COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump was in Columbia Saturday on his first campaign trip since announcing plans for a 2024 White House bid.

Before leaving South Carolina, Trump made a surprise stop at a restaurant in Lexington County.

Trump joined diners at Zesto of West Columbia, and his visit was widely shared on social media.

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Peru’s political turmoil, sparked by Congress' decision not to bring forward presidential elections, has claimed its first victim in Lima following the death of a demonstrator in the city.

Victor Santisteban Yacsavilca’s death takes the number of people killed in the protests over the past eight weeks to 58, including a police officer. ...Read more

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With Tennessee’s so-called trigger law already on the books, the state enacted its abortion ban almost immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June.

Yet even as anti-abortion legislators and advocates celebrated, they considered how much further they could go — perhaps by barring Tennesseans ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The 118th Congress is the most diverse in history, with a quarter of members identifying as nonwhite. But disparities persist as lawmakers choose the people who really run things behind the scenes — their staff.

Just 18% of top staff for new and returning members are people of color, according to data compiled by the Joint ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s expected re-election bid will thrust his wife, Jill Biden, further into the public eye, as the White House deploys the self-described introvert to help win over women.

What little polling exists in regard to the first lady, who is 71, suggests she’s unknown to many Americans, even after two years at the side of ...Read more

Peru’s fragile government blasted Friday night’s decision by Congress not to bring forward presidential elections as political turmoil in the Andean nation continues into its eighth week.

In a series of tweets, the office of President Dina Boluarte urged lawmakers to prioritize “the interests of Peru” and put aside political interests....Read more

ATLANTA — Two out of every three Georgia voters say they have lost confidence in the ability of Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work together, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s latest poll.

Slightly more than half of all voters polled, 54%, have an unfavorable opinion of Congress. More Republicans, 37%, look favorably...Read more

Donald Trump said he is “more committed” than ever to his bid to retake the presidency, brushing off criticism of his campaign launch as he sought to reenergize voters in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina.

“They said, ‘He’s not campaigning’… ‘He’s not doing rallies’… ‘Maybe he’s lost that ...Read more

Donald Trump kicked off his White House bid in New Hampshire, where he maintained that he won the 2020 election and framed Joe Biden’s bid to move the first presidential primary out of the state as the president taking “revenge” for losing “badly” there three years ago.

Trump, former president and the keynote speaker at the Republican...Read more

Donald Trump said he is “more committed” than ever to his bid to retake the presidency, brushing off criticism of his campaign launch as he sought to reenergize voters in the early primary state of New Hampshire.

“They said, ‘He’s not campaigning’… ‘He’s not doing rallies’… ‘Maybe he’s lost that step,’ Trump said in ...Read more

Donald Trump heard people pan his speech when he announced his third presidential run back in November. Key political figures in all-important Iowa won’t return his calls. Now, he’s heading to find some of the old magic in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Not all Republicans in those pivotal early primary states are rushing in for an ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden was there in 2011 when Democrats tried to negotiate the type of broad deficit-reduction plan that GOP lawmakers are once again demanding as a condition of raising the federal debt ceiling.

The talks imploded, setting off a brinkmanship-ridden saga that narrowly averted default, led to the first-ever U.S. credit-rating ...Read more

In the case of the five Black, former Memphis police officers accused of murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols, justice has moved quickly.

In fewer than 30 days after Nichols’ Jan. 10, 2023 death, the former officers were charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

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WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has ended his long-running legal fight with two congressional committees over access to his financial records now that Republicans have a House majority.

Trump’s lawyers filed notice in court on Friday that they were dropping a lawsuit against the House Financial Services Committee and the House ...Read more

Despite a broad acknowledgment their efforts will go nowhere, some conservative Kansas lawmakers are pushing to ban abortion or put the issue back on the ballot despite a landslide vote in favor of abortion rights last year.

Some of the Kansas House’s most conservative members have backed a new constitutional amendment removing the state’s ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Donald Trump’s still-new presidential campaign has yet to attract the kind of deep and broad support among Republican voters that the conservative icon could once take for granted, both in South Carolina and across the country.

Just how vulnerable that makes him in next year’s Republican presidential primary is a matter ...Read more

Federal prosecutors reportedly almost charged former President Donald Trump with campaign finance violations in connection with the hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels as he left the White House, according to an upcoming book.

The feds declined to indict Trump because of the certain political blowback and also because the Jan. 6 ...Read more

President Joe Biden announced he is picking Jeff Zients as his next chief of staff, ushering in a new top aide as he prepares to launch a reelection bid while contending with a divided Congress.

Zients is replacing longtime chief of staff Ron Klain, who announced Friday that he would step down from his post around the time of the Feb. 7 State ...Read more