9 mins read

US faces new pressure to build weapons without China’s rare earth magnets

EXETER, N.H. | A giant American flag hanging on the wall of a warehouse in New Hampshire hints at the national importance of the elements bound inside the mining waste stored in 1-ton bags. The company uses electrolysis to separate the key critical elements President Donald Trump’s administration desperately wants to produce domestically from the […]

5 mins read

Trump says Pirro ‘folded like an umbrella’ in bid to drop Reflecting Pool vandalism charges

WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in moving to drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Speaking at an unrelated Oval Office event, Trump ducked questions about whether he’d fire Pirro, a former Fox News host […]

7 mins read

Cargo ship reports being struck in Strait of Hormuz as US, Iran claims about talks diverge

CAIRO | A British maritime monitoring agency said a cargo ship reported being hit by a projectile overnight off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, while the United States and Iran made opposing claims about whether they were holding talks. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said the two sides are resuming […]

6 mins read

GOP holdouts say they will back Blanche’s attorney general nomination after striking deal over fund

WASHINGTON | Two Republican senators who threatened to block acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation to lead the Justice Department said Monday that they will support his nomination, ending an impasse over plans to create a fund to compensate allies of President Donald Trump. The endorsement from GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis paves […]

9 mins read

Ken Martin hunkers down at the Democratic National Committee as a storm gathers around party leader

NEW YORK | Ken Martin is in survival mode. Desperate to save his job as chair of the Democratic National Committee, he is avoiding media appearances, monitoring his critics’ social media posts and refusing — at least so far — to make any substantive changes at his troubled organization. A half dozen state leaders and […]

8 mins read

Iran déjà vu: Trump once again threatens massive escalation against Tehran only to walk back

WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump has played this hand before during the 5-month-old Iran war. It starts with a grim warning to Tehran that the Republican president is on the cusp of ordering U.S. forces to “obliterate” its power plants or seize key parts of its oil industry if its leaders don’t quickly agree to […]

6 mins read

Blanche rescinds fund for Trump allies after GOP senators threaten to block his attorney general bid

WASHINGTON | Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a formal order late Sunday terminating President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to compensate his political allies, a move that follows weeks of negotiations with two Republican senators who were blocking his nomination to become attorney general. A spokeswoman for Texas Sen. John Cornyn, one of […]

6 mins read

Trump says Gulf leaders’ input weighed heavily in decision to hold off on ordering new Iran strikes

WASHINGTON | U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he decided to hold off on ordering American forces to carry out new strikes against Iran at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The U.S. president added that a plan was in place for U.S. forces to carry out “the biggest […]

5 mins read

Sen. Bernie Moreno says former son-in-law Max Miller should not serve in the House

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno said his former son-in-law, U.S. Rep. Max Miller, should not be serving in the House and should “seek professional help” as Miller defended himself against allegations of domestic abuse in a live video on X on Sunday. Moreno, who has been publicly restrained in recent months as the […]

7 mins read

Only 39% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, only 32% on economy

WASHINGTON | Immigration remains a stronger issue for President Donald Trump than the economy or Iran, according to a new AP-NORC poll, even after three people were killed in encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the span of under a week in July. Trump is not getting a glowing endorsement on his immigration approach […]