Page 2 - Us Republicans

Obama to lead key rallies as Virginia, New Jersey gear up for polls

Former President Barack Obama will headline rallies Saturday for Democrats running for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, corralling voters ahead of elections that may signal the national mood 10 months into Donald Trump's second presidency and a year ahead of midterm elections that could reshape it. Republicans in those states are stumping as well on the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday's elections, but without the national star power. And on the west coast, California advocates are making a final push ahead of a statewide referendum over whether to redraw the state's congressional map in Democrats' favour. The effort backed by Gov Gavin Newsom is part of a national redistricting battle that began when Trump urged GOP-run states to help him keep a friendly House majority in 2026. Obama, the Democrat whom Trump succeeded when he first assumed the presidency, will appear first Saturday with Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger in Norfolk. Obama

Republican leaders reject Trump's demands to scrap Senate filibuster

Back from a week abroad, President Donald Trump threw himself into the shutdown debate, calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster and reopen the government, an idea swiftly rejected Friday by Republican leaders who have long opposed such a move. Trump pushed his Republican Party to get rid of the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to overcome objections and gives the minority Democrats a check on GOP power. In the chamber that's currently split, 53-47, Democrats have had enough votes to keep the government closed while they demand an extension of health care subsidies. Neither party has seriously wanted to nuke the rule. THE CHOICE IS CLEAR INITIATE THE NUCLEAR OPTION,' GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER, Trump said in a late night social media post Thursday. Trump's sudden decision to assert himself into the shutdown now in its 31st day bringing the highly charged demand to end the filibuster is certain to set the Senate on edge. It could spur senators toward their own compromise or

4 Republicans back US Senate's resolution to undo Trump's global tariffs

The Senate passed a resolution Thursday that would undo many of President Donald Trump's tariffs around the globe, the latest note of displeasure at his trade tactics in Washington that came just as the president celebrated his negotiations with China as a success. After a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, Trump said he would cut tariffs on the Asian economic giant and China would, in turn, purchase 25 million metric tons of US soybeans annually for the next three years. The Republican president claimed his trade negotiations would secure prosperity and security to millions of Americans. But back in Washington, senators several from Trump's Republican Party have demonstrated their dissent with Trump's tariff tactics by passing a series of resolutions this week that would nullify the national emergencies that Trump has declared to justify the import taxes. Already this week, the Senate approved resolutions to end tariffs imposed on Brazil and Canada. While the .

Senate Republicans head to White House amid stalemate on shutdown

As the government shutdown enters its fourth week, Senate Republicans are headed to the White House on Tuesday not for urgent talks on how to end it, but for a display of unity with President Donald Trump as they refuse to negotiate on any Democratic demands. Senate Democrats, too, are confident in their strategy to keep voting against a House-passed bill that would reopen the government until Republicans, including Trump, engage them on extending health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year. With both sides showing no signs of movement, it's unclear how long the stalemate will last even as hundreds of thousands of federal workers will miss another paycheck in the coming days and states are sounding warnings that key federal programmes will soon lapse completely. And the meeting at the White House appears unlikely, for now, to lead to a bipartisan resolution as Senate Republicans are dug in and Trump has followed their lead. I think the president's ready to get involv

'Humbled' but unfazed, says George Santos after Trump commutes his sentence

Freed from the prison where he had been serving time for ripping off his campaign donors, former US Rep George Santos says he's humbled by his experience behind bars but unconcerned about the pearl clutching of critics upset that President Donald Trump granted him clemency. I'm pretty confident if President Trump had pardoned Jesus Christ off the cross, he would have had critics," Santos said on Sunday in an interview on CNN. Santos, who won office after inventing a bogus persona as a Wall Street dealmaker, pleaded guilty to fraud and identity theft last year and began serving a seven-year sentence in July at a prison in New Jersey. But Trump ordered his release on Friday after he served just 84 days. Trump called Santos a rogue, but said he did not deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican. Speaking on CNN's State of the Union, Santos said he had learned a great deal and had a very large slice of humble pie, if not the whole pie while in prison. He also

Trump honours late activist Charlie Kirk with Presidential Medal of Freedom

US President Donald Trump added that it was a "definite" decision to make it back for the event, which coincided with what would have been Kirk's 32nd birthday

Senate GOP blocks bid to curb Trump's military strikes on drug cartels

Senate Republicans voted down legislation Wednesday that would have put a check on President Donald Trump's ability to use deadly military force against drug cartels after Democrats tried to counter the administration's extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers to destroy vessels in the Caribbean. The vote fell mostly along party lines, 48-51, with two Republicans voting in favour and one Democrat voting against. It was the first vote in Congress on Trump's military campaign, which according to the White House has so far destroyed four vessels, killed at least 21 people and stopped narcotics from reaching the US. The war powers resolution would have required the president to seek authorisation from Congress before further military strikes on the cartels. The Trump administration has asserted that drug traffickers are armed combatants threatening the United States, creating justification to use military force. But that assertion has been met with some unease on Capitol ...

New York's Statue of Liberty torch may go dark as US govt shutdown drags on

The shutdown threatens to close New York's Statue of Liberty and freeze billions in federal funds, hitting social services, safety programmes and city infrastructure

'For Charlie': Trump, Musk reunite at Kirk's memorial, hint at thaw in ties

The two were observed speaking in a private suite during the service, with a White House social media account highlighting their interaction

Trump predicts US govt could shut down on Oct 1 amid funding stalemate

Democrats are demanding a boost to health care spending while Republicans refuse to go along and instead back a simple bill to keep the lights on through Nov 21

Who is Brendan Carr? The regulator behind Jimmy Kimmel's suspension

Since Carr began leading the FCC in January, he has continued pulling from that playbook, making his priorities known and leaving the door open for companies to take steps to please him

ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel's show indefinitely over remarks on Kirk's death

ABC has suspended Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely after comments that he made about Charlie Kirk's killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say it would not air the show. Kimmel, the veteran late-night comic, made several comments about the reaction to Kirk's assassination on his show Monday and Tuesday nights. He said that many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalise on the murder of Charlie Kirk. ABC, which has aired Kimmel's late-night show since 2003, moved swiftly after Nextstar Communications Group said it would pull the show starting Wednesday. Kimmel's comments about Kirk's death are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar's broadcasting division. Nexstar operates 23 ABC affiliates. There was no immediate comment from Kimmel. On Twitter Wednesday night, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich posted: Welcome to Consequence Culture. Normal, common sense

Suspect in Kirk shooting to face charges today before first court hearing

Prosecutors are preparing to file a capital murder charge Tuesday against the Utah man who authorities say held a leftist ideology and may have been radicalised online before he was arrested in the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Charges against 22-year-old Tyler Robinson are expected to come ahead of the first court hearing since he was accused last week of shooting Kirk, a conservative activist credited with energising the Republican youth movement and helping President Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024. Investigators have been piecing together evidence, including a rifle and ammunition engraved with anti-fascist and meme culture messaging, found after the shooting Wednesday at Utah Valley University in Orem. Kirk was speaking there on one of his many campus visits where he relished debating just about everyone. Prosecutors in Utah County are considering several charges against Robinson, the most serious being aggravated murder because it could bring the death penalty i

Vance hosts Kirk's radio show from White House to honour his 'friend'

Vice President JD Vance on Monday hosted the radio programme of Charlie Kirk, the influential conservative activist who was assassinated last week, telling listeners that the best way he knows how to honour his friend is to be a better husband and father. Vance hosted The Charlie Kirk Show from his ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. The livestream of the two-hour programme was broadcast in the White House press briefing room and featured a series of appearances by White House and administration officials who knew the 31-year-old Kirk. Vance, who transported Kirk's body home to Arizona aboard Air Force Two last week, opened by saying he was filling in for somebody who cannot be filled in for, but I'll do my best. The Republican vice president, 41, was especially close to Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, one of the nation's largest political organisations with chapters on high school and college campuses. The two began a friendshi

Trump admin joins Republican campaign to police speech after Kirk's murder

Vice President JD Vance on Monday jumped onto the conservative movement demanding consequences for those who have cheered Charlie Kirk's killing, calling on the public to turn in anyone who says distasteful things about the assassination of his friend and political ally. "When you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, call them out," Vance urged listeners on the slain activist's podcast Monday. "And hell, call their employer." Vance's call also included a vow to target some of the biggest funders of liberal causes as conservatives stepped up their targeting of private individuals for their comments about the killing. It marked an escalation in a campaign that some warned invoked some of the darkest chapters of American history. "The government involvement in this does inch this closer to looking like McCarthyism," said Adam Goldstein of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, referring to the 1950s campaign to root out communists that led to false allegations and ..

Trump seeks to change census data, exclude illegal immigrants in US

President Donald Trump said Thursday he has instructed the Commerce Department to change the way the Census Bureau collects data, seeking to exclude immigrants who are in the United States illegally. The Republican president said on his social media platform the census' data collections will be based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024, an indication he might try to inject his politics into survey work that measures everything from child poverty to business operations. Trump stressed that as part of the changes people in our Country illegally will be excluded from census counts. His Truth Social post fits into an overall pattern in which he has tried to reshape basic measures of how US society is faring to his liking. Last Friday, Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labour Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after standard revisions to the monthly jobs report showed that employers added 258,00

US Senate approves Trump's $9 bn cut on foreign aid, public broadcasting

US Senate narrowly passes $9 billion Trump budget cut targeting public broadcasting and foreign aid; measure heads to House amid mounting criticism

Trump slams Republicans pushing for Epstein Files as 'stupid people'

Trump's comments followed a social media post earlier in the day in which he cast the clamor for documents related to Epstein as a new SCAM and expressed dismay

'Credible Epstein files should be released', says Trump amid MAGA backlash

Trump flip-flops on the release of the 'Epstein files' as his supporters express outrage on the lack of transparency, fuelling speculation about potential cover-ups involving high-profile figures

Republican governors push DOGE programmes, embrace cost-cutting brand

The brash and chaotic first days of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, once led by the world's richest man Elon Musk, spawned state-level DOGE mimicry as Republican governors and lawmakers aim to show they are in step with their party's leader. Governors have always made political hay out of slashing waste or taming bureaucracy, but DOGE has, in some ways, raised the stakes for them to show that they are zealously committed to cutting costs. Many drive home the point that they have always been focused on cutting government, even if they're not conducting mass layoffs. I like to say we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in announcing her own task force in January. Critics agree that some of these initiatives are nothing new and suggest they are wasteful, essentially duplicating built-in processes that are normally the domain of legislative committees or independent state auditors. At the same time, some governors are using