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Sen. Mark Warner Raises Concerns About Trump’s Sincerity toward Black America

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “The one thing Americans know from first-hand experience or watching TV is that, in a trial, you present your witness and present documents. If people who were in the room are not given a chance to testify, not just Bolton but Mulvaney, if the president’s version of the facts is true, have Mulvaney testify,” he said.

Published

6 years ago

January 30, 2020

Stacy M. Brown

Sen. Mark Warner of Va. (3rd from L) joined World War II veterans at the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Va., on Tues., Feb. 23, 2010, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the raising of the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima. The Senator's father, Robert Warner of Vernon, CT, (2nd from L) and James L. Wheeler of Falls Church, VA (far L) are both retired Marines who fought at Iwo Jima. (Photo by Riki Parikh/Sen. Warner’s Office)

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) didn’t always favor impeaching President Donald Trump.

And, he’s still isn’t sure which way he’ll vote when the president’s Senate impeachment trial ends.

“I was not one of the ones who early on advocated for impeachment, and I’ve still not made my final decision. I will be impartial. I want to hear this out,” Warner, the Vice-Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus and Vice-Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told NNPA Newswire.

The bombshell revelation by former National Security Advisor John Bolton that the president did engage with Ukraine on a quid-pro-quo to try and dig up dirt on Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden could be a game-changer, Warner said.

“When you saw what appears to be the president of the United States withholding aid from a country that’s an ally in a war with Russia, withholding White House meetings because he simply wants his own personal political meetings; if somebody had not cried foul on that, what kind of precedent does that set for any future president?” Warner stated.

“I don’t want to keep Democratic presidents taking these kinds of actions.”

Warner said Bolton appears as someone who’d make a credible witness.

“I think John Bolton has not been somebody I’ve agreed with on most policy matters, but no one has kind of questioned his close to 40 years of solidly conservative Republican credentials. It’s been interesting to see the president’s supporters have started to attack him; he’s someone like Trump on many issues, and I kept wondering what was going to be in his book. I think it’s interesting that the president’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly said he thinks Bolton is right and should testify.”

It’s surprising that Trump still has members in his cabinet, like Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and aide Robert Blair, working for him despite the insight they have on Ukraine, Warner stated.

Each should testify at the impeachment trial, he said.

“If they came up and swore [under oath] and tried to clear the president that would be relevant too,” Warner stated. “I think any logical person would say maybe they don’t feel like they can come up under the threat of perjury. It’s a strange time.”

When asked what effect the impeachment trial would have on the 2020 election, particularly if Trump isn’t removed from office, Warner said he wasn’t sure.

“If the impeachment vote does not go forward, I don’t know how you can claim complete vindication if you’ve got relevant people with relevant information who never had a chance to testify,” Warner stated.

“The one thing Americans know from first-hand experience or watching TV is that, in a trial, you present your witness and present documents. If people who were in the room are not given a chance to testify, not just Bolton but Mulvaney, if the president’s version of the facts is true, have Mulvaney testify,” he said.

Warner also was asked whether Senate Republicans fear Trump more than they do Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).

“I think they fear the president. Mitch McConnell is a very smart, practical, strategist. You don’t hear Mitch McConnell, even when he disagrees with one of his members, go out and publicly attack him,” Warner stated.

“One thing about Donald Trump, there’s no question he will attack anyone who disagrees with him.”

In echoing his Senate colleague, Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Warner said African Americans should pause before giving Trump the accolades the president craves from the Black community.

“I would acknowledge that the president, more so Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), took the first step on criminal justice reform, but it was only the first step,” Warner stated.

“There is low unemployment, but we’ve not seen a diminishing of the racial wealth gap. What we’ve not seen is that it took months literally after the money ran out for HBCUs to get their funds replaced. The First Choice Act, he didn’t’ make that a priority,” Warner said.

He added:

“The president’s tone and comments about systemic racism in this country, I don’t think he acknowledged that. I don’t believe there’s been any plan laid up by this administration on how you address the racial wealth gap, how you promote more minority businesses, how you take the next step up in criminal justice reform.

“I think the African American community understands that, if anything, you then hear these disparaging comments about countries in Africa whether it’s attacking great leaders like John Lewis and Elijah Cummings. I think I can speak more to the African American community in Virginia where Black people come up to me all the time and say to me to stay on this. I don’t feel like the focus has been genuine.

“If anything, you have nothing from this administration on voting rights. The cutbacks on voting rights, and all of these claims about voter fraud, I believe, in many ways, is code to try to limit voting opportunities. Almost the majority of the Russian propaganda efforts were geared at Black America to try and discourage them from voting.

“Fake websites that were supposed to be about Black Lives Matter coming out of Russia, and you still have this president almost refuse to acknowledge the ongoing threat that Putin poses in 2020.”

Stacy M. Brown

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

3 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

6 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke

Oakland Post

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PRESS ROOM: NBA Hall of Fame Nominee Terry Cummings Joins 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to Launch Victory & Values Initiative

NNPA NEWSWIRE — NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th.

Published

6 days ago

February 27, 2026

admin

Cummings becomes an honorary member, joining other role model sports stars

NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings has officially become an honorary member of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County, marking a powerful new chapter for the 100 Black Men and youth development across the region.

Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th. The moment signified more than membership — it marked the launch of the organization’s transformative new platform, the Victory & Values Initiative.

The Victory & Values Initiative is a groundbreaking youth development program designed to empower elementary and middle school students through a dynamic blend of sports, mentorship, and STEM exposure. The initiative focuses on building health, discipline, character, leadership, and access to opportunity — creating pathways for long-term academic and personal success.

“This is about more than sports,” said Cummings during the ceremony. “It’s about using the platform of athletics to teach life lessons, create access, and build the next generation of leaders.”

The induction ceremony also featured notable guests including NASCAR’s newest Star Driver, Lavar Scott and NASCAR Director of Athletic Performance, Phil Horton, who joined Cummings for a powerful Victory & Values Town Hall discussion. The Town Hall was moderated by renowned Sports Emcee John Hollins and focused on leadership, resilience, discipline, and the importance of mentorship in shaping young lives.

A “Day at NASCAR” for 75+ Youth

Cummings wasted no time getting to work. On his first full day as an honorary member, he joined his new brothers of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to host a “Day at NASCAR,” escorting more than 75 youth to a once-in-a-lifetime experience at EchoPark Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway).

The youth participants received behind-the-scenes access including: an exclusive tour of Pit Row, access to the Garage Area and exploration of the interactive Fan Zone.

The experience culminated with a surprise meet-and-greet and Q&A session with NASCAR Superstar Bubba Wallace, who shared insights on perseverance, preparation, and breaking barriers in professional sports.

The day served as a living example of the ‘Victory & Values’ Initiative in action — exposing youth to new industries, expanding their vision for the future, and connecting them directly with high- level mentors and role models.

Building Leaders Through Access and Mentorship

The 100 Black Men of DeKalb County – a chapter of the largest, national mentoring organization in the county – continues to expand its footprint with programs focused on academic excellence, economic empowerment, leadership development, and health & wellness.

The launch of ‘Victory & Values’ represents a strategic expansion of the organization’s impact

intentionally integrating athletics and STEM to engage youth at an early age while reinforcing core principles such as integrity, accountability, teamwork, and perseverance.

“Our mission has always been to mentor the next generation,” said Vaughn Irons, President-Elect of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County. “With Terry Cummings joining the brotherhood, along with partners in NASCAR and professional sports, we are creating unprecedented access and exposure for our youth. Victory & Values is about turning inspiration into structured opportunity.”

By connecting elementary and middle school students to professional athletes, executives, STEM professionals, and community leaders, the initiative aims to:

Increase youth exposure to careers in sports business, engineering, and performance science
Strengthen mentorship pipelines
Promote physical wellness and mental resilience
Build character-driven leadership at an early age

Open Invitation to Youth and Families

All youth are invited to participate in the Victory & Values Initiative, along with the other countless, impactful programs offered by the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County.

Parents and guardians seeking mentorship, leadership development, academic enrichment, and transformative exposure opportunities for their children are encouraged to connect with the organization.

As NBA Legend Terry Cummings’ induction demonstrates, Victory & Values is more than a program — it is a movement designed to build champions in life, not just in sports.

For more information about the Victory & Values Initiative or to enroll a student, contact: 100 Black Men of DeKalb County at Phone at 404.241.1338, info@100bmod.org or Tee Foxx at 404.791.6525,