Trump team weighs direct talks with North Korea’s Kim
During his 2017-2021 presidency, Trump held three meetings with Kim. However, their diplomacy yielded no concrete results, even as Trump described their talks as falling “in love.” Read more
Politics
Get the latest news coverage of politics including Honolulu city and county government, Hawaii legislative issues, U.S. Congress and the White House.
Musk uses X to push his preferred political picks
Though the posts represented just a fraction of his more than 2,000 posts during that period, Musk in many cases used them to give attention to Trump’s most controversial choices, including former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for U.S. intelligence chief. Read more
Biden floats more Medicare, Medicaid coverage of obesity drugs
This would enable more Americans to afford new weight loss medications in the GLP-1 class that have been shown to reduce weight by as much as 20% on average and can help prevent type 2 diabetes but cost as much as $1,000 a month without insurance coverage. Read more
UHERO offers ‘uncertainties’ over Council’s proposed empty-homes tax
Introduced in August by Council members Tommy Waters and Radiant Cordero, the measure could see full Council adoption by December. Read more
Trump vows 25% tariffs on Canada, Mexico on Day 1; more on China
The president-elect’s threatened new tariff would appear to violate the terms of the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade. Read more
Prosecutors seek to drop federal criminal cases against Trump
The steps by prosecutors working with Special Counsel Jack Smith in the two cases represent a big legal victory for the Republican president-elect, who won the Nov. 5 election and is set to return to office on Jan. 20. Read more
GOP senator sees many questions for Tulsi Gabbard
Gabbard contradicted U.S. intelligence assessments by questioning whether Assad used chemical weapons on his citizens after a visit to the country in 2017. Read more
Farm groups want Trump to spare their workers from deportation
So far Trump officials have not committed to any exemptions, according to interviews with farm and worker groups and Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan. Read more
Trump’s choices for health agencies suggest shake-up coming
President-elect Donald Trump’s eclectic roster of figures to lead federal health agencies is almost complete — and with it, his vision for a sweeping overhaul is coming into focus. Read more
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Hawaii County bill lowers threshold requiring home repair building permits
As the law stands now, home repairs that cost over $7,500 within a 12-month period require a building permit, which can take months to obtain. Read more
Rand Paul opposes Trump talk of using military in deportations
“You don’t do it with the Army because it’s illegal,” Paul said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “If they send the Army into New York and you have 10,000 troops marching carrying semi-automatic weapons, I think it’s a terrible image, and I will oppose that.” Read more
Trump adviser vows unity over security during transition
Waltz, a Republican congressman tapped by Trump to serve as his national security adviser after taking office Jan. 20, said he is in discussions with his Biden administration counterpart, Jake Sullivan, as the United States confronts an escalating war in Ukraine and ongoing hostilities in the Middle East. Read more
Trump picks Scott Bessent for Treasury, capping long drama over choice
The announcement caps a week where big name Wall Street luminaries’ chance at the job oscillated on a daily basis. Read more
Honolulu city officials trim building permit review times
Honolulu’s permitting department said its residential code review as recently as May took six months or longer to complete. As of Nov. 1, that review time fell to an average of nine days, officials said. Read more
Report: Trump plans probes into 2020 election
Trump, who won the 2024 election but lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, has falsely claimed that he lost the 2020 election due to extensive voter fraud, a view shared by millions of his supporters. Read more
Former Trump nominee Gaetz says he won’t return to Congress
“I’m still going to be in the fight but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz, a Florida Republican who had won another term in Congress, said in an interview with right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Read more
Trump’s education secretary pick named in sexual abuse lawsuit
McMahon and her husband, Vince McMahon, ran the wrestling empire beginning in the early 1980s, with Linda McMahon working as its president and CEO until 2009. Read more
Honolulu City Council’s empty-homes tax measure advances
A home valued at $1 million could receive a $30,000 tax bill each year it remains empty. Read more
Trump picks Pam Bondi for Attorney General after Gaetz withdraws
Bondi, 59, was the top law enforcement officer of the country’s third most populous state from 2011 to 2019. Read more
Graphic police report alleges assault by Trump’s defense pick
The report also documents Hegseth’s vehement denials that he coerced the complainant into a sexual encounter at a Monterey, California, political conference seven years ago. Hegseth was never charged with a crime. Read more
Matt Gaetz drops bid for Trump attorney general amid opposition
Gaetz, who resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives last week, was the subject of an Ethics Committee probe into allegations of having sex with a 17-year-old girl. He has denied wrongdoing. Read more
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