomination. While much of the focus is...
Study Links Impeachment Beliefs to Regular News Diets
NEW YORK — For many Americans, how they feel about issues raised during President Donald Trump's impeachment has much to do with where they get their news. A study released Friday by the Pew Research Center illustrated these tendencies, along with the growing Republican suspicion of media sources during the Trump administration....
24 Hours In, Senators Flout Quaint Impeachment Rules
WASHINGTON — So much for the Senate's quaint rules and tradition. Almost immediately after Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled in Wednesday's session of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, bored and weary senators started openly flouting some basic guidelines in a chamber that prizes decorum. A Democrat in the back row leaned...
Trump Says He's Open to Witnesses as Trial Rules Are Set
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate plunged into President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial with Republicans abruptly abandoning plans to cram opening arguments into two days but solidly rejecting for now Democratic demands for more witnesses to expose what they deem Trump’s “trifecta” of offenses. Trump himself said Wednesday he wants top aides to...
Buckle Up: What to Watch as Impeachment Trial Takes off
WASHINGTON — Senators like to float above messy politics in what's known by some as the dignified “upper chamber," home of Congress' cooler heads and lofty rhetoric. But as a court of President Donald Trump's impeachment, the Senate beginning Tuesday might seem more like the economy cabin of an oversold flight...
AP Fact Check: Distortion in Trump's Impeachment Defense
WASHINGTON — In his first formal response to impeachment charges, President Donald Trump misrepresented the testimony of a key witness who described an exchange of favors in the Ukraine matter. The claim marked a week of frequent exaggeration and distortion by the president heading into the opening statements of his impeachment trial. Just...