Category: Barack Obama

‘Apologies for nothing here’: White House officials dismiss…

President Donald Trump’s top administration officials defiantly defended an executive order temporarily barring individuals from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the US on Sunday, largely doubling down amid widespread protests that broke out across the nation. During appearances on several Sunday morning talk shows, administration officials attempted to blunt criticism about the order, which injected uncertainty into the immigration system, stranding travelers from the seven nations and sparking protests at airports.

Trump has two paths he can take on marijuana legalization – …

After his inauguration on January 20, Trump signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to start rolling back the Affordable Care Act, revived two controversial oil pipelines, staged a war on the media, and played a game of chicken with the president of Mexico. But we still don’t know much about Trump’s plans for marijuana legalization.

House to take first crack at repealing Obama-era regulations

Determined to reverse eight years of a Democratic administration, House Republicans are on track to overturn a handful of rules finalized in President Barack Obama’s final months in office to deal with climate change, federal contracting and background checks for gun ownership. Opponents criticize the regulations as job killers that will hold the U.S. economy back.

Some official social media accounts are posting messages at odds with the president’s agenda.

President Donald Trump spent much of his campaign bashing the federal government, a system he described as awash in “waste fraud and abuse.” In response to Trump’s hiring freeze for federal agencies and a communications blackout, some official social media accounts have tweeted out messages decidedly at odds with his agenda and leaks are flowing into newsrooms from across the federal government.

Rebuking Obama, Trump boosts Keystone XL, Dakota pipelines

In this Jan. 16, 2015, file photo, Jim Tarnick of Fullerton, Neb., points to the route of the Keystone XL pipeline which is planned to run through his property. President Trump’s decision to restart the Keystone XL pipeline approval process was … disheartening but not surprising to Tarnick, who told the Associated Press on Tuesday, Jan. 24 that he and other landowners who oppose it will continue to fight, although he hopes he doesn’t have to do it for the rest of his life.

Budget nominee Mulvaney to face questions about Trumpa s plan for tax cuts and spending

Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina is slated to testify on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in his confirmation hearing to become the nation’s budget director, likely facing questions about how President Trump’s promise of big tax cuts and public works projects fits with his own hand-line stance on government spending. Mulvaney, who will appear before the Senate budget committee, would bring a stridently hawkish voice to the Office of Management and Budget in an administration that is disproportionately made up of business executives with little to no experience in government.

Withdrawal from Trans-Pacific Partnership shifts U.S. role in world economy

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the executive order on withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership after signing it as White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus stands at his side in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Jan. 23, 2017. President Trump’s cancellation Monday of an agreement for a sweeping trade deal with Asia began recasting America’s role in the global economy, leaving an opening for other countries to flex their muscles.

Trump’s press spokesman promises reporters ‘never to lie’

President Donald Trump’s press secretary promised reporters on Monday that he would never lie after a weekend briefing in which he made statements about the crowd size for Trump’s inauguration that were debunked. In comments to reporters on Saturday that became known as the “alternative facts” briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer declared that Trump’s crowd was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration – period.”

Lawsuit: Trump businesses violate Constitution

A lawsuit Monday alleged that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution by allowing his business to accept payments from foreign governments. Trump is violating the so-called emoluments clause in the Constitution that prohibits him from receiving money from diplomats for stays at his hotels or foreign governments for leases of office space in his buildings, according to the suit filed by a legal watchdog group.

Trump May End Obamacare Insurance Requirement, Conway Says

The Trump administration may stop enforcing the Obamacare requirement that most Americans carry health insurance even before Congress repeals the law, Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to the new president, said in interviews broadcast on Sunday. Such a move would take the teeth out of former President Barack Obama’s health-care law and could destabilize insurance markets, analysts say.

White House Says Media Delegitimizing Trump, Won’t ‘Take it’

Press Secretary Sean Spicer deliver an statement at the press briefing room at the White House in Washington U.S., January 21, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria The White House vowed on Sunday to fight the news media “tooth and nail” over what officials see as unfair attacks on President Donald Trump, setting a tone that could ratchet up a traditionally adversarial relationship to a new level of rancor.

Don’t expect stock market disturbance

We’re halfway through the inaugural ceremonies as I try to say something coherent about what lies ahead for the market. As I confess almost every week, many of us who are conservatives called it wrong at the beginning of the Barack Obama administration.

Trump’s Inaugural TV Ratings Fall Short of Obama’s in 2009

Nearly 31 million people watched President Donald Trump’s inauguration, falling short of the audience that tuned in for Barack Obama eight years ago, according to Nielsen. Fox News topped all broadcast and cable networks with 8.4 million viewers for its coverage from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s a sign that a Trump presidency may bode well for the channel, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. CNN averaged 2.5 million viewers, and MSNBC had 1.35 million viewers during the same eight-hour period.

On White House website, Obama climate priorities vanish, replaced by…

The energy page on the new White House website, which went up within moments of Friday’s inauguration, reiterates the priorities President Trump voiced during the campaign, from focusing on “energy independence” to promising to scale back the reach of the Environmental Protection Agency. It also seemed to remove any reference to combating climate change, a topic that had been featured prominently on the site under President Barack Obama.

Trump Aides Said to Prepare List of Early Energy Changes

Donald Trump’s advisers have prepared a short list of energy and environmental policy changes he can take now that he has been sworn in as president, including steps to limit the role that climate change plays in government decisions and speed the review of cross-border pipelines. The list of actions Trump can take imminently includes nullifying President guidelines that federal agencies weigh climate change when approving pipelines, deciding what areas to open for drilling or taking other major actions, two people familiar with Trump’s transition planning say.

Obama: Here’s what surprised me most about being president

With one week left in office, President Barack Obama talked to CBS’s “60 Minutes” about his eight years in Washington. The interview, which aired on Sunday, gave a wide-ranging look at Obama’s biggest achievements and disappointments in office, and included lots of insights on what it meant to Obama to lead the US.

Explosive memos suggest that a Trump-Russia tit-for-tat was at…

An unverified dossier provided to US intelligence officials alleges that President-elect Donald Trump “agreed to sideline” the issue of Russian intervention in Ukraine during his campaign after Russia promised to feed the emails it stole from prominent Democrats’ inboxes to WikiLeaks. The dossier was part of an opposition-research project conducted by a former British spy , Christopher Steele, at the behest of anti-Trump Republicans and, later, Democrats.

U.S. House Votes to Begin Repealing Obamacare

U.S. House Republicans on Friday won passage of a measure starting the process of dismantling Obamacare, despite concerns about not having a ready replacement and the potential financial cost of repealing repealing Democratic President Barack Obama’s landmark health insurance law. The House of Representatives voted 227-198 to instruct committees to draft legislation by a target date of Jan. 27 that would repeal the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

Wheeler: Keep net neutrality rules

Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler fired shots at anyone looking to repeal net neutrality measures during his farewell speech on Friday. Speaking at the Aspen Institute, Wheeler said that repealing the open internet or net neutrality policies would be a mistake.

Obama Farewell to Nation Draws Not-So Subtle Contrast With Trump

President Barack Obama blasted “zero-sum” politics as he drew a sharp contrast with his successor in his farewell address Tuesday night, acknowledging that despite his historic election eight years ago his vision for the country will exit the White House with him. Obama’s prime-time address was a call for political engagement after a grueling election won by Republican Donald Trump, who made undoing Obama’s achievements the centerpiece of his campaign.

Hungary Plans to Crackdown on All Soros-Funded NGOs

Hungary plans to crack down on non-governmental organizations linked to billionaire George Soros now that Donald Trump will occupy the White House, according to the deputy head of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party. The European Union member will use “all the tools at its disposal” to “sweep out” NGOs funded by the Hungarian-born financier, which “serve global capitalists and back political correctness over national governments,” Szilard Nemeth, a vice president of the ruling Fidesz party, told reporters on Tuesday.

Obama Alum David Plouffe Joins Zuckerberg’s Philanthropic Group

David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager, will lead policy and advocacy for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization created by Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Plouffe, who has been a full-time adviser for Uber Technologies Inc., will step away from his day-to-day duties, but he’ll remain a non-voting Uber board member, the ride-hailing company said.

Detroit Wants Something From Trump in Exchange for Those Tweets

The way Bill Ford tells it, you’d think he and Donald Trump are like two old buddies chitchatting all the time about cars, economics and taxes. “When needed, I can always get to him or he calls me,” Ford, the chairman of Ford Motor Co., said in an interview Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

GOP Should – Show Their Cards’ on Obamacare Redo, Obama Says

Republicans should “show their cards” with a better Obamacare replacement before taking steps to repeal the law, President Barack Obama said in an interview on his signature health program. “Republicans have to go ahead and show their cards, if in fact they have a program that would genuinely work better,” he said Friday in a webcast interview with the online news outlet Vox in Washington.

A New York Times editorial: Sprint and Trump’s fictional jobs

President-elect Donald Trump would like everybody to believe that his election is energizing the economy by forcing businesses to create thousands of jobs in the United States. And companies like Sprint seem perfectly happy to go along with this fiction because they know they can profit handsomely by cozying up to Trump.

Expelled Russian Diplomats Leave United States

Russian diplomats who were expelled by order of U.S. President Barack Obama left Washington on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported, citing Russia’s embassy. Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian suspected spies and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies over the hacking of U.S. political groups during the 2016 presidential election.

US states, leery of Russia malware, re-examine cybersecurity

Several states around the country on Saturday asked cybersecurity experts to re-examine state and utility networks after a Vermont utility’s laptop was found to contain malware U.S. officials say is linked to Russian hackers. The Burlington Electric Department, one of Vermont’s two largest electric utilities, confirmed Friday it had found on one of its laptops the malware code used in Grizzly Steppe, the name the U.S. government has given to malicious cyber activity by Russian civilian and military intelligence services.

Trump focuses New Year’s tweet on ‘many enemies’ and everyone…

On the final day of 2016, President-elect Donald Trump sent a New Year’s message of “love!” on Twitter, including to his “many enemies” and everyone who has “lost so badly.” The tweet came after another that praised Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for not launching a tit-for-tat sanctions to respond to those issued by US President Barack Obama’s administration this week in retaliation for Russia’s suspected election-related hacking.

Before-and-after photos show how dramatically presidents have…

The inaugural portrait of President Obama captures a still youthful man; his face and forehead are free from wrinkles as the new leader stares confidently into the camera. The inaugural portrait of President Obama captures a still youthful man; his face and forehead are free from wrinkles as the new leader stares confidently into the camera.