Sorted by date Results 1 - 14 of 14
WASHINGTON (AP) — Buoyed by word that the special counsel didn't find collusion with Russia, President Donald Trump is voicing new interest in policymaking, including a fresh effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare." But Trump has few detailed policy proposals to back up his words, suggesting he's as focused on highlighting issues that appeal to his political base as actually enacting legislation. Trump stressed his desire to revive his failed effort to kill the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, a pivot to health care that both broadens and c...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has beefed up its legal team. Its political team is ready to distract and disparage. And President Donald Trump is venting against Democratic prying. Trump's plan for responding to the multiplying congressional probes into his campaign, White House and personal affairs is coming into focus as newly empowered Democrats intensify their efforts. Deploying a mix of legal legwork and political posturing, the administration is trying to minimize its exposure while casting the president as the victim of overzealous p...
WASHINGTON (AP) — There was no mistaking the odd man out. Wednesday's funeral service for former President George H.W. Bush served as a rare reunion of the remaining members of the presidents club, but the front-row banter among Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and their spouses came to an uneasy end when President Donald Trump and wife Melania arrived. The encounter was a real-time illustration of the uneasy ties between the current occupant of the White House and his predecessors, suggesting Trump as a member-in-name-only of the Ov...
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Hurricane Florence bore down on the U.S. on Thursday, President Donald Trump angrily churned up the devastating storm of a year earlier, disputing the official death count from Hurricane Maria and falsely accusing Democrats of inflating the Puerto Rican toll to make him "look as bad as possible." Public health experts have estimated that nearly 3,000 perished because of the effects of Maria. But Trump, whose efforts to help the island territory recover have been persistently criticized, was having none of that. He said j...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Will he or won't he? President Donald Trump is sowing confusion about whether he's committed to keeping the government open through the fall elections or would willingly shut it down to secure more money for his promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump on Tuesday escalated his public threats of a government shutdown, even as he has told aides privately that he won't make any move until after the midterm elections. The president tweeted Tuesday that he did not care about the "political ramifications," adding that "a G...
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — A family separation crisis of his own making continues at the border. His Environmental Protection Agency chief just quit amid mounting scandals. And he's about to meet with an adversary accused of meddling in the 2016 election. But President Donald Trump has every confidence that on Monday night, the nation's attention will be right where he wants it. After more than a week of pitched speculation, Trump will go on prime-time television to reveal his choice to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring J...
WASHINGTON (AP) — After days of frenzied lobbying and speculation, President Donald Trump decided on federal appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh for his second nominee to the Supreme Court, setting up a ferocious confirmation battle with Democrats as he seeks to shift the nation's highest court further to the right. Trump chose Kavanaugh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. With customary fanfare, Trump planned to unveil his choice on prime-time TV. His final options were all young federal judges who could help remake the court for decades t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rapid-fire diplomacy played out on two continents Tuesday in advance of an "expected" summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, the strengthening resolve coming after a series of high-risk, high-reward gambits by the two leaders. Officials won't say that the June 12 Singapore summit is back on, but preparations on both sides of the Pacific are proceeding as if it is. Two weeks of hard-nosed negotiating, including a communications blackout by the North and a public cancellation by the U.S., appeared t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — "Everybody plays games," President Donald Trump declared Friday as he suggested the potentially historic North Korean summit he had suddenly called off might be getting back on track. His sights set on a meeting that has raised hopes for a halt in North Korea's nuclear weapons development, Trump welcomed the North's conciliatory response to his Thursday letter withdrawing from the Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un. Rekindling hopes as quickly as he had doused them, Trump said it was even possible the meeting could take place o...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Weeks before his planned North Korea summit, President Donald Trump is staring down a dealmaker's worst nightmare: overpromising and under-delivering. As the Singapore meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un draws near, the president and his allies are growing increasingly anxious about how he can score a win on the world stage. While Trump has not suggested he wants to back out, he has struggled to define his objectives for the historic sit-down and last week he drew fresh criticism from his foreign foil. "I think t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Who sits where? What's on the agenda? Will they eat together? What's the security plan? President Donald Trump and his team have a daunting to-do list to work through as they prepare for next month's expected summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump's plan to meet with Kim may have come as a surprise decision, but his team hopes to leave nothing to chance when they come together in Singapore. They're gaming out policy plans, negotiating tactics, even menu items. With two unpredictable leaders, it's hard to a...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted that all was "very calm and calculated" at the White House, even as he vented Wednesday about the Russia probe, complained about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and served noticed that "nice and new and 'smart'" missiles will be coming down on Syria. Trump, who was so incensed by the FBI's raid of his personal attorney's office and hotel room that he's privately pondered firing Rosenstein, let loose on Twitter Wednesday against the deputy attorney general and special counsel Robert M...
WASHINGTON (AP) — With federal agents digging into his personal affairs, Donald Trump drove his West Wing into deeper tumult Tuesday, canceling a South American trip to consider a military strike in Syria and bidding farewell to another top aide amid a continual staffing shakeup. Trump, still fuming after agents on Monday raided the office of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has privately pondered firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and publicly mused about firing special counsel Robert Mueller. The raid, in which agents s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Denouncing the suspect as an "animal," President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged tougher immigration measures based on skills and other merit rather than a lottery after the deadly truck attack in New York City. Trump noted during a Cabinet meeting that the driver in Tuesday's attack entered the country through the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program" and called on Congress to "immediately" begin working to eliminate the program, which applies to countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. Trump added, "We have to get m...
