Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 51
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of copies of Donald Trump's "God Bless the USA" Bible were printed in a country that the former president has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices: China. Global trade records reviewed by The Associated Press show a printing company in China's eastern city of Hangzhou shipped close to 120,000 of the Bibles to the United States earlier this year. The estimated value of the three separate shipments was $342,000, or less than $3 per Bible, according to databases that t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years, rising through the enlisted ranks and receiving an honorable discharge. It is a record seen as one of his political strengths. Republicans are trying to turn it into a weakness. They have seized on criticism from former National Guard members denouncing Walz, the Minnesota governor, for retiring from the military in 2005 to run for Congress shortly before his unit was deployed to Iraq and for overstating the rank he held after he left t...
BATAVIA, N.Y. (AP) — The ReAwaken America Tour led by former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has carried a message of a country under siege to tens of thousands of people across the US. The tour serves as a traveling roadshow and recruiting tool for an ascendant Christian nationalist movement that has grown in power and influence inside the Republican Party. The retired three-star Army general warned the tour's audience in Batavia, New York, in August that they were in the midst of a "spiritual war" and a "political war" and urged p...
The House committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, with its latest round of subpoenas, may uncover the degree to which former President Donald Trump, his campaign and White House were involved in planning the rally — which had been billed as a grassroots demonstration — that preceded the riot. The 11 subpoenas sent this week went to people who organized or worked at the rally at the Ellipse where Trump encouraged the crowd to march to the Capitol and told them "you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have t...
A batch of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine failed quality standards and can't be used, the drug giant said Wednesday. The drugmaker didn't say how many doses were lost, and it wasn't clear how the problem would impact future deliveries. A vaccine ingredient made by Emergent BioSolutions — one of about 10 companies that Johnson & Johnson is using to speed up manufacturing of its recently approved vaccine — did not meet quality standards, J&J said. J&J said the Emergent BioSolutions factory involved had not yet been approved by the U.S. Foo...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is moving to pass the biggest new sales restrictions on tobacco products in more than a decade, with support from two unlikely backers: Marlboro-cigarette maker Altria and vaping giant Juul Labs. The legislation would raise the minimum age to purchase all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, from 18 to 21 nationwide, a step long-sought by health advocates. But in the past year Juul and Altria have emerged as the biggest supporters of the measure, blanketing Capitol Hill with lobbyists and a...
WASHINGTON (AP) — In less than three years, President Donald Trump has named more former lobbyists to Cabinet-level posts than his most recent predecessors did in eight, putting a substantial amount of oversight in the hands of people with ties to the industries they're regulating. The Cabinet choices are another sign that Trump's populist pledge to "drain the swamp" is a catchy campaign slogan but not a serious attempt to change the way Washington works. Instead of staring down "the unholy alliance of lobbyists and donors and special interests...
WASHINGTON (AP) — With e-cigarette giant Juul Labs facing a mounting number of state and federal investigations into its marketing and sales practices, a top Trump administration official pledged Friday to use all of the government's regulatory and enforcement power "to stop the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use." The Associated Press has learned that the attorneys general in Illinois and the District of Columbia are examining how Juul's blockbuster vaping device became so popular with underage teens. The company's rapid rise to the top of t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration took a key step Wednesday toward relaxing federal rules that govern the length of time truck drivers can spend behind the wheel, a move long sought by the trucking industry but opposed by safety advocates who warn it could lead to more highway crashes. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency of the Transportation Department, issued proposed changes to the "hours of service" rules , which dictate breaks truckers are required to take, and their time on and off duty. "It puts a l...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trying to tamp down calls for his resignation, Labor Secretary Alex Acosta on Wednesday defended his handling of a sex-trafficking case involving now-jailed financier Jeffrey Epstein, insisting he got the toughest deal he could at the time. In a nearly hour-long news conference, Acosta retraced the steps that federal prosecutors took in the case when he was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida a decade ago, insisting that "in our heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims." He said prosecutors w...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Libyan general who has gained control of the city of Benghazi and is believed to have ties to the CIA has hired a Texas-based lobbying firm to help him forge closer relations with the U.S. as he seeks to defeat rival militias and consolidate his hold on the North African country. Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter and his Libyan National Army have hired Linden Government Solutions, based in Houston, according to a foreign agent registration document released Tuesday by the Justice Department. Linden, which would receive about $2 m...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group gaining influence in Washington as a champion for Medicare beneficiaries is bankrolled by major health insurance companies that are trying to cash in on private coverage offered through the federal health insurance program. The Better Medicare Alliance claims a far-flung network of seniors, with a Facebook community of more than 380,000 and 110,000 signed up to receive email alerts. Its website displays profiles of "BMA Seniors" who describe private Medicare plans in glowing terms. The Associated Press found that one o...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Wednesday against 15 Russians over hacking, interference in U.S. elections and a nerve agent attack in England. In a separate action, the agency also announced plans to lift sanctions on the aluminum manufacturing giant Rusal. It comes after the department approved a plan that severed Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's control of the company. The sanctions include actions against nine Russian intelligence officers who were indicted over the summer and are accused of hacking i...
WASHINGTON (AP) — General Motors is fighting to retain a valuable tax credit for electric vehicles as the nation's largest automaker tries to deal with the political fallout triggered by its plans to shutter several U.S. factories and shed thousands of workers. Preserving the $7,500 tax incentive for buyers is crucial for GM as the company pivots from internal combustion engines in favor of building cars powered by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Yet the layoffs and plant closings could imperil GM's push to keep the incentive. It helps m...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saudi Arabia is paying influential lobbyists, lawyers and public relations experts nearly $6 million a year to engage U.S. officials and promote the Middle East nation, even after three Washington firms cut ties with the kingdom following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Among those still in Saudi Arabia's corner are high-profile Washington attorney Ted Olson and a lobbying firm headed by the former Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, according to records filed with the Justice D...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The indictment of Rep. Chris Collins on insider trading charges is drawing new attention to the freedom members of Congress have to serve on corporate boards or to buy and sell stock in industries they're responsible for overseeing. Collins, a New York Republican, has denied any wrongdoing stemming from his involvement with Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited, a biotechnology company based in Sydney, Australia. He was Innate's largest shareholder, holding nearly 17 percent of its shares. He also was a member of the company's b...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of dollars from anonymous donors are helping shape the fight over President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee as Republicans and Democrats undertake a bruising battle for ideological control of the nation's loftiest tribunal. Even before Trump's announcement Monday that he had picked Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge, advocacy groups had begun lining up for and against the nomination and said they would spend heavily to influence the outcome of what's expected to be a tumultuous confirmation process. O...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney Michael Cohen's simultaneous relationship with Donald Trump and several blue chip companies that paid him for insight into the new president strikes legal experts as unusual and has triggered questions about client confidentiality. Cohen's arrangement stands out, even in Washington where corporations, trade associations and other organizations spend upward of $3 billion annually to influence legislation and get access to the highest levels of government. He appears to have worked as Trump's personal lawyer while at t...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The gunman in a mass shooting at a Texas church last year told a military judge in 2012 he "would never allow myself to hurt someone" again while admitting to abusing his stepson and a long struggle with anger, according to Air Force records obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. The documents and transcripts offer a rare look at Devin Patrick Kelley speaking at length and in his own words, as few examples have previously surfaced in the six months since he opened fire during a Sunday service in tiny Sutherland S...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's escalating dispute with China over trade and technology is threatening jobs and profits in working-class communities where his "America First" agenda hit home. The Commerce Department has received more than 2,400 applications from companies seeking waivers from the administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which may result in duty payments of millions of dollars for larger businesses. The department has begun posting the requests online for public comment; several of the applications r...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Amazon is spending millions of dollars on lobbying as the global online retailer seeks to expand its reach into a swath of industries that President Donald Trump's broadsides haven't come close to hitting. Trump's attacks over the last week targeted what Amazon is best known for: rapidly shipping just about any product you can imagine to your door. But the company CEO Jeff Bezos founded more than two decades ago is now a sprawling empire that sells groceries in brick-and-mortar stores, hosts the online services of other c...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Online retail giant Amazon is ignoring Donald Trump's barrage of taunts and threats, focusing instead on expanding its reach into a swath of industries that the president's broadsides haven't come close to hitting. Trump has hurled one charge after another at the company over the last week. He's assailed Amazon's contract with the U.S. Postal Service as a "scam," accused the company of not paying enough taxes, and declared that its large lobbying operation gives it an unfair advantage. Much of this isn't new for Trump, who s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facebook isn't just a company. It's a behemoth, with 2.1 billion monthly users, $40 billion in revenue and more than 25,000 employees worldwide. And that leaves Washington with a daunting task: How do you tame a corporate giant? Or do you even try? "It's tricky and it's going to be hard, but there are ways it can be dealt with," says Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a former tech executive who has led investigations into Russian interference on social media over the last year as the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. "...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tucked in the massive congressional budget bill is a provision that props up the price Medicare pays for a handful of medications, costing taxpayers millions at a time when the Trump administration is vowing to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Lawmakers acted after a lobbying campaign by a small Washington state pharmaceutical company called Omeros. Its main product is a drug called Omidria, used by hospitals in cataract surgery, which had recently lost a coveted Medicare reimbursement status. Individuals associated w...
DENVER (AP) — When President Donald Trump raised the idea of banning "bump stocks" and curbing young people's access to gun, gun owners and advocates who helped his political rise talked about disloyalty and desertion. Trump's flirtation with modest gun control measures drew swift condemnation from gun groups, hunters and sportsmen who banked on the president to be a stalwart opponent to any new restrictions. He's pledging to make schools safer and reduce gun violence after the Florida school shooting. But gun advocates see a weakening r...
