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Democrats are growing increasingly suspicious of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard's (D-Hawaii) political intentions, fearing that she may be considering a third-party bid for the White House in 2020 if she doesn't win the Democratic presidential nomination. Gabbard's announcement last week that she would not seek reelection to her House seat and would instead focus solely on her presidential bid only served to hasten those concerns. Some party strategists and operatives fear that a third-party bid by the Hawaii congresswoman could fracture parts of the electorate and stir chaos in the 2020 contest, ultimately setting the stage for President Trump's reelection. The...

2020 Democratic White House hopeful and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii broke with 11 other Democrats on the Ohio debate stage Tuesday night, branding President Donald Trump’s impeachment as “divisive.” “If impeachment is driven by these hyper-partisan interests, it will only further divide an already terribly divided country,” Gabbard said. The Hawaii congresswoman made clear her belief that an investigation should move forward, but cautioned Democrats not to rush the process as acquittal in the Senate would allow the president to claim vindication, playing into Trump’s message that House Democrats are out to get him.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally of 50,000 Indian Americans in Houston last month, a planned guest appearance by President Donald Trump stole the headlines. But a telling moment arrived when the announcer at the event — called Howdy Modi — began reading a prepared list of members of Congress who had been expected to attend. Among those named was Texas Rep. Al Green, a Democrat. But Green wasn’t there. A day earlier, he had announced in a statement that he was bailing from the event, calling it a “photo op” for Trump. He wasn’t alone. India,...

Kamala Harris said that as president, she would likely prohibit the son or daughter of her vice president from serving on the board of a foreign energy company, as former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter did for a Ukrainian gas company. "Probably not," the California senator and Democratic presidential hopeful said Saturday when asked whether she would allow her vice president's child to be on the board of a foreign oil company. Impeachment inquiries center in part on President Trump asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July phone call to look into then-Vice President Biden threatening to withhold...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (HawaiiNewsNow) - U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is changing her stance on an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, saying she now supports it. “Up to this point, I have been opposed to pursuing impeachment because it will further divide our already badly divided country,” Gabbard said, in a statement issued Friday. She continued, saying, “However, after looking carefully at the transcript of the conversation with Ukraine’s president, the whistleblower complaint, the Inspector General memo, and President Trump’s comments about the issue, unfortunately, I believe that if we do not proceed with the inquiry, it will set a very...

There’s her backtracking on busing and her waffling on Medicare for All, not to mention her prosecutorial scandals. A new national CNN poll of the 2020 Democratic primary has some pretty brutal numbers for Kamala Harris. When CNN last polled the presidential race shortly after the first Democratic debate in June, Harris was on Joe Biden’s heels, trailing just 17 percent to 22 percent. But according to the latest survey by CNN, conducted August 15 to 18, Biden has rebounded to 29 percent, while Harris has dropped all the way down to 5 percent, tied for fourth place with South...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) strong performance in this week’s Democratic presidential debates invigorated supporters who see her as slowly but surely making the case that she’s the best Democrat to take on President Trump. Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were widely seen as the biggest winners of the two debates, along with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who tangled with former Vice President Joe Biden in the week’s second debate. Sanders and Warren were the stars on the first night, and they avoided battling one another while presenting a united front against centrists arguing against the progressive proposals.

Joe Biden survived the second round of Democratic presidential debates, but it became more apparent that over half the 22-person field is irrelevant and should get out, the sooner the better. The former vice president was repeatedly under attack on health care, criminal justice, immigration and abortion. He stumbled sometimes, but overall was sharper than his mediocre performance in the first debate a month ago. This won't assuage fears of mainstream Democrats that the 76-year-old Biden may not be up to the challenge of a protracted primary fight and bitter battle against Donald Trump. Still he was sufficiently engaged to...

After U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for the resignation of Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday, President Donald Trump accused Warren of “defrauding the public” with her claims of Native American ancestry and said she should resign. Trump, calling in to a local conservative talk radio show, also suggested that Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan “don’t mind crime” if they think immigration agents should be barred from courthouses. Trump phoned into Boston Herald Radio’s “Talk It Up” show hosted by Adriana Cohen and Herald editorial page editor Tom Shattuck, and spent about...

Is a woman a shoo-in to win the Democratic nomination and take on President Trump in 2020? Some women in three states that could make or break White House hopes aren't so sure. “I want to be for a woman, but it’s just hard when you see a lot of other people not supporting women yet. I feel that America’s just not there yet,” Wendy McVey, a 20-year-old junior at Iowa State University, told The Associated Press. At the moment, the candidate McVey is most interested in is former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke. Women are among the Democratic Party’s most...

(snip) Look only at her two years in the Senate and two relevant data points pop up. First, there’s her recent attempt, along with Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, to apply an anti-Catholic religious test to a judicial nominee because he belonged to the Knights of Columbus. This was too much even for her fellow Democrats to bear — not a single one objected to a resolution that implicitly rebuked Harris and Hirono for their behavior. The second relevant point is Harris’ conduct during the Justice Brett Kavanaugh hearings. No, not the contentious second round of Kavanaugh hearings involving sexual misconduct...

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and an opponent of President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, made the following comments on ABC’s “This Week” on Oct. 7 following the Senate’s confirmation of Kavanaugh, who was immediately sworn in as an associate justice. =*= Jonathan Karl, ABC News: You called this process a sham. He is now Justice Kavanaugh. Do you view Justice Brett Kavanaugh as a legitimate justice? Hirono: He’s going to be on the Supreme Court with a huge taint and a big asterisk after his name. And the...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer thinks it’s time for Brett Kavanaugh to withdraw from the Supreme Court confirmation process. If he won’t, Schumer called for Republicans to press pause on Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination in the wake of explosive new allegations of sexual misconduct that emerged against him on Wednesday. “I strongly believe Judge Kavanaugh should withdraw from consideration. If he will not, at the very least, the hearing and vote should be postponed while the FBI investigates all of these allegations,” said Schumer in a statement released on Wednesday. “If our Republican colleagues proceed without an investigation, it would...

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) said Tuesday that the upcoming hearing with a sexual assault accuser will determine "whether or not Judge Kavanaugh has the credibility and character to serve on the Supreme Court." Hirono also warned that there will always be an "asterisk" by Kavanaugh's name in an interview Tuesday morning on CNN. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Senator, are there plans to hear from Debbie Ramirez on Thursday? SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): I don't know, but what I really want to hear from this administration, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders is, there will be an FBI investigation. That is what we...

Senator Mazie Hirono thinks Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is not telling the truth about the sexual assault he allegedly committed as a teenager. She thinks he wasn’t telling the truth to the Judiciary Committee when he claimed not to remember any sexual misconduct by a judge he clerked for who was forced to resign last year after allegations from more than a dozen women. And the Hawaii Democrat says that if she gets to question Kavanaugh in another hearing, she’s going to tell him that the revelations over the weekend—when Christine Blasey Ford came forward to accuse Kavanaugh of...

Hawaii Gov. David Ige is facing a tough Democratic primary Saturday night -- and January’s false missile alert could be a deciding factor in voters’ minds. Ige faces a primary challenge from Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, and she is using the January false alarm as a key campaign issue -- particularly the fact that it took 38 minutes to correct the alert. Officials mistakenly sent an a warning of an imminent missile attack, promising “THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” to cellphones, radios and televisions on January 13. The move sparked panic across the state before officials corrected it, especially because it...

By all accounts, Ted Cruz had a great day on Saturday, scoring surprise wins over Trump in Kansas and Maine (by fairly comfortable margins), tying him in Louisiana, and narrowly losing Kentucky. Cruz narrowly closed the delegate gap with Trump and just as importantly increased the space between himself and the other non-Trump candidates. Today, Ted Cruz needs to do three things in order to keep his momentum going, in no particular order. 1. Beat Marco Rubio (and John Kasich) in Michigan. Donald Trump is probably going to win Michigan. Cruz's strategy in Michigan is to beat two guys who...

Today, the lone Republican lawmaker in the Hawaii State Senate Senator Sam Slom formally endorsed GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz. "After eight long years of Barack Obama's failed policies, I want someone in the White House who respects the presidency, who respects the American people, and who respects the U.S. Constitution. Ted Cruz will excel on all those points and more. I urge my fellow Republicans in the Aloha State to join me in supporting consistent conservative Texas senator Ted Cruz to become our party's nominee and become the forty-fifth president of the United States." His endorsement comes just days...

SALT LAKE CITY — Donald Trump continues to be the front-runner in the GOP presidential nomination race, but he's languishing in fourth place in a new poll of Utah voters. The new UtahPolicy.com poll by Dan Jones & Associates comes as former Utah governor and 2012 presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. is suggesting Trump has a shot at winning the White House. "People really are hungry for change. They were last time, but it hadn't reached the 212-degree boiling point. This time it has," Huntsman told USA Today's weekly "Capital Download" video series. Huntsman said that's why he thinks Trump,...

HONOLULU (AP) -- In a stunning defeat for an incumbent, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie was unseated by a fellow Democrat in Saturday's primary election, as voters chose state Sen. David Ige as their nominee in one of two marquee races that have divided the party. Abercrombie had tried to hold onto his seat while disgruntled voters turned their allegiance to Ige, who promised to bring a less confrontational political style. Voters rewarded Ige with a decisive victory....