Politics

FILE - Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R- Fla. speaks at AmericaFest, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/...

Some friendly, some on-the-news questions at first briefing for new Pentagon press corps

The new journalism guard is officially in at the Pentagon. And the questions being asked of those running the world’s most powerful military range from softballs to pointed queries to performances. On Tuesday, Defense Department press secretary friendly media representatives willing to accept new rules imposed by department chief Pete Hegseth. Even before the new […]
11 months ago
President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, ...

Doodling, drowsiness and a conspicuous misspelling highlight Trump’s last Cabinet meeting of 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — With Tuesday’s White House Cabinet meeting chugging past the two-hour mark, President Donald Trump ‘s eyes fluttered and closed. His budget director busied himself doodling a fluffy cloud. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was lucky enough to speak early, but the title on his nameplate was misspelled. The sleepy, and occasionally slipshod, gathering […]
11 months ago
FILE - Members of the Louisiana National Guard patrol the grounds of the Washington Monument at the...

Trump says National Guard will be sent to New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that National Guard troops will soon head to New Orleans and bring another federal surge to the city that is already awaiting a separate immigration crackdown dubbed “Swamp Sweep” that is expected to begin this week. Trump did not say how many troops would be sent […]
11 months ago

Trump administration says it will withhold SNAP food aid from Democrat-led states over data

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will move to withhold SNAP food aid from recipients in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless they provide information on those receiving the assistance. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the action is in the works because those states […]
11 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, i...

Trump says he doesn’t want Somalis in the US, urges them to go back to their homeland and fix it

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump during a lengthy Cabinet meeting on Tuesday said he did not want Somali immigrants in the U.S., saying residents of the war-ravaged eastern African country are too reliant on U.S. social safety net and add little to the United States. The president’s comment came days after his administration announced […]
11 months ago
FILE - The Miami-Dade College parking lot, the area where Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is p...

Despite legal challenge, Florida college votes again to transfer land for Trump presidential library

The board of the South Florida college that’s giving away a valuable piece of property for Donald Trump’s future presidential library revoted to transfer the land on Tuesday. The board of Miami Dade College faces a lawsuit filed by a local activist and a trial set for August over allegations it violated the state’s open […]
11 months ago
FILE - In this June 28, 2019, file photo the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seal is seen dur...

Federal authorities plan operation in Minnesota focusing on Somali immigrants, AP source says

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the United States, a move that comes as President Donald Trump has escalated rhetoric about the state’s Somali community, according to a person familiar with the planning. The operation could begin […]
11 months ago
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2,...

Hegseth cites ‘fog of war’ in defending follow-on strike in scrutinized attack on alleged drug boat

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cited the “fog of war” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea earlier this year. During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said that he did not see that there were survivors in the water when the second strike […]
11 months ago

Man hurled Molotov cocktails at the Los Angeles Federal Building, authorities say. Nobody was hurt

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 54-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of throwing Molotov cocktails at the Los Angeles Federal Building, authorities said Tuesday. Nobody was hurt. Security guards heard a man yelling derogatory comments about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside the downtown building on Monday, according to a statement by the U.S. […]
11 months ago
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, third from right, Russian Presidential Foreign Policy Advi...

Key negotiators in the talks to end the war in Ukraine

U.S. President Donald Trump’s push for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine is intensifying. Officials from the U.S., Ukraine and Russia have crisscrossed the globe in recent weeks in a flurry of meetings aimed at negotiating a deal. Here’s a look at the key negotiators in those talks. Steve Witkoff Witkoff is […]
11 months ago
FILE - A sign of Washington Dulles International Airport station is seen during the opening of new ...

Trump says he’s rebuilding Dulles airport while his administration is fixing the ‘people movers’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will embark on a reconstruction of Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia. “We’re also going to rebuild Dulles airport because it’s not a good airport,” Trump said during a meeting of his Cabinet members at the White House. “It should be a great airport, […]
11 months ago
FILE - Sabrina Carpenter arrives at the 67th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. ...

Sabrina Carpenter and Franklin the Turtle publisher condemn Trump administration’s use of their work

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pop singer Sabrina Carpenter and the publisher of the beloved children’s character Franklin the Turtle are disavowing the Trump administration’s use of their music and imagery to support its agenda. Responding to the use of her song “Juno” in a video montage depicting ICE raids, Carpenter tweeted Tuesday: “this video is evil […]
11 months ago
FILE - Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, speaks about...

Democratic US Sen. Mark Warner launches bid for reelection

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner announced his bid for reelection on Tuesday, launching what will be a key campaign in a narrowly divided Senate. In a campaign announcement, the Virginia senator said he was running for reelection to rein in America’s economic crisis, particularly regarding the impact of artificial intelligence on […]
11 months ago

Federal prosecutors say Afghan national made bomb threat on TikTok video in Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A Texas man has been charged with making threats online after authorities said a video showing him threatening to build a bomb, conduct a suicide attack and kill Americans was posted to TikTok and other social media sites. The charge against Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, an Afghan national, was filed Saturday […]
11 months ago
FILE - Eugene Hasenfus stands outside U.S. District Court in Miami, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 1986 after ap...

Eugene Hasenfus, key figure in 1980s Iran-Contra affair, dies at 84

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Eugene Hasenfus, who played a key role in unraveling the Iran-Contra affair after his CIA-backed supply plane was shot down over Nicaragua in 1986, has died. Hasenfus died on Nov. 26 in Menominee, Michigan, after a nine-year battle with cancer, according to his obituary from the Hansen-Onion-Martell Funeral Home in Marinette, […]
11 months ago
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a pre-ministerial media conference at NATO headquar...

NATO chief dismisses concerns about US commitment to the alliance ahead of Ukraine meeting

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte brushed off fresh concern Tuesday about the United States’ commitment to the military organization on the eve of a meeting of allied foreign ministers focused on Russia’s war against Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend Wednesday’s meeting, which will unfold during high-stakes negotiations in […]
11 months ago
A COPA Airlines plane takes off at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Mon...

Venezuela to continue accepting deported migrants despite Trump’s airspace closure assertion

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S.-operated flights returning deported migrants to Venezuela will continue despite President Donald Trump’s assertion that the airspace of the South American country should be considered closed. The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday announced that the twice weekly flights will go on following a request from the Trump administration. […]
11 months ago

Former Honduras President Hernández freed after Trump pardon

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump, his wife announced Tuesday. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons […]
11 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on Air Force One from his Mar-a-Lago e...

Live updates: Trump calls his Cabinet to meet amid scrutiny over boat strikes

President Donald Trump called his Cabinet to meet Tuesday morning as the administration insists that it was lawful for the U.S. military to kill survivors of its air strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in September. Experts in the military code say this was clearly illegal, but The White House said […]
11 months ago
Michael and Susan Dell pose for photographs Nov. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II...

Michael and Susan Dell donate $6.25 billion to encourage families to claim ‘Trump Accounts’

NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion Tuesday to provide 25 million American children under 10 an incentive to claim the new investment accounts for children created as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation. The historic gift has little precedent, with few single charitable commitments in the […]
11 months ago
FILE - Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes speaks at a rally Oct. 29, 2022, in Milwaukee...

Democrat Mandela Barnes, a former US Senate candidate, enters the Wisconsin governor’s race

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democrat Mandela Barnes, who served four years as Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor and narrowly lost a 2022 U.S. Senate bid, jumped into the battleground state’s open race for governor on Tuesday. Given his prominent name recognition and statewide funding network, Barnes enters the 2026 race as the presumptive front-runner in a crowded […]
11 months ago
Jersey City Mayor-elect James Solomon gestures during his speech at a watch party, Tuesday, Dec. 2,...

James Solomon is elected Jersey City mayor, turning away ex-NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey’s comeback bid

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — James Solomon was elected mayor of Jersey City on Tuesday, thwarting former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s bid for a political comeback more than two decades after a scandalous resignation. Addressing supporters who had gathered to watch returns and cheer him on, Solomon said: “Now the mission is clear, and […]
11 months ago
Republican congressional candidate Matt Van Epps, center, and his wife Meg Wrather, left, greet a p...

Tennessee voters make final call in House special election testing Trump’s power

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump and Republicans will try to bounce back from recent losses around the country when Tennessee voters choose the next representative for the reliably conservative 7th U.S. House Congressional District on Tuesday. The special election, which was organized after Republican Rep. Mark Green resigned this summer, saw an unexpected […]
11 months ago

Editorial Roundup: United States

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: ___ Nov. 19 The Washington Post on the National Guard ambush Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, were sworn in as National Guard members on Tuesday. The following day, they were ambushed by an Afghan refugee while on patrol near the White House. As […]
11 months ago