Senate Republicans are beginning to sour on Christopher Wray. They’re not ready to push for the FBI director’s firing as some of President Donald Trump’s most fervent allies have demanded, but they’re looking for speedier action on Trump’s desires to “clean up” the Justice Department. “I’m not calling on [Trump] to make a change, but…
Melinda Gates on Thursday gave the Trump administration low marks for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that more money is needed for testing and vaccine development in the United States and across the world. Gates — co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated billions of dollars to health research…
Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is about to unleash a massive negative ad campaign against Joe Biden — the president’s most aggressive effort yet to damage his Democratic opponent. With Trump’s poll numbers sagging amid his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the offensive underscores how his advisers believe they must turn the race into a choice…
Top Democratic lawmakers say the Trump administration should share with Congress the allegedly “enormous” evidence showing that the coronavirus sprang from a Chinese lab. Otherwise, they warn, the administration should quit hyping questionable information. The demands come as President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo push the theory that Covid-19 somehow emerged from…
Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair has a message for President Donald Trump and other Western leaders as they grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at a POLITICO online event on Wednesday, Blair urged governments to resist the pull of nationalism amid the crisis, calling the current debates between “globalizers and non-globalizers” a distraction…
China’s behavior during the coronavirus pandemic will help to "sharpen opinion" in the U.K. toward its security ties with Beijing, the chairman of the United Kingdom’s parliamentary defense committee said. The U.K. government is undergoing a "mindset change" with regard to Beijing "not least because of the attitude, the conduct of China throughout Covid-19," said…
Congress rushed to get hundreds of billions of dollars out the door to help small businesses amid a collapsing economy. Now lawmakers are preparing to fix the glitches in the next round. Banks have agreed to lend out more than $500 billion of the $670 billion allocated in the first phases of the small business…
The Trump White House is planning to wind down its coronavirus task force in the coming weeks and instead ask agencies to take control of the response efforts. “We’re having a conversation about that and about what the proper time is for the task force to complete its work,” Vice President Mike Pence said at…
America’s governors indicated Sunday they are continuing to walk a fine line in dealing with a global pandemic and economic desperation, as well as pushing back against a backlash over the measures designed to curb the spread of Covid-19. Governors from both parties discussed a range of difficult choices that would have been almost unimaginable…
Michael Cohen’s early release from prison was delayed without explanation, one of his lawyers said Saturday in a statement that also said President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney was being held “in the functional equivalent of solitary confinement.” Cohen adviser and friend Lanny Davis did not directly allege any political meddling in the handling of…
Jared Kushner raised eyebrows Wednesday when he proclaimed on Fox News that the White House’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was a “great success story.” “The federal government rose to the challenge," the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law said. "I think that that’s really, you know, what needs to be told." The statement quickly took…
The House Judiciary Committee demanded Thursday that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testify on whether the company misled Congress about the data tactics it deploys against rivals, setting up a major potential fight with the company. The committee’s Democratic leaders said last week that the company might have given lawmakers false information last year about whether…
A tiny airport in Devils Lake, N.D., scored enough money under the federal stimulus law to cover its expenses for 50 years. But one of the country’s busiest airports, JFK International in New York, got barely enough aid to make it through three months of operations. Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration wrote the legislation…
With reports of new coronavirus cases flattening and the number of hospitalizations falling, New Jersey is now shipping ventilators it received from the federal stockpile to hospitals in other states, Gov. Phil Murphy said during his daily briefing on Wednesday. New Jersey will send 50 ventilators to Massachusetts, which has started to see a spike…
The Food and Drug Administration is dealing with a flood of inaccurate coronavirus antibody tests after it allowed more than 120 manufacturers and labs to bring the tests to market without an agency review. The tests, which look for antibodies that reveal whether a person has been exposed to the virus, have been eyed as…
This article was reported in collaboration with Zachary Warmbrodt, Susannah Luthi, John Hendel, Ryan McCrimmon, Michael Stratford, Brian Faler and Brianna Gurciullo. Congress’ mad dash to shovel nearly $3 trillion into the economy and rescue failing industries met little resistance as the coronavirus crisis overwhelmed communities across the country. But now the hangover has set…
An EU report about Chinese and Russian disinformation on coronavirus was watered down after pressure from Beijing. Three people confirmed to POLITICO that Chinese diplomats exerted pressure on the EU to change the wording of the report, details of which were first reported in Brussels Playbook on Tuesday. The report — on "narratives and disinformation"…
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Friday he would pledge to recognize the Armenian genocide if elected president. President Donald Trump and past U.S. presidents have chosen to sidestep the issue. "If elected, I pledge to support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority," Biden said on…
A 1993 video has surfaced that appears to show the mother of Tara Reade, the former aide to Joe Biden who has accused him of sexual assault, talking about "problems" her daughter faced on CNN’s "Larry King Live." As first reported by the Intercept, an unnamed woman from San Luis Obispo, California, called into King’s…
Health care providers in coronavirus hot spots will receive $10 billion in bailout funds as early as next week, and hospitals will soon receive money for treating uninsured patients, the Trump administration said Wednesday. The new plans for spending down a hospital rescue fund Congress approved almost a month ago came amid cries from Republican…