White House digs in on border wall demand, risking shutdown

Pushing the government to the brink of a partial shutdown, the White House is insisting that Congress provide $5 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border despite lawmaker resistance from both parties. President Donald Trump kept up the pressure on Democrats Monday, tweeting: "Time for us to save billions of dollars a year and have, at the same time, far greater safety and control!" On Sunday, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said: "We're going to do whatever is necessary to build the border wall to stop this ongoing crisis of illegal immigration."

Senate report on Russian disinformation details scale, sweep

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin give a joint news conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. less U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin give a joint news conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018.

Iowa Poll: Trump has big fan base among Iowa Republicans, but they welcome challengers

DES MOINES, Iowa President Donald Trump remains popular among Iowa Republican voters , but they want the door politely held open for GOP challengers. A new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Trump has an 81 percent approval rating among registered Republicans in Iowa.

Report: Russia used every social media platform to back Trump

A report prepared for the Senate that provides the most sweeping analysis yet of Russia's disinformation campaign around the 2016 election found the operation used every major social media platform to deliver words, images and videos tailored to voters' interests to help elect President Donald Trump - and worked even harder to support him while in office. The report, a draft of which was obtained by the Washington Post, is the first to study the millions of posts provided by major technology firms to the Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., its chairman, and Mark Warner of Virginia, its ranking Democrat.

Susan Collins on 2020 GOP primary: – I see nothing wrong with challengers’

Senator Susan Collins of Maine said Sunday she welcomes potential Republican primary challengers to President Trump while also declining to endorse the president's 2020 reelection bid. Collins, who helped defeat Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act through Congress in 2017, argued that primaries help shape policy by allowing ''a lot of viewpoints to surface.'

House Judiciary Committee subpoenas James Comey and Loretta Lynch

The House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas for former FBI director James Comey and former attorney general Loretta Lynch to appear for closed-door interviews in a probe of how federal law enforcement officials handled investigations of Hillary Clinton's emails and the Trump campaign's alleged Russia ties. The orders direct Comey to appear on Dec. 3, while Lynch is to appear on Dec. 4, to speak with members of the House Judiciary, and Oversight and Government Reform Committees.

Kansas Medicaid expansion in doubt despite governor support

Democratic and moderate Republicans lawmakers worked together last year to try to make Kansas the latest state to expand Medicaid, only to see their bipartisan effort rewarded with a veto from former conservative GOP Gov. Sam Brownback. The election this month of a governor who supports Medicaid expansion seemed to remove the biggest hurdle for those hoping to bring health coverage to thousands of the state's poor.

Washington voters weigh federal races, carbon tax, gun law

In this Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, photo, staff members for the Yes on I-1639 campaign, a gun safety initiative, prepare campaign materials at their headquarters in Seattle. Voters will decide the fate of I-1639, which would toughen background checks for people buying semi-automatic rifles, increase the age limit to 21 for buyers of those guns and require secured firearm storage in the Nov. 6, election.

Ted Cruz, Beto entered Congress at the same time. Here’s what they’ve accomplished

Since launching his bid for U.S. Senate last year, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke has painted Republican incumbent Ted Cruz as a senator whose national ambitions havedistracted him from his Texas duties. Cruz has questioned what accomplishments the congressman from El Paso has to his name.

Tom Perez struggles to defend Democratsa #MeToo record amid Keith Ellison accusations

Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez ran into trouble Sunday after insisting that the party has "never hesitated to take action" on misconduct allegations against Democratic officials, including DNC deputy chair Keith Ellison . Mr. Perez defended the DNC's refusal to call for the resignation of Mr. Ellison over his ex-girlfriend's domestic-abuse accusation, arguing that the Democratic Party has a better record of dealing with such charges than does the GOP.

Reliably red New Mexico district a “toss-up” between 2 candidates

Democrat Xochitl Torres Small is running for New Mexico's 2nd Congressional district -- long considered a Republican stronghold -- yet the race is garnering national attention because of the razor-thin margin in polling data. In 2016, the congressional district went to President Donald Trump by 10 points.

Mayor of Utah city killed in ‘insider attack’ in Afghanistan

The mayor of a Utah city was killed during an attack in Afghanistan while he was serving with the state's National Guard, the town's temporary mayor Brent Chugg confirmed to CBS Salt Lake City affiliate KUTV. North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor died Saturday in an apparent "insider attack" in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

Election Waves Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

I've been arguing for months that the ideal outcome in the midterm elections to set up Donald Trump for a landslide re-election in 2020 is for Republicans to hold the Senate and narrowly lose the House. Mr. Trump is best when he has a foil to run against - and who better than the least popular politician in America, Nancy Pelosi.

President Trump Just Moved His Rally in Texas…to a Bigger Venue

President Trump is headed to Texas on Monday to campaign for Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who is up for re-election against far-left Democrat Beto O'Rouke. Response for tickets to #MAGA rally #Houston Mon 10/22 has been HUGE and unprecedented! This will be an epic rally, so we're moving to @ToyotaCenter .