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  • News Analysis: How the Saudi crown prince went from pariah to feted White House guest

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    BEIRUT  — Seven years ago, he was virtually persona non grata, any link to him considered kryptonite among U.S. political and business elite for his alleged role in the killing of a Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic.

    But when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to Washington this week, he cemented a remarkable comeback, positioning himself as the linchpin of a new regional order in the Middle East, and his country as an essential partner in America’s AI-driven future.

    During what amounted to a state visit, the crown prince — Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader — was given the literal red carpet treatment: A Marine band, flag-bearing horsemen and a squadron of F-35s in the skies above; a black-tie dinner attended by a raft of business leaders in the prince’s honor; a U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center the next day.

    Throughout, Bin Salman (or MBS, as many call him) proved himself a keen practitioner of the brand of transactional politics favored by President Trump.

    President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman walk down the Colonnade on the way to the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday.

    (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

    He fulfilled Trump’s ask, first floated back in May during the Riyadh edition of the U.S.-Saudi Forum, to raise the kingdom’s U.S. investment commitments from $600 million to almost $1 trillion.

    And the prince managed to mollify Trump in his oft-repeated call for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, the normalization pacts with Israel brokered during the president’s first term, even while changing nothing of his long-stated position: That establishing ties with Israel be accompanied by steps toward Palestinian statehood — an outcome many in Israel’s political class reject.

    “We believe having a good relation with all Middle Eastern countries is a good thing, and we want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path [to a] two-state solution,” Bin Salman said.

    “We want peace with the Israelis. We want peace with the Palestinians, we want them to coexist peacefully,” he added.

    President Trump greets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, at the White House.

    President Trump greets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, at the White House on Tuesday.

    (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

    At home in Saudi Arabia, the trip was touted as an unequivocal triumph for the prince. Saudi state media boasted the country’s emergence as a major non-NATO ally for the U.S., and the signing of a so-called Strategic Defense Agreement as demonstrating Riyadh’s centrality to American strategic thinking.

    This touting came despite little clarity on what that agreement actually entails: Its text wasn’t published, and it was mentioned only in passing in a White House “fact sheet,” which emphasized Saudi Arabia would “buy American” with significant purchases of tanks, missiles and F-35s; the latter would be the first time the U.S.’ most advanced jet is sold to an Arab country.

    Saudi Arabia will also be given access to top-line AI chips, enabling it to leverage plentiful land and energy resources to build data centers while “protecting U.S. technology from foreign influence,” according to the White House.

    Talks over Riyadh’s civilian nuclear program, stalled for a decade over concerns from previous administrations, yielded a framework that in theory allows Saudi Arabia to build a nuclear plant. Uranium enrichment, which in theory would allow weaponization, isn’t part of the agreement, U.S. officials say.

    Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and President Trump watch a flyover.

    Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump watch a flyover of F-15 and F-35 fighters before meeting at the White House.

    (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

    On the regional politics front, Bin Salman got a pledge from Trump to help broker an end to the war in Sudan.

    The visit capped Bin Salman’s stunning redemption arc from the nadir of his reputation seven years ago.

    Back then, his image as a dauntless reformer — reversing bans on women driving, neutering the country’s notorious religious police — was already crumbling after he sought to silence not only foreign opponents, but anyone domestically who questioned Vision 2030, his far-reaching (and hugely expensive) plan for transforming Saudi Arabia.

    Then came the 2018 strangulation and dismemberment in Turkey of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-mild-critic and Washington Post columnist.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen inside a vehicle.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen inside a vehicle while leaving the White House after a meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump.

    (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

    Trump appeared more inclined to side with the prince, who denied any involvement in the killing, but the CIA said in a leaked report it had high confidence the prince ordered Khashoggi’s assassination.

    Association with Bin Salman, once Washington’s Middle East darling, became toxic. International companies rushed to pull out of the kingdom. Politicians made it clear he was unwelcome. Then-candidate Joe Biden vowed to make the Saudi government “a pariah.”

    In time, the prince stepped back from his more pugilistic policies, while geopolitics, energy concerns and a turbulent Middle East forced Biden to moderate his rejectionist stance.

    In 2022, Biden visited the prince — giving him a tepid fist bump — to coax him into lowering energy prices.

    That same year, Riyadh helped broker a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. Later, a China-brokered agreement saw the prince calm his country’s stormy diplomatic relations with Iran. Just last month, he reportedly worked behind the scenes to push through a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

    His White House visit seemed to cement his comeback, but little of what was promised is a done deal.

    For one, whether Saudi Arabia can pony up $1 trillion — a figure amounting to 80% of its annual GDP and more than twice its foreign exchange reserves — is an open question.

    Crucially, the prince didn’t specify when the money would be invested.

    Though the investment pledge is big, “how much and over what period of time is completely unclear,” said Tim Callen, an economist and former International Monetary Fund mission chief to Saudi Arabia.

    Saudi Arabia is also pulling back on its government spending, with deflated oil prices forcing it to downsize many of its gigaprojects, Callen added.

    “The pot of money available to push out all these projects and investments has shrunk, relative to 2022 and 2023,” he said.

    “My take on it is that things are going to advance both on the investment and trade side [between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia] because there are mutual economic interests between the two countries,” he said. But in the short term, he added, $1 trillion “is too big a number for the economy of Saudi Arabia.”

    As for F-35s, seeing them on Saudi runways is likely to take years. Congress has to approve F-35 sales, and some opposition could arise if they’re seen to jeopardize Israel’s qualitative military edge.

    Israel, the only nation in the F-35 program allowed to use certain specialized technology, would expect Saudi Arabia to receive “planes of reduced caliber,” Trump said on Tuesday, with the prince on his side.

    “I don’t think that makes you too happy,” he said to the prince.

    “As far as I’m concerned,” Trump added, “I think [Israel and Saudi Arabia] are both at a level where they should get top of the line.”

    But the bigger obstacle may be Saudi Arabia’s links to China, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory and an aviation analyst.

    Saudi security forces stand at attention beneath a portrait of Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

    Saudi security forces stand at attention beneath a portrait of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, during a military parade as pilgrims arrive for the annual pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca on May 31.

    (AFP via Getty Images)

    In recent years, Saudi Arabia has run military exercises with the Chinese navy and fielded Chinese-made weapons in its armed forces. Ensuring it doesn’t get a look at the aircraft’s capabilities presents “a different set of challenges,” Aboulafia said. Similar concerns scuttled the United Arab Emirates’ attempts to acquire the jet, he added.

    Another issue is that a backlog in aircraft delivery means another recipient would need to give up their production slots in Saudi Arabia’s favor.

    Also key to Bin Salman’s return to the U.S.’ full embrace was his treatment by Trump at the White House.

    When a reporter asked the prince about the Khashoggi killing, it was Trump who put up a vociferous defense, and called Khashoggi “extremely controversial.”

    “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it,” Trump said, pointing to the crown prince.

    President Trump, right, and Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince, shake hands.

    President Trump, right, and Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, shake hands during their meeting in the Oval Office.

    (Nathan Howard / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Trump also took a swing at Biden’s fist bump, engaging in an awkward hand-grabbing game with Bin Salman.

    “I grabbed that hand,” Trump said. “I don’t give a hell where that hand’s been.”

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    Nabih Bulos

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  • Cheney to be honored during funeral at Washington National Cathedral

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    Past presidents and politicians of both parties will gather Thursday in Washington, D.C., for former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral.Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President JD Vance were invited to Cheney’s funeral, according to a source familiar with the matter.Cheney will receive full military honors at the memorial service, which is expected to be a bipartisan who’s who of Washington dignitaries.More than 1,000 guests are expected at the invitation-only funeral Thursday morning at Washington’s National Cathedral — including all four living former vice presidents and two former presidents.Former Presidents George W. Bush and Joe Biden will pay their respects, along with former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle. There are also expected to be a number of Supreme Court Justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan. A large number of past and present Cabinet members from both Republican and Democratic administrations will also attend, as well as congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle.Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is expected to attend along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and former leader Mitch McConnell.CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. Axios was first to report that Trump was not invited to the funeral.The funeral’s guest list itself is a nod to a time when Washington was not so polarized and politicians from both sides of the aisle paid their respects when a dignitary passed away.Cheney’s funeral will be held at 11 a.m. ET. Speakers will include Bush, Cheney’s daughter former Rep. Liz Cheney and some of his grandchildren.Cheney, who served as Bush’s vice president from 2001 to 2009, died on November 3 at the age of 84. Prior to being elected vice president, Cheney served as defense secretary, White House chief of staff and as a congressman representing Wyoming.He was considered one of the most powerful and influential vice presidents in history, but his role as the architect of the Iraq War saw him leave office deeply unpopular and cemented a polarizing legacy.While official Washington funerals usually include invites to the White House, excluding Trump should not be a surprise.Cheney was a lifetime hardline conservative who endorsed Trump’s 2016 campaign. But he spent the last years of his life speaking out against Trump, particularly after his daughter then-Rep. Liz Cheney drew the president’s ire for her prominent role in a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.In 2022, Cheney described Trump as a coward and said no one was a “greater threat to our republic.”Trump has not publicly expressed his condolences or commented on Cheney’s death.The White House offered a muted reaction after Cheney’s death with press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters that Trump was “aware” the former vice president had died and noting that flags had been lowered to half-staff.Honorary pallbearers at Cheney’s funeral will include members of his Secret Service detail; his former chiefs of staff, David Addington and Scooter Libby; and photographer David Hume Kennerly.On one of the last pages of the service leaflet is a quote from the writer and naturalist John Muir, saying: “The mountains are calling and I must go.”

    WASHINGTON —

    Past presidents and politicians of both parties will gather Thursday in Washington, D.C., for former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral.

    Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President JD Vance were invited to Cheney’s funeral, according to a source familiar with the matter.

    Cheney will receive full military honors at the memorial service, which is expected to be a bipartisan who’s who of Washington dignitaries.

    More than 1,000 guests are expected at the invitation-only funeral Thursday morning at Washington’s National Cathedral — including all four living former vice presidents and two former presidents.

    Former Presidents George W. Bush and Joe Biden will pay their respects, along with former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle. There are also expected to be a number of Supreme Court Justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan. A large number of past and present Cabinet members from both Republican and Democratic administrations will also attend, as well as congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle.

    Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is expected to attend along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and former leader Mitch McConnell.

    CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. Axios was first to report that Trump was not invited to the funeral.

    The funeral’s guest list itself is a nod to a time when Washington was not so polarized and politicians from both sides of the aisle paid their respects when a dignitary passed away.

    Cheney’s funeral will be held at 11 a.m. ET. Speakers will include Bush, Cheney’s daughter former Rep. Liz Cheney and some of his grandchildren.

    Cheney, who served as Bush’s vice president from 2001 to 2009, died on November 3 at the age of 84. Prior to being elected vice president, Cheney served as defense secretary, White House chief of staff and as a congressman representing Wyoming.

    He was considered one of the most powerful and influential vice presidents in history, but his role as the architect of the Iraq War saw him leave office deeply unpopular and cemented a polarizing legacy.

    While official Washington funerals usually include invites to the White House, excluding Trump should not be a surprise.

    Cheney was a lifetime hardline conservative who endorsed Trump’s 2016 campaign. But he spent the last years of his life speaking out against Trump, particularly after his daughter then-Rep. Liz Cheney drew the president’s ire for her prominent role in a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.

    In 2022, Cheney described Trump as a coward and said no one was a “greater threat to our republic.”

    Trump has not publicly expressed his condolences or commented on Cheney’s death.

    The White House offered a muted reaction after Cheney’s death with press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters that Trump was “aware” the former vice president had died and noting that flags had been lowered to half-staff.

    Honorary pallbearers at Cheney’s funeral will include members of his Secret Service detail; his former chiefs of staff, David Addington and Scooter Libby; and photographer David Hume Kennerly.

    On one of the last pages of the service leaflet is a quote from the writer and naturalist John Muir, saying: “The mountains are calling and I must go.”

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  • Joe Biden to attend Dick Cheney’s funeral, as Donald Trump continues to remain silent on his death

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    By SEUNG MIN KIM

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Former president Joe Biden will attend Thursday’s memorial service for former vice president Dick Cheney at the Washington National Cathedral, which will feature remarks from another former president, George W. Bush.

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    Associated Press

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  • Trump admin responds after ICE employee arrested in sex trafficking sting

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    The Trump administration on Wednesday responded to the arrest of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employee caught in a sex trafficking sting, emphasizing that the worker was hired in 2022 under former President Joe Biden.

    An ICE spokesperson said the employee, Alexander Back, was immediately placed on administrative leave and was never a law enforcement officer, adding that the agency is cooperating with local authorities and conducting its own internal investigation.

    An ICE spokesperson told Newsweek via email, “Alexander Back was hired under the Biden administration in 2022 and worked as an I-9 auditor. Back was not and has never been a law enforcement officer. Following his arrest, ICE immediately placed Alexander Back on administrative leave. ICE is working with local authorities as well as conducting its own investigation via the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility.”

    Back, 41, was among 16 men arrested in a Minnesota trafficking investigation that targeted individuals seemingly attempting to solicit a minor for sex, police said.

    Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said at a news conference on Tuesday that the three-day “Operation Creep” began on November 5 and focused on identifying people seeking to purchase sex from a 17-year-old girl.

    “When he was arrested, he said, ‘I’m ICE, boys,’” Hodges said. “Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up.”

    This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow. 

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  • Commentary: Justice has no expiration date. That’s why 2020 election fraud still matters

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    In the days and weeks after the 2020 election, partisans across the country used lies and deceit to try to defraud the American people and steal the White House.

    Although Joe Biden was the clear and unequivocal winner, racking up big margins in the popular vote and electoral college, 84 fake electors signed statements certifying that Donald Trump had carried their seven battleground states.

    He did not.

    The electoral votes at issue constituted nearly a third of the number needed to win the presidency and would have been more than enough to reverse Biden’s victory, granting Trump a second term against the wishes of most voters.

    To some, the attempted election theft is old (and eagerly buried) news.

    The events that culminated in the violent assault on the Capitol and attempt to block Biden from taking office occurred half a decade ago, the shovel wielders might say, making them as relevant as those faded social-distancing stickers you still see in some stores. Besides, Trump was given a second turn in the White House by a plurality of voters in 2024.

    But it’s only old news if you believe that justice and integrity carry an expiration date, wrongdoing is fine with the passage of enough time and the foundational values of our country and its democracy — starting with fair and honest elections — matter only to the extent they help your political side prevail.

    It bears repeating: “What we’re talking about here is an attempt to overturn the outcome of a presidential election,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, who heads the Voting Rights and Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and policy think tank at New York University. “If people can engage in that kind of conduct without consequence or accountability, then we have to worry about it happening again.”

    Which is why punishment and deterrence are so important.

    Last week, the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously reinstated the criminal case against six Republicans who signed certificates falsely claiming Trump had won the state’s electoral votes. Those charged include Nevada’s GOP chairman, Michael McDonald, and the state’s representative on the Republican National Committee, Jim DeGraffenreid.

    The ruling focused on a procedural matter: whether the charges should have been brought in Douglas County, where the fake certificates were signed in the state capital — Carson City — or in Clark County, where they were submitted at a courthouse in Las Vegas. A lower court ruled the charges should have been brought in Douglas County and dismissed the case. The high court reversed the decision, allowing the prosecution on forgery charges to proceed.

    As well it should. Let a jury decide.

    Of course, the Nevada Six and other phony electors are but small fry. The ringleader and attempted-larcenist-in-chief — Donald “Find Me 11,780 Votes” Trump — escaped liability by winning the 2024 election.

    This month, he pardoned scores of fake electors and others involved in the attempted election heist — including his bumbling ex-attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani — for any potential federal crimes. The move was purely symbolic; Trump’s pardoning power does not extend to cases brought in state courts.

    But it was further evidence of his abundant contempt for the rule of law. (Just hours after taking office, Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 defendants — including some who brutalized cops with pepper spray and wooden and metal poles — who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.)

    Efforts around the country to prosecute even those low-level schemers, cheaters and 2020 election miscreants have produced mixed results.

    In Michigan, a judge threw out the criminal case against 15 phony electors, ruling the government failed to present sufficient evidence that they intended to commit fraud.

    In New Mexico and Pennsylvania, fake electors avoided prosecution because their certification came with a caveat. It said the documentation was submitted in the event they were recognized as legitimate electors. The issue was moot once Trump lost his fight to overturn the election, though some in Trump’s orbit hoped the phony certifications would help pressure Pence.

    Derek Muller, a Notre Dame law professor, looks askance at many of the cases that prosecutors have brought, suggesting the ballot box — rather than a courtroom — may be the better venue to litigate the matter.

    “There’s a fine line between what’s distasteful conduct and what’s criminal conduct,” Muller said. “I don’t have easy answers about which kinds of things should or shouldn’t be prosecuted in a particular moment, except to say if it’s something novel” — like these 2020 cases — “having a pretty iron-clad legal theory is pretty essential if you’re going to be prosecuting people for engaging in this sort of political protest activity.”

    Other cases grind on.

    Three fake electors are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on forgery charges next month in Wisconsin. Fourteen defendants — including Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows — face charges in Georgia. In Arizona, the state attorney general must decide this week whether to move forward with a case against 11 people after a judge tossed out an indictment because of how the case was presented to grand jurors.

    Justice in the case of the 2020 election has been far from sure and swift. But that’s no reason to relent.

    The penalty for hijacking a plane is a minimum of 20 years in federal prison. That seems excessive for the fake electors.

    But dozens of bad actors tried to hijack an election. They shouldn’t be let off scot-free.

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    Mark Z. Barabak

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  • Fact check: Is Walmart’s Thanksgiving deal cheaper under Trump than Biden?

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    Facing falling consumer confidence and widespread concern about inflation, President Donald Trump said a Walmart Thanksgiving dinner package shows his policies are lowering prices.

    Trump used the talking point in a Nov. 10 interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham. Days earlier, Trump referred to Walmart during a Nov. 6 dinner with Central Asia leaders, and said, “When you look at a 25% reduction in costs for Thanksgiving between Biden and me … that’s a tremendous number.”

    Trump, who campaigned on a promise to tackle inflation, has pushed back — sometimes misleadingly — against discussions of grocery prices increasing on his watch. His Walmart example misleads by pointing to one corporate offering as evidence of grocery prices falling overall. 

    This year, Walmart is advertising a package of Thanksgiving dinner ingredients for $40. That is $15 less than the Thanksgiving grocery package it promoted in 2024. But the 27% price drop is not from lower-priced goods. It’s because some items were removed or downsized from the 2025 dinner promotion.

    Even so, a retail expert warned against relying on one large retailer’s prices to tell a broader story. Any store can charge less for items for reasons other than a decline in wholesale costs, including courting inflation-weary consumers. A grocer can also offer certain items as “loss leaders,” which means the company accepts losses on some items and makes up the difference from customers’ purchases of other, higher-margin items.

    The White House did not respond to an inquiry for this article.

    Comparing the 2024 and 2025 Walmart Thanksgiving packages

    Several items were consistent in Walmart’s 2024 and 2025 Thanksgiving promotions: turkey, bread rolls, canned corn, gravy mix, pie crust, pumpkin, evaporated milk and potatoes. Other 2025 food items were newly added: Stove Top brand turkey stuffing, baby carrots, canned green beans and macaroni and cheese.

    However, some items that had been included in the 2024 meal were either eliminated or downsized in this year’s promotion. 

    Items that were removed included chicken broth; fresh onions and celery; poultry seasoning; Marie Callender’s pecan pie; frozen whipped topping; mini marshmallows; Jiffy Corn muffin mix; and three bags of sweet potatoes. Three items also were downsized: cranberries (from a 14 ounce can to 12 ounces of fresh berries), mushroom soup (two cans to one) and crispy fried onions (from 6 ounces of French’s to 4.5 ounces of Kinder’s).

    We used Walmart’s website to calculate the value of the items added to, subtracted from and downsized in the 2025 basket. The prices were as of Nov. 12 and included sale prices reported that day.

    In all, the additions to the 2025 basket totaled $7.79, while the subtractions and downsized products totaled $24.35. This means the package declined in value by $16.56.

    The $16.56 decline in value is roughly comparable to the $15 price reduction for the 2025 basket. The price decline can be attributed to fewer products and smaller volumes, rather than lower food costs.

    “It is very unlikely that a typical household’s Thanksgiving shopping trip costs them 25% less than last year, unless they are feeding 25% fewer people or people are eating 25% less,” said Christopher Conlon, an economist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. 

    Federal price data shows that grocery prices are up almost 1.9% since Trump took office, with a few items — including eggs and bread — falling but others rising, including meats, coffee and sweets.

    Even if Walmart’s Thanksgiving package had decreased price on an apples-to-apples (or pumpkin-to-pumpkin) basis, that wouldn’t be proof that grocery prices are lower, Conlon said. Any company can lower prices on certain goods as a marketing tactic — especially a company as big as Walmart, which can subsidize lower prices on some goods with higher prices on others.

    Holiday packages such as Walmart’s do not “provide an accurate measure of year-on-year price changes but instead signal to consumers, ‘Shop here if you’re worried about prices,’” Conlon said. 

    Our ruling

    Trump said Walmart’s 2025 package of Thanksgiving dinner ingredients shows a “25% reduction in costs for Thanksgiving between Biden and me.”

    Trump referred to selections of Thanksgiving dinner groceries that Walmart promoted for $55 in 2024 and $40 this year, a 27% decline. 

    However, the 2024 and 2025 grocery packages are not identical. The $15 price decline is not from lower food prices; it is because some items were removed or downsized from the 2025 dinner promotion. Customers are paying less because they are getting less.

    Even if the Walmart comparison had been apples-to-apples, it alone would not be proof that grocery prices broadly have decreased by 25%. Companies can offer some items for less to get customers in the door and then make up the loss on higher-margin products purchased elsewhere in the store.

    The Walmart dinner package’s price did fall by about 25%, but not because of lower food prices. We rate the statement Mostly False.

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  • Obama & Biden’s Relationship in ‘Really Bad’ Place After Joe’s Son’s ‘Pissed Off’ Rant Over Barack’s Treatment of His Dad

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    Barack Obama & Joe Biden’s Relationship After Trump Election Loss




























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    Jason Pham

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  • Judge bars Trump from immediately cutting funding to the University of California

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    The Trump administration cannot immediately cut federal funding to the University of California or issue fines against the school system over claims it allows antisemitism or other forms of discrimination, a federal judge ruled late Friday in a sharply worded decision.

    U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by labor unions and other groups representing UC faculty, students and employees. She said they had provided “overwhelming evidence” that the Trump administration was “engaged in a concerted campaign to purge ‘woke,’ ‘left,’ and ‘socialist’ viewpoints from our country’s leading universities.”

    “Agency officials, as well as the President and Vice President, have repeatedly and publicly announced a playbook of initiating civil rights investigations of preeminent universities to justify cutting off federal funding, with the goal of bringing universities to their knees and forcing them to change their ideological tune,” she said.

    She added, “It is undisputed that this precise playbook is now being executed at the University of California.”

    Messages sent to the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice after hours Friday were not immediately returned.

    President Donald Trump has decried elite colleges as overrun by liberalism and antisemitism.

    His administration has launched investigations of dozens of universities, claiming they have failed to end the use of racial preferences in violation of civil rights law. The Republican administration says diversity, equity and inclusion efforts discriminate against white and Asian American students.

    The University of California is facing a series of civil rights investigations, according to Lin’s ruling.

    In one case, the Trump administration over the summer demanded the University of California, Los Angeles pay $1.2 billion to restore frozen research funding and ensure eligibility for future funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus. UCLA was the first public university to be targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations.

    It has also frozen or paused federal funding over similar claims against private colleges, including Columbia University.

    UC is in settlement talks with the administration and is not a party to the lawsuit before Lin, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, a Democrat. An email to the school system after hours on Friday was not immediately returned.

    University of California President James B. Milliken has said the size of the UCLA fine would devastate the UC system, whose campuses are viewed as some of the top public colleges in the nation.

    The administration has demanded UCLA comply with its views on gender identity and establish a process to make sure foreign students are not admitted if they are likely to engage in anti-American, anti-Western or antisemitic “disruptions or harassment,” among other requirements outlined in a settlement proposal made public in October.

    The administration has previously struck deals with Brown University for $50 million and Columbia University for $221 million.

    Lin cited declarations by UC faculty and staff that the administration’s moves were prompting them to stop teaching or researching topics they were “afraid were too ‘left’ or ‘woke.’”

    “The undisputed record demonstrates that Defendants have engaged in coercive and retaliatory conduct in violation of the First Amendment and Tenth Amendment,” she wrote.

    Lin’s injunction bars the administration from cancelling funding to the University of California based on alleged discrimination without giving notice to affected faculty and conducting a hearing, among other requirements.

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    CBS Bay Area

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  • Opinion | What Does ‘White Guilt’ Mean in 2025?

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    Victim politics gave us pro-Hamas activism and a powerful reaction in the form of Donald Trump, argue Shelby Steele and his son, Eli.

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    Tunku Varadarajan

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  • Obama and Biden’s relationship has deteriorated, ‘really bad’ since election: ABC reporter

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl said in a new interview that a recent incident is a perfect sign that former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden are on the outs.

    Karl spoke to news personality and podcaster Katie Couric on her show last week about how Obama and Biden were spotted eating at Café Milano one night last month in Washington, D.C., to the point their security details had to make space for each other, yet Obama and his former vice president did not cross paths. 

    “They didn’t interact at all, they were in the same restaurant?” Couric asked in disbelief. “What’s their relationship like?”

    OBAMA WAS ‘NOT HAPPY’ WITH QUICK PELOSI ENDORSEMENT OF HARRIS, BOOK SAYS

    Former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

    “Really bad. Really bad,” Karl replied on the Nov. 6 podcast. “Biden and the people around him very much blame Barack Obama for the effort to push Biden out of the campaign.” 

    Karl has been doing media rounds to promote his new book, “Retribution,” a behind-the-scenes account of the historic 2024 election.

    Karl went on to recall Hunter Biden was enraged at seeing Obama take his father by the arm and lead him off-stage at a fundraiser last summer, making then-President Biden appear feeble. At the time, Biden was still the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee, and his allies were largely publicly dismissing concerns about his viability.

    “It’s not a good relationship. If they had wanted to see each other, they absolutely would have,” Karl said of the night he witnessed at the restaurant. The incident was covered in Politico last month.

    Karl noted further that Biden, like Kamala Harris, made several phone calls in order to secure support for Harris after Biden relinquished the nomination last year. 

    BIDEN AIDES BLAST HARRIS BOOK EXCERPTS, ADDING VP ‘WAS SIMPLY NOT GOOD AT THE JOB’: REPORT

    Joe Biden and Barack Obama

    The relationship between former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden is reportedly not as friendly as it once was. (Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images)

    “I was astounded to hear that the one person he did not call was Barack Obama, the person that really made it possible for him to be president by making him vice president,” Karl said. “He didn’t call him then. Obama did call, I learned, to talk to Biden. He didn’t take the call, and the two of them did not speak for weeks.”

    “So dysfunctional,” Couric said.

    Fox News Digital reached out to Biden and Obama’s offices and did not receive an immediate reply.

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

    Presidents Obama and Biden

    Former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden reportedly did not speak for weeks after Biden relinquished the Democratic Party nomination. (Getty Images)

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    Alexander Hall is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Alexander.hall@fox.com.

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  • Trump is ramping up a new effort to convince a skeptical public he can fix affordability worries

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is adjusting his messaging strategy to win over voters who are worried about the cost of living with plans to emphasize new tax breaks and show progress on fighting inflation.

    The messaging is centered around affordability, and the push comes after inflation emerged as a major vulnerability for Trump and Republicans in Tuesday’s elections, in which voters overwhelmingly said the economy was their biggest concern.

    Democrats took advantage of concerns about affordability to run up huge margins in the New Jersey and Virginia governor races, flipping what had been a strength for Trump in the 2024 presidential election into a vulnerability going into next year’s midterm elections.

    White House officials and others familiar with their thinking requested anonymity to speak for this article in order to not get ahead of the president’s actions. They stressed that affordability has always been a priority for Trump, but the president plans to talk about it more, as he did Thursday when he announced that Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk would reduce the price of their anti-obesity drugs.

    “We are the ones that have done a great job on affordability, not the Democrats,” Trump said at an event in the Oval Office to announce the deal. “We just lost an election, they said, based on affordability. It’s a con job by the Democrats.”

    The White House is keeping up a steady drumbeat of posts on social media about prices and deals for Thanksgiving dinner staples at retailers such as Walmart, Lidl, Aldi and Target.

    “I don’t want to hear about the affordability, because right now, we’re much less,” Trump told reporters Thursday, arguing that things are much better for Americans with his party in charge.

    “The only problem is the Republicans don’t talk about it,” he said.

    The outlook for inflation is unclear

    As of now, the inflation outlook has worsened under Trump. Consumer prices in September increased at an annual rate of 3%, up from 2.3% in April, when the president first began to roll out substantial tariff hikes that suddenly burdened the economy with uncertainty. The AP Voter Poll showed the economy was the leading issue in Tuesday’s elections in New Jersey, Virginia, New York City and California.

    Grocery prices continue to climb, and recently, electricity bills have emerged as a new worry. At the same time, the pace of job gains has slowed, plunging 23% from the pace a year ago.

    The White House maintains a list of talking points about the economy, noting that the stock market has hit record highs multiple times and that the president is attracting foreign investment. Trump has emphasized that gasoline prices are coming down, and maintained that gasoline is averaging $2 a gallon, but AAA reported Thursday that the national average was $3.08, about two cents lower than a year ago.

    “Americans are paying less for essentials like gas and eggs, and today the Administration inked yet another drug pricing deal to deliver unprecedented health care savings for everyday Americans,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.

    Trump gets briefed about the economy by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other officials at least once a week and there are often daily discussions on tariffs, a senior White House official said, noting Trump is expected to do more domestic travel next year to make his case that he’s fixing affordability.

    But critics say it will be hard for Trump to turn around public perceptions on affordability.

    “He’s in real trouble and I think it’s bigger than just cost of living,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative, a liberal economic advocacy group.

    Owens noted that Trump has “lost his strength” as voters are increasingly doubtful about Trump’s economic leadership compared to Democrats, adding that the president doesn’t have the time to turn around public perceptions of him as he continues to pursue broad tariffs.

    New hype about income tax cuts ahead of April

    There will be new policies rolled out on affordability, a person familiar with the White House thinking said, declining to comment on what those would be. Trump on Thursday indicated there will be more deals coming on drug prices. Two other White House officials said messaging would change — but not policy.

    A big part of the administration’s response on affordability will be educating people ahead of tax season about the role of Trump’s income tax cuts in any refunds they receive in April, the person familiar with planning said. Those cuts were part of the sprawling bill Republicans muscled through Congress in July.

    This individual stressed that the key challenge is bringing prices down while simultaneously having wages increase, so that people can feel and see any progress.

    There’s also a bet that the economy will be in a healthier place in six months. With Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s term ending in May, the White House anticipates the start of consistent cuts to the Fed’s benchmark interest rate. They expect inflation rates to cool and declines in the federal budget deficit to boost sentiment in the financial markets.

    But the U.S. economy seldom cooperates with a president’s intentions, a lesson learned most recently by Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, who saw his popularity slump after inflation spiked to a four-decade high in June 2022.

    The Trump administration maintains it’s simply working through an inflation challenge inherited from Biden, but new economic research indicates Trump has created his own inflation challenge through tariffs.

    Since April, Harvard University economist Alberto Cavallo and his colleagues, Northwestern University’s Paola Llamas and Universidad de San Andres’ Franco Vazquez, have been tracking the impact of the import taxes on consumer prices.

    In an October paper, the economists found that the inflation rate would have been drastically lower at 2.2%, had it not been for Trump’s tariffs.

    The administration maintains that tariffs have not contributed to inflation. They plan to make the case that the import taxes are helping the economy and dismiss criticisms of the import taxes as contributing to inflation as Democratic talking points.

    The fate of Trump’s country-by-country tariffs is currently being decided by the Supreme Court, where justices at a Wednesday hearing seemed dubious over the administration’s claims that tariffs were essentially regulations and could be levied by a president without congressional approval. Trump has maintained at times that foreign countries pay the tariffs and not U.S. citizens, a claim he backed away from slightly Thursday.

    “They might be paying something,” he said. “But when you take the overall impact, the Americans are gaining tremendously.”

    _____

    Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

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  • These are the 37 donors helping pay for Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his $300 million White House ballroom will be paid for “100% by me and some friends of mine.”

    The White House released a list of 37 donors, including crypto billionaires, charitable organizations, sports team owners, powerful financiers, tech and tobacco giants, media companies, longtime supporters of Republican causes and several of the president’s neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida.

    It’s incomplete. Among others, the list doesn’t include Carrier Group, which offered to donate an HVAC system for the ballroom, and artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, whose CEO, Jensen Huang, publicly discussed its donation.

    The White House hasn’t said how much each donor is giving, and almost none was willing to divulge that. Very few commented on their contributions when contacted by The Associated Press.

    A senior White House official said the list has grown since it was first released in October, but some companies don’t want to be publicly named until required to do so by financial disclosure regulations. No foreign individuals or entities were among the donors, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that haven’t been made public.

    Here’s a look at the divulged donors:

    Tech giants (8):

    Amazon Background: Trump was once highly critical of company founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, but has been much less so lately. Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, an event attended by Bezos. Its video streaming service paid $40 million to license a documentary about first lady Melania Trump. Its cloud-based computing operation, Amazon Web Services, is a major government contractor.

    Apple Background: After an up-and-down relationship during Trump’s first term, CEO Tim Cook has sought to improve his standing with the president this time. Before returning to the White House, Trump hosted Cook at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, and said he had spoken with Cook about the company’s long-running tax battles with the European Union. Cook also donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. In the spring, Trump threatened the computing giant with tariffs after Apple announced plans to build manufacturing facilities in India. In August, Cook presented the president with a customized glass plaque with a gold base as the CEO announced plans to bring Apple’s total investment commitment in U.S. manufacturing over four years to $600 billion.

    Google Background: During his first term, Trump’s administration sued Google for antitrust violations. While a candidate last year, Trump suggested he might seek to break up the search engine behemoth. Once Trump won the election, Google donated $1 million to his inauguration, and its CEO, Sundar Pichai, joined other major tech executives in attending the ceremony. Google’s subsidiary, YouTube, agreed in September to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit with Trump after it suspended his account following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. According to court filings, $22 million of that went to the Trust for the National Mall, which can help pay for ballroom construction.

    HP Background: An original Silicon Valley stalwart, the company donated to Trump’s inaugural fund. HP ‘s CEO, Enrique Lores, participated in a White House roundtable event in September. Lores also previously met with President Joe Biden at the White House on multiple occasions as top CEOs endorsed that administration’s economic plans.

    Meta Background: Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been critical of Trump going back to 2016, and Facebook suspended Trump for years after the Jan. 6 insurrection. This time around, Meta contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, and Zuckerberg attended.

    Micron Technology Background: The producer of advanced memory computer chips announced an April 2024 agreement with the Biden administration to provide $6.1 billion in government support for Micron to make chips domestically. Then, in June, Micron pledged $200 billion for U.S. memory chip manufacturing expansion under Trump. But at least $120 billion of that involved holdovers first announced during Biden’s administration.

    Microsoft Background: The company donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, twice what it spent for Biden’s or for Trump’s first inauguration. CEO Satya Nadella has also met with Trump numerous times, as Microsoft has supported the administration’s relaxation of regulations on artificial intelligence. He met previously with Biden, too. Trump has called for Microsoft’s president of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, to be fired because she was a deputy attorney general under Biden when the Justice Department led several investigations against Trump.

    Palantir Technologies Background: Co-founded by billionaire libertarian Peter Thiel, the firm concentrates on artificial intelligence and machine learning. It has seen profits soar thanks to lucrative defense and other federal contracts.

    Crypto (5):

    Coinbase Background: The major cryptocurrency exchange was founded by Brian Armstrong, a top donor to a political action committee that helped Trump and other pro-crypto candidates in 2024. Armstrong attended the first crypto summit at the White House in March. Coinbase also hired Trump’s co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, to its Global Advisory Council.

    Ripple Background: In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped a lawsuit filed during Trump’s first term, which accused the company of violating securities laws by selling XRP crypto coins without a securities registration. In his second term, Trump has eased regulations on digital assets, repealing an SEC accounting rule and a previous presidential executive order mandating more federal study and proposed changes to crypto regulations.

    Tether Background: A cryptocurrency company and major stablecoin issuer, Tether paid fines for misleading investors. CEO Paolo Ardoino has been to Trump’s White House, and, in April, the company hired former Trump administration crypto policy official Bo Hines to lead its domestic expansion efforts.

    Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss Background: Each Winklevoss twin is listed as a separate donor. Best known as Zuckerberg’s chief antagonists in “The Social Network,” the brothers founded the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange. Biden’s SEC sued Gemini for selling unregistered securities, but the case has been paused under Trump.

    Energy and industrial (4):

    Caterpillar Background: The equipment maker ‘s PAC has donated to candidates from both parties, but given more to Republicans. It has also said publicly that Trump’s tariffs, some of which the administration has now eased, could increase its costs and hurt earnings.

    NextEra Energy Background: NextEra is the world’s largest electric utility holding company. Trump says he’ll work to ensure tech giants can secure their own sources of electricity to power data centers, especially as they expand energy-hogging artificial intelligence operations. Google recently entered into an agreement to buy power from a shuttered nuclear power plant in Iowa owned by NextEra, which the company plans to bring back online in 2029.

    Paolo Tiramani Background: An American industrial designer who has donated to Trump’s political campaigns. Tiramani, with his son, runs BOXABL, a firm specializing in modular, prefabricated homes.

    Union Pacific Background: Trump has endorsed the company’s proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern, which would be the largest-ever rail merger. It also will be up to the president to appoint two more Republican members of the Surface Transportation Board, who will ultimately decide whether to approve the merger. In August, Trump fired one of the two Democratic members of the board.

    Philanthropy (3):

    Adelson Family Foundation Background: Founded to strengthen the state of Israel and the Jewish people, the foundation was created by Miriam Adelson, the majority owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, close Trump ally and longtime GOP megadonor. She’s also the widow of Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire founder and owner of Las Vegas Sands.

    Betty Wold Johnson Foundation Background: Based in Palm Beach, the foundation supports health, arts and culture initiatives, as well as environmental and educational programs. It’s named in honor of the mother of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom during his first term.

    Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation Background: The nonprofit based in Lake Worth Beach, near Palm Beach, focuses on promoting health care, social justice, the arts and community initiatives. Isaac is an Israeli American businessman and financier and former chair of Marvel Entertainment. He and his wife have donated to Trump’s presidential campaigns and affiliated PACs.

    Trump administration officials (3):

    Benjamin Leon Jr. Background: The Cuban American founder of Miami-based Leon Medical Centers is Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Spain.

    Kelly Loeffler and Jeffrey Sprecher Background: A former Republican senator from Georgia, Loeffler heads Trump’s Small Business Administration. Her husband is CEO of the energy market Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and chairs the New York Stock Exchange. The couple faced scrutiny in 2020 for dumping substantial portions of their portfolio and purchasing new stocks, including in firms making protective equipment, after Congress received briefings on the severity of the coming coronavirus pandemic.

    Lutnick Family Background: Howard Lutnick is Trump’s commerce secretary. A crypto enthusiast, he once headed the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald.

    Communications/entertainment (3):

    Comcast Background: The mass media and telecom conglomerate has often been criticized by Trump, including in April, when the president posted that Comcast was a “disgrace to the integrity of broadcasting.” The company owns NBC and is spinning off MSNBC. It could be interested in acquiring Warner Bros. Discover, and that would leave Comcast looking for government approval.

    Hard Rock International Background: A Florida-based gaming and tourism concern owned by the Seminole Tribe, the company operates a number of casinos, including the former Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Trump has for decades criticized federal exemptions allowing tribes to operate casinos.

    T-Mobile Background: The wireless carrier is indirectly linked to Trump Mobile, which the president’s family controls and offers gold phones and cell service in a licensing deal. Trump Mobile uses Liberty Mobile Wireless, a small, Florida-based network that T-Mobile says runs its operations on T-Mobile’s network. T-Mobile says that is unrelated to its decision to donate to Trump’s ballroom, which it says is meant to “restore and enrich the historic landmarks that define our nation’s capital.”

    Big Tobacco (2):

    Altria Group Background: The tobacco giant controls Philip Morris USA, maker of Marlboro. It has pressed for federal crackdowns on counterfeit and illegal vaping products. The company donated $50,000 to Trump’s inauguration.

    Reynolds American Background: With brands including Lucky Strike and Camel, the company has been active in lobbying to steer the Trump administration away from a Biden-proposed ban on menthol cigarettes.

    Defense/national security (2):

    Booz Allen Hamilton Background: A major defense and national security technology firm with extensive government contracts, it paid fines to settle lawsuits with the Justice Department under Biden. Booz Allen Hamilton agreed to pay more than $377 million in 2023 to settle allegations that it improperly billing costs to its government contracts. In January, it paid nearly $16 million to settle allegations that it submitted fraudulent claims in connection with government contracts.

    Lockheed Martin Corporation Background: The massive defense contractor has huge government contracts. It said in a statement that it “is grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and make this addition to the People’s House.”

    Individuals (7):

    Stefan E. Brodie Background: A biotech entrepreneur and co-founder of the chemical manufacturing company Purolite, Brodie and his family donated to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and affiliated committees. Brodie and his brother, Donald, were convicted in 2002 of circumventing U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

    Charles and Marissa Cascarilla Background: Charles Cascarilla is co‑founder of the blockchain firm Paxos. He and his wife are philanthropists who have advocated for financial technology sector deregulation.

    J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul Background: Longtime Republican donors and Palm Beach residents, the couple controls U.S. sugar refining interests that includes the Domino brand.

    Edward and Shari Glazer Background: Members of the family that owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has a controlling stake in the Manchester United football club, the couple donated to Trump’s campaign. Edward is the founder and CEO of US Property Trust, which operates shopping centers, and the car dealership company US Auto Trust.

    Harold Hamm Background: The billionaire oil tycoon and pioneer of hydraulic fracturing heads the oil producer Continental Resources. He’s praised the Trump administration for aggressively moving to purchase oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve stockpile.

    Stephen A. Schwarzman Background: A Palm Beach resident and chair and CEO of the Blackstone Group, a global private equity firm he helped establish in 1985. Schwarzman has donated to Trump and his PACs previously and led his first-term President’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

    Konstantin Sokolov Background: Born in Russia, he immigrated to the U.S. and now heads the Chicago-based private equity firm IJS Investments. Sokolov has donated to many educational and charitable causes in the past, and to Trump’s political campaigns.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

    ___

    This story has been updated to correct the first name of an individual who donated to the White House ballroom. He is Harold Hamm, not Howard Hamm.

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  • Trump unveils deal to expand coverage and lower costs on obesity drugs

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a deal Thursday with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to expand coverage and reduce prices for the popular obesity treatments Zepbound and Wegovy.

    Known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, the drugs have soared in popularity in recent years, but patient access has been a consistent problem because of their cost — around $500 a month for higher doses — and insurance coverage has been spotty. More than 100 million American adults are obese, according to federal estimates.

    Coverage of the drugs for obesity will expand to Medicare patients starting next year, according to the administration, which said some lower prices also will be phased in for patients without coverage. Starting doses of new, pill versions of the treatments also will cost $149 a month if they are approved.

    “(It) will save lives, improve the health of millions and millions of Americans,” said Trump, in an Oval Office announcement in which he referred to GLP-1s as a “fat drug.”

    Thursday’s announcement is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to rein in soaring drug prices in its efforts to address cost-of-living concerns among voters. Pfizer and AstraZeneca recently agreed to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid after an executive order in May set a deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay.

    As with the other deals, it’s not clear how much the price drop will be felt by consumers. Drug prices can vary based on the competition for treatments and insurance coverage.

    Obesity drugs are popular, but costly

    The obesity drugs work by targeting hormones in the gut and brain that affect appetite and feelings of fullness. In clinical trials, they helped people shed 15% to 22% of their body weight — up to 50 pounds or more in many cases.

    Patients usually start on smaller doses and then work up to larger amounts, depending on their needs. They need to stay on the the treatments indefinitely or risk regaining weight, experts say.

    The medications have proven especially lucrative for Lilly and Novo. Lilly said recently that sales of Zepbound have tripled so far this year to more than $9 billion.

    But for many Americans, their cost has made them out of reach.

    Medicare, the federally funded coverage program mainly for people ages 65 and over, now covers the cost of the drugs for conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but not for weight loss alone. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, proposed a rule last November that would have changed that, but the Trump administration nixed it.

    Few state and federally funded Medicaid programs, for people with low incomes, offer coverage. And employers and insurers that provide commercial coverage are wary of paying for these drugs in part because so many people might use them.

    The $500 monthly price for higher doses of the treatments also makes them unaffordable for those without insurance, doctors say.

    Trump tries to show he is in touch with cost-of-living concerns

    Thursday’s announcement comes as the White House is looking to demonstrate that Trump is in touch with Americans’ frustrations with rising costs for food, housing, health care and other necessities.

    “Trump is the friend of the forgotten American,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at Thursday’s announcement. “Obesity is a disease of poverty. And overwhelmingly, these drugs have only been available for people who have wealth.”

    (Obesity rates actually are slightly higher for middle-income Americans than they are for those with the lowest and highest incomes, according to 2017-2020 data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

    Kennedy had previously expressed skepticism about GLP-1s, but he was full of praise for Trump for pushing to help a broader segment of Americans have access to the drug.

    Trump, who has a history of commenting on people’s appearance, asked the officials who joined him in the Oval Office whether they had used the weight-loss medications.

    “Do you take any of this stuff, Howard?” Trump asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “Not yet,” Lutnick replied. “He’s taking it,” the president said of Steven Cheung, who is the White House director of communications.

    The drug-pricing announcement came days after Democrats swept elections in races across the country. Economic worries were the dominant concern for those casting their ballots, according to findings from the AP voter poll.

    Plan calls for phased-in price reductions

    The White House sought to diminish price-reduction efforts by the previous Democratic administration as a gift to the pharmaceutical industry.

    Trump, instead, consummated a deal that ensures Americans aren’t unfairly financing the pharmaceutical industry’s innovation, claimed a senior administration official, who briefed reporters ahead of Thursday’s Oval Office announcement.

    Another senior administration official said coverage of the drugs will expand to Medicare patients starting next year. The program will start covering the treatments for people who have severe obesity and others who are overweight or obese and have serious health problems, the official said. Those who qualify will pay $50 copays for the medicine.

    Lower prices also will be phased in for people without coverage through the administration’s TrumpRx program, which will allow people to buy drugs directly from manufacturers, starting in January.

    Administration officials said the average price of the drugs sold on TrumpRx will start at around $350 and then drop to $245 over the next two years.

    A Novo Nordisk spokesperson declined to provide details on their pricing changes.

    Lilly said it will sell a starter dose of Zepbound for $299 a month and additional doses at up to $449. Both represent $50 reductions from current prices for doses it sells directly to patients.

    Administration officials said lower prices also will be provided for state and federally funded Medicaid programs. And starting doses of new, pill versions of the obesity treatments will cost $149 a month if they are approved.

    U.S. health regulators on Thursday separately agreed to dramatically expedite review of Lilly’s obesity pill, orforglipron. An FDA decision on Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill is expected later this year.

    Doctors who treat patients for obesity say help is needed to improve access. Dr. Leslie Golden says she has roughly 600 patients taking one of these treatments, and at least 75% struggle to afford them. Even with coverage, some face $150 copayments for refills.

    “Every visit it’s, ‘How long can we continue to do this? What’s the plan if I can’t continue?’” said Golden, an obesity medicine specialist in Watertown, Wisconsin. “Some of them are working additional jobs or delaying retirement so they can continue to pay for it.”

    ___

    AP Health Writer Matthew Perrone contributed to this report.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Joe Biden calls for Democratic momentum in Nebraska speech, urges party to ‘dream big’

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    Former President Joe Biden spoke to Nebraska Democrats on Friday evening.His appearance at the annual Ben Nelson Gala comes just days after nationwide elections. And, it was one of a handful of times we’ve heard from the former president since he left office and was undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer.On Friday, he addressed a crowd of several hundred in downtown Omaha with a message of momentum for the state of Nebraska.“Did you see the results Tuesday?” he asked, igniting another round of cheers as he listed Democratic victories from governorships in New Jersey and Virginia to the mayoral seat in New York to a redistricting decision in California, according to the Associated Press.It was a joyful return to the political stage for the former president, whose party’s effort to remain in the White House was rejected just over a year ago. Biden called for a political comeback, though not for himself, but to an audience hungry for a fight.”You have an election soon, an open seat right here in Omaha,” Biden said. “We can’t be afraid to dream big.”“You know what it feels like to be outnumbered,” he told Democrats in Nebraska, where Republicans have carried the state in every presidential election since 1968. “But every election, you put up the yard signs and you make your voices heard. The country needs you badly.”It was the kind of pep talk that sells in a place where Democrats lose statewide but have staged winning races for the Omaha area’s 2nd District electoral vote, elected a Democratic mayor for the first time since 2009 and feel energized about capturing the 2nd District seat in 2026.Biden’s speech centered around his time in office and the changes he said now hit American families during President Donald Trump’s term.He brought up the ongoing pause of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and the demolition of the East Wing.The major point from the former president centered around the future of his party.”The Democratic Party is back,” Biden said. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal. We’ve never lived up to it, but we’ve never walked away from it. And folks, we’re not going to walk away from it now. Tuesday night was a good start.”Biden was honored at the gala by four Native Nebraska tribes, draping a blanket quilt over his shoulders, which was then followed by a performance dedicated to the former president.Several other Democrats were at the gala, including Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr.__The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Former President Joe Biden spoke to Nebraska Democrats on Friday evening.

    His appearance at the annual Ben Nelson Gala comes just days after nationwide elections. And, it was one of a handful of times we’ve heard from the former president since he left office and was undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

    On Friday, he addressed a crowd of several hundred in downtown Omaha with a message of momentum for the state of Nebraska.

    “Did you see the results Tuesday?” he asked, igniting another round of cheers as he listed Democratic victories from governorships in New Jersey and Virginia to the mayoral seat in New York to a redistricting decision in California, according to the Associated Press.

    It was a joyful return to the political stage for the former president, whose party’s effort to remain in the White House was rejected just over a year ago. Biden called for a political comeback, though not for himself, but to an audience hungry for a fight.

    “You have an election soon, an open seat right here in Omaha,” Biden said. “We can’t be afraid to dream big.”

    “You know what it feels like to be outnumbered,” he told Democrats in Nebraska, where Republicans have carried the state in every presidential election since 1968. “But every election, you put up the yard signs and you make your voices heard. The country needs you badly.”

    It was the kind of pep talk that sells in a place where Democrats lose statewide but have staged winning races for the Omaha area’s 2nd District electoral vote, elected a Democratic mayor for the first time since 2009 and feel energized about capturing the 2nd District seat in 2026.

    Biden’s speech centered around his time in office and the changes he said now hit American families during President Donald Trump’s term.

    He brought up the ongoing pause of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and the demolition of the East Wing.

    The major point from the former president centered around the future of his party.

    “The Democratic Party is back,” Biden said. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal. We’ve never lived up to it, but we’ve never walked away from it. And folks, we’re not going to walk away from it now. Tuesday night was a good start.”

    Biden was honored at the gala by four Native Nebraska tribes, draping a blanket quilt over his shoulders, which was then followed by a performance dedicated to the former president.

    Several other Democrats were at the gala, including Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr.

    __
    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Crypto founder pardoned by Trump denies having ties to president’s family

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    The convicted founder of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, said he was “a little bit surprised” by President Donald Trump’s pardon of him on “Special Report” Friday.

    “We have never met,” former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao told “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier in an exclusive interview. “We have never talked.” 

    TRUMP CRYPTO CHIEF SAYS WE ARE IN THE ‘GOLDEN AGE’ FOR DIGITAL ASSETS, ‘CLEARING THE DECK’ OF BIDEN BARRIERS

    In 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to a money-laundering–related charge. He served a four-month prison sentence under the Biden administration. President Donald Trump pardoned him Oct. 21, according to the Department of Justice.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt touted Trump’s pardon as “officially end[ing] the Biden administration’s war on the cryptocurrency industry.”

    Changpeng Zhao, former CEO of Binance, speaks at the Delta Summit, Malta’s official Blockchain and Digital Innovation event promoting cryptocurrency, in St Julian’s, Malta, on Oct. 4, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi (Reuters)

    On Sunday, Trump said in a “60 Minutes” interview he does not know Zhao. 

    TRUMP TAUNTS ’60 MINUTES’ DURING INTERVIEW, SAYS SHOW PAID HIM ‘A LOT OF MONEY’

    The cryptocurrency founder similarly denied having ties to the Trump family, despite The Wall Street Journal attributing Zhao’s pardon to Binance’s alleged “deal” with the Trumps’ cryptocurrency project, World Liberty Financial.

    “That’s completely not accurate,” Zhao said on “Special Report.” “There’s no deal, there has never been any discussions. It’s as simple as that.”

    However, Zhao said he met American Bitcoin co-founder — and Trump’s son, Eric Trump — once at the Bitcoin MENA conference in Abu Dhabi. 

    Eric Trump speaks

    Eric Trump, co-founder and chief strategy officer of American Bitcoin Corp., during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, US, on Sept. 17, 2025.  (Kena Betancur/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Zhao called the WSJ’s reporting “categorically false,” denying any business relationships with Trump’s sons. 

    He also addressed why he pleaded guilty to a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, which included failure to properly implement an effective anti-money-laundering program. 

    “I think it’s the best way to confront the problem and solve it head-on,” he said, later adding: “I do not have anything to debate on the charges.” 

    TRUMP VOWS TO MAKE US ‘CRYPTO CAPITAL OF THE PLANET,’ SIGNS GENIUS ACT INTO LAW

    Zhao cited Trump’s GENIUS Act, which defined federal regulations for cryptocurrency, as a marker of the U.S. “leading” in crypto rules.

    Trump grins during a signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act

    President Donald Trump during a signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 18, 2025.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    “The more clarity we have in the industry, the better,” Zhao argued. 

     “I think in the last administration, even when I was charged and even when I pleaded guilty, there wasn’t any clear regulatory frameworks for crypto in the U.S., so I think now it’s getting much clearer, and U.S. is definitely leading,” he added.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    The Wall Street Journal responded to Zhao’s comments, telling “Special Report,” “We stand by our reporting.” Both Fox News and The Wall Street Journal are owned by News Corp. 

    Stephanie Samsel is a digital production assistant at Fox News Digital. She has previously written for Campus Reform and the Media Research Center, covering political bias in education and entertainment. Follow her on X @StephSamsel.

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  • IRS Direct File won’t be available next year. Here’s what that means for taxpayers

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — IRS Direct File, the electronic system for filing tax returns for free, will not be offered next year, the Trump administration has confirmed.

    An email sent Monday from IRS official Cynthia Noe to state comptrollers that participate in the Direct File program said that “IRS Direct File will not be available in Filing Season 2026. No launch date has been set for the future.”

    The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical. However, it faced criticism from Republican lawmakers, who called it a waste of taxpayer money because free filing programs already exist (though they are difficult to use), and from commercial tax preparation companies, which have made billions from charging people to use their software.

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is also the current IRS commissioner, told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that there are “better alternatives” to Direct File. “It wasn’t used very much,” he said. “And we think that the private sector can do a better job.”

    The Center for Taxpayer Rights filed a Freedom of Information Act request for IRS’ latest evaluation of the program and the report says 296,531 taxpayers submitted accepted returns for the 2025 tax season through Direct File. That’s up from the 140,803 submitted accepted returns in 2024.

    Direct File was rolled out as a pilot program in 2024 after the IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by Biden in 2022. The Democratic administration spent tens of millions of dollars developing the program.

    Last May, the agency under Biden announced that the program would be made permanent.

    But the IRS has faced intense blowback to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have spent millions lobbying Congress. The average American typically spends about $140 preparing returns each year.

    The program had been in limbo since the start of the Trump administration as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency slashed their way through the federal government. But The Associated Press reported in April that the administration planned to eliminate the program, with its future becoming clear after the IRS staff assigned to it were told to stop working on its development for the 2026 tax filing season.

    As of Wednesday, the Direct File website states that “Direct File is closed. More information will be available at a later date.”

    The Washington Post and NextGov first reported on the email to state comptrollers confirming the program would not be offered next year.

    Adam Ruben, a vice president at the liberal-leaning Economic Security Project, said “it’s not surprising” that the program was eliminated.

    “Trump’s billionaire friends get favors while honest, hardworking Americans will pay more to file their taxes,” he said.

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  • Commentary: Nancy Pelosi prided herself on cold calculation. She knew it was time

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    When Nancy Pelosi first ran for Congress, she was one of 14 candidates, the front-runner and a target.

    At the time, Pelosi was little known to San Francisco voters. But she was already a fixture in national politics. She was a major Democratic fundraiser, who helped lure the party’s 1984 national convention to her adopted home town. She served as head of California’s Democratic Party and hosted a salon that was a must-stop for any politician passing through.

    She was the chosen successor of Rep. Sala Burton, a short-timer who took over the House seat held for decades by her late husband, Philip, and who delivered a personal benediction from her deathbed.

    But at age 49, Pelosi had never held public office — she was too busy raising five kids, on top of all that political moving and shaking — and opponents made light of role as hostess. “The party girl for the party,” they dubbed her, a taunt that blared from billboards around town.

    She obviously showed them.

    Pelosi not only made history, becoming the nation’s first female speaker of the House. She became the party’s spine and its sinew, holding together the Democrat’s many warring factions and standing firm at times the more timorous were prepared to back down.

    The Affordable Care Act — President Obama’s signature achievement — would never have passed if Pelosi had not insisted on pressing on when many, including some in the White House, wished to surrender.

    She played a significant role in twice helping rescue the country from economic collapse — the first time in 2009 amid the Great Recession, then in 2020 during the shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — mustering recalcitrant Democrats to ensure House passage.

    “She will go down in history as one of the most important speakers,” James Thurber, a congressional expert at Washington’s American University, said. “She knew the rules, she knew the process, she knew the personalities of the key players, and she knew how to work the system.”

    Pelosi’s announcement Thursday that she will not seek reelection — at age 85, after 38 years in Congress — came as no surprise. She saw firsthand the ravages that consumed her friend and former neighbor, Dianne Feinstein. (Pelosi’s eldest daughter, Nancy, was a last caretaker for the late senator.)

    She was not about to repeat that final, sad act.

    Pelosi, who was first elected in 1987, once said she never expected to serve in Congress more than 10 years. She recalled seeing a geriatric House member hobbling on a cane and telling a colleague, “It’s never going to be me. I’m not staying around that long.”

    (She never used a cane, but did give up her trademark stiletto heels for a time after suffering a fall last December and undergoing hip replacement surgery.)

    Pelosi had intended to retire sooner, anticipating Hillary Clinton would be elected president in 2016 and seeing that as a logical, and fitting, end point to her trailblazing political career. “I have things to do. Books to write; places to go; grandchildren, first and foremost, to love,” she said in a 2018 interview.

    However, she was determined to stymie President Trump in his first term and stuck around, emerging as one of his chief nemeses. After Joe Biden was elected, Pelosi finally yielded the speaker’s gavel in November 2022.

    But she remained a substantive figure, still wielding enormous power behind the scenes. Among other quiet maneuvers, she was instrumental in helping ease aside Biden after his disastrous debate performance sent Democrats into a panic. He was a personal friend, and long-ago guest at her political salon, but Pelosi anticipated a down-ticket disaster if Biden remained the party’s nominee. So, in her estimation, he had to go.

    It was the kind of ruthlessness that gave Pelosi great pride; she boasted of a reptilian cold-bloodedness and, indeed, though she shared the liberal leanings of her hometown, Pelosi was no ideologue. That’s what made her a superb deal-maker and legislative tactician, along with the personal touch she brought to her leadership.

    “She had a will of steel, but she also had a lot of grace and warmth,” said Thurber, “and that’s not always the case with speakers.”

    History-making aside, Pelosi left an enduring mark on San Francisco, the place she moved to from Baltimore as a young mother with her husband, Paul, a financier and real estate investor. She brought home billions of dollars for earthquake safety, re-purposing old military facilities — the former Presidio Army base is a spectacular park — funding AIDS research and treatment, expanding public transit and countless other programs.

    Her work in the 1980s and 1990s on AIDS funding was crucial in helping move discussion of the disease from the shadows — where it was viewed as a plague that mainly struck gay men and drug users — to a pressing national concern.

    In the process, she become a San Francisco institution, as venerated as the Golden Gate Bridge and beloved as the city’s tangy sourdough bread.

    “She’s an icon,” said Aaron Peskin, a former San Francisco County supervisor and 2024 candidate for mayor. “She walks into a room, people left, right and center, old, young, white, Black, Chinese stand on their feet. She’s one of the greatest speakers we have ever had and this town understands that.”

    Pelosi grew up in Baltimore in a political family. He father, Tommy D’Alesandro, was a Democratic New Deal congressman, who went on to serve three terms as mayor. “Little Nancy” stuffed envelopes — as her own children would — passed out ballots and often traveled by her father’s side to campaign events. (D’Alesandro went on to serve three terms as mayor; Pelosi’s brother, Tommy III, held the job for a single term.)

    David Axelrod, who saw Pelosi up close while serving as a top aide in the Obama White House, said he once asked her what she learned growing up in such a political household. “She didn’t skip a beat,” Axelrod said. “She said, ‘I learned how to count.’ ”

    Meaning when to call the roll on a key legislative vote and when to cut her losses in the face of inevitable defeat.

    Pelosi is still so popular in San Francisco she could well have eked out yet another reelection victory in 2026, despite facing the first serious challenge since that first run for Congress. But the campaign would have been brutal and potentially quite ugly.

    More than just about anyone, Pelosi knows how to read a political situation with dispassion, detachment and cold-eyed calculation.

    She knew it was time.

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    Mark Z. Barabak

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  • Microsoft to ship 60,000 Nvidia AI chips to UAE under US-approved deal

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Microsoft said Monday it will be shipping Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence chips to the United Arab Emirates as part of a deal approved by the U.S. Commerce Department.

    The Redmond, Washington software giant said licenses approved in September under “stringent” safeguards enable it to ship more than 60,000 Nvidia chips, including the California chipmaker’s advanced GB300 Grace Blackwell chips, for use in data centers in the Middle Eastern country.

    The agreement appeared to contradict President Donald Trump’s remarks in a “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday that such chips would not be exported outside the U.S.

    Asked by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell if he will allow Nvidia to sell its most advanced chips to China, Trump said he wouldn’t.

    “We will let them deal with Nvidia but not in terms of the most advanced,” Trump said. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States.”

    The UAE’s ability to access chips is tied to its pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in U.S. energy and AI-related projects, an outsized sum given its annual GDP is roughly $540 billion.

    The UAE ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Al Otaiba, said in a statement earlier this year that the arrangement was “setting a new ‘Gold Standard’ for securing AI models, chips, data and access.”

    Microsoft’s announcement Monday was part of the company’s planned $15.2 billion investment in technology in the UAE, which is says has some of the highest per-capita usage of AI. Microsoft had already accumulated in the UAE more than 21,000 of Nvidia’s graphics processor chips, known as GPUs, through licenses approved under then-President Joe Biden.

    “We’re using these GPUs to provide access to advanced AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source providers, and Microsoft itself,” said a company statement.

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  • How Americans are feeling about their chances on the job market, according to an AP-NORC poll

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are growing increasingly concerned about their ability to find a good job under President Donald Trump, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds, in what is a potential warning sign for Republicans as a promised economic boom has given way to hiring freezes and elevated inflation.

    High prices for groceries, housing and health care persist as a fear for many households, while rising electricity bills and the cost of gas at the pump are also sources of anxiety, according to the survey.

    Some 47% of U.S. adults are “not very” or “not at all confident” they could find a good job if they wanted to, an increase from 37% when the question was last asked in October 2023.

    Electricity bills are a “major” source of stress for 36% of U.S. adults at a time when the expected build-out of data centers for artificial intelligence could further tax the power grid. Just more than one-half said the cost of groceries are a “major” source of financial stress, about 4 in 10 said the cost of housing and health care were a serious strain and about one-third said they were feeling high stress about gasoline prices.

    The survey suggests an ongoing vulnerability for Trump, who returned to the White House in January with claims he could quickly tame the inflation that surged after the pandemic during Democratic President Joe Biden’s term. Instead, Trump’s popularity on the economy has remained low amid a mix of tariffs, federal worker layoffs and partisan sniping that has culminated in a government shutdown.

    Linda Weavil, 76, voted for Trump last year because he “seems like a smart businessman.” But she said in an interview that the Republican’s tariffs have worsened inflation, citing the chocolate-covered pecans sold for her church group fundraiser that now cost more.

    “I think he’s doing a great job on a lot of things, but I’m afraid our coffee and chocolate prices have gone up because of tariffs,” the retiree from Greensboro, North Carolina, said. “That’s a kick in the back of the American people.”

    Ioan Barsan a recruiter with the Miami Dade School Police Dept. talks to a a job seeker during a job fair Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

    Voters changed presidents, but they’re not feeling better about Trump’s economy

    The poll found that 36% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling the economy, a figure that has held steady this year after he imposed tariffs that caused broad economic uncertainty. Among Republicans, 71% feel positive about his economic leadership. Yet that approval within Trump’s own party is relatively low in ways that could be problematic for Republicans in next month’s races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and perhaps even in the 2026 midterm elections.

    At roughly the same point in Biden’s term, in October 2021, an AP-NORC poll found that 41% of U.S. adults approved of how he was handling the economy, including about 73% of Democrats. That overall number was a little higher than Trump’s, primarily because of independents — 29% approved of how Biden was handling the economy, compared with the 18% who currently support Trump’s approach.

    The job market was meaningfully stronger in terms of hiring during Biden’s presidency as the United States was recovering from pandemic-related lockdowns. But hiring has slowed sharply under Trump with monthly job gains averaging less than 27,000 after the April tariff announcements.

    People see that difference.

    Four years ago, 36% of those in the survey were “extremely” or “very” confident in their ability to get a good job, but that has fallen to 21% now.

    Biden’s approval on the economy steadily deteriorated through the middle of 2022 when inflation hit a four-decade high, creating an opening for Trump’s political comeback.

    President Donald Trump walks with Air Force Col. Christopher M. Robinson, Commander of the 89th Airlift Wing, from Marine One to board Air Force One, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., for a trip to Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

    President Donald Trump walks with Air Force Col. Christopher M. Robinson, Commander of the 89th Airlift Wing, from Marine One to board Air Force One, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., for a trip to Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

    Electricity costs are an emerging worry

    In some ways, Trump has made the inflation problems harder by choosing to cancel funding for renewable energy projects and imposing tariffs on the equipment needed for factories and power plants. Those added costs are coming before the anticipated construction of data centers for AI that could further push up prices without more construction.

    Even though 36% see electricity as a major concern, there are some who have yet to feel a serious financial squeeze. In the survey, 40% identified electricity costs as a “minor” stress, while 23% said their utility bills are “not a source” of stress.

    Kevin Halsey, 58, of Normal, Illinois, said his monthly electricity bills used to be $90 during the summer because he had solar panels, but have since jumped to $300. Halsey, who works in telecommunications, voted Democratic in last year’s presidential election and described the economy right now as “crap.”

    “I’ve got to be pessimistic,” he said. “I don’t see this as getting better.”

    At a fundamental level, Trump finds himself in the same economic dilemma that bedeviled Biden. There are signs the economy remains relatively solid with a low unemployment rate, stock market gains and decent economic growth, yet the public continues to be skeptical about the economy’s health.

    Some 68% of U.S. adults describe the U.S. economy these days as “poor,” while 32% say it’s “good.” That’s largely consistent with assessments of the economy over the past year.

    In addition, 59%, say their family finances are “holding steady.” But only 12% say they’re “getting ahead,” and 28% say they are “falling behind.”

    People see plenty of expenses but few opportunities

    The sense of economic precarity is coming from many different directions, with indications that many think middle-class stability is falling out of reach.

    The vast majority of U.S. adults feel at least “minor” stress about the cost of groceries, health care, housing, the amount they pay in taxes, what they are paid at work and the cost of gas for their cars.

    In the survey, 47%, say they are “not very” or “not at all” confident they could pay an unexpected medical expense while 52% have low confidence they will have enough saved for their retirement. Also, 63%, are “not very” or “not at all” confident they could buy a new home if they wanted to.

    Young adults are much less confident about their ability to buy a house, though confidence is not especially high across the board. About 8 in 10 U.S. adults under age 30 say they are “not very confident” or “not at all confident” they would be able to buy a house, compared with about 6 in 10 adults 60 and older.

    For 54% of U.S. adults, the cost of groceries is a “major source” of stress in their life right now.

    Unique Hopkins, 36, of Youngstown, Ohio, said she is now working two jobs after her teenage daughter had a baby, leaving Hopkins with a sense that she can barely tread water as part of the “working poor.” She voted for Trump in 2016, only to switch to Democrats after she felt his ego kept him from uniting the country and solving problems.

    “It’s his way or no way,” she said. “Nobody is going to unite with Trump if it’s all about you, you, you.”

    ___

    The AP-NORC poll of 1,289 adults was conducted Oct. 9-13, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to reflect that the name of the NORC Center is NORC Center for Public Research, not Public Affairs.

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  • China says it will work with US to resolve issues related to TikTok

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    President Donald Trump’s meeting Thursday with China’s top leader Xi Jinping produced a raft of decisions to help dial back trade tensions, but no agreement on TikTok’s ownership.

    “China will work with the U.S. to properly resolve issues related to TikTok,” China’s Commerce Ministry said after the meeting.

    It gave no details on any progress toward ending uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the U.S.

    The Trump administration had been signaling that it may have finally reached a deal with Beijing to keep TikTok running in the U.S.

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the two leaders will “consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea.”

    Wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner to replace China’s ByteDance. The platform went dark briefly on a January deadline but on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration tries to reach an agreement for the sale of the company.

    Three more executive orders followed, as Trump, without a clear legal basis, extended deadlines for a TikTok deal. The second was in April, when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership. That fell apart when China backed out after Trump announced sharply higher tariffs on Chinese products. Deadlines in June and September passed, with Trump saying he would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns.

    Trump’s order was meant to enable an American-led group of investors to buy the app from China’s ByteDance, though the deal also requires China’s approval.

    Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.


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    However, TikTok deal is “not really a big thing for Xi Jinping,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, during a media briefing Tuesday. “(China is) happy to let (Trump) declare that they have finally kept a deal. Whether or not that deal will protect the data of Americans is a big question going forward.”

    “A big question mark for the United States, of course, is whether this is consistent with U.S. law since there was a law passed by Congress,” Glaser said.

    About 43% of U.S. adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app, including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published in September.

    A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about one-third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, down from 50% in March 2023. Roughly one-third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they weren’t sure.

    Among those who said they supported banning the social media platform, about 8 in 10 cited concerns over users’ data security being at risk as a major factor in their decision, according to the report.

    The security debate centers on the TikTok recommendation algorithm — which has steered millions of users into an endless stream of video shorts. China has said the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But a U.S. regulation that Congress passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok would require the platform to cut ties with ByteDance.

    American officials have warned the algorithm — a complex system of rules and calculations that platforms use to deliver personalized content — is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, but no evidence has been presented by U.S. officials proving that China has attempted to do so.

    ___

    Associated Press Writer Fu Ting contributed to this story from Washington.

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