AP US Politics News

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s not just the “gesture” of a $400 million luxury plane that President Donald Trump says he’s smart to accept from Qatar. Or that he effectively auctioned off the first destination on his first major foreign trip, heading to Saudi Arabia because the kingdom was ready to

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Ed Martin Jr., who will be the Justice Department’s new pardon attorney after President Donald Trump pulled his nomination to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, said Tuesday that he plans to scrutinize pardons that former President Joe Biden issued on his way out of the

By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Congress are moving with rapid speed to advance President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and beefed-up border security funding as leaders work to enact many of his campaign promises. House committees have been laboring for months to draft

By MARK SCOLFORO and MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania voters would get more than a week of early voting and county election officials would have more time to start processing mail-in ballots under an election law proposal that advanced out of the state House on Tuesday by a single vote, with

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A coalition of 20 state Democratic attorneys general filed two federal lawsuits on Tuesday, claiming that the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in transportation and disaster-relief funds unless states agree to certain immigration enforcement actions. According to the complaints, both Secretary of

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press Christopher “Kit” Bond, a Republican who brought billions of dollars in federal funding to Missouri during his four terms in the U.S. Senate and who was state’s the youngest person to be governor, died Tuesday. He was 86. Bond’s family told Gov. Mike Kehoe’s office that Bond died in St.

ATLANTA (AP) — An injunction barring the enforcement of Florida’s drag-show ban will remain in effect after a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the law is likely unconstitutional. A three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to back a lower court decision that described Florida’s law, purportedly aimed at protecting

By JEFF AMY and BILL BARROW Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — When Georgia’s governor and a lightning-rod congresswoman decided last week to not run for the U.S. Senate, it seemed like the waiting game was over among Republicans seeking to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents a district on

By SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court appeared inclined Tuesday to revive a lawsuit accusing a conservative group of violating the Voting Rights Act when it announced it was challenging the eligibility of more than 360,000 Georgia voters. The lower court committed “legal error” in its ruling finding no violation

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs was sworn in to a new term on Tuesday after the Democrat won a monthslong fight against her Republican rival’s challenges to thousands of ballots. The State Board of Elections earlier Tuesday issued an election certificate to Riggs

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Tax breaks tallying more than $5 trillion — but also sizable reductions in Medicaid health care, food stamps and green energy strategies to fight climate change — faced sharp debate as House lawmakers slogged through marathon overnight hearings on Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill.” Tensions

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Only a few Capitol riot defendants remained jailed after President Donald Trump issued mass pardons to supporters who joined a mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021. A trial for one of them — a military veteran charged with federal firearms offenses and a hoax bomb threat —

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The fist bump seems so long ago. Three years after Joe Biden’s cursory greeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Donald Trump luxuriated in an extravagant royal welcome as he arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Concerns about human rights and fossil fuels in the oil-rich autocracy

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Pete Buttigieg returned to Iowa with some subtle and not-so-subtle messages about what has changed since he ran in the state’s 2020 Democratic presidential caucuses. His speech Tuesday included mentions of his adopted twins, a boy and a girl, and how he explained to his

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer Citadel CEO Ken Griffin believes American prosperity is a testament to the power of the Constitution. And as the country gets ready to celebrate its 250th anniversary next year, the hedge fund billionaire wants to expand public access to the 1787 document. Griffin announced Tuesday that he will lend

By PAUL WISEMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is waging a trade war without getting approval from Congress: He declared a national emergency to slap import taxes — tariffs — on almost every country on earth. The president is now facing at least seven lawsuits that argue he’s gone

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Democrats have long focused on immigration when courting Latino voters in states like Arizona, Nevada, New Jersey, and Florida, where generations of Mexican, Cuban and other Latin American immigrants have settled and gained permanent legal status. But Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey’s GOP primary, saying he’s gone “ALL IN” on the “Make America Great Again” agenda. Trump’s endorsement came Monday in a Truth Social post and gives Ciattarelli’s campaign a boost as he competes against two other Trump supporters and a state senator

ALEX BRANDON Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump met with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as he continues his three-nation visit this week meant to tackle multiple crises and conflicts across the Middle East. The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump’s get-together with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council,

By The Associated Press President Donald Trump is in Saudi Arabia for the first leg of his three-nation visit to the Middle East this week. His first visit is focused on dealmaking with a key Mideast ally while shared concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and the war in Gaza drag on in the background. In

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Campus activism has flared as the academic year winds down, with pro-Palestinian demonstrations leading to arrests at several colleges. Compared with last spring, when more than 2,100 people were arrested in campus protests nationwide, the demonstrations have been smaller and more scattered. But the stakes are

By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press The motto of one newly elected American world leader: ” Fight! ” The other introduced himself to the world with his first public word as pope: “ Peace.” The contrast between President Donald Trump and Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV couldn’t be more stark — politically, personally or in their world

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A budget airline that serves mostly small U.S. cities began federal deportation flights Monday out of Arizona, a move that’s inspired an online boycott petition and sharp criticism from the union representing the carrier’s flight attendants. Avelo Airlines announced in April it had signed an agreement with

By MORIAH BALINGIT AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans want to set aside up to $5 billion a year for scholarships to help families send their children to private and religious schools, an unprecedented effort to use public money to pay for private education. The proposal, part of a budget reconciliation bill released

By CLAIRE SAVAGE Associated Press The federal agency tasked with protecting workers’ civil rights has moved to terminate a New York administrative judge who has resisted compliance with directives from the White House, including President Donald Trump’s executive order decreeing male and female as two “immutable” sexes. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in response

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans proposed sweeping tax breaks Monday in President Donald Trump’s big priority bill, tallying at least $4.9 trillion in costs so far, partly paid for with cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs used by millions of Americans. The House Ways

By JOSH BOAK and DIDI TANG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s agreement with China to temporarily slash tariffs for 90 days offered the world a bit of welcome relief. But what persists is a sense of uncertainty and the possibility that some damage from the trade war could already be done. The

By CHRIS MEGERIAN, ZEKE MILLER and BERNARD CONDON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Donald Trump, accepting a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer. “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” the Republican told reporters on Monday. “I could be a stupid person and

By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed a first-in-the-nation executive order to block the federal government from collecting personal health data related to autism, a direct rebuke to the Trump administration. Democrat Pritzker, who has been one of the more vocal critics of Trump’s second administration,

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — In solidly Republican Kentucky, resistance to President Donald Trump’s trade wars has sprung up from a cross-section of key business sectors, GOP Sen. Rand Paul said Monday. Paul said he’s heard concerns from agriculture, the auto sector, bourbon production, home building and package shipping in response