President Trump forms task force on missing, murdered Native Americans

WASHINGTON — President Trump signed an executive order Nov. 26 aimed at addressing the unsolved cases of murdered and missing Native American women and children.A 2008 study found women in some tribal communities are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the average American.The National Crime Information Center said there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indians and Alaska Native women and girls in 2016 but only 116 of the cases were logged in the federal missing persons database.The executive order, called Operation Lady Justice, establishes a task force to combat the issue.Native American leaders joined the president in the Oval Office for the announcement.“Too many are still missing and their whereabouts are unknown and they usually don’t find them,” President Trump said.The task force will encourage federal and tribal officials to work together to fight violence in Native American communities.“This is a very vexing and dangerous issue in Indian country,” said U.S. Attorney General William Barr.Congress is also trying to fight the problem with Savanna’s Act.

Impeachment fight leaves voters cold in contested Wisconsin

RACINE — There’s not a lot that Republicans and Democrats in this political battlefield agree on, but the impeachment probe into President Donald Trump may have surfaced one: The public hearings aren’t moving the needle.“Everything they say, it’s so repetitive.

Democrats push impeachment to next phase with Dec. 4 hearing

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee is set to take over the impeachment probe of President Donald Trump, Democrats announced Tuesday, scheduling a hearing for next week as they push closer to a possible vote on actual charges of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”The Judiciary panel scheduled the hearing as the separate Intelligence Committee released two last transcripts from its depositions, including from a White House budget official who detailed concerns among colleagues as President Trump ordered them, through intermediaries, to put a hold on military aid to Ukraine.President Trump ordered the hold as he was pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate Democrats — the issue at the heart of the impeachment probe.The Intelligence Committee is wrapping up the investigative phase of the probe and preparing its report for the next.The initial Judiciary hearing on Dec. 4 will feature legal experts who will examine questions of constitutional grounds as the panel decides whether to write articles of impeachment against President Trump — and if so what those articles will be.Democrats are aiming for a final House vote by Christmas, which would set the stage for a likely Senate trial in January.Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that his panel’s hearing will “explore the framework put in place to respond to serious allegations of impeachable misconduct.”President Trump and his lawyers are invited to attend the Judiciary hearing and make a request to question witnesses, according to Democratic rules approved by the House last month.

President Trump pardons National Thanksgiving Turkeys

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump continued a storied tradition Nov. 26 -- pardoning the National Thanksgiving Turkey.Leading up to the annual event, two turkeys -- "Bread" and "Butter" -- were selected as the national birds for 2019.

President Trump signs bill making animal cruelty a felony

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has signed a bill that makes certain acts of animal cruelty a federal felony, saying it’s important for the nation to combat “heinous and sadistic acts of cruelty.”The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act prohibits extreme acts of cruelty when they occur in interstate commerce or on federal property.The legislation expands on a 2010 law that targeted videos depicting the crushing or torturing of animals, but that did not prohibit the underlying conduct.

Defense Secretary Esper says President Trump ordered him to allow SEAL to keep status

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday that President Donald Trump gave him a direct order to allow a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes to retire without losing his SEAL status.Esper told reporters at the Pentagon that President Trump’s verbal order was the reason Esper announced Sunday that Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher would be allowed to retire with his Trident Pin, retaining his status as a SEAL.Last week President Trump had tweeted that he wanted Gallagher to be allowed to retire as a SEAL, but Esper’s comments Monday revealed that President Trump had given the defense secretary a direct order to make this happen.Gallagher was acquitted of murder in the stabbing death of an Islamic State militant captive but convicted of posing with the corpse while in Iraq in 2017.In his remarks, Esper also accused Navy Secretary Richard Spencer of secretly offering to the White House to rig the Navy disciplinary process to ensure the Gallagher not lose his Trident.Esper fired Spencer on Sunday, saying he has lost trust in him.

Chinese woman facing prison over Mar-a-Lago trespass

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Chinese businesswoman convicted of trespassing at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and lying to federal agents is set to be sentenced.Prosecutors want Yujing Zhang to receive 18 months imprisonment when sentenced Monday by Judge Roy Altman.

Schiff says more hearings, witnesses possible

WASHINGTON — Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff says he won’t foreclose the possibility of more depositions and hearings in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.Schiff says on CNN that his committee continues to conduct investigative work, but he won’t let the Trump administration stall the inquiry.Schiff’s staff and others are compiling the panel’s findings to submit to the House Judiciary Committee, which is expected to open its own hearings to consider articles of impeachment and a formal recommendation of charges.Schiff says he wants to talk with constituents and colleagues before making a final judgment on impeachment.He contends that if President Barack Obama had acted like Pres.

Top lawmakers reach agreement on spending as deadline nears

WASHINGTON — Negotiations on a package of spending bills to fund the federal government have produced a key breakthrough, though considerably more work is needed to wrap up the long-delayed measures.Top lawmakers of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on Saturday, Nov. 23 confirmed agreement on allocations for each of the 12 spending bills, a step that allows negotiations on the $1.4 trillion budget bundle to begin in earnest to try to pass the measures by a Dec. 20 deadline.Sen.

President Trump pays respects to Army officers killed in Afghanistan

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — President Donald Trump paid respects Thursday to a pair of Army officers who were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan earlier this week.The president and first lady Melania Trump, along with several senior aides, traveled to Delaware to meet with the families of Chief Warrant Officer 2 David C.

President Trump awards medals to Jon Voight, Alison Krauss and others

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday honored an Oscar-winning actor, a bluegrass-country singer, a conservative think tank and others with two of the most prestigious national awards in the arts and humanities.It was the first time during his nearly three-year-old presidency that President Trump has awarded the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal.Honorees included Jon Voight, one of the few Hollywood actors who is an outspoken backer of President Trump.

MU Law Poll: Fewer Wisconsin voters think President Trump should be impeached, compared to October

MILWAUKEE -- The support for impeaching and removing President Donald Trump from office appears to be decreasing in the key swing state of Wisconsin, as Republicans rally around the embattled president, a poll released Wednesday, Nov. 20 showed.“You’ve got Republicans coming home to Trump,” said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School poll.The poll showed 40% of respondents support impeaching and removing President Trump.

FBI has asked for interview with whistleblower in President Trump impeachment inquiry

WASHINGTON — The FBI in October requested an interview with the whistleblower whose complaint fueled the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump and Ukraine, a person familiar with the situation said Wednesday.An agent from the FBI’s Washington field office reached out to the whistleblower’s lawyers to seek an interview about the substance of the complaint, according to this person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the request with The Associated Press.The person said it was clear from the FBI that the whistleblower was not regarded as the target of any investigation but rather a potential witness.

'The USMCA is a win for Wisconsin workers:' Vice President Pence speaks in Marinette

MARINETTE, Wis. -- Vice President Mike Pence spoke at Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) Nov. 20, discussing the United States' economy and military defense and, more specifically, President Donald Trump's United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA).He opened by thanking FMM, a designer and builder of military marine vessels for the U.S. Navy, for the company's contributions to the country's national defense before shifting gears and addressing the ongoing impeachment hearings regarding President Trump."While Democrats in Congress continue to spend all their time on endless investigations and a partisan impeachment," Pence said in reference to impeachment hearings. "They haven't found time to fund our national defense, or give us the (budget) increases that President Trump knows we need."In addition to support for President Trump amid the impeachment hearings, Pence called for support for the USMCA which has been signed by President Trump but is yet to be ratified by Congress."The USMCA is a win for Wisconsin workers and American jobs, I promise you," Pence said.

Unpredictable Sondland faces questions about President Trump, Ukraine

WASHINGTON — Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the most anticipated witness in the impeachment inquiry, is likely to be unpredictable when he faces questions about his evolving accounts of the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine and a newly revealed summertime phone call with President Donald Trump.Sondland, a wealthy hotelier President Trump tapped as his ambassador to the European Union, is more directly entangled than any witness yet in the Republican president’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and Democrats in the 2016 election.