Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Donald Trump presses Lockheed, Boeing on plane contracts
President-elect Donald Trump pressured two of the country's biggest aerospace companies to cut costs on their government contracts, winning a commitment from Boeing to lower the price tag on a new Air Force One but finding the going tougher with Lockheed Martin and the F-35 fighter jet. Published December 21, 2016
Border Patrol agents chided for not returning personal items to deportees
More than 40 percent of illegal immigrants who get deported to Mexico say they don't get all of their personal belongings back when they're kicked out of the country, according to a new study that chides agents for failing to take better care of their charges' needs. Published December 21, 2016
Donald Trump predicts F-35 fighter-jet cost cuts will succeed
Donald Trump pressured the chief of one of the country's major defense contractors Wednesday to lower the price of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, saying the massive project has ballooned well beyond what it should cost. Published December 21, 2016
Seniors deep in college debt defaults
More than 6 million Americans over age 50 still carry student loan debt, and about a third of them are in default, according to a new government study Tuesday that warned the government is even docking the Social Security checks of tens of thousands of senior citizens to make them pay off what they owe. Published December 20, 2016
FBI feared Huma Abedin’s laptop had been hacked, contained secret emails: Search warrant
The FBI believed Huma Abedin's laptop computer did have evidence she and her boss, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, mishandled classified information, according to a search warrant released Tuesday that shows the basis agents had for upending the presidential election with their controversial election-season probe. Published December 20, 2016
Donald Trump wins Electoral College as Hillary Clinton suffers more defections
The Electoral College officially voted Monday to select Donald Trump as the 45th president as noisy anti-Trump protests across the country fizzled, and Democrats ended up with an even worse black eye in the results. Published December 19, 2016
Judge orders release of FBI search warrant into Huma Abedin emails
A federal judge on Monday ordered the administration to release the search warrant that the FBI used to probe Huma Abedin's emails in the waning days of the presidential election -- a move that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's team is blaming for her loss. Published December 19, 2016
Christopher Horner goes behind enemy lines at EPA on Trump ‘landing team’
For a decade, he has used open-records laws to pry loose some of the EPA's secrets. Now Christopher Horner is on the inside, part of President-elect Donald Trump's landing team at the Environmental Protection Agency, preparing the way for the next administration. Published December 18, 2016
Donald Trump picks debt-warrior Mick Mulvaney to head White House budget office
President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he'll tap Rep. Mick Mulvaney to be his budget director, putting an ardent conservative in the job that has the most control over the size of the federal government. Published December 17, 2016
DNI says Russia hack proof will have to wait
The director of national intelligence rejected calls to speed up release of evidence that would show Russia tried to tamper with the U.S. election, saying Friday that they'll finish out their review before making the proof public. Published December 16, 2016
Illegal migration hits new high in November as families surge across border
The Border Patrol nabbed more than 15,000 illegal immigrants traveling as families on the southwest border in November -- a massive increase that marks the worst November on record and the second worst overall, according to statistics released Thursday. Published December 15, 2016
ICE spends $100 million ferrying illegal immigrant children around U.S., watchdog reports
The federal agency that handles deportations spent more than $100 million of its money over the last few years to ferry illegal immigrant children around the U.S., according to calculations by a watchdog group that says the cash could have been better spent on enforcement. Published December 11, 2016
Harry Reid calls for limits to his own methods as divisive tenure draws to close
Sen. Harry Reid warned his colleagues not to abuse the filibuster, asked for a return to pork-barrel spending and begged them to find a way to limit the power of interest groups to spend money in elections, saying Thursday that the fate of American democracy depends on it. Published December 8, 2016
Hillary Clinton calls for crackdown on fake news ‘epidemic’
Fresh off her election loss, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a plea for Congress to find a way to crack down on "fake news," which she said Thursday is a threat to democracy. Published December 8, 2016
House votes to avert government shutdown; Senate fights loom
Democrats' anger petered out Thursday as the House passed a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open for nearly five more months, paving the way for Congress to wrap up and head home to prepare for a change of power in the White House next year. Published December 8, 2016
John Kelly, Trump’s Homeland Security pick, wins Border Patrol agents’ backing
Border Patrol agents gave retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly their backing Wednesday to be the next Homeland Security secretary, and thanked President-elect Donald Trump for consulting them before making a pick that the agents said should go a long way to right the problems in the troubled department. Published December 7, 2016
Patent examiners cheated on time cards yet still received high ratings, inspector general says
Hundreds of patent examiners appear to have cheated on their time cards yet were still rated as above average employees -- and some were even given bonuses by their bosses at the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, the agency's inspector general told Congress in devastating testimony Wednesday. Published December 7, 2016
Donald Trump softens on Dreamers, prompting cheers and concerns
Donald Trump's apparent softening of his stance on illegal immigrant Dreamers produced wildly divergent reactions Wednesday, with some activists cheering a shift while others said they don't believe the president-elect has changed one bit, and still intends to deport migrants as soon as he takes office. Published December 7, 2016
John F. Kelly to be Donald Trump’s DHS chief
President-elect Donald Trump has picked retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly to be the new secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, sources said Wednesday, selecting a career military man who, as head of American forces in Latin America, repeatedly warned of the dangers of drug legalization and the porous southwestern border. Published December 7, 2016
Democrats demand ‘full, categorical pardon’ for illegal immigrants, say Obama ignoring own powers
House Democrats renewed their call for President Obama to issue a "full, categorical pardon" for illegal immigrants, saying Wednesday that he is misunderstanding the extent of his powers and he can, in fact, help out hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant Dreamers. Published December 7, 2016
