AP US Politics News

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press Elon Musk has said that he’s formed a new political party, but it’s unclear what steps — if any — he’s taken to do so, or how the effort might affect upcoming elections. Musk has not yet released any additional information. Spokespeople for Musk and his political action committee, America

By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein did not maintain a “client list,” the Justice Department acknowledged Monday as it said no more files related to the wealthy financier’s sex trafficking investigation would be made public despite promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The clock is ticking closer to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff deadline of Aug 1. And while several more deals — or at least frameworks for deals — have been reached since his last tariff deadline of July 9 came and went, trade talks

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer Shares of Tesla tumbled 8% at the opening bell Monday as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and Trump reignited over the weekend. Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, announced that he was forming a third political party in protest over the Republican spending bill that

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The former Librarian of Congress abruptly fired by President Donald Trump has found a new position with the country’s largest philanthropic supporter of the arts. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation exclusively told The Associated Press that Carla Hayden will join the humanities grantmaker Monday as a

By The Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump held a private dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday as families of hostages held in Gaza pushed for any ceasefire agreement to include the release of all remaining hostages. As the two leaders meet for the third time this year, the outwardly triumphant visit

By HOLLY RAMER and AMANDA SWINHART Associated Press MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — After six 12-hour shifts milking cows, José Molina-Aguilar’s lone day off was hardly relaxing. On April 21, he and seven co-workers were arrested on a Vermont dairy farm in what advocates say was one of the state’s largest-ever immigration raids. “I saw through

By JACQUES BILLEAUD and SEJAL GOVINDARAO Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — For over two decades, much of southern Arizona was represented in Congress by Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a champion of environmental, immigrant and Native American causes who cast a large shadow in progressive politics. He staked out principled but often futile positions, led an

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Elon Musk said he’s carrying out his threat to form a new political party after his fissure with President Donald Trump, announcing the America Party in response to the president’s sweeping tax cuts law. Musk, once an ever-present ally to Trump as he headed up

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump and other Republicans have long criticized states that take weeks to count their ballots after Election Day. This year has seen a flurry of activity to address it. Part of Trump’s executive order on elections, signed in March but held up by lawsuits,

By SEAN MURPHY and JIM VERTUNO Associated Press KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Before heading to bed before the Fourth of July holiday, Christopher Flowers checked the weather while staying at a friend’s house along the Guadalupe River. Nothing in the forecast alarmed him. Hours later, he was rushing to safety: He woke up in darkness

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday in front of Fourth of July picnickers after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy. Flanked by

The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — At a Fourth of July White House picnic, President Donald Trump signed a major tax and spending bill, celebrating its passage through the Republican-led Congress. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press COLUMBUS, N.M. (AP) — Orange no-entry signs posted by the U.S. military in English and Spanish dot the New Mexico desert, where a border wall cuts past onion fields and parched ranches with tufts of tall grass growing amidst wiry brush and yucca trees. The Army has posted thousands of

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press COLUMBUS, N.M. (AP) — The military is expanding its authority and reach along swaths of the southern U.S. border where troops have been empowered to detain people who enter the country illegally. Designated militarized zones will soon cover nearly one-third of the U.S. border with Mexico under supervision of nearby

By MARGERY A. BECK and SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tyler Sherman, a nurse at a rural Nebraska hospital, is used to the area’s aging farmers delaying care until they end up in his emergency room. Now, with Congress planning around $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years, he fears those

By STEVE PEOPLES and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa (AP) — It is big and it is beautiful, President Donald Trump says. But for many Democratic leaders, the tax break and spending cut package passed by Trump’s Republican allies in Congress on Thursday represents the key to the Democratic Party’s resurgence. Even before

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge blocked many of the state’s abortion restrictions Thursday, reimposing a preliminary injunction against them just a little over a month after the state’s highest court had lifted a previous hold. The order by Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang said the

By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed the tax and spending cut bill Republicans muscled through Congress this week, turning it into law by his own self-imposed Fourth of July deadline. At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The president of the University of California this week reiterated that student governments are prohibited from financial boycotts of companies associated with any particular country, including Israel, as the Trump administration continues its probe of alleged antisemitism on college campuses. Michael Drake did not mention Israel by name, but he did

By KATE PAYNE, CURT ANDERSON and MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration detention center christened “Alligator Alcatraz,” modeled after the state’s frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed the massive tax and spending cuts package that President Donald Trump calls “beautiful,” getting it to his desk a day before the July 4 deadline that he had set. The 887-page bill includes spending cuts, tax breaks, military spending, money for deportations

By MELINA WALLING Associated Press The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “declaration of dissent” with its policies, accusing them of “unlawfully undermining” the Trump administration’s agenda. In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump visited with sick patients at Children’s National hospital in Washington on Thursday as the children made Fourth of July arts and crafts ahead of the holiday. Trump, continuing a tradition of support by first ladies for the pediatric care center, also stopped

By The Associated Press House Republicans lifted President Donald Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final passage Thursday, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a self-imposed Fourth of July deadline. The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with two Republicans joining

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Passing a new law restricting assault weapons took Rhode Island lawmakers more than 10 years, but it may offer a road map to other states looking to ease the proliferation of such firearms. For advocates, the fight is a prime example of the current challenges to

By LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK, LEAH ASKARINAM and MATT BROWN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans propelled President Donald Trump’s big multitrillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final passage Thursday in Congress, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a Fourth of July deadline. The tight roll

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump turned a heartland festival for the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary into a celebration of himself, basking in a crowd of supporters Thursday night shortly after Congress approved tax cut legislation that he championed. On the eve of the

By ALI SWENSON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A controversial bid to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade seemed on its way to passing as the Republican tax cut and spending bill championed by President Donald Trump worked its way through the U.S. Senate. But as the bill neared a final