President Joe Biden’s statement that he would be “happy” to debate Donald J. Trump means that voters will have at least one opportunity to see the two major-party candidates answer questions side by side. Aside from satisfying some viewers’ interest in whether the elderly candidates display mental lapses, debates offer an opportunity for...Read more

President Biden’s recent pro-housing pivot didn’t come a moment too soon. Even though the housing shortage is long-standing, well-known and worse in blue cities, high housing costs somehow sneaked up on Democrats.

By facing the crisis head on, Biden and his fellow Democrats can show voters they’re committed to expanding and strengthening ...Read more

NEW YORK — In riveting testimony at Donald Trump’s Manhattan trial Tuesday, porn star Stormy Daniels explicitly detailed allegations of a disorienting one-night stand in a Lake Tahoe hotel room with a future U.S. president in silk pajamas and hush money she received to keep it secret.

Just feet away from a stone-faced Trump, Daniels, 45, ...Read more

NEW YORK — Porn star Stormy Daniels took the stand on Tuesday, offering bombshell testimony on her alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament in July 2006. Testifying at Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan, Daniels recounted the salacious details, at one point mimicking a sexy pose Trump allegedly struck ...Read more

Israel entered Rafah, a city that marks Gaza’s southern border crossing with Egypt, on May 7, 2024, launching a military offensive that the U.S. and others have cautioned Israel not to pursue.

President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 6 against expanding the Gaza war into Rafah, indicating that this...Read more

CHICAGO — Recurring anti-abortion protests outside a downtown women’s health clinic may soon be dampened by a new ordinance limiting nearby loud sounds.

Protesters have targeted the West Loop’s Family Planning Associates clinic at the intersection of West Washington Boulevard and North Desplaines Street for years, said Ald. Bill Conway, ...Read more

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reminisced about his time in Congress on Tuesday and predicted GOP success in November.

Asked whether he missed the chamber where he was ousted as speaker in October, the Bakersfield resident responded, “Some days, yes. Some people, no.”

“I loved every minute of every time I was in office. Good days, ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case issued an order Tuesday postponing the May 20 trial date. The order did not set a new date.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote in the five-page order that the date will be reset by a separate order.

“The Court also ...Read more

U.S. Marines joined Filipino counterparts on May 5, 2024, for a mock battle at a telling location: a small, remote territory just 100 miles off the southern tip of the contested island of Taiwan.

The combat drill is part of the weekslong Exercise Balikatan that has brought together naval, air and ground forces of the Philippines and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Key House Democrats have shown no signs of urging Rep. Henry Cuellar to resign after a federal indictment charged the Texas Democrat with money laundering and bribery, among other criminal counts.

An indictment unsealed last week accuses Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, of taking about $600,000 in bribes from the government ...Read more

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed election-year changes into law Tuesday that empower voter eligibility challenges, require more audits and tighten ballot security ahead of this year’s contentious presidential campaign.

The three-bill package reflects Republicans’ latest efforts to revise election rules in the wake of the 2020 ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans have sought to claim the moral high ground when it comes to recent pro-Palestinian campus protests sweeping the country, throwing barbs at President Joe Biden and highlighting sharp divisions within the Democratic Party over Israel and Gaza.

But at Tuesday’s Holocaust remembrance ceremony at...Read more

NEW YORK — An upstate New York judge Tuesday knocked an abortion rights measure off the fall ballot on procedural grounds, dealing a blow to Democrats who hoped it would energize supporters and boost voter turnout in the state.

Supreme Court Justice Daniel J. Doyle ruled that state lawmakers improperly approved the language of the proposed ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The state of Florida has $54,000 with former President Donald Trump’s name on it.

The money, held by the state’s Division of Unclaimed Property, might not seem like a lot amid the $100 million that the former president has reportedly paid in legal bills since leaving office in 2021.

Then again, every bit of money ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The race for the 10th District in central Pennsylvania is one that Democrats are hoping to make competitive this year as they try to win back control of the House.

That challenge will fall to Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former broadcast journalist who beat five rivals, including the 2022 nominee, for the nomination to challenge ...Read more

Johnson County, Kansas, Sheriff Calvin Hayden acknowledged on Monday that no judge signed off on seizing old ballots in his long-running elections investigation after he falsely said last month he had a “search warrant in hand.”

The admission came after Hayden, a Republican in a competitive race for reelection, in April accused Johnson ...Read more

NEW YORK — Jailing former President Donald Trump at Rikers Island is a prospect Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday he’s begun to prepare for with the head of the city’s Correction Department if the ex-president’s gag order violations at his hush money trial land him behind bars.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan has been dangling ...Read more

NEW YORK — Stormy Daniels told a riveted jury Tuesday that sex with Donald Trump made her feel dizzy and had the room spinning as she wondered how she ended up half-naked in a Lake Tahoe hotel room with the then-reality TV star at the former president’s hush money trial.

Her testimony sparked a demand by Trump’s lawyers for a mistrial �...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Former President Donald Trump called several potential vice presidential candidates onstage with him at a Republican National Committee fundraiser Saturday at Mar-a-Lago.

The betting favorite to become Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election is South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

According to electionbettingodds.com, ...Read more

NEW YORK — Stormy Daniels told a riveted jury Tuesday that sex with Donald Trump made her feel dizzy and had the room spinning — not in a good way — as she wondered how she ended up half-naked in a Lake Tahoe hotel room with the then-reality TV star at the former president’s hush money trial.

‘What could possibly go wrong?’

In a ...Read more