I worry about Joe Biden debating Donald Trump. He should do it only under two conditions. Otherwise, he’s giving Trump unfair advantages. First, Biden should declare that he will take part in a debate only if Trump releases his tax returns for 2016 through 2018. Biden has already done so, and they are on his […]
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The latest campaign ad by Senator Kelly Loeffler, a freshman Republican from Georgia fighting to keep her job, is entitled “CLEARED.” It recounts how she fought back against charges that she improperly traded stocks based on a confidential briefing she received in January about the looming coronavirus crisis. In late May, the Justice Department confirmed […]
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LONDON — European Union officials are preparing to bring antitrust charges against Amazon for abusing its dominance in internet commerce to box out smaller rivals, according to people with knowledge of the case. Nearly two years in the making, the case is one of the most aggressive attempts by a government to crimp the power […]
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LONDON — A British police watchdog agency said on Thursday that it would not conduct a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Boris Johnson over claims that as mayor of London he had done official favors for an American businesswoman whose apartment he sometimes visited during working hours. It also said there was “some evidence that […]
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The chief scientist brought on to lead the Trump administration’s vaccine efforts has spent the last several days trying to disentangle pieces of his stock portfolio and his intricate ties to big pharmaceutical interests, as critics point to the potential for significant conflicts of interest. The scientist, Moncef Slaoui, is a venture capitalist and a […]
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WASHINGTON — A federal watchdog is investigating whether a top Interior Department official violated ethics rules when she helped decide how a critical tranche of funds for Native American tribes in the $2.2 trillion stimulus law should be distributed. The department’s inspector general informed lawmakers on Friday that he would review the roles of Tara […]
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In July 2016, Raymond Thomas, a four-star general and head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, hosted a guest: Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google. General Thomas, who served in the 1991 gulf war and deployed many times to Afghanistan, spent the better part of a day showing Mr. Schmidt around Special Operations Command’s headquarters […]
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WASHINGTON — A top intelligence appointment that President Trump is considering for a billionaire investor and prominent supporter could be only a short-term one, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump has long considered the investor Stephen A. Feinberg, whose company owns a prominent private military contractor, for a senior role in the […]
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All over the country, businesses large and small are seeking breathing room from their lenders, landlords and business partners as they face the financial fallout from the coronavirus crisis. President Trump’s family company is among those looking for help. With some of its golf courses and hotels closed amid the economic lockdown, the Trump Organization […]
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SAN FRANCISCO — The Defense Department said on Thursday that it would re-evaluate the awarding of a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft after sustained protest from Amazon, which had contended that it lost the deal because of potential interference from President Trump. In a legal brief filed to the Court of Federal Claims, […]
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WASHINGTON — Republicans are wielding the power of their Senate majority to intensify an election-year investigation of Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian energy firm, putting new scrutiny on the son of Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the former vice president re-emerges as President Trump’s chief rival for the presidency. In elevating questions about the […]
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WASHINGTON — President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner is selling his stake in Cadre, a New York-based real estate start-up that has sought to profit from a special tax break included in the package Mr. Trump signed into law in late 2017. In selling his stake, Mr. Kushner also took advantage of a special […]
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The sounds from the Super Bowl telecast echoed through the ballroom of Gracie Mansion, as the 100 or so guests, including many donors, mingled with Mayor Bill de Blasio. The private party, organized and paid for by Mr. de Blasio’s state and federal political action committees, was billed as an informal affair, but attendees said […]
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Deborah Dugan, the embattled president and chief executive of the Recording Academy, was fired by the group’s board on Monday following weeks of internal turmoil between the organization that runs the Grammy Awards and its new leader. The academy announced Ms. Dugan’s removal in a letter from its executive committee, sent to the organization’s members. […]
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A philanthropist who quit the board of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to protest the termination of its director said on Thursday that she was also rescinding her $5 million bequest to the Upper East Side institution. Judy Francis Zankel, who resigned as secretary of the board after Caroline Baumann was forced out by […]
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PUNE, India — The apartment buildings rise 23 stories into the skyline, a pair of elegant, jet-black towers buffered from the street by security guards and high fences. The name Trump is displayed in big, gold block letters. But within the Trump Towers complex in Pune, in western India, employees say that most of the […]
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In her first public remarks since she was forced to resign two weeks ago, the former director of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum called the investigation into the circumstances of her wedding, which led to her ouster, a “sham” colored by sexism. “This is not how we treat human beings,” the former director, Caroline […]
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John Micklethwait, the editor in chief of Bloomberg News, walked into his Washington bureau on a Friday morning in December with a daunting task: explaining to his political reporters how to cover a presidential campaign when the boss is a candidate. Addressing roughly 100 journalists spilling out of a glass-walled conference room, Mr. Micklethwait said […]
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Five trustees have resigned from the board of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to protest the removal of the museum’s director, Caroline Baumann, following an investigation into issues including her 2018 wedding. Ms. Baumann was forced to resign on Feb. 7 after an investigation by the Smithsonian’s inspector general into how Ms. Baumann procured […]
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Everything fell into place for Caroline Baumann on her wedding day. She wore an elegant silveresque dress she’d ordered from a Brooklyn designer. She exchanged her vows at a lush Hamptons preserve inside one of her favorite sculptures, a dome designed by R. Buckminster Fuller. She put photos of the day on Instagram. That joyous […]
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WASHINGTON — Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy F.B.I. director and a frequent target of President Trump, will not face charges in an investigation into whether he lied to investigators about a media leak, his defense team said on Friday. The decision by prosecutors in Washington ends a case that had left Mr. McCabe in […]
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It seemed like a routine traffic stop. An officer from the 44th Precinct in the Bronx pulled over a motorist for talking on her cellphone while driving. The motorist faced a $50 fine and five points on her license if it was a first time violation. But this wasn’t just any motorist. Officer Michele Hernandez […]
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WASHINGTON — Makan Delrahim, the head of the antitrust division at the Department of Justice, has recused himself from investigating Google, even as the agency’s examination of the largest tech companies ramps up. Mr. Delrahim, 50, recently removed himself from looking into allegations of anticompetitive practices at Google because of a potential conflict of interest […]
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WASHINGTON — The big-screen televisions beamed constant impeachment updates into the sprawling lobby of the Trump International Hotel near the White House on Friday afternoon, with Fox News declaring “high stakes vote looms on impeachment witnesses.” But among the guests at this venue, which played a key supporting role in the impeachment drama, there was […]
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CASTEL GIORGIO, ITALY — Fausto Carotenuto, the owner of a spiritual wellness and yoga center in Umbria, the ancient Etruscan heartland of Italy, senses bad energy underfoot. A geothermal company wants to build a plant on a fallow field near his land. He envisions apocalyptic consequences if he and his allies fail to stop it. […]
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It was supposed to be a new day for the Grammy Awards. After years of bruising criticism over the show’s poor record of racial and gender diversity — both onstage and behind the scenes — the Recording Academy, the nonprofit that oversees the awards, had charted a path toward change. Out was the longtime chief […]
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