Page 7 - Republican Party

Senators release $118 bn package pairing border policies with wartime aid

Senators on Sunday released a highly anticipated USD 118 billion package that pairs border enforcement policy with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies, setting off a long-shot effort to push the bill through heavy skepticism from Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. The proposal is the best chance for President Joe Biden to resupply Ukraine with wartime aid a major foreign policy goal that is shared with both the Senate's top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell. The Senate was expected this week to hold a key test vote on the legislation, but it faces a wall of opposition from conservatives. With Congress stalled on approving USD 60 billion in Ukraine aid, the US has halted shipments of ammunition and missiles to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian soldiers outgunned as they try to beat back Russia's invasion. The new bill would also invest in US defense manufacturing, send USD 14 billion in military aid to Israel, steer nearly U

Backed drone deal with India after 'painstaking discussions': Senator

A powerful US Senator has said he ended his objection to the USD 3.9 billion drone deal with India after months of "painstaking discussions" with the Biden administration which assured him that New Delhi is committed to investigating an alleged plot to assassinate a Khalistani separatist on American soil. Following the assurance from the administration, Senator Ben Cardin, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, removed his objections to the deal. The move led the State Department to notify Congress that the US Government has agreed to sell 31 armed drones to India at an estimated cost of USD 3.9 billion. The US on Thursday approved the sale of 31 MQ-9B armed drones to India at an estimated cost of USD 3.99 billion, an acquisition that will bolster India's capability to meet current and future threats by enabling unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance patrols in sea lanes of operation. Under the deal, India will get 31 High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs

US Elections 2024: Nikki Haley coins new slogan 'Make America Normal Again'

Indian-American Republican presidential candidate on Tuesday coined a new slogan -- Make America Normal Again -- as her campaign enters the critical phase ahead of the GOP's South Carolina Primary on February 23. "Our campaign has been flooded with notes and emails from folks across the country who want to make America normal again. They know that we can do better than two 80-year-old names from the past. I'm fighting every day to make you proud let's go!" Haley said as her team launched an aggressive campaign in her home state of South Carolina. The two-term governor from South Carolina, Haley, 51, is trailing by more than 30 points against former president Donald Trump in her home state where the Republican presidential primary is scheduled for February 23. She is confident of making a strong showing in the South Carolina primary and then moving to Super Tuesday states in March. "From California to North Carolina, from grandmothers to young parents, these Americans are tired of J

New York court orders Trump to pay $83.3 million for defaming Carroll

Trump wasn't in the courtroom for the verdict. A few minutes after it was announced, he continued to fight back on social media

Despite 2 losses, Haley tries to claim victory thus far in president race

Despite losing both Iowa and New Hampshire to Donald Trump,Nikki Haley is nevertheless trying to frame those losses as a victory and vowing to head off a coronation of Trump as the 2024 Republican nominee. The path through the next states to vote, however, may not be any easier. We were thrilled, Haley said during a rally before hundreds of sign-waving fans on Wednesday night in North Charleston, South Carolina, casting her second-place New Hampshire finish as a win given how little support her campaign had in its early days. We got out there, and we did our thing and we said what we had to say, and then Donald Trump got out there and just threw a temper tantrum," Haley added, referencing Trump's primary night remarks in which the former president repeatedly insulted her in a speech far angrier than his remarks after his Iowa victory. Haley did perform better in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary than she had in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier, where she finished third, well behind .

Trump preparing to cry foul if he loses election in expected Biden rematch

After he won the New Hampshire Republican primary Tuesday night, former President Donald Trump complained about his main GOP rival, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, about immigration, inflation, and his likely opponent in November, President Joe Biden. One thing he didn't complain about: Voter fraud in the election he had just won. That continues a pattern for Trump as he steamrolls through the GOP presidential primary and toward an increasingly likely November rematch with Biden. While Trump generally refrains from claiming voter fraud in elections he wins, he spends plenty of time laying the groundwork to cry fraud should he lose an upcoming vote. He's already been doing that with an eye toward November's general election. They used COVID to cheat. And they did a lot of other things, too. We're not going to let that happen, Trump said of Democrats in his Tuesday night speech to supporters in New Hampshire. You can never forget history, because if you forget, you never,

Trump celebrates DeSantis' drop out decision, ends feud ahead of 2024 polls

Donald Trump set aside months of criticism and mockery of Ron DeSantis on Sunday night, celebrating his onetime Republican rival as his newest supporter after the Florida governor ended his presidential campaign and endorsed the former president. For Trump, it's become a familiar ritual to welcome the backing of someone who once tried to take him on. Nonetheless, it was notable at Sunday's rally in New Hampshire to see Trump praise DeSantis without calling him DeSantimonious or DeSanctus, putting an end to perhaps the most bitter rivalry of Republicans' 2024 campaign. I just want to thank Ron and congratulate him on doing a very good job, Trump said at the outset of his remarks. He was very gracious, and he endorsed me. I appreciate that, and I also look forward to working with Ron. Trump described DeSantis as "a really terrific person. Earlier in the day, DeSantis said via video that he would be ending his campaign two days before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation GOP primary. Bu

Donald Trump suggests Nikki Haley out of running for VP pick as insults fly

Haley served as UN ambassador under Trump and the two fell out after she announced that she would run for the Republican nomination

Vivek Ramaswamy ruled out as Trump's running mate by ex-president's advisor

Donald Trump's top adviser has ruled out Vivek Ramaswamy as the ex-US president's running mate after the Republican frontrunner publicly criticised the Indian-American presidential candidate ahead of the Iowa caucus. The Iowa caucuses, which begin on Monday, formally kick off the beginning of the long process by which the Republicans and Democrats choose their nominees for the presidential election on November 5. Trump's top adviser, Jason Miller, told the New York Post that voters could probably rule out 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur Ramaswamy as the ex-president's running mate. Pretty safe to say it won't be Vivek, Miller was quoted as saying in the report. On Saturday, Trump, 77, lashed out at Ramaswamy, who is most closely aligned with him in the race for the Republican nomination, accusing him of deceitful campaign tricks". The former president's criticism stemmed from shirts that Ramaswamy's campaign is handing out that say 'Save Trump, Vote Vivek' on them. Ramaswamy pos

Trump criticises Ramaswamy publicly ahead of Iowa caucus

Former US president Donald Trump for the first time has lashed out at his rival Vivek Ramaswamy, who is most closely aligned with him in the race for the Republican nomination, accusing the Indian-American entrepreneur of engaging in deceitful campaign tricks". Trump's remarks came ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Monday, marking the beginning of the long process by which the Republicans and Democrats choose their nominees for the presidential election. The comments come after a series of remarks and posts by Ramaswamy, 38, that have angered Trump and his team. Trump's criticism stemmed from shirts that Ramaswamy's campaign is handing out that say 'Save Trump, Vote Vivek' on them. Ramaswamy posted a photo with a group of young men wearing them after his event in Rock Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday, which caught the former president's attention. Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter, the best President in generations,' etc. Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support i

Republicans push back on Biden plan to axe funds for anti-abortion centers

In a new twist to the fight over abortion access, congressional Republicans are trying to block a Biden administration spending rule that they say will cut off millions of dollars to anti-abortion counseling centers. The rule would prohibit states from sending federal funds earmarked for needy Americans to so-called crisis pregnancy centers, which counsel against abortions. At stake are millions of dollars in federal funds that currently flow to the organizations through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, a block grant program created in 1996 to give cash assistance to poor children and prevent out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Programs that only or primarily provide pregnancy counseling to women only after they become pregnant likely do not meet the ... standard, the Health and Human Services agency said in its rule proposal released late last year. More than 7,000 comments have been submitted on the proposed rule, which includes a series of restrictions on how .

Collected $360 mn more from rich tax cheats, says IRS amid funding concerns

The IRS says it has collected an additional USD 360 million in overdue taxes from delinquent millionaires as the agency's leadership tries to promote the latest work it has done to modernise the agency with Inflation Reduction Act funding that Republicans are threatening to chip away. Leadership from the federal tax collector held a call with reporters on Thursday to give updates on how the agency has used a portion of the tens of billions of dollars allocated to the agency through Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022. Along with the USD 122 million collected from delinquent millionaires last October, now nearly half a billion dollars in back taxes from rich tax cheats has been recouped, IRS leaders say. The announcement comes as the IRS braces for a more severe round of funding cuts. The agency cuts previously agreed upon by the White House and congressional Republicans in the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress last year which ..

Any charges against me will open 'Pandora's box', says Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump has long vowed to prosecute President Joe Biden if Trump wins November's election and the two trade places. He upped the stakes dramatically Tuesday, contending that if criminal charges against him aren't dropped, any current and future ex-presidents also could be prosecuted. I feel that as a president, you have to have immunity, very simple, Trump said after a court hearing where a panel of three federal judges seemed deeply skeptical of his attorneys' arguments that presidents have immunity from prosecution for official business. It's the opening of a Pandora's box and it's a very, very sad thing that's happened with this whole situation. Trump said Biden might not be the only one targeted. Former President Barack Obama could end up being prosecuted, he said, citing Obama administration drone strikes in the Middle East that killed a U.S. citizen who was identified as a leader of the terrorist group al-Qaida and that man's 16-year-old son, also a U.S. .

Trump to return to federal court as judges hear arguments on his immunity

Donald Trump is set to return for the first time in months to the federal courthouse in Washington as an appeals court hears arguments Tuesday on whether the former president is immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The outcome of the arguments carries enormous ramifications both for the landmark criminal case against Trump and for the broader, and legally untested, question of whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for acts committed in the White House. It will also likely set the stage for further appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, which last month declined a request to weigh in but could still get involved later. A swift decision is crucial for special counsel Jack Smith and his team, who are eager to get the case now paused pending the appeal to trial before the November election. But Trump's lawyers, in addition to seeking to get the case dismissed, are hoping to benefit from a protracted appeals process that ..

With a week to go for Iowa's caucuses, Donald Trump appears strong

When Donald Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign after a disappointing midterm election for Republicans, his trajectory was something of a mystery. But seven days before Iowa's kick-off caucuses, his standing among the GOP faithful is hardly in doubt. Voters, campaign operatives and even some of the candidates on the ground here overwhelmingly agree that the Republican former president is the prohibitive favourite heading into the January 15 caucuses whether they like it or not. Everybody sees the writing on the wall, said Angela Roemerman, a 56-year-old Republican from Solon, Iowa, as she waited for former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley to arrive for a weekend rally at Field Day Brewing Co. in North Liberty. It's a little depressing, Roemerman said as her order of tortilla chips arrived, lamenting all the drama surrounding Trump. We don't need another four years. But Trump's going to win. Just beneath all the perceived certainty about Trump's victory, however, lie

Trump attacks Biden over 'threat to democracy' remark in his campaign

Biden described Trump as a clear threat to democracy who could not be trusted with a second term

US supreme court agrees to hear Donald Trump's Colorado ballot appeal

The justices will hear the case on an expedited basis, with arguments on February 8

Harvard plagiarism row: Gay defends research, calls it 'ideological battle'

The school's first Black president stepped down after allegations of plagiarism in her work and anger over the university's handling of antisemitism on campus following Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel

Harvard Prez Claudine Gay resigns amid backlash over antisemitism testimony

Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned on Tuesday amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school's conduct policy. Gay announced her departure, which came just months into her tenure, in a letter to the Harvard community. She and the presidents of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania came under fire last month for their lawyerly answers to a line of questioning from New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the colleges' code of conduct. The three presidents had been called before the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce to answer accusations that universities were failing to protect Jewish students amid rising fears of antisemitism worldwide and fallout from Israel's intensifying war in Gaza, which faces heightened criticism for the mounting ...

Nikki Haley leaves out slavery when asked about reasons behind Civil War

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was asked Wednesday by a New Hampshire voter about the reason for the Civil War, and she didn't mention slavery in her response leading the voter to say he was astonished by her omission. Asked during a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, what she believed had caused the war the first shots of which were fired in her home state of South Carolina Haley talked about the role of government, replying that it involved the freedoms of what people could and couldn't do. She then turned the question back to the man who had asked it, who replied that he was not the one running for president and wished instead to know her answer. After Haley went into a lengthier explanation about the role of government, individual freedom and capitalism, the questioner seemed to admonish Haley, saying, In the year 2023, it's astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word slavery. What do you want me to say about slavery?" Haley ..