Washington News

WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Hur was thanking the president for his time. He understood, Hur said, that there were a lot of things going on that demanded Joe Biden’s attention. “We may be interrupted by one,” Biden said, explaining that he’d just gotten off the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was Oct. 8, 2023, the …

WASHINGTON (AP) — A transcript of the Republican response to the State of the Union address, as delivered by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., on March 7, 2024: Good evening, America. My name is Katie Britt, and I have the honor of serving the people of the great state of Alabama in the United States Senate. However, that’s not the job …

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November. McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, the chamber where he looked in awe …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army is slashing the size of its force by about 24,000, or almost 5%, and restructuring to be better able to fight the next major war, as the service struggles with recruiting shortfalls that made it impossible to bring in enough soldiers to fill all the jobs. The cuts will mainly be in already-empty posts …

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told the nation’s governors on Friday that he’s exploring what executive actions he can take to curb migration across the southern border after a bipartisan deal collapsed in Congress this month. He seemed to express frustration at the legal limits of his authority to act unilaterally. Biden hosted members of the National Governors Association …

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden lamented the partisanship that permeates Capitol Hill and politics writ large, telling governors at the White House that she wished more lawmakers would follow their lead. She spoke on Friday in the White House’s East Room to state chief executives who were in Washington for the winter gathering of the National Governors Association. …

WASHINGTON (AP) — China responded sternly Thursday to a U.S. congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan, demanding the U.S. stop any official contact with the self-governing island. “China opposes any form of official interaction between the U.S. and Taiwan authorities and rejects U.S. interference in Taiwan affairs in whatever form or under whatever pretext,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. She …

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has canceled his trip to Brussels to meet with NATO ministers and work on Ukraine military aid as he remains hospitalized while dealing with further health issues following prostate cancer surgery, the Pentagon said Monday. Austin, 70, was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday afternoon to address bladder issues …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has seized a Boeing 747 cargo plane that officials say was previously sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a state-owned Venezuelan firm in violation of American export control laws. The Justice Department said Monday that the American-built plane had arrived in Florida and would be disposed of. The plane had earlier been transferred …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The longstanding concerns about President Joe Biden’s age and memory intensified on Thursday after the release of a special counsel’s report investigating his possession of classified documents. The report described the 81-year-old Democrat’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It noted that Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such …