Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush will headline a fundraiser next month for top Donald Trump critic Liz Cheney, turning her reelection race into a proxy war of sorts between the ex-presidents who represent two competing factions of the Republican Party.
Bush will be the featured guest at an Oct. 18 event in Dallas supporting the Wyoming congresswoman's campaign, according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to discuss the fundraiser by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Cheney, a daughter of Bush's two-term vice president, Dick Cheney, was the most prominent House Republican to vote to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. She has since emerged as one of his most vocal antagonists, and Trump has vowed to exact his revenge.
Bush's involvement puts the two former Republican presidents directly at odds and underscores the deep tension that remains within the party between Trumpism and the GOP's establishment wing.
Earlier this month, Trump announced his support for Cheney challenger Harriet Hageman, a Wyoming attorney looking to unseat the three-term congresswoman.
Bush spokesperson Freddy Ford said in a statement that the former president "has historically helped a few key candidates and friends each cycle, so this one shouldn't come as any surprise."
"President Bush is impressed by Liz Cheney's strength and vision, and he's proud to support her," he added.
Trump on Wednesday evening fired back in a statement that cast Bush as a "Republican in name only," despite his lengthy leadership of the party, and labeled Cheney "warmongering" and "so bad for Wyoming."
Cheney's campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday on the significance of the fundraiser. Bush aides did not comment on any possible plans to campaign on the congresswoman's behalf.
While Bush has generally kept a low profile since leaving office in 2009, he delivered a pointed speech earlier this month on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in which he warned of the country's growing internal division and a "violence that gathers within."
"There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home," he said as he delivered the keynote address at the national memorial to the victims of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. "But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them."
The warning came eight months after the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters attempting to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election. It marked some of Bush's sharpest criticism of that attack and appeared to be an implicit criticism of Trump's brand of politics.
Trump, a longtime critic of Bush who ran on opposing the country's wars in the Middle East, responded to the speech by slamming Bush for suggesting "terrorists on the `right' are a bigger problem than those from foreign countries that hate America, and that are pouring into our Country right now."
"He shouldn't be lecturing us about anything," Trump said in a statement. "The World Trade Center came down during his watch. Bush led a failed and uninspiring presidency. He shouldn't be lecturing anybody!"
Cheney was ousted from her leadership position as the No. 3 House Republican for taking on Trump but has nonetheless posted huge fundraising numbers, with two consecutive record quarters, according to financial reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
That includes bringing in $1.88 million from April through June and $1.54 million in the first three months of 2021, reports show.
Trump has endorsed several other Republicans challenging GOP incumbents who voted to impeach him. That includes Kelly Tshibaka, who is running against Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska; Michigan state Rep. Steve Carra, who is trying to unseat longtime Rep. Fred Upton; and Joe Kent, who is challenging Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in Washington.
Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio announced last week he will be retiring instead of running for reelection next year against a Trump-backed opponent.
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.