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Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang

bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com

Ben Wolfgang is a National Security Correspondent for The Washington Times. His reporting is regularly featured in the daily Threat Status newsletter.
Previously, he covered energy and the environment, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016, and also spent two years as a White House correspondent during the Obama administration.
Before coming to The Times in 2011, Ben worked as political reporter at The Republican-Herald in Pottsville, Pa.
He can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Ben Wolfgang

Speculation continues to swirl that Vice President Joseph R. Biden will make a run for the White House in 2016, but Iowa Democrats have said the party's current options are already more than viable. (Associated Press)

Joe Biden 2016 policies likely to be same as Obama’s

After keeping a low profile following the death of his son earlier this year, Vice President Joseph R. Biden has re-emerged to become the biggest defender of President Obama's agenda, selling everything from the administration's climate change policies to its Detroit bailout and, in the process, making clear he won't distance himself from the current president in a potential 2016 White House bid.

September 17, 2015
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 19, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Netanyahu to meet with Obama Nov. 9

As the White House moves ahead with its nuclear deal with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House Nov. 9 and meet with President Obama face to face.

September 16, 2015
President Barack Obama meets with veterans and Gold Star Mothers to discuss the Iran Nuclear deal, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Obama set to push on with climate agenda

Despite bitter opposition in Congress, a series of legal setbacks and data showing its environmental regulations will drive up electricity rates, the Obama administration this week is moving full-speed ahead with its climate change agenda, prodding U.S. cities into new policies to reduce carbon emissions.

September 15, 2015
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 19, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Benjamin Netanyahu to visit White House in November

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the chief critic of President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, will visit the White House in November, administration officials said Friday.

September 11, 2015
President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address at Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown, S.D., on May 8, 2015. Obama visited South Dakota to promote his proposal to offer two years for free community college to qualified students. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Obama won’t stay at Chinese-owned hotel in New York, White House confirms

President Obama will break with tradition and will not stay at the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel when the White House delegation visits New York City later this year for the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting, administration officials said Friday, fueling speculation that concerns over Chinese spying drove the change.

September 11, 2015
President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and others, stand on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 11, 2015, as a bugler plays "Taps" during a ceremony to observe the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attacks. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Obamas mark 9/11 with moment of silence

Exactly 14 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, began, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama held a moment of silence Friday to honor those who died that day.

September 11, 2015
President Obama is making the case that Republican opponents of the Iran nuclear deal — which is designed to limit Tehran's ability to acquire a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from some economic sanctions — essentially want war with Iran. He argues American casualties are all but certain if the deal is not implemented. (Associated Press)

Obama mounts all-out push to sell Iran nuclear deal to Jews, skeptical public

President Obama found enough support in Congress to ensure survival of his nuclear deal with Iran, but he still has a steep hill to climb in convincing a skeptical American public -- and Jewish voters in particular -- that the agreement is in the best interests of both the U.S. and Israel.

September 10, 2015
President Obama once again cast higher education as key to economic growth during a speech in Warren, Michigan, on Wednesday. (Associated Press)

Obama renews push for free higher education

President Obama on Wednesday renewed his push for two years of free community college for all Americans, saying the issue should be one that can bring Republicans and Democrats together at a time when the two sides are locked in a bitter budget showdown.

September 9, 2015
Refugees walk along the railway tracks that connect Horgos and Szeged near the Hungary-Serbia border Tuesday. President Obama says the U.S. must do more to help the issue of Syrian refugees, but both Democrats and Republicans say he has been slow to act. (Associated Press)

Obama’s Syria policy led directly to refugee crisis, Republican critics charge

The White House acknowledged Tuesday that the U.S., along with other nations across the Middle East and Europe, must do more to alleviate the worsening Syrian refugee crisis -- but that admission highlights how the administration often has seemed several steps behind as Syria sunk into chaos, a fact Republican critics, fellow Democrats and international leaders have pointed to in recent days and weeks.

September 8, 2015
Visiting the homes of top newspaper executives seems rare for President Obama, though he has enjoyed strong support — financially and otherwise — from high-profile figures in the media world. (Associated Press)

Obama visits with top newspaper executives raise questions about fairness of news media

Nearly seven years into his tenure, President Obama remains on friendly terms with some powerful figures in the media. In recent weeks, the president has gotten cozy with top executives at major U.S. newspapers, headlining a Democratic Party fundraiser at the home of Las Vegas Sun owner Brian Greenspun and dining at the Anchorage home of Alaska Dispatch News publisher Alice Rogoff during a three-day trek across the state last week.

September 7, 2015