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Former President Donald Trump – who himself has come under fire for Republicans’ lackluster performance in the midterm elections – is blaming Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for the party’s apparent failure to flip the chamber’s majority in its favor. “Mitch McConnell, the Republicans Broken Down Senate Leader, does nothing about this,” Trump on social media Friday night. “He’s too busy spending vast amounts of money on bad Senator Lisa [Murkowski] of Alaska when Kelly [Tshibaka] is FAR better.” Yet Trump’s own spending choices in this year’s midterm elections have also drawn criticism.

President Joe Biden is traveling to Syracuse, New York on Thursday to promote plans for Micron Technology to build a new semiconductor chips plant. Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to attend the event with the president as well as New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand. “I am thrilled that President Biden could join us for this once-in-a-generation announcement,” Hochul said in a statement.

Former President Barack Obama will hit the midterm campaign trail this fall to help Democrat candidates, while some embattled candidates have avoided campaigning with President Joe Biden. Obama will campaign with Democrats up and down the ballot, potentially including House, Senate, gubernatorial, and secretary of state candidates, Fox News reported Thursday. Obama will even help the Democrat Party raise money through its reelection committees.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki appeared to read prepared notes praising embattled Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Tuesday. Whitmer, who has struggled to come up with reasons for surging coronavirus cases in the state, despite ongoing lockdowns and mask requirements, also dealt with the news that one of her chief aides ignored her urging that residents not to travel to Florida for spring break last week.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The governor of the embattled western state of Michoacan has left his post for health reasons, the Mexican government announced Wednesday. Mexico's presidency said in a statement that Michoacan Gov. Fausto Vallejo met with President Enrique Pena Nieto to inform him of his decision. Vallejo is a member of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party. Neither the presidency nor Vallejo have said what ails him. Vallejo, 65, took a leave of absence last year to have a kidney transplant and then Michoacan state interior secretary Jose Jesus Reyna took control of the government. Reyna was charged last...

After bankruptcy, a buyout by a Chinese firm, and more than a hundred million dollars in taxpayer money, the lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems, Inc., is getting a new name: B456 Systems, Inc. A123, which produces batteries used in electric cars, has changed its name to B456, the company announced Thursday in a regulatory filing. The company filed for bankruptcy in October of last year and was later purchased by Chinese firm Wanxiang. The Department of Energy awarded A123 a $249 million grant in 2009, of which the battery maker had received $133 million when it filed for bankruptcy.

Embattled Argentine President Cristina Kirchner cheerfully mugged for photos in the Cu Chi tunnels used by the Viet Cong to ambush United States troops during the Vietnam War and likened Ho Chi Minh to George Washington during a visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on Sunday. Kirchner playfully peeks her head out of one of the spiderholes in one photo. She sits cross-legged and grinning outside the tunnel, dressed in guerrilla-style fatigues, in another.

President Obama's embattled deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, was scheduled to appear on ABC's "This Week" yet seems to now have changed her mind as call for her firing intensifies. Cutter took to the press this week to claim that she and the campaign were unfamiliar with Joe Soptic and his story. This turned out to be false: not only was the Obama campaign familiar with Soptic, they hosted him on an OFA conference call and previously used him for a campaign ad.

Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer, who for two months has been embroiled in a sex and addiction scandal that riveted the Bay Area, told the Bay Area News Group today she is resigning from office. Lockyer, the wife of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, will tell her colleagues and constituents in a letter that she wanted to focus on the well-being of her 8-year-old son and recovery from chemical dependency and her alleged beating by her ex-lover. "Today is a significant day for me personally and professionally," she told a reporter in the living room of their home in the Hayward...

WASHINGTON – Declaring "I don't quit,'" President Barack Obama fought to recharge his embattled presidency with a State of the Union vow to get jobless millions back to work and to stand on the side of Americans angry at Wall Street greed and Washington bickering. Defiant despite stinging setbacks, he said he would fight on for ambitious overhauls of health care, energy and education. "Change has not come fast enough," Obama acknowledged Wednesday night before a politician-packed House chamber and a TV audience of millions. "As hard as it may be, as uncomfortable and contentious as the debates may be,...

Congressional Black Caucus members are standing squarely behind one of their own: embattled Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). In separate interviews with The Hill, several members of the CBC, including Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Mel Watt (D-N.C.) all expressed unmitigated support for Rangel holding onto the Ways and Means post. Overall, The Hill interviewed about a dozen members of the caucus, who all defended Rangel and said he is innocent until proven guilty. “He’s done a great job as chairman of the...

BOISE, Idaho - Sen. Larry Craig was named Saturday night to the Idaho Hall of Fame, marking the Republican lawmaker's first ceremonial appearance back in his home state since his arrest in an airport bathroom sex sting became public in August. Craig, 62, seated near the front of the banquet room, received polite applause and a few encouraging hoots when he was introduced. "I hope in a very sincere way that the attention that's been brought to me has not lessened the honor you receive," Craig told the other nominees and about 200 people who attended the dinner. He was...

SAN FRANCISCO – University of California President Robert C. Dynes, under fire over millions of dollars in bonuses and other perks secretly paid to top executives, got the support of his board Thursday. “He is the appropriate leader to resolve these issues and guide the university through this difficult chapter in its history,” UC Board of Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky said. Smiles and applause greeted the statement, read as the board held its regular meeting in San Francisco. Still, the regents had some stern words for their president, saying they “hold him accountable for the university's compensation problems and he...

Some people want Bob Dynes' head, but the University of California president isn't about to give it to them. "Do I look like I'm crumbling?" Dynes shot back when asked during an hourlong interview Thursday whether he were more the type to harden under pressure or crumble. Dynes' comments came the day after three state senators called for him to be replaced over revelations of hidden executive compensation, and two days after the Bureau of State Audits blistered UC officials for, among other things, circumventing compensation policies set by the governing Board of Regents. Dynes answered those blasts indirectly at...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's president ordered a major Cabinet shake-up Saturday, signaling he has no plans to cave under growing U.S. and international pressure over the assassination of a former Lebanese leader and alleged failure to stop militants from crossing into Iraq. President Bashar Assad named his hard-line Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa as vice president and replace him with his deputy, Walid Moallem, a former ambassador to the United States and United Nations. Al-Sharaa was also put in charge of implementing Syrian "foreign and information policies." The U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has...

Embattled Greensboro Police Chief Resigns 10 minutes ago Greensboro Chief of Police David Wray has announced his resignation. In a letter dated Monday morning, Wray said events of the past several months created controversy and hurt his ability to lead the force. Assistant Chief Tim Bellamy was named acting chief effective immediately, according to City Manager Mitchell Johnson. Wray has dealt with allegations of a unit in his department targeting officers with investigations based on race. Johnson is reviewing a report concerning the accusations. Scheduling of officers has also caused unrest in the department. Johnson last month told Wray he...

A giant Orange County mortgage company accused of duping low-income homeowners has pumped more than $7 million into California politics since 2002, including contributions to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic Attorney General Bill Lockyer and dozens of other state legislators, members of Congress and political committees. Ameriquest's top executive, Roland Arnall, also has been one of President Bush's top fundraisers, generating $12 million for the president's political efforts during the past four years. On July 28, Bush nominated Arnall, a billionaire who was ranked No. 106 in the 2004 Forbes magazine list of the wealthiest Americans, as ambassador to the...

According to Lou Dobbs, CNN News, the Brown Berets have announced that they are planning to physically attack the Minuteman volunteers who are to begin guarding the Texas border this fall. The Brown Berets are led by some aged hispanic members from the 60's and 70's when they were compared with the Black Panthers. Meanwhile the Minutemen already are being harrassed and verbally attacked on a daily basis by drug gangs and protesters in California. These drug gangs and (probably paid) protesters do all that they can to try and get our wonderful law-abiding citizens to react and physically engage...

Senate Democrats rally around embattled Dean Vow to remain united behind party chairman By Rick Klein, Globe Staff June 10, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats staged a public display of support yesterday for the Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, vowing to stay united in pushing the party's agenda in the GOP-controlled Congress. With Dean under fire for a series of controversial characterizations of Republicans, Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, said Dean had simply misspoken, though Dean himself brushed aside that characterization. ''As all of you know, that there isn't a single person, whether it's any of us in...

Re-Elect Justice Steven Wayne Smith Texas Supreme Court, Place 5 _______________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Jan. 15, 2004) CONTACT: David Rogers, Campaign Manager, (512) 923-6188 (Austin) Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith campaign responds to misstatements by Fort Worth Star-Telegram writer, Austin American-Statesman syndicated columnist. Campaign manager David Rogers said "Recent articles by writers for these newspapers have characterized Justice Smith as ‘embattled’ and a ‘pariah.’ These characterizations are simply wrong." Rogers said "The fact is, Justice Smith is supported by a significant number of prominent Republicans, conservative activists, and major law firms. " (see list below) The Fort Worth Star-Telegram...