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US politics: the White House, Congress, the courts and the elections.
1054 articles · page 12 of 22
The head of the Tennessee Department of Corrections has resigned following a failed attempt to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike, state officials confirmed.
· 3 sourcesElon Musk has been named one of three members of a new Pentagon commission tasked with mapping the future of warfare, marking his return to the White House orbit after a period of estrangement from President Donald Trump.
· 3 sourcesUS President Donald Trump told a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, that Republicans would outperform expectations in the November midterm elections, even as polls indicate Democrats may gain ground. Trump campaigned for Senator Jon Husted and other Republicans while defending his administration's data centre policy and acknowledging economic pressures from high petrol prices and Canadian tariffs.
New Zealand's Labour Party has released its fiscal plan, promising a pay rise for care and social workers, as the 2026 election campaign intensifies.
JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon has broken publicly with President Donald Trump, criticising his repudiation of the multilateral, rules-based order just one month before congressional midterm elections in which Republicans are expected to lose ground. The intervention marks a significant shift by one of the most powerful figures in global finance, whose relationship with Trump has soured sharply over the past year.
· 4 sourcesCornell University's president says the school 'must do better' after a student alleged she was drugged and gang-raped by seven men at a fraternity house, as the accuser's lawyer reports that she is being harassed online by people trying to identify her. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed the state's attorney general, Letitia James, to take over the investigation, saying she has 'lost faith' in the county prosecutor's handling of the case.
· 4 sourcesConnie Chan, the Democratic candidate endorsed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to succeed her in California's 11th congressional district, called for a full arms embargo on Israel during a televised debate on Thursday night, days before mail-in ballots are sent to voters. Chan said she would vote on day one to 'end a genocide in Gaza and to end an apartheid state' and oppose funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system.
President Donald Trump posted Senator Tom Cotton's cell phone number on Truth Social on Saturday, escalating a dispute over legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent. Trump accused the Arkansas Republican of stalling the so-called Sunshine Protection Act and encouraged his followers to contact Cotton directly.
· 2 sourcesTennessee's top prison official is resigning in the wake of the botched execution of death row inmate Christa Pike, Governor Bill Lee announced on Saturday. Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, will step down this month as the state launches an independent review into what went wrong when Pike survived two doses of a lethal drug.
· 15 sourcesA New York Times article published Friday examines President Trump's rally in Alabama, noting that while the Deep South was the birthplace of the mega MAGA rally, this time some seats were empty. The piece asks how people on the Gulf feel about Trump now.
· 2 sourcesA Florida appeals court has reversed the felony murder conviction of Rhonda Jewell, a 46-year-old woman who was sentenced to 17 years in prison after accidentally leaving a 10-month-old baby in a hot car, resulting in the child's death.
The Trump administration's negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine have broadened to encompass a multibillion-dollar deal for Lukoil's global oil assets, a transaction that would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to the two main US negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, eight people familiar with the talks said.
· 7 sourcesUS President Donald Trump has announced a new multi-billion-dollar steel plant in Iowa, speaking during a press conference in which he said tariffs are responsible for high steel prices.
· 4 sourcesA lawsuit alleging rape at a Cornell University fraternity house has set off a wave of anger spreading across US campuses, with survivors and supporters publishing essays in school newspapers and flooding social media in solidarity with the complainant, known in court records only as Jane Doe. Some are using the #MeToo hashtag of an earlier movement; others have adopted a new one: #IAmJaneDoe.
· 8 sourcesThe U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term on Monday, with a lineup of significant cases expected to test the nation's laws on religion, firearms, climate change, parental rights, and a range of constitutional questions.
· 2 sourcesPresident Trump personally directed the use of federal taxpayer funds to produce and air advertisements that praise his presidency, according to people familiar with the matter. The ads, which were paid for with government money, highlight how the president has leveraged public resources for his own political benefit.
· 2 sourcesA military judge has again suppressed a confession from a defendant in the September 11, 2001 attacks case, dealing a blow to prosecutors who long viewed the admissions obtained during 2007 interrogations as their strongest evidence.
· 3 sourcesAs a long-running case at Guantánamo Bay finally moves toward trial, prosecutors and defense attorneys have raised two unusual procedural issues: prosecutors seek to allow remote testimony for witnesses unable or unwilling to travel to the base, while the defense wants jurors to be informed that the defendant will not be released regardless of the verdict.
· 2 sourcesA flurry of pre-election lawsuits shows both parties preparing to challenge the results of the upcoming US elections, with Republicans seeking to identify noncitizen voters and Democrats alleging the efforts aim to suppress legitimate votes.
· 2 sourcesSenator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill that would bar federal agencies from using automatic licence plate readers (ALPRs) and from accessing data collected by such systems operated by local police and private companies, in the latest challenge to the widespread deployment of the technology by firms such as Flock.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from expanding the border wall and other security infrastructure across the Big Bend region of west Texas, dealing a significant setback to plans that have drawn fierce opposition from local residents, environmental advocates and politicians from both parties.
· 2 sourcesThe American Israel Public Affairs Committee, long a major force in US elections through its campaign spending, is increasingly becoming a political issue itself, with some candidates proudly opposing the group's backing or treating opposition as a sign of integrity.
· 2 sourcesThe Trump administration on Friday announced sanctions against three individuals and two France-based charities, as well as six arrests, alleging a sophisticated multi-year financing network that moved more than $2m to Hamas through charitable fronts and cryptocurrency channels.
The US Justice Department will not reopen a criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell over cost overruns tied to the central bank's renovation project, a department spokesperson said on Friday. Attorney General Todd Blanche said he had not ruled out continuing to examine the project's oversight and could act if evidence of wrongdoing emerged, Bloomberg News reported.
· 2 sourcesThousands of refugees and other legal immigrants lost their Medicaid coverage on Oct. 1, in some of the first significant coverage losses from the Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the GOP's signature law. The new rules end eligibility for many immigrants who do not hold green cards.
· 2 sourcesPresident Donald Trump has officially appointed Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as the White House AI czar, tasking him with leading a new Super Intelligence Force (SIF) that will have 120 days to research and report on the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence, according to The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Trump in a Truth Social post on Sunday.
· 9 sourcesPresident Donald Trump has reversed his decision to cancel two weekend rallies, announcing he will campaign in Iowa and Kansas on Sunday, while an Associated Press analysis found that more than 43 million Americans had voted early five days before Election Day.
· 17 sourcesPresident Donald Trump has criticised the appointment of New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the Cornell University gang-rape investigation, arguing the accused students 'won't get a fair shake' with her in charge. Governor Kathy Hochul meanwhile vowed to close a legal 'loophole' that makes it difficult to prosecute rape cases when the victim voluntarily consumed drugs or alcohol.
· 8 sourcesNew York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to investigate the alleged gang rape of a Cornell University student in 2024, saying she had lost faith in the local district attorney’s ability to handle the case. Hochul signed an executive order transferring oversight from Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who had previously declined to file charges.
· 8 sourcesA federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration's attempt to keep a secret Department of Justice memo hidden from public view. The legal opinion authorizes the Pentagon to carry out lethal boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a 66-page opinion rejecting the administration's primary arguments for secrecy and ordering the document to be submitted to the court for private review.
· 2 sourcesA coalition of 21 US states, led by New York, along with several cities, filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging the Trump administration's repeal of federal rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants.
The US Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a case challenging the Trump administration's practice of indefinitely detaining undocumented immigrants who are living in the US and awaiting deportation proceedings. The dispute centers on the administration's reinterpretation of long-standing policy, a move critics say has caused a massive surge in the number of migrants held in detention centers.
· 2 sourcesDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth has installed tech billionaires Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey on a Pentagon advisory board for a new project called 'Project Meridian', aimed at shaping the future of warfare. The move has raised conflict of interest concerns, as both men are major donors to the Republican party and lead companies that benefit from federal defense contracts.
The family of Renee Good, a US citizen fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis during deportation sweeps in January, filed two federal lawsuits on Thursday against the officer who killed her and several top Trump administration officials, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
· 5 sourcesDonald Trump dismissed low poll ratings as “fake numbers”, deflected responsibility for the length of the Iran war, and declined to rule out declaring a state of emergency before the midterm elections, according to a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine published Thursday.
Convicted murderer Christa Pike has been discharged from hospital and returned to the Tennessee women's prison where she spent 30 years on death row, her lawyers said Saturday, more than a week after she survived a botched execution attempt. Newly released 911 dispatch recordings obtained by The Associated Press reveal that emergency help was delayed by confusion among prison officials and first responders who struggled to verify whether a request for an ambulance was legitimate.
· 29 sourcesThe Trump administration is crediting increased immigration enforcement for a historic drop in US homicides, but experts say the decline began during the Biden term and stems from a range of factors including easing pandemic stressors and community investment.
A Republican attempt to bring perjury charges against a former prosecutor who worked on cases related to Donald Trump has unexpectedly backfired, according to a report published on October 1, 2026.
· 3 sourcesDonald Trump has launched a series of outlandish conspiratorial attacks on critics and foes since the start of his second presidency, prompting scholars and legal experts to warn that such tactics endanger US freedoms, public health, and science, according to a report in The Guardian.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has paused all remaining executions in the state for the rest of the year, after death row inmate Christa Pike survived two lethal injections in the state's second botched execution attempt this year. In a separate development, a new poll shows President Donald Trump's approval rating on the economy at a new low, with only 17% of US adults approving of his handling of the cost of living.
Celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary and Fox News have been sued for defamation by four Utah organizations and individuals after O'Leary accused critics of his proposed data center project of being funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party. The suit follows a May 11 Fox Business segment where O'Leary claimed Chinese agents were orchestrating online opposition to his 'Wonder Valley' data center, a massive 40,000-acre development planned for rural Box Elder County, Utah.
A former Cornell University student's civil lawsuit alleging she was raped by fraternity members has brought renewed scrutiny to the web of campus and criminal justice systems that survivors of sexual assault must navigate, with advocates and experts describing the process as confusing, exhausting and often traumatic itself.
A Tennessee death row inmate remained alive after two syringes of lethal drugs were administered on Wednesday, her lawyers said, in an apparent failed execution that followed roughly nine hours of legal delays.
· 2 sourcesThe US Court of International Trade has heard arguments in a challenge to the Trump administration's third attempt to impose a global tariffs regime, with importers and 25 Democrat-led states seeking to overturn duties that the same court has already struck down twice.
· 2 sourcesCalifornia has officially ended child marriage, with Governor Gavin Newsom signing legislation that sets a minimum marriage age of 18, effective 1 January 2027. The law closes a loophole that previously allowed minors to marry with parental or judicial consent. The practice remains lawful in 32 other US states.
A Senate hearing intended to expose alleged abuses by former special prosecutor Jack Smith descended into embarrassment for Republicans on Tuesday, after a key line of questioning about a basketball game crumbled under scrutiny. Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri produced text messages he claimed showed Smith attended an NBA game in Atlanta on a date linked to a separate Georgia prosecution of Donald Trump, but Smith flatly denied the accusation, leaving the GOP's carefully prepared props looking amateurish.
· 2 sourcesPresident Trump said Wednesday that 'only a Hispanic could survive that fall' from the White House ballroom, a remark made during a Hispanic Heritage Month event in the East Room. The president spoke after inviting attendees to step onto the floor of the new ballroom outside, according to The Hill.
· 5 sourcesAn Argentinian-American writer and immigration advocate has sued the federal government, demanding that it delete data he says Customs and Border Protection agents copied from his phone when he re-entered the United States through Miami International Airport in September.