Politics

Presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden announced new plans to expand Medicare eligibility and forgive some student debt as he adapts his policy platform ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election to take into account the pandemic hit to the economy. Biden said in a Medium post on Thursday that he would lower the age for Medicare eligibility to 60, at which point people would have the option of sticking with their employer plans or opting into Medicare. “This would make Medicare available to a set of Americans who work hard and retire before they turn 65, or who would prefer to leave their employer plans, the public option, or other plans they access through the Affordable Care Act before they retire,” Biden wrote. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the 11th Democratic candidates debate in Washington on March 15, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/Reuters) He said the proposal takes into account the likely scenario that after the CO..

Attorney General William Barr said that the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016 was “one of the greatest travesties in American history.” The attorney general told Fox News on April 9 that he is troubled by the findings from the ongoing investigation into the FBI by U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is looking into the origins of the probe as well as what the bureau did after Donald Trump was elected president. “My own view is that the evidence shows that were not dealing with just the mistakes or sloppiness,” Barr told Fox Newss Laura Ingraham. “There was something far more troubling here. Were going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted.” Barr told Congress last year the FBI spied on the Trump campaign. He said on Thursday that the president “has every right to be frustrated” by the investigation. The Department of Justice Inspector General found that the FBIs applications to the For..

WASHINGTON—Melania Trump is spreading some colorful Easter cheer to workers on the front lines of the pandemic caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. With the annual White House Easter Egg Roll canceled due to concerns about large gatherings, the first lady is giving 25,000 commemorative wooden eggs to area childrens hospitals, federal agencies, aid groups and grocery store chains. The pastel-colored eggs would have been handed out to participants in the egg roll on April 13, the day after Easter. The eggs are being delivered Wednesday and Thursday to Childrens National Hospital, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Red Cross and local grocery store chains as a “small token of appreciation” for those serving the public, her office said. Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, said this years eggs,..

The FBI was advised that a portion of the infamous Steele dossier was likely the product of a Russian disinformation campaign meant to harm U.S. foreign relations, according to previously-redacted footnotes from the inspector general report on the investigation of the Trump campaign. A source also informed the FBI that former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier, had frequent contacts with Russian oligarchs which raised concerns at the bureaus Transnational Organized Crime Intelligence Unit, one of the declassified footnotes says. The Department of Justice released the footnotes (pdf) in response to a request Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.). Steeles dossier played a crucial role in the FBIs decision to apply for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee ultimately funded the dossier. “In addition ..

Attorney General William Barr said the president was right to dismiss the intelligence community inspector general who handled the anonymous whistleblower complaint that prompted a partisan impeachment against the president last year. The attorney general made the comments in a Fox News interview aired on Thursday, saying that the inspector general, Michael Atkinson, exceeded his authority when he disclosed to Congress the whistleblower complaint that centered around a phone call President Donald Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “From the vantage point of the Department of Justice, he had interpreted his statute—which is a fairly narrow statute that gave him jurisdiction over wrongdoing by intelligence people—and tried to turn it into a commission to explore anything in the government and immediately reported to Congress without letting the Executive Branch look at it and determine whether there was any problem,” Barr said during the interview. On April 3, Trum..

Democrats and Republicans have yet to formally reveal their priorities for the phase 4 pandemic relief legislation, but there have been hints about infrastructure from the right and funding for vote-by-mail from the left. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said infrastructure will need to wait as funding for things like vote-by-mail is more pressing. Democrats say vote-by-mail will allow more people to actively participate in the democratic process, but those against say it leads to fraud and weakens the integrity of the voting system. This issue has already played out in the Wisconsin primary legal battle. The judgment in that case did not allow a change to vote-by-mail or change to the date of the states primary. Democrats argue that during the pandemic, voters risk getting infected at polling places, which would likely lead to low voter turnout. Republicans say that precautions can be taken to lessen the risk and that it is imperative to keep the integrity of the election system intact ev..

Wisconsin health officials are tracking cases of the CCP that may have been contracted during Tuesdays primary election. Gov. Tony Evers and other Democrats pushed to delay the election but the state Supreme Court blocked the bid, resulting in it taking place as planned. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said Friday it added more than 120 workers who will help local health officials interview every person with a confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus or Wuhan virus. Workers will notify anyone who was in contact with confirmed patients. “Contact tracing is a critical tool in our ability to effectively manage COVID-19 now and moving forward,” said state Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said in a statement. “We will continue this important work to ensure that every case is followed up on, contacted, and anyone who may have been exposed notified. We hope t..

President Donald Trump on Friday said he will soon announce a new task force dedicated to opening up the United States for business, as he describes the decision as to how to reopen the country “the biggest decision” he would ever make. Trump said he calls it the “Opening Our Country” task force or council so as not to confuse the group with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence. “Were going to have great business leaders, doctors, and a great group of people,” Trump told reporters at a press conference on Friday at the White House on the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as the novel coronavirus. A voice in the briefing room said in passing that it is like an “economic task force,” to which Trump clarified, “This is beyond economic.” He said he would probably announce the task force on Tuesday. The group is likely to meet via teleconference. “Then I will have to make a decision,” Trump said. “[Such as] do we close a li..

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators have called on President Donald Trump to ensure that first responders have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to do their jobs without being left unprotected when facing the CCP virus. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) led a group of his colleagues on the Law Enforcement Caucus and Fire Services Caucus in writing a letter to the president on Monday to address the risks that a shortage of PPE poses for first responders and the community at-large if emergency personnel are not able to do their jobs due to infection. The letter to Trump is requesting a federally coordinated effort to support first responders. “A shortage of PPE could lead to first responders unnecessarily being exposed to COVID-19 and could hamper the ability of emergency personnel to serve on the front lines during this public health crisis,” Moran said in a statement. “[We] urge you to continue exploring every possible avenue to increase the supply of PPE to put more of this criti..

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is suspending his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, he said on April 8. “Please know that I do not make this decision lightly. In fact its been a very difficult and painful decision,” Sanders told supporters in a livestream from his home in Burlington. “If I believed I had a feasible path to the nomination I would have continued this campaign.” Sanders said he understands those who want him to fight until the end, but said “I cannot in good conscience continue a campaign that cannot win,” especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The senator made the initial announcement during a conference call with campaign staffers on Wednesday morning before speaking to supporters. Sanders, who also had a failed bid in 2016, said that over the course of five years, his movement won the ideological struggle, with many Americans now supporting a $15 minimum wage and socialized healthcare. “The future of this country is with our ideas,” he claim..