AP US Politics News

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press The ranks of U.S. government statisticians have been gutted in the past year due to layoffs and buyouts. That along with diminished funding and attacks on their independence have put at risk the data used to make informed decisions about everything from the nation’s economy to its demographics, according to

By MATTHEW BROWN and MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil companies offered $300 million for drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday in the first of 30 sales planned for the region under Republican efforts to ramp up U.S. fossil fuel production. The sale came after President Donald Trump’s administration recently

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Democrat Eileen Higgins’ victory in the Miami mayoral race marks a setback for Republican President Donald Trump, who endorsed her rival and has touted his 2024 win in the area as a testament to his appeal in Florida and particularly among Hispanic voters. Higgins, who will

By BILL BARROW Associated Press Mega billionaire Elon Musk, in a friendly interview with his aide and conservative influencer Katie Miller, said his efforts leading the Department of Government Efficiency were only “somewhat successful” and he would not do it over again. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who also owns the social media platform X,

By The Associated Press President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid mounting tensions with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. It’s the Trump administration’s latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the U.S. The seizure

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Democrat Eric Gisler claimed an upset victory Tuesday in a special election in a historically Republican Georgia state House district. Gisler said he was the winner of the contest, in which he was leading Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest by about 200 votes out of more than 11,000

By MORIAH BALINGIT AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Not long after President Donald Trump took office in January, staff at CentroNía bilingual preschool began rehearsing what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials came to the door. As ICE became a regular presence in their historically Latino neighborhood this summer, teachers stopped taking

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Dallas congresswoman opened her Senate campaign by telling voters that she “has gone toe to toe with Donald Trump.” Her Democratic primary opponent insisted that Americans are tired of “politics as a blood sport.” The divergent approach highlights how U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett

By JEFF AMY and KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s State Election Board on Wednesday rejected a proposal defining when hand-marked paper ballots could be used in place of the state’s touchscreen voting machines. Opponents said the rule would have overstepped the board’s legal authority and could have created an escape hatch for

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press President Donald Trump admitted Tuesday that he used the slur “shithole countries” to disparage Haiti and African nations during a 2018 meeting with lawmakers, bragging about a comment that sparked global outrage during his first term. Back then, Trump had denied making the contemptuous statement during a closed-door meeting,

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — At least two of several agreements aimed at ending global conflicts that President Donald Trump has hailed as evidence of his negotiating prowess are in trouble and at risk of collapsing. Less than a week after Congo and Rwanda signed a deal in Trump’s presence in

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday challenged a court order that complicated efforts to seek a new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey by making a trove of evidence off-limits to prosecutors. An order issued over the weekend by a federal judge in Washington barred the Justice

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday refused to step aside as requested by President Donald Trump’s former attorney who faces felony forgery case related to the 2020 election in the battleground state. The judge also refused to cancel a Monday preliminary hearing for Trump’s former attorney, who

By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to release the full video of an attack on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors, even as he faced intensifying demands from Congress for disclosure. Hegseth provided a

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER Associated Press After decades of political maneuvering through Congress and government agencies, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina may finally achieve federal recognition through the National Defense Authorization Act the House plans to vote on this week. If the legislation passes, the Senate could vote on final passage as soon as

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A day after Gov. Ron DeSantis designated a leading Muslim civil rights organization as a “foreign terrorist organization,” leaders of the group’s Florida chapter on Tuesday promised a lawsuit and said the state had no legal basis for such a declaration. The governor’s executive order against

JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is finally scheduled to appear on Dec. 17 to testify before a special state Senate committee examining her prosecution of President Donald Trump, but lawyers aren’t done arguing over lawmakers’ power to haul her in. Lawyers for Willis and the state Senate

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The clock is ticking for the U.S. government to open up its files on Jeffrey Epstein. After months of rancor and recriminations, Congress has passed and President Donald Trump has signed a law compelling the Justice Department to give the public everything it has on

By CHARLOTTE KRAMON Associated Press/Report for America ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia Senate leader announced Tuesday he’s resigning from the legislature to focus on his Republican campaign for lieutenant governor. “Continuing my service in the state senate while also running for Lt. Governor would be a disservice to both my constituents and the thousands of

By The Associated Press President Donald Trump road-tested his claims that he’s tackling Americans’ affordability woes at a Tuesday rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania — a trip that came as polling consistently shows that public trust in Trump’s economic leadership has faltered. Following dismal results for Republicans in last month’s off-cycle elections, the White House

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press Bruce Blakeman, a Republican county official in New York’s City’s suburbs, announced Tuesday that he’s running for governor, setting up a primary clash with fellow Trump ally U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik. Blakeman, who has cast himself as a bulwark against the liberal policies of urban Democrats, criticized

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve faces an unusually contentious meeting this week that will test Chair Jerome Powell’s ability to corral the necessary support from fellow policymakers for a third straight interest rate cut. The Fed’s 19-member rate-setting committee is sharply divided over whether to lower borrowing costs

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared to back a Republican-led drive, supported by President Donald Trump’s administration, to overturn a quarter-century-old decision and erase limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president. A day after the justices indicated

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms. Higgins, 61, will

By SAHAR AKBARZAI, MARTHA BELLISLE, REBECCA SANTANA and JULIE WATSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — On a recent afternoon, Giselle Garcia, a volunteer who has been helping an Afghan family resettle, drove the father to a check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She warned him and his family to prepare for the worst.

By MARC LEVY and JOSH BOAK Associated Press MOUNT POCONO, Pa. (AP) — On the road in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Donald Trump tried to emphasize his focus on combating inflation, yet the issue that has damaged his popularity couldn’t quite command his full attention. The president told the crowd gathered at a casino and

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery places CNN and its sister cable networks squarely back into what is likely to be an extended period of management limbo. There was some relief at CNN with last Friday’s announcement that Netflix was buying Warner’s studio and streaming businesses,