Tag: Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday clashed with Mark Esper, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. defense secretary, saying he should be not be confirmed to the post because of ethical concerns related to his former lobbyist job at defense contractor Raytheon Co. The sharp exchange between Esper, the current Army secretary, and Warren was a rare contentious moment during his otherwise smooth Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, with panel members eager...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to condemn President Donald Trump for racially charged attacks against four minority Democratic congresswomen, a symbolic vote aimed at shaming Trump and his fellow Republicans who stood by him. Four Republicans joined every Democrat and one independent in voting to rebuke the president for his Sunday tweetstorm - in which he told the group of congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s nominee Mark Esper should not be confirmed as defense secretary because of ethical concerns related to his former job at defense contractor Raytheon Co. “Secretary Esper, the American people deserve to know that you are making decisions in our country’s security interests, not in your own financial interests,” Warren, who is seeking her party’s 2020 presidential nomination, said during a tense exchange at Esper’s...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration would investigate accusations that Google worked with the Chinese government, but gave no other details in his early morning tweet on Tuesday. Representatives for Google could not be immediately reached for comment on Trump’s comments, which follow accusations from one of his supporters, entrepreneur and Facebook Inc board member Peter Thiel. Source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump pressured fellow Republicans on Tuesday to stand with him and vote against a symbolic measure condemning his racially charged attacks on four Democratic congresswomen. Democrats, who have a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, were expected to pass the symbolic resolution of condemnation on Tuesday evening. But it is Republican lawmakers who will be in the spotlight as they will be forced to either vote against their party’s leader, who has strong...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives will introduce a resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s “xenophobic tweets” that have led to charges that he was stoking racist sentiments, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday. “Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the president’s xenophobic tweets,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to her Democratic colleagues in the House. The letter was sent after Trump on Sunday wrote on Twitter that four first-term congresswomen, who are minorities,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Monday said it would take steps to make it more difficult for immigrants arriving on the southern border to seek asylum in the United States, putting the onus on them to ask for shelter in other countries. The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement issued with the Department of Justice, said the interim rule would set a “new bar” for immigrants “by placing further restrictions or limitations on eligibility for aliens...

A swimming club from Washington, D.C. cleaned up at the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics world championship meet in New York City in late June, reported the Washington Blade. According to Swim Swam, the District of Columbia Aquatics Club joined some 900 aquatic athletes — more than half of them swimmers — competing in Queens, while World Pride celebrations tied to the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots were underway in Manhattan. The masters swimmers of DCAC, formed in 1988...

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has the authority to waive sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of Russian air defence systems and should find a "middle ground" in the dispute, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. Erdogan's comments came two days after NATO member Turkey took delivery of the first consignment of advanced Russian S-400 missile defence system parts, despite warnings from Washington that the move would trigger U.S. sanctions. Broadcaster Haberturk quoted Erdogan as telling Turkish journalists that...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday told a group of mostly American-born Democratic congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” a comment that was condemned by Democrats as racist. “So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe... viciously telling the people of the United States... how our government is to be run,” Trump...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Saturday that a two-year budget agreement with the Trump administration must include equal spending increases for defense and nondefense spending, plus additional money for a program to strengthen healthcare for military veterans. “We all agree on the need to address the debt limit, but we also must reach an agreement on spending priorities based upon the principle of parity as soon as possible,” the top Democrat in the House...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities plan to start arresting immigrants eligible for deportations in 10 cities this weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. Trump previously warned last month about the planned deportations, which were earlier reported by the New York Times. Source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta has tendered his resignation and will be temporarily replaced by Deputy Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said he believed Acosta had done a good job but the Labor secretary decided he had become a distraction to the administration over how he handled the sexual assault case of financier Jeffrey Epstein as a prosecutor a decade ago. ...

Facebook is on the cusp of a record-setting $5 billion government settlement over its handling of user data, a deal that would dwarf previous agreements and offer the clearest indication yet of Washington's growing interest in reeling in big tech. But the deal could also leave Facebook relatively unscathed depending on the details of the terms, which have yet to be announced. On Friday, consumer advocates and tech industry critics denounced the deal as being too soften on Facebook, though...