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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

**FILE** President Obama has lunch with former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on the patio outside the Oval Office on July 29, 2013. (Chuck Kennedy/White House)

Obama had secret lunch with Hillary Clinton on Thursday

Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the White House on Thursday and had lunch with President Obama — a meeting that was not part of the president's daily schedule and was only acknowledged by the White House after People magazine revealed it in a tweet.

May 29, 2014
**FILE** John Podesta (Associated Press)

White House touts energy record ahead of new coal regs

Less than a week before releasing far-reaching new restrictions on coal-fired power plants, the White House and its environmentalist allies on Thursday launched a preemptive attack against critics of its energy policy.

May 29, 2014
President Barack Obama pauses while delivering the commencement address to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's Class of 2014, in West Point, N.Y., Wednesday, May 28, 2014. In a broad defense of his foreign policy, the president declared that the U.S. remains the world's most indispensable nation, even after a "long season of war," but argued for restraint before embarking on more military adventures. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Obama defends Afghan pullback, outreach to Syria

President Obama on Wednesday defended his actions on national security and offered something of a reboot of his foreign policy in an attempt to define America's role as the war in Afghanistan comes to a close.

May 28, 2014
President Barack Obama, center, puts his arm over outgoing Sec. of Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Shaun Donovan, left, as he announced his nomination of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, right, to replace Donovan, in the State Dinning Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Cabinet shuffle: Donovan to OMB, Castro to HUD

President Obama on Friday called on the Senate to quickly confirm his new picks to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Office of Management and Budget.

May 23, 2014
U.S. Army Air Corps Maj. Gen. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle fastens a medal on the tail of a 500-pound bomb that his raiders dropped on Tokyo on April 18, 1942. Eighty men in 16 planes surprised the Japanese and shattered their sense of being impregnable. (Associated Press)

Obama signs resolution honoring Doolittle Raiders

President Obama on Friday honored the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, 80 airmen who made history in April 1942 by striking back against Imperial Japan only a few months after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

May 23, 2014
President Obama looks at Jackie Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia during a tour of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Mr. Obama visited the museum to highlight tourism and to help spur international visits to the 50 states. (Associated Press)

Obama pitches tourism at Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

With the growing veterans health care crisis swirling around him, President Obama on Thursday left Washington for Cooperstown, New York, where he toured the Baseball Hall of Fame and made a pitch for international tourists to come to the United States.

May 22, 2014
President Barack Obama throws out the first pitch to St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, not pictured, before the MLB All-Star baseball game in St. Louis, Tuesday, July 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Obama: Michelle got rid of my ‘mom jeans’

The president said Thursday that his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, "retired" the widely maligned jeans he wore when throwing out the first pitch of the 2009 MLB All Star Game.

May 22, 2014
President Barack Obama speaks in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, May 21, 2014, following his meeting with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. The White House moved Wednesday to address the growing furor over allegations of misconduct at the Department of Veterans Affairs, summoning VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to an Oval Office meeting, hours before the House was scheduled to vote on a bill that would grant the secretary more authority to fire or demote senior executives.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Obama on VA allegations: ‘It is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it’

As he struggles to contain the political damage from the widening VA scandal, President Obama met with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki on Wednesday and emerged to say he's pushing for quick, decisive action — but critics say it's another example of his employing strong rhetoric without actually firing anyone.

May 21, 2014
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney listens during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, May 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

White House sends mixed signals on when Obama learned of VA problems

With criticism and anger mounting on both sides of the aisle, the White House on Tuesday struggled to explain exactly when President Obama learned of lengthy wait times and false reporting at Veterans Affairs health care facilities but defended its larger effort to improve care for the nation's veterans.

May 20, 2014
FILE - This Nov. 4, 2013 file photo shows President Barack Obama speaks at an Organizing for Action event in Washington. Organizing for Action, the nonprofit group supporting President Barack Obama’s agenda, is scaling back its fundraising efforts and cutting its paid staff in half as focus shifts to the looming midterm elections, three Democratic officials said. Formed last year from the remnants of Obama’s vaunted re-election campaign, OFA raised more than $30 million in its first 15 months as it worked across the U.S. to build support for Obama priorities like health care, immigration and climate change. But the group’s aggressive courting of big-dollar donors has vexed many Democrats who worry the group is siphoning sorely needed dollars from Democratic campaigns just as the party is bracing for a difficult midterm election. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

At party fundraiser, Obama shrugs off Benghazi, health-care woes

President Obama told Democratic donors Monday night that Congress is wasting time investigating the Benghazi affair and focusing on the troubles with his health-care reform law instead of tackling important issues such as immigration reform and a minimum-wage hike.

May 19, 2014