AP US Politics News

NEW YORK (AP) — A dozen states sue the Trump administration in U.S. trade court over its tariff policies.

By MARK VANCLEAVE and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press NORTHWOOD, Iowa (AP) — Iowans attending a forum Wednesday hosted by Sen. Chuck Grassley started to turn on each other as the lawmaker faced heated questions about President Donald Trump ‘s first months in office. The room of about 100 people in north-central Worth County, near the

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Veterans Affairs is establishing a task force to investigate employee reports of alleged anti-Christian bias among their colleagues, part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to infuse its agenda with religious purpose and champion the rights of Christians. VA Secretary Doug Collins

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and JOHN O’CONNOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Wednesday he will not seek reelection in 2026, ending his more than four-decade career representing Illinois and accelerating a generational shift in Senate Democratic leadership where he has long held the No. 2 position. Durbin, 80, is

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Florida’s “hanging chads” ballot controversy riveted the nation during the 2000 presidential contest and later prompted Congress to create an independent commission to help states update their voting equipment. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has operated in relative anonymity since, but is now central to President

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump accuses Zelenskyy of prolonging ‘killing field’ after Ukrainian leader pushes back on ceding Crimea to Russia.

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked North Carolina election officials from contacting voters whose disputed ballots in an unresolved 2024 state Supreme Court race could be eliminated from the final count. In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Dick Durbin of Illinois, the US Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, won’t seek reelection to a sixth term in 2026.

By The Associated Press U.S. stocks made big gains amid clear signs of relief Wednesday after President Donald Trump said he would not attempt to fire the head of the Federal Reserve and his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects a “de-escalation” in what he called an unsustainable tariffs showdown against China. “There is

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — When Random House Publisher Andrew Ward met recently with staff editors to discuss potential book projects, conversation inevitably turned to current events and the Trump administration. “It seemed obvious that we needed to look back to the country’s core documents,” Ward said. “And that we

By PETER SMITH Associated Press As he does one day each month, the Rev. Robert Turner hit the road from his home in Baltimore last week and traveled — on foot — 43 miles (69 kilometers) to Washington. He arrived by evening on April 16 outside the White House, carrying a sign that called for

This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press CINCINNATI (AP) — Cory Bowman was feeling inspired in January as he headed home after watching his half brother, JD Vance, be inaugurated as vice president. The 36-year-old Bowman, who shares a father with Vance, was already active in the community, starting an evangelical church in Cincinnati’s West End

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Two major law firms asked separate judges Wednesday to permanently block President Donald Trump’s executive orders that were meant to punish them and harm their business operations. The firms — Perkins Coie and WilmerHale — say the orders are unconstitutional assaults on the legal profession threaten their

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s Republican-led Legislature adjourned its monthslong lawmaking session on Tuesday by passing a final flurry of bills, including ones aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion in governments. Lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would ban local governments or higher education institutions from making employment

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s border czar joined New York City’s mayor on Tuesday to tout new federal charges against 27 people accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members and associates. The joint announcement is the latest example of the close ties between Mayor Eric Adams and

By KATE PAYNE Associated Press/Report for America TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Student survivors of last week’s deadly shooting at Florida State University urged state legislators Tuesday to block an effort to reverse a law passed after the 2018 Parkland school shooting that raised the state’s gun-buying age from 18 to 21. Days after a gunman

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has no plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, just days after his statement that he would like to terminate the head of the U.S. central bank caused a stock market selloff. “I have no intention of firing him,” Trump

By BERNARD CONDON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk says he’ll be spending less time in Washington slashing government costs and more time running Tesla after his electric vehicle company reported a big drop in profits. Musk said on a conference call with analysts Tuesday that “now that the major work of

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has withdrawn its lawsuit that accused a heavily Hispanic city in Pennsylvania of illegally diluting the political power of its growing Hispanic population. U.S. District Judge Karoline Mehalchick in Scranton approved the dismissal of the case against Hazleton on Tuesday, a day

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump says he has no plans to fire Fed chair, days after he hinted he might do just that and caused a market selloff.

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk says starting in May his time spent with DOGE will ‘drop significantly’ and he’ll allocate more time to Tesla.

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a preemptive lawsuit Tuesday against Republican President Donald Trump seeking to block his administration from acting against Minnesota in the way it’s taking on Maine under a federal push to ban transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI, MATTHEW LEE and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a massive overhaul of the State Department on Tuesday, with plans to reduce staff in the U.S. by 15% while closing and consolidating more than 100 bureaus worldwide as part of the Trump administration’s “America First”

By JOSH BOAK and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Tuesday speech that the ongoing tariffs showdown against China is unsustainable and he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. But in a private speech in Washington for JPMorgan Chase,

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is defending himself against a second assertion that he shared classified material through an unapproved and unsecured network — this time taking airstrike information from a military communications channel and sharing it in a chat with his wife, his brother and others. Hegseth

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro reopened the governor’s official residence to the public Tuesday for an Easter egg hunt barely a week after an alleged arsonist’s fire tore through one of its wings and said he will begin sleeping there again soon. “I’m not going to live in fear,” Shapiro told reporters

By GARY FIELDS and ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser tried to keep the focus on a groundbreaking ceremony for a new mixed-used development. But she couldn’t help fielding a string of questions about the budget crisis hanging over the nation’s capital city. Asked Monday about the risk of layoffs

By The Associated Press While in India on Tuesday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance called for enhanced engagement with the South Asian country. He said India should buy more defense equipment and energy from the U.S. and allow Washington greater access to its market, lending momentum to an expected bilateral trade deal. Meanwhile, U.S. health

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The infighting and backstabbing that plagued President Donald Trump’s first term have returned as a threat to his second, with deepening fissures over trade, national security and questions of personal loyalty. The latest turmoil threatens to engulf the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth