Politics

  • How Christie lost his spot on the Trump transition team
    Hunter Walker

    How Christie lost his spot on the Trump transition team

    Something was bothering Donald Trump as he made his victory speech after the election. The election night photo incident was one of several factors Trump insiders cited to explain why Christie was demoted from his position as transition team chair and replaced by Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Nov. 11. Although the governor has steadfastly denied any role in the scheme to tie up traffic in Fort Lee, N.J., to punish its mayor, when the verdict was announced, a pair of campaign appearances Christie was set to make for Trump were abruptly canceled.

  • ‘Fake news’ is suddenly in the news — and the media is trying to solve it
    Dylan Stableford

    ‘Fake news’ is suddenly in the news — and the media is trying to solve it

    In the wake of a campaign cycle that saw so-called "fake news" widely shared on social media, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced late last week that they are working to address the problem of "misinformation" being spread on the site.

  • N.Y. governor creates special police unit to address ‘explosion of hate crimes’ since the election
    Dylan Stableford

    N.Y. governor creates special police unit to address ‘explosion of hate crimes’ since the election

    In the two weeks since Donald Trump’s stunning victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, hundreds of acts of harassment and intimidation aimed at supporters of both candidates have been reported around the country. In response, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo created a special police unit to address the “explosion” of hate crimes in the state. “The ugly political discourse of the election did not end on Election Day,” Cuomo said on Sunday at a church in Harlem.

  • Reince Priebus: ‘We’re not going to have a registry based on a religion’
    Dylan Stableford

    Reince Priebus: ‘We’re not going to have a registry based on a religion’

    Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus says President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is “not going to rule out anything” when it comes to immigration. Trump told Yahoo News last year that he was open to the possibility of a database for Muslim Americans. The proposal was met with swift backlash and Trump distanced himself from the idea.

  • Reports: Melania Trump not moving into White House in January
    Dylan Stableford

    Reports: Melania Trump not moving into White House in January

    Melania Trump and son Barron watch as President-elect Donald Trump delivers his victory speech on election night. When Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States in Washington on Friday, Jan. 20, his family, including his wife, Melania Trump, and their young son, Barron, will undoubtedly be by his side. The New York Post and TMZ.com report that the 46-year-old future first lady and the couple’s 10-year-old son will not make the move to the nation’s capital and will instead remain at Trump Tower in New York City to allow Barron to continue attending private school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

  • ‘Apologize!’: Trump hits ‘Hamilton’ cast for confronting Pence
    Colin Campbell

    ‘Apologize!’: Trump hits ‘Hamilton’ cast for confronting Pence

    President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday criticized the cast of “Hamilton” for confronting the incoming vice president the night before. “Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing,” Trump tweeted.

  • Mike Pence booed at ‘Hamilton.’ Cast says it fears Trump team ‘will not protect us.’
    Christopher Wilson

    Mike Pence booed at ‘Hamilton.’ Cast says it fears Trump team ‘will not protect us.’

    Vice President-elect Mike Pence leaves the theater after a performance of “Hamilton” in New York CIty, Nov. 18, 2016. Vice President-elect Mike Pence has spent the last week and a half in New York City, helping guide Donald Trump’s transition to the White House. Pence went to see “Hamilton,” the Broadway phenomenon about America’s Founding Fathers featuring a diverse cast that has won Tonys, Grammys, Pulitzers and MacArthur genius grants.

  • Trump draws mixed reactions over Sessions appointment
    Caitlin Dickson

    Trump draws mixed reactions over Sessions appointment

    President-elect Donald Trump stirred mixed reactions with the announcement Friday that he plans to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general. Law enforcement organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police, the country’s largest police union, and the National Sheriffs’ Association, praised the Alabama Republican as a “key law enforcement ally,” and “an outstanding nominee for U.S. attorney general,” respectively. Sen. Sessions as AG is deeply troubling, and supports an old, ugly history where Civil Rights were not regarded as core American values.

  • Trump settles Trump University lawsuits for $25 million
    Michael Isikoff

    Trump settles Trump University lawsuits for $25 million

    President-elect Donald Trump has agreed to pay $25 million to former students of his for-profit Trump University as part of a settlement that resolves three outstanding lawsuits against him, including one in which he was set to testify in a trial that was due to begin in San Diego later this month. As part of the agreement, Trump will pay $1 million in penalties to the state of New York for violating state education laws by labeling his nonaccredited school a “university” without registering as an educational institution with New York state officials, according to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, who announced the settlement Friday afternoon. “In 2013, my office sued Donald Trump for swindling thousands of innocent Americans out of millions of dollars through a scheme known as Trump University,” Schneiderman said in a statement.

  • Trump’s attorney general could halt Obama-era criminal justice reforms
    Liz Goodwin

    Trump’s attorney general could halt Obama-era criminal justice reforms

    President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Justice Department was a key crusader against efforts to shorten federal prison sentences for lower-level drug offenders earlier this year, raising concerns among criminal justice reform activists that the momentum of their movement could slow to a stop. Sen. Jeff Sessions was one of the few Republican senators who bucked the bipartisan effort to reform the criminal justice system this year. The broader plan to reform sentencing was backed by such unlikely allies as the conservative billionaire Koch Brothers, the former head of the NRA, President Obama and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — despite a bitterly divided Congress.