Politics

FILE - Ed Martin speaks at an event at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda A...

Trump loyalist Ed Martin is leaving the Justice Department to focus on election ‘legal battles’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ed Martin, a loyal White House ally who held multiple Justice Department posts despite unconventional tactics that sometimes rankled his superiors, is leaving President Donald Trump’s administration, the Republican president said Friday. Trump said in a social media post that Martin is leaving his role as the Justice Department’s pardon attorney to […]
2 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks outside the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in Washington, nea...

FACT FOCUS: Census Bureau report does not prove Trump’s claim about noncitizen voting in 2020

In his most recent challenge to the results of the 2020 U.S. election, President Donald Trump this week cited a report claiming to show that thousands of noncitizens voted, a practice studies have found to be extremely rare. Trump’s Truth Social post on Tuesday referenced a report published by the U.S. Census Bureau that he […]
2 months ago
Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, right, talks about her running mate for Lieutenant Governor Jo...

Arizona AG declines to charge Gov. Katie Hobbs over pay-to-play allegations

PHOENIX (AP) — State prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs over allegations that she took part in a pay-to-play scheme with a group home company that received a rate increase from the state after contributing $100,000 to her inaugural celebration, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Friday. The Democratic governor has […]
2 months ago

Supreme Court chief justice allows work on Trump’s $400M White House ballroom to continue for now

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is allowing the White House to continue construction on President Donald Trump’s $400 million ballroom project for now. Roberts signed a temporary order on Friday allowing work to continue while the court considers an emergency appeal from the Trump administration. Lower courts had ordered a halt […]
2 months ago
FILE - Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, left, and wife Nancy Kissinger arrive for a State...

Philanthropist Nancy Kissinger, wife of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, dies at 92

NEW YORK (AP) — Philanthropist Nancy Kissinger, onetime foreign policy researcher and wife of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, has died. She was 92. She died Thursday at her home in Kent, Connecticut, Robert Johnson, manager of the property, told The Associated Press. The cause of her death was not disclosed. Johnson said she […]
2 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the...

President Donald Trump announces plan to lower beef prices, but some Republicans are already balking

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that his administration will allow more beef to be temporarily imported into the U.S. without triggering higher tariffs, as he remains under pressure to cut costs and address affordability issues ahead of November’s midterms. The president said on social media that he had committed to ensuring the […]
2 months ago
FILE - A SNAP EBT information sign is displayed at a gas station in Riverwoods, Ill., Nov. 1, 2025....

Enrollment in SNAP grocery aid is dropping faster than expected

PHOENIX (AP) — Enrollment in the biggest federally funded food aid program in the U.S. dropped by more than 13% in a 12-month span — a decline far steeper than the government estimated as work requirements and other provisions of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” take hold. Those losing coverage in the Supplemental Nutrition […]
2 months ago

Cuba says US sanctions are blocking its efforts to open the economy to private investment

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States has demanded that Cuba open up to private investment, and Cuba has passed sweeping reforms to encourage just that. So Cuba’s U.N. ambassador says he wants to know why Washington keeps piling on sanctions that stymie the very economic opening it has sought for decades. Ambassador Ernesto Soberón […]
2 months ago
South Korea army soldiers take part in an anti-terror drill as a part of the Ulchi Freedom Shield m...

US, South Korean militaries wrapping up drills early, a day after North Korea’s missile barrage

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. and South Korean militaries were wrapping up their annual drills six days earlier than initially scheduled on Friday in a conciliatory gesture toward North Korea, though the North said the step isn’t enough to convince it to return to talks. U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier abruptly ordered […]
2 months ago
U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., speaks with reporters after a debate with U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman,...

President Trump to stump for Sen. Darline Graham days ahead of South Carolina’s GOP Senate runoff

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to South Carolina on Friday to make a last-minute appeal for Sen. Darline Graham, his chosen candidate to replace her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, ahead of a Republican runoff next week. Voters will decide Tuesday whether Graham or Rep. Ralph Norman […]
2 months ago
Vice President JD Vance smiles during a roundtable event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Buildin...

Vance will campaign at the Ohio steel plant where his grandfather once worked

MIDDLETOWN, OHIO (AP) — Vice President JD Vance will return to his hometown Friday to campaign for Republican candidates at the same steel plant where his grandfather used to work. Vance is set to speak at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works facility, which was known as Armco Steel when his grandfather James Vance worked there for […]
2 months ago
Children watch a movie on a mobile device at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence in P...

First group of deportees arrives in troubled Haiti after US ends TPS program

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) — The U.S. deported more than 160 people to Haiti on Thursday for the first time since the Trump administration won a legal battle to end Temporary Protected Status for some 350,000 Haitians. The plane landed in the northern Haitian city of Cap-Haitien because the main international airport in Port-au-Prince is considered […]
2 months ago
The exterior of the Kennedy Center is seen, Friday, July 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Sc...

Federal court is asked to block Kennedy Center from returning Trump’s name to building

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Joyce Beatty made an emergency request on Thursday that a federal court block the Kennedy Center from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building. The Trump-aligned board at the Kennedy Center voted earlier this month to inscribe the president’s name on the venue’s facade so it would read “The John […]
2 months ago
FILE - Police conduct an operation searching for weapons and or drugs as part of an effort to comba...

US Treasury sanctions Ecuador-to-US cocaine trafficking network

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The U.S. Treasury on Thursday sanctioned 15 people for their involvement in a network that allegedly shipped thousands of kilograms of cocaine per month from Ecuador through Mexico, destined for the United States. The announcement comes as the U.S. has ramped up attacks against fishermen in the Caribbean and the Pacific, […]
2 months ago
State Sen. Aisha Wahab, a Democratic candidate for Congress in California's 14th district, speaks d...

California lawmaker Aisha Wahab wins special election to succeed Eric Swalwell in Congress

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmaker Aisha Wahab secured victory Thursday in a special election to serve the rest of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s House term, which ends in January. Swalwell, a Democrat who was running for California governor, ended his campaign and resigned from Congress in April after he was accused of sexual assault […]
2 months ago
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the...

Investigators examining foes of Trump seek interviews related to Mar-a-Lago search, AP sources say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department investigators have sought to interview law enforcement officials related to the FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of a Florida-based inquiry aiming to establish a conspiracy against the Republican president, multiple people familiar with the matter said Thursday. The requests for interviews, made in recent weeks, suggest […]
2 months ago

New York woman charged in plot to set off explosives at state Capitol, kill lawmakers, FBI says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An Albany woman who authorities said had been plotting to bomb the New York state Capitol building in an effort to kill lawmakers because she believed laws were being passed that were an affront to Islam is facing a federal terrorism charge. Authorities said Thursday that Jessica Bowie, 35, of Albany, […]
2 months ago
FILE - Michael Cohen speaks during a news conference announcing his new radio show in New York, Jul...

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer-turned-enemy, is hosting the president on his radio show

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to appear Thursday on the radio show of his former fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen, making a public reunion with the man who once called him a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain” and testified against him both in court and before Congress. Cohen, who served prison time for his role in […]
2 months ago
FILE - Cars drive past data centers, July 16, 2023, in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)Cr...

Trump keeps embracing data centers even as they become toxic in midterm races

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, speaking alongside cryptocurrency leaders at the White House this week, made a statement that Republican and Democratic candidates alike wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. “If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant […]
2 months ago
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives with Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, not sh...

US ramps up Cuba sanctions and detentions of Americans returning from the island

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is increasing pressure on Cuba by imposing more economic penalties on industries in the heavily sanctioned socialist country and broadening enforcement of laws that bar Americans who visit the island from dealings with government-owned or -affiliated businesses. The Treasury and State departments are announcing Thursday that they are […]
2 months ago
FYI - Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., talks with reporters after holding a town hall meeting in Sacra...

Federal agents seize devices from ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell in sexual misconduct probe, AP source says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents seized electronic devices from former Rep. Eric Swalwell and searched his Washington home as part of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the ex-Democratic congressman from California, according to a person familiar with the matter. Swalwell’s devices were seized at the San Francisco airport on Saturday and federal […]
2 months ago
FILE - The USS George Washington aircraft carrier is pictured off the coast of Argentina, May 30, 2...

US aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East, relieving long-deployed USS Lincoln

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East, the U.S. military said Thursday, relieving a long-deployed carrier following reports of mental health challenges and supply shortages aboard while it was supporting the Iran war. U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said […]
2 months ago

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers release 2 U.N. staff members more than a week after detaining them

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have released two United Nations staff members who they detained more than a week ago, the U.N. said Thursday, adding that the reason for the two men’s detention remains unclear. The arrests were the latest in a series of detentions by Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities. Last week, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch […]
2 months ago

US sends 20 deportees to Liberia, part of 1,200 migrants the country will receive under new deal

HARBEL, Liberia (AP) — The United States sent 20 deportees to Liberia, who arrived on Thursday as part of 1,200 migrants that the African country will receive under a new deal. The deportees arrived at the Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia. The Liberia-U.S. agreement is among the largest third-country deportations driven by the Trump administration’s […]
2 months ago