Tag Archives: Obama administration

ABC News reports: Former U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who served in the post under President Barack Obama, has died at 68, his family announced Tuesday. Carter is survived by his wife, Stephanie, and his children, Ava and Will. “It is with deep and profound sadness that the family of former Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter shares that Secretary Carter …

From an op-ed published today by the Washington Post: We’ve heard this before. Go back where you came from. Go back to Africa. And now, “send her back.” Black and brown people in America don’t hear these chants in a vacuum; for many of us, we’ve felt their full force being shouted in our faces, whispered behind our backs, scrawled …

Axios reports: Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro announced today he’s forming an exploratory committee to run for president in 2020. He will make his final decision about running on Jan. 12, per AP. This gives Castro an early start for courting donors, potential campaign staffers and media attention. The 44-year-old former San Antonio mayor will have more …

John Kerry pulled no punches last night: Appearing on The Late Show, Kerry began by saying the op-ed “scares the Hell” out of him. “There is a reassurance. It means that for James Buchanan, he’s no longer the worst president,” Kerry joked. Stephen Colbert asked Kerry if anyone tried doing things like stealing documents from the president’s desk during the …

ABC News reports: Eric Holder is considering a 2020 presidential run. The former attorney general on Monday night told Stephen Colbert, “I’m thinking about it. What I’ve said,” he added, “is that I’d make a determination sometime early next year. My focus, really, now, is on 2018, the midterms and trying to make sure that Democrats take back the Senate, …

Slate reports: Two years ago, Melania Trump copied several lines in her Republican National Convention speech from an address Michelle Obama delivered in 2008. On Monday, Melania Trump formally announced the launch of an anti-cyberbullying initiative. As part of the initiative, the White House released a booklet that, in the words of Melania’s signed introduction, is intended to “help kids …

The Hill reports: Former Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday night did not dismiss rumors he will run for president in 2020. He told The New York Times that if he ran for president, he would do so because he felt he could unify and advance the country. In a Q&A interview streamed online, Times reporter Alex Burns asked the …

Politico reports: Former Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday he believed Robert Mueller legally could prosecute President Donald Trump on obstruction of justice charges — but that the special counsel would need to build a strong case. “Is there a technical case there now?” Holder said in response to questions from POLITICO after a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday. “I …

Yahoo News reports: More than two years after leaving the Obama administration, former Attorney General Eric Holder is reentering the political fray. His goal: to lead the legal resistance to Donald Trump’s agenda — and perhaps even run against the president in 2020. Seized by a sense of urgency to oppose Trump and restore what he regards as America’s best …

The Hill reports: Former White House press secretary Josh Earnest has been named an NBC News and MSNBC political analyst. The announcement was made Monday morning on NBC’s “Today” show. “Josh recently completed a ten-year run with President Obama, most recently serving as White House Press Secretary from 2014-2017,” reads a memo from NBC News President Noah Oppenheim and MSNBC …

The New York Times reports: In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election — and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians — across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated …

Will this also be the last time we see the red ribbon hanging at the White House? Via press release: December 1 marks World AIDS Day across the globe, and serves as a way to recommit ourselves to ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat. Throughout his Administration, President Obama propelled America’s leadership on HIV/AIDS by both developing the first …

Don’t expect to see anything like this next year. Via press release from Secretary of State John Kerry: On Transgender Day of Remembrance, the United States solemnly honors the memory of the many transgender individuals who lost their lives to senseless acts of violence. Transgender persons around the world are targeted by rising levels of violence fueled by hatred and …

The New Yorker reports: On Friday, James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, acting independently of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, sent a letter to Congress saying that the F.B.I. had discovered e-mails that were potentially relevant to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private server. Coming less than two weeks before the Presidential election, Comey’s decision to make …

GLAAD reports: With a sea of staffers dressed in purple on the steps of the Old Executive Office Building in Washington DC on Thursday, The White House voiced its strong support for LGBTQ youth and took a powerful stand against bullying. But the White House team was just one of many among elected and public officials speaking out. Take a …

The Washington Post reports: The Obama administration on Friday officially accused Russia of carrying out a wide-ranging campaign to interfere with the 2016 elections, including by hacking the computers of the Democratic National Committee and other political officials. The denunciation, made by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security, came as pressure was …

Politico reports: President Barack Obama’s job approval rating hit 55 percent in a new poll released Thursday, the highest that number has been at any point during his second term in office. The CNN/ORC poll released Thursday marks the seventh consecutive month that Obama’s job approval numbers have been above 50 percent. His job approval number is up 4 percentage …

From the New York Times editorial board: Just days after the federal Department of Education in May issued sensible antidiscrimination guidelines for accommodating transgender students, Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, set out to challenge them. Zeroing in on North Texas, the attorney general’s office encouraged the Harrold Independent School District to adopt an anti-transgender bathroom policy. The choice of district …

Bloomberg reports: The Obama administration was barred by a judge from enforcing a directive that U.S. public schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms according to their gender identity. A federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday sided with Texas and 12 other states that argued the administration’s policy usurps local control and threatens students’ safety …

Vice President Joe Biden celebrated President Obama’s 55th birthday today by tweeting out a photo of the friendship bracelet made for him by the president back in June as part of a voter registration promotion. See that video below. Also sending birthday wishes today was Hillary Clinton, who tweeted out a meme-ready image. At age 47 in January 2009, Obama …