President Donald Trump has long spread conspiracy theories about voting that are designed to explain away his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Now that he’s president again, Trump has stocked his administration with many people who have promoted his falsehoods and in some cases helped him try to overturn his loss.
The first concrete action from Trump’s mandate to investigate the 2020 election was the seizure in late January of ballots and election records from Fulton County in Georgia, a Democratic stronghold that includes Atlanta. The county has long been a target of election conspiracy theorists aligned with Trump.
The latest:
Trump asks news media to leave at start of his breakfast with governors
Trump opened up his breakfast meeting at the White House with U.S. governors by asking the pool of journalists to depart so that they can “talk very candidly.”
“I guess we’re going to be asking the press to leave, that way we’re going to talk very candidly,” Trump said.
The president indicated that he might take questions afterward, though it was unclear if those questions would come from the governors. Trump said he made the choice about the media’s presence at the start of the meeting after talking with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Trump did not respond to questions that were shouted as the journalists were escorted out of the room.
Governors’ group pulls out of meeting with Trump
Trump’s refusal to invite all governors to a White House meeting has prompted the group to back out.
The National Governors Association is pulling out of an annual meeting at the White House Trump declined to invite two Democratic governors — Jared Polis of Colorado and Wes Moore of Maryland.
The move was seen as undercutting one of Washington’s few remaining bipartisan gatherings. Trump is still expected to meet with governors at the White House on Friday.
Iran holds military drills with Russia
Iran held annual military drills with Russia as a second American aircraft carrier drew closer to the Middle East.
Both the United States and Iran are signaling they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran’s nuclear program fizzle out. Trump said Thursday he believes 10 to 15 days is enough time for Iran to reach a deal.
But talks on its nuclear program have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups. Indirect talks held in recent weeks made little visible progress, and one or both sides could be buying time for final war preparations.
U.S. military presence in the region is mounting.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to attend White House meeting with Trump
Moore said Friday he will attend a business meeting at the White House during this week’s annual gathering of governors in Washington, even after President Donald Trump excluded him from a traditional governors’ dinner.
Trump said the high-profile Democratic governor was “not worthy of being there.” The selective guest list has cast a shadow over the bipartisan National Governors Association meeting, prompting barbs between Moore and Trump and leading some Democratic governors to boycott the dinner.
Still, Moore said in the statement that he would show up for the official business meeting Friday morning.
“But let me be abundantly clear: I will not participate in political stunts,” Moore wrote in a statement.
Last year’s White House business session devolved into a public clash between Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat.
FOX41 Yakima©FOX11 TriCities©
