Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 41
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is enjoying an early presidential honeymoon, with 60% of Americans approving of his job performance thus far and even more backing his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. At a moment of deep political polarization in America, support for Biden's pandemic response extends across party lines. Overall, 70% of Americans back the Democratic president's handling of the virus response, including 44% of Republicans. Still, Biden f...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is trying to turn America's free and fair election into a muddled mess of misinformation, specious legal claims and baseless attacks on the underpinnings of the nation's democracy. The resulting chaos and confusion that has created isn't the byproduct of Trump's strategy following his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. The chaos and confusion is the strategy. Trump's blizzard of attacks on the election are allowing him to sow discontent and doubt among his most loyal supporters, leaving many with the false i...
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the coronavirus pandemic began bearing down on the United States in March, President Donald Trump set out his expectations. If the U.S. could keep the death toll between 100,000 to 200,000 people, Trump said, it would indicate that his administration had "done a very good job." In the coming days, the number of U.S. deaths is set to clear the outer band of the president's projections: 200,000, according to the official tally, though the real number is certainly higher. The virus continues to spread and there is currently n...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is committing at least $100 million to help Joe Biden's presidential campaign in the crucial battleground state of Florida. Bloomberg's late-stage infusion of cash reflects Democrats' concerns about the tight race in a state that is a priority for President Donald Trump. A victory for Biden in Florida, the largest of the perennial battleground states, would significantly complicate Trump's path to reaching the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure a second term. R...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama painted a unsparing portrait of American democracy on the brink if President Donald Trump wins in November, warning in a scathing, and at times emotional, address Wednesday that his successor is both unfit for office and apathetic to the nation's founding principles. "This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes to win," Obama said in unflinching remarks on the third night of the Democratic convention. He spoke from Philadelphia, where the United States C...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's pattern is now familiar: He makes a stunning assertion, on Twitter or impromptu. The head scratching begins. Was he serious? Was he trying to distract from other negative news? Allies are left to shrug their shoulders and brush off his remarks. Some regularly claim to have not read or heard them. A public numbness sets in, to the point that even Trump's most ardent political opponents have difficulty summoning outrage. But this week the president offered a statement that stood out, even among many t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the November election 100 days away, more Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction than at any previous point in Donald Trump's presidency, putting the incumbent in a perilous position as his reelection bid against Democrat Joe Biden enters a pivotal stretch. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds Trump's approval for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic falling to a new low, with just 32% of Americans supportive of his approach. Even Trump's standing o...
WASHINGTON (AP) — As then-Vice President Joe Biden left the West Wing each evening to head home, he often popped his head into national security adviser Susan Rice's nearby suite of offices to check in — sometimes on pressing foreign policy matters, sometimes just to shoot the breeze. "My favorite unannounced visitor was Vice President Joe Biden," Rice wrote in her book "Tough Love." In those casual visits, as well as in daily national security briefings, Biden and Rice forged an easy working relationship, according to people who worked alongsi...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden's search for a running mate is entering a second round of vetting for a dwindling list of potential vice presidential nominees, with several black women in strong contention. Democrats with knowledge of the process said Biden's search committee has narrowed the choices to as few as six serious contenders after initial interviews. Among the group still in contention: Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California, as well as Susan Rice, who served as President Barack Obama's national s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is taking on an increasingly public role as the nation confronts a confluence of historic crises that has exposed deep racial and socioeconomic inequalities in America and reshaped the November election. In doing so, Obama is signaling a willingness to sharply critique his successor, President Donald Trump, and fill what many Democrats see as a national leadership void. On Wednesday, he held a virtual town hall event with young people to discuss policing and the civil unrest that has followed the...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is taking on an increasingly public role as the nation confronts a confluence of historic crises that has exposed deep racial and socioeconomic inequalities in America and reshaped the November election. In doing so, Obama is signaling a willingness to sharply critique his successor, President Donald Trump, and fill what many Democrats see as a national leadership void. On Wednesday, he held a virtual town hall event with young people to discuss policing and the civil unrest that has followed t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Over 48 hours in America, the official death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 100,000, the number of people who filed for unemployment during the crisis soared past 40 million, and the streets of a major city erupted in flames after a handcuffed black man was killed by a white police officer. It's the kind of frenetic, fractured moment when national leaders are looked to for solutions and solace. President Donald Trump instead threw a rhetorical match into the tinderbox. "When the looting starts, the shooting s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced Thursday he is running for president, making a late entry into the Democratic race less than three months before primary voting begins. In an announcement video, Patrick highlighted his poverty-stricken childhood on Chicago’s South Side, saying he’s running for the “people who feel left out and left back.” As the first in his family to go to college and law school, Patrick said, “I’ve had a chance to live my American Dream.” But over the years, the “path to that dream” has c...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Beto O'Rourke, the former Texas congressman, announced Friday that he was ending his Democratic presidential campaign, which failed to recapture the enthusiasm, interest and fundraising prowess of his 2018 Senate race. Addressing supporters in Iowa, O'Rourke said he made the decision "reluctantly" and vowed to stay active in the fight to defeat President Donald Trump. "I will be part of this and so will you," he said. O'Rourke was urged to run for president by many Democrats, including supporters of former President Barack O...
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — In a barn down a gravel road in Iowa, Joe Biden tore into President Donald Trump's moral character, declaring in one of the fiercest speeches of his campaign that the words of the American president matter. The next day, Biden's own words tripped him up. He told an audience in Des Moines that poor children are "just as bright and just as talented as white kids," before immediately clarifying his remarks. The back-to-back episodes magnified the promise and the peril of Biden's candidacy. Three months after announcing h...
WASHINGTON (AP) — In America's deeply divided capital city, British Ambassador Kim Darroch was often the bridge. He had a direct line to President Donald Trump's top aides, as well as their predecessors from the Obama administration — and both often found themselves mingling at the same lavish parties Darroch hosted at his stately residence in Washington. He convened discussions on policy and politics with lawmakers, journalists and think tank scholars, sending dispatches on his conversations across the political spectrum back to London. His...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic Party is in no mood for a coronation. Joe Biden stepped onto the debate stage Thursday night as a front runner by default more than depth of support, and walked away with a more fragile standing atop the sprawling Democratic field. His rivals showed little deference to the former vice president and longtime senator — a Democratic elder statesman who has cast himself as the rightful heir to the legacy of Barack Obama, the president he spent eight years serving alongside. The questions surrounding Biden's viabilit...
WASHINGTON (AP) — To Donald Trump, the start of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation looked alarmingly like the end of his presidency. So he tried to stop it. His months-long effort pushed the boundaries of presidential powers and the law, revealing a commander in chief consumed by self-interest and intent on having his top lieutenants lie or obfuscate on his behalf. The fact that many refused to do so may have helped save Trump from being charged with obstructing justice. Those advisers effectively served as the guardrails in a White...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential contenders are splitting into two camps: those who want to quickly overhaul economic systems that have existed for decades and those who favor more gradual change. It's not just a battle over liberal or moderate policies. In many cases, the White House hopefuls largely agree on the end game but differ on how to get there, and how quickly. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have set the pace. He's pitching an economic and political "revolution," while she is calling for...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Face to face with emboldened Democrats, President Donald Trump called on Washington to cast aside "revenge, resistance and retribution" and end "ridiculous partisan investigations" in a State of the Union address delivered at a vulnerable moment for his presidency. Trump appealed Tuesday night for bipartisanship but refused to yield on the hard-line immigration policies that have infuriated Democrats and forced the recent government shutdown. He renewed his call for a border wall and cast illegal immigration as a threat to A...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Last year, during one particularly frenetic stretch in Donald Trump's presidency, a top Republican senator said there were three men guarding the country from chaos: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, White House chief of staff John Kelly and then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Within weeks, not one will be left in the administration. Mattis will be the last to go, and his abrupt resignation Thursday marks the end of the "contain and control" phase of Trump's administration — one where generals, business leaders and establishmen...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Investigations now entangle Donald Trump's White House, campaign, transition, inauguration, charity and business. For Trump, the political, the personal and the deeply personal are all under examination. Less than two years into Trump's presidency, his business associates, political advisers and family members are being probed, along with the practices of his late father. On Saturday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke became the fourth Cabinet member to leave under an ethical cloud, having sparked 17 investigations into his a...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The more that special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors reveal, the darker grow the legal clouds over President Donald Trump. Trump's own Justice Department has now implicated him in a crime, accusing him of directing illegal hush-money payments to women during his 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller keeps finding new instances of Trump associates lying about their contacts with Russia during an election the Kremlin worked to sway in the Republican's favor. The president hasn't been charged with any crimes. He m...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association — long seen as a kingmaker in Republican politics — is taking a lower profile in this year's high-stakes midterm campaign, a sign of the shifting dynamics of the gun debate as the GOP fights to maintain its grip on Congress. The NRA has put $11 million into midterm races this year — less than half what it spent four years ago in a campaign that gave Republicans full control of Congress. This year's totals are also far below the $54 million the group spent in 2016 on both the presidential and con...
WASHINGTON (AP) — In heated exchanges with his national security team in recent weeks, President Donald Trump repeatedly made clear he saw little incentive for the United States to be involved in Syria's intractable civil war. Then he pushed the U.S. military back into the quagmire. In doing so, Trump is trying to confront a dilemma that haunted his predecessor, Barack Obama. Syria's seven-year civil war presents few fast or easy solutions for the U.S., yet the geopolitical rivalries at play, the presence of the Islamic State group and other e...
