The only constitutionally mandated event on Inauguration Day is for the president-elect to take the oath of office. But on the first Inauguration Day, in 1789, George Washington did something else.

He gave a speech.

Every president since has followed his example and delivered an inaugural address as part of the national ...Read more

Campus protests. Homeless encampment clearings. Significant decreases in shootings, homicides and overdose deaths. Protests to “Save Chinatown.” A mass shooting at a SEPTA bus stop. Illegal car meetups. City workers called back to the office. A SEPTA strike averted.

These were just some of the headlines that dominated Philadelphia...Read more

The secretary of homeland security is the newest permanent member of the president’s Cabinet, overseeing the sprawling agencies and missions of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and an annual budget exceeding US$62.2 billion.

Overall, the department – and the secretary who leads it – is charged with protecting the nation ...Read more

After an Islamic State group-inspired attack in New Orleans killed 14 people on New Year’s Day 2025, President Joe Biden warned that terrorists would find “no safe harbor” in the U.S.

Governments often condemn terrorist groups in this way, as well as making threats and engaging in what we call “verbal attacks.”

But ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump would have been tried and convicted of election interference in the federal Jan. 6 case if he hadn’t escaped prosecution by winning reelection, special counsel Jack Smith said in his final report released after midnight Tuesday.

“But for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the office ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday over a Texas law that requires pornography websites to verify the ages of their visitors, a case over salacious content that might influence the power of Congress and states to regulate minors’ access to the internet.

In Free Speech Coalition et al. v. Paxton, a group of ...Read more

WASHINGTON — One of Joe Biden’s final domestic trips was symbolic of his up-and-down presidency. It was a dish composed of all things Biden, with a solid start mixed with a heaping serving of bad luck, a dash of weirdness — and a family matter as the garnish.

There was the president in New Orleans last week, following a terrorist attack ...Read more

Donald Trump was hardly a steward of responsible global governance in his first term. His withdrawal from multilateral agreements, including the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accords, showcased an unusual disdain for international institutions and cooperation. He has little evident regard for the “rules-based international order” ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Sen. Marco Rubio is Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state, but in the weeks running up to Inauguration Day, the president-elect’s special envoys have been getting most of the attention.

Trump summoned Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff at a press conference last week to report on his push to get an Israel-Hamas ...Read more

A decision by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to ramp up tariffs gradually once he takes office would be “problematic” for the Federal Reserve as it battles the last-mile of inflation, according to Arend Kapteyn at UBS AG.

“We think of tariffs as a one-off price level shift and then it goes away a year later, and then provided it’s ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming economic team are discussing slowly ramping up tariffs month by month, a gradual approach aimed at boosting negotiating leverage while helping avoid a spike in inflation, according to people familiar with the matter.

One idea involves a schedule of graduated tariffs increasing ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a lawsuit Utah filed against the United States that could have affected millions of acres of federal public land in Idaho by transferring property to state management.

Court officials offered no explanation for the denial, which is common for court orders.

Utah sued the federal government last ...Read more

​WASHINGTON — If Democrats want to dust off their 2017 playbook as they mount an offensive against Republicans’ efforts to extend expiring tax cuts, this month has provided them plenty of fodder.

Democrats derided the 2017 tax law, much of which is expiring this year, as a giveaway to the wealthy, a message that played well in the 2018 ...Read more

ATLANTA — In a party-line vote Monday, the Georgia Senate revived a committee created to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

The 33-23 vote was among the first of the legislative session. It will allow the Special Committee on Investigations to continue its work weeks after a Fulton County judge ruled that the GOP-led ...Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it will decline to hear a case regarding handgun licensing requirements in Maryland.

“This is great news for Maryland and common-sense gun laws. This law helps prevent tragedies and keeps families safe, by keeping guns away from those who want to harm our communities,” Attorney General Anthony Brown, a ...Read more

MIAMI — Senator Marco Rubio’s contract as an adjunct professor with Florida International University expired on Christmas Day and won’t be renewed, newly filed financial records show.

The Florida politician first joined the university as a visiting professor teaching politics in 2008, after leaving the Florida House of Representatives. A ...Read more

The American flag over President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was flying at full-staff Monday despite government buildings keeping theirs at half-staff in observation of former President Jimmy Carter’s death.

Carter, the nation’s 39th President, died Dec. 29 and was buried in his hometown of Plains, Ga., last week. President ...Read more

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, will testify before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee as part of his confirmation process on Jan. 15, 2025.

Rubio’s nomination is remarkable for several reasons, including the fact that Rubio has been a harsh critic of Trump.

But the...Read more