Author: Reporter

Democrats in Congress released thousands of pages of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns on December 30, providing the most detailed picture to date of his finances over a six-year period, including his time in the White House, when he fought to keep the information private in a break with decades of precedent. The documents include individual returns from Trump and his wife, Melania, along with Trump’s business entities from 2015-2020. They show how Trump used the tax code to lower his tax obligation and reveal details about foreign accounts, charitable contributions and the performance of some of his...

Russia’s war in Ukraine and anti-regime protests in Iran limited both Moscow and Tehran’s ability to try to influence or interfere in the recent U.S. midterm elections, a senior American military official said. U.S. agencies were on high alert before the November 8, 2022 vote for potential cyberattacks or foreign influence operations, particularly after adversaries were judged by intelligence agencies to have meddled in the last two presidential elections. But there was little sign of disruption in the midterms. “I was surprised by the lack of activity we saw from the Russians, the Iranians, or the Chinese,” said Army...

House Republicans flailed through a second day of multiple balloting on January 4, unable to elect their leader Kevin McCarthy as House speaker or come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority. For a fourth, fifth and sixth time, Republicans tried to vote McCarthy into the top job as the House plunged deeper into disarray. But the votes were producing almost the same outcome, 20 conservative holdouts still refusing to support him, and leaving him far short of the 218 typically needed to win the gavel. In...

Vice President Kamala Harris needed to get to the U.S. Senate to break a tie. But first she had to avoid causing a traffic jam. One more senator had to vote before Harris could end the impasse, and he was in Georgetown, on the opposite side of Washington. If Harris left in her motorcade, street closures would likely cut off his route to Capitol Hill. So she waited. “I was on the phone with the senator’s staff telling them, you have to tell me when he’s in the car and when he’s crossed the threshold through downtown,” Kristine Lucius,...

Here is a quick quiz: What replaced the food pyramid, the government guide to healthy eating that stood for nearly 20 years? If you are stumped, you are not alone. More than a decade after Agriculture Department officials ditched the pyramid, few Americans have heard of MyPlate, a dinner plate-shaped logo that emphasizes fruits and vegetables. Only about 25% of adults were aware of MyPlate – and less than 10% had attempted to use the guidance, according to a study released on November 28 by the National Center for Health Statistics. Those figures for 2017-2020 showed only slight improvement...

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy failed in two rounds of voting to become House speaker on January 3, a historic defeat with no clear way out as House Republicans dug in for a long, messy start for the new Congress. Needing 218 votes in the full House, McCarthy got just 203 in both rounds — less even than Democrat Hakeem Jeffries in the GOP-controlled chamber. McCarthy had pledged a “battle on the floor” for as long as it took to overcome right-flank fellow Republicans who were refusing to give him their votes. But it was not at all clear how...