Politics

Forgive me if this triggers awful memories, but on election night last November, as we watched the returns come in showing Donald Trump winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, something just didn’t feel right. In most polling and punditry circles, there had been literally zero chatter about Trump potentially sweeping these three states — a feat that no Republican candidate had accomplished since Ronald Reagan in 1984.  How had such an unlikely thing happened? After the election, we heard a wide array of theories, including the ones about how previous Obama voters in the Rust Belt didn’t believe the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party spoke to their economic grievances, so they flipped to Trump — a whiplash-inducing switchover given the chasmic differences between number 44 and 45. There may be some threads of validity to that analysis, but was it enough of a messaging oversight by Team Hillary to flip states that hadn’t gone red in more than three decades? Insti...

Two people are dead and 24 injured — at least 12 critically — after a shooting Sunday night near a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, police said. After reporting that one suspect was “down,” police later said in a tweet: “At this time we do not believe there are any more shooters.” Witnesses told the Associated Press that they could see muzzle flashes coming from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino’s high floors and described the sound of automatic gunfire. The shooting appeared to take place near the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music concert held over the weekend that reportedly drew 30,000 attendees. The concert grounds are adjacent to Mandalay Bay. The shots began as Jason Aldean, one of the final performers, was playing. One witness, Ivetta Saldana, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Aldean was rushed off stage when the shots rang out. “It was a horror show,” she said. “People were standing around, then they hit the floor.” Videos posted to ...

Investigators follow flow of money to Trump from wealthy donors with Russian ties Three Americans with significant Russian business connections contributed almost $2 million to political funds controlled by Donald Trump, ABC News has learned. The timing of contributions coming from US citizens with ties to Russia, is now being questioned by investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller, according to a Republican campaign aide interviewed by Mueller’s team. Unless the contributions were directed by a foreigner, they would be legal, but could still be of interest to investigators examining allegations of Russian influence in the 2016 campaign, said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “Obviously, if there were those that had associations with the Kremlin that were contributing, that would be of keen concern,” Schiff told ABC News. A review of Trump campaign records conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics for ABC News ...

This month's revelations about the investigation into Russia's election interference and President Donald Trump's campaign ties to Moscow have come at a dizzying pace. We learned that special counsel Robert Mueller obtained a search warrant to examine Facebook accounts linked to Russia after the company announced that the "inauthentic" users had purchased more than $100,000 in political ads during the election. We also learned more details about the FBI's longtime interest in Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort - and his overtures to a Russian oligarch last July. The president's legal team, meanwhile, is clashing over how cooperative to be with Mueller, who is homing in on key White House players as he examines whether Trump sought to obstruct justice when he fired former FBI Director James Comey. Here is a look back at some of the month's most important developments: Facebook's Russia bombshell: Facebook announced on Septemb...

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The California Democrat added that there was no strict definition for what constitutes an impeachable offense. Outspoken Donald Trump critic Maxine Waters on Thursday guaranteed that there was collusion between the president and Russia and called on the black community to demand his impeachment. Waters, the long-time Democratic Congresswoman from California, has frequently called for Trump to be removed from office, citing a variety of alleged offenses. Related: Trump Supporters Don't Really Care If He Is Impeached But her latest tirade against the United States' 45th president may be her most severe yet. Speaking at a town hall on civil rights for the Congressional Black Caucus, Waters called on the black community to step up and make their voices heard in opposition to Trump. Adding that there was no strict definition for what constituted an impeachable offense. "How many in your organization have said 'impeach 45?'" she said. "Impeachment is abo...