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Washington (CNN)The US Office of Special Counsel announced Tuesday that White House aide Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act on two occasions by "advocating for and against candidates" in last year's Alabama Senate special election. In a new report, the OSC special counsel, Henry Kerner, pointed to Conway's TV interviews conducted in her "official capacity" in November and December of last year. The agency said Conway "impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates in the Alabama special election." >P> One of the two interviews was on CNN's "New Day," and the second was on Fox News' "Fox...

More than two dozen Senate Republicans are urging President Trump to re-engage in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. The 25 GOP lawmakers sent a letter to Trump on Friday saying they support his recent comments that he may consider U.S. participation if the 11-nation Asia-Pacific pact is improved.

Outgoing Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Wednesday that former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would have his support if he runs to take his place in the Senate. Hatch's remarks come a day after the 83-year-old senator announced his retirement. President Trump had urged Hatch to stay in the seat, reportedly as an attempt to block Romney from taking the Senate spot. "There's no question that he loves Utah and wants to support Utah any way he can. And I'm hopeful he'll run, because he would be just fine," Hatch said in a radio interview on Utah's Morning News program....

The longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history announced this week that he will finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally retire. That's seven "finallys" -- one for each of the consecutive six-year terms Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, served. He begin his occupancy in 1976, when all phones were dumb, the 5.25-inch floppy disk was cutting-edge, the very first Apple computer went on sale for $666.66, the Concorde was flying high, O.J. Simpson was a hero, Blake Shelton was a newborn, the first MRI was still a blueprint, and I was a gap-toothed first-grader wearing corduroy bell-bottoms crushing on Davy Jones....

Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the longest serving Republican Senator in U.S. history, announced Tuesday he is retiring from the Senate at the end of his term. This is a blow to the Trump administration. Trump encouraged Orrin Hatch to run for re-election. Trump and Bannon have been working to block RINO hack Mitt Romney from running for the Utah Senate seat. Mitt Romney has until March 15 to file for Hatch’s Senate seat.

Orrin G. Hatch, the longest-serving Senate Republican, will announce that he will retire at the end of the year, clearing a path for Mitt Romney to run....

Orrin Hatch, who's served in the U.S. Senate representing Utah since 1977, announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election in 2018.

Video at link. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the longest-serving GOP senator in U.S. history, announced Tuesday that he'll retire at the end of his term. Hatch made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter. The announcement is a blow to President Trump, who has publicly encouraged him to run for reelection. The 83-year-old senator appeared to be signaling in recent weeks that he’d run for an eighth term in 2018, even though he previously said he’d retire when his term is up in January 2019. The powerful Senate Finance Committee chairman played a significant role in helping Republicans pass...

Republicans in Utah are on edge as they await a decision from Sen. Orrin Hatch on 2018 that could determine whether Mitt Romney’s political career has one more act. Hatch is reconsidering retirement after receiving encouragement from President Trump and his allies, and soaking up praise for shepherding a historic tax overhaul in his role as Senate Finance Committee chairman. The 83-year-old previously signaled plans to step aside after seven terms and clear a path for Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and a prominent Trump critic, to succeed him. Hatch is something of an icon in Utah, but his...

‘You are one heckuva leader’: After tax vote, Sen. Orrin Hatch says Trump may become the best president ever.........from The Salt Lake Tribune and Thomas Burr.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he didn't think President Trump had any other option than to endorse GOP Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. "I don't think he had any choice but to do that ... that's the only Republican we can get down there," Hatch said, according to press pool report.

If you tried to keep abreast of the news this weekend by reading the New York Times, watching ABC News, or following well-regarded veteran reporters on Twitter, you would have been led astray as badly as if you had followed a couple of guys working out of a coffee shop in Moldova. Relying on the supposedly respectable news media would have left you believing that the FBI found President Trump urging national security adviser Michael Flynn to contact Russia during the campaign (it didn’t), that Trump national security aide K.T. McFarland wrote that Russia threw the election to Trump (she...

SALT LAKE CITY — President Trump is expected to announce a historic reduction to Bears Ears National Monument on Monday, a sprawling region of red rock canyons in Utah that has been at the center of a national fight over how much land a president can legally set aside for protection. The Trump administration plans to announce that he will shrink the monument by between 77 and 92 percent, according to statements from the office of Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah. It would be the largest reduction of a national monument to date, and it comes as the administration...

TRUMP MOVES TO BLOCK ROMNEY FROM SENATE President going all out to persuade 83-year-old Orrin Hatch to seek re-election in Utah Published: 24 mins ago (POLITICO) Donald Trump is going all out to persuade seven-term Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch to seek reelection — a push aimed in no small part at keeping the president’s longtime nemesis, Mitt Romney, out of the Senate. Romney has been preparing to run for Hatch’s seat on the long-held assumption that the 83-year-old would retire. Yet Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is now refusing to rule out another campaign — a circumstance Romney’s...

During his nearly 41 years in office, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch has seen seven presidents in the White House. Donald Trump, he said Wednesday, is “one of the best I’ve served under.” “He’s not afraid to make decisions,” Hatch said during an interview broadcast by MSNBC. “He’s not afraid to take on the big mouths around here.” The Republican senator later clarified online that Trump is “the best president I’ve served ‘under’ in terms of line of succession.” Hatch, 83, is third in the line for the presidency as Senate president pro tem, and apparently wanted to dispel any implication...

Wednesday when asked about President Donald Trump retweeting three controversial videos, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said Trump had “been one of the best presidents” he served under. Hatch said, “I’m not aware of it. I don’t pay much attention to his tweets. I’ll say this for you. He’s been one of the best presidents I’ve served under. And the reasoning is, he’s not afraid to make decisions. He’s not afraid to take on the — the big mouths around here.”

After 42 years, it is time Utah changes up senators. When incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch was elected to his seventh term in 2012, he vowed it would be his last. Recently, however, the 83-year-old told KUTV he will run again—unless his friend Mitt Romney calls him and says he would like to run. Then Hatch would step aside. Here are seven reasons Romney should take Hatch up on that offer. 1. Gives Utah Time to Find a Long-term Solution According to The Salt Lake Tribune, 75 percent of voters said Hatch should not run again. By 2024, he would be...

Sources tell UtahPolicy.com that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is preparing to run for Senate in 2018 if Sen. Orrin Hatch decides to retire. Sources close to Romney say the two-time presidential candidate will jump into the 2018 Utah Senate scrum if Hatch opts not to. So far, Hatch has not made up his mind as to whether he'll run for an eighth term in 2018. He has previously said he was planning on running as long as his and his wife's health holds up. Dave Hansen, a longtime political advisor to Hatch, told UtahPolicy.com last month that he didn't...

Reported to Senate with amendment(s) (06/20/2002) Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act or the DREAM Act - Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to repeal the denial of an unlawful alien's eligibility for higher education benefits based on State residence unless a U.S. national is similarly eligible without regard to such State residence. (Sec. 3) Authorizes the Attorney General to cancel the removal of, and adjust to permanent resident status, an alien who: (1) has attained the age of 12 prior to enactment of this Act; (2) files an application before reaching the...

Republican lawmakers are casting a wider net in their search for wrongdoing at federal agencies in past election cycles, after learning the Postal Service violated the law by allowing employees to do union-funded work for Hillary Clinton’s campaign while on leave.**snip**The letters cited the OSC’s findings regarding the USPS that “only [employees] who wanted to campaign for the [union’s] endorsed candidates were given the opportunity to take several weeks of leave on short notice, over the objections of local supervisors who raised concerns about potential operational impact.” **snip** The OSC’s findings revealed that the USPS violated the Hatch Act, a...