TIM SCOTT

When Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina launched his campaign for the White House, the notoriously prickly former President Donald Trump welcomed his new competitor with open arms.

Race has emerged as a central issue, and a delicate one, in the 2024 presidential contest as the Republican Party fields one of its most racially diverse group of primary candidates ever.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Wednesday pledged to sign a federal ban on abortion but again did not set down a marker for what timeline such a proposal should encompass.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to launch his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday.

More politicians are jumping into the race for president. Republican Tim Scott announced his presidential run Monday. He's one of six republican candidates whose campaigns have raised over $1 million each.

As Sen. Tim Scott enters the 2024 GOP presidential field, he will be eager to introduce himself to voters who might not know much about him.

Mutual supporters of Sen. Tim Scott and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are in a conundrum now that the two South Carolina natives are both candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is set to announce his bid for president.

South Carolina Republicans have selected Drew McKissick as their chairman for a fourth term at a convention where some of the party’s 2024 presidential hopefuls made pitches to voters in the first-in-the-South primary state.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina plans to begin airing ads in Iowa and New Hampshire early next week as he prepares for an expected 2024 Republican presidential campaign.

Sen. Tim Scott says he’s nearly ready to reveal his decision on entering the 2024 presidential race.

Asa Hutchinson has formally launched his Republican campaign for president in his hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Many loyal Republicans in the state that kicks off the presidential nominating season insist they’re open to White House hopefuls other than Donald Trump.

Donald Trump, stinging from a rebuke by the nation’s leading anti-abortion group, used a speech Saturday before influential evangelicals in Iowa to spotlight his actions as president to try to restrict abortion rights.

A second wave of Republican candidates is preparing to enter the presidential race later this spring following a monthslong lull as the GOP field finally takes shape.

As the 2024 Republican field begins to take shape, the potential of a faceoff between Nikki Haley and Tim Scott is putting some of their mutual supporters in the critical early voting state of South Carolina in a conundrum as they weigh which candidate to support.

Long before ballots are tallied and reliable polls are conducted, one of the earliest ways to gauge the popularity of presidential candidates is with dollars.

President Joe Biden’s next pick to lead the Council of Economic Advisers is bracing for a barrage of political attacks centered on how the White House has tackled inflation.

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina says he'd support a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

An exploratory committee, like the one launched Wednesday by GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, allows a potential candidate to start raising money without officially becoming a candidate.

When Republicans eyeing the White House visit Iowa, they will navigate an evangelical community that is faithful to Donald Trump.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina says conservatives are “starved for hope,” as he tries to present a more positive vision for the future than his potential rivals for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

At this point during the last presidential election in 2020, more than 15 Democrats had jumped into their party’s open presidential race.

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is inching ever closer to a presidential bid in 2024, scheduling his latest swing through early-voting states before returning to home afterward to give a “political update” to donors.

Leading Republicans took veiled jabs at Donald Trump at an annual gathering of conservatives as they urged a party course correction ahead of the 2024 presidential contest.

Since launching her 2024 presidential bid, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley hasn't revealed how much money her campaign has taken in.

As Sen_ Tim Scott weighs a potential 2024 presidential candidacy, the South Carolina Republican was in Iowa on Wednesday delivering a message of “a new American sunrise.”.

After a slow start, Republican presidential prospects are streaming into Iowa, the leadoff presidential caucus state.

In 2020, Joe Biden built his White House run around promises to beat Donald Trump “like a drum.”.

Few have navigated the turbulent politics of the Trump era like Nikki Haley.

Two major conservative groups have signaled they are open to supporting someone other than Donald Trump in the 2024 race for the White House.

The release of footage showing Memphis, Tennessee, police officers violently beating Tyre Nichols has renewed calls for Congress to pass police reform legislation.

The presidential campaign landscape in Iowa is markedly different this year compared with four years ago.

Raphael Warnock is the first Black U.S. senator from Georgia, having broken the color barrier with a special election victory in January 2021.

Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting two historically Black colleges in South Carolina to push for voter registration.

The South Carolina Democrat vying to oust Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott is facing calls from within her own party to fold her campaign, following the publication of additional leaked audio in which she appears to make disparaging remarks about her constituents.

The first steps toward change at CNN have been slow and incremental — at least until the network cancelled its long-running media criticism show ‘Reliable Sources’ and cut loose its host, Brian Stelter.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of South Carolina jurist Michelle Childs to sit on the federal court typically seen as a proving ground for the nation’s highest bench.

As Donald Trump considers another White House run, polls show he's the most popular figure in the Republican Party.

Seven states are set to host primary elections Tuesday as the nation comes to terms with last week’s stunning Supreme Court ruling eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion.

The House has sent President Joe Biden the most wide-ranging gun violence bill Congress has passed in decades.

At least a half-dozen GOP presidential prospects are planning Iowa visits this summer now that the state's June primary has come and gone.

Former President Donald Trump is lashing out at the the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection as he continues to tease his plans for a third presidential run.

Donald Trump has notched a significant victory in South Carolina, where his preferred candidate made five-term Rep. Tom Rice the first Republican to be booted from office after voting to impeach the former president last year.

Georgia still struggles with its history of slavery, segregation and racial injustice, but voters in the Deep South state have for the first time selected two Black candidates to represent the major parties in a U.S. Senate race.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s appearance before a Senate committee took an unexpected and tense detour into the abortion debate Tuesday when senators questioned her about the potential impact of an abortion ban on the American economy.

The whispers and chatter about top contenders for the Supreme Court are growing as President Joe Biden zeroes in on a nominee to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.

President Joe Biden first zeroed in on a pair of finalists for his first U.S. Supreme Court pick when there were rumors last year that Justice Stephen Breyer would retire.

President Joe Biden had Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over to the White House on Wednesday to talk about how to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court.

The White House says President Joe Biden will meet with Senate Judiciary Committee leaders on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court vacancy and the president’s promise to nominate a Black woman to the high court.

At Joe Biden’s lowest moment in the 2020 campaign, influential Rep. Jim Clyburn suggested that Biden should pledge to put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

Sen. Tim Scott has a memoir out this summer that he says will explain the two words that have shaped his life: hope and redemption.

The U.S. Senate’s only Black Republican is putting forth what he characterizes as a positive response to partisan rhetoric on race that he’s best-positioned to rebut.

This time last year, the Republican Party was hitting bottom.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rice says that he hopes his vote this year to impeach President Donald Trump won’t be enough to overshadow his other accomplishments as he seeks a sixth term.

A group intent on expanding Republican power across state-level offices is rolling out a national effort to diversify and broaden the GOP, with an advisory council headed up by a number of possible future presidential hopefuls.

A leading Democratic senator says bipartisan congressional talks on overhauling policing practices have ended without agreement.

Senate negotiators say bipartisan congressional talks on overhauling policing practices have ended without agreement.

Prospects seem increasingly dicey for a bipartisan Senate deal on overhauling policing practices.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to keynote the signature fundraiser for the Republican Party in South Carolina.

Congressional bargainers say they’ve agreed to a bipartisan framework for overhauling policing procedures.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says congressional Democrats’ efforts to make it easier to sue police officers are causing law enforcement agencies to have problems recruiting and retaining personnel.

Republicans say they want congressional bargainers to reach a bipartisan deal on revamping policing procedures by summer or abandon the effort.

President Joe Biden met with the family of George Floyd at the White House Tuesday on the one-year anniversary of Floyd's death.

As the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder approaches, some people say the best way to honor him is for Congress to pass a bill in his name that overhauls policing.

President Joe Biden laid out a long list of policy priorities in his speech to Congress, and some are more politically plausible than others.

The family and representatives of Black men killed by the police have met at the White House with senators and Biden administration officials and say they left feeling optimistic.

President Joe Biden laid out a long list of policy priorities in his speech to Congress, and some are more politically plausible than others.

President Joe Biden has taken his pitch to Georgia for $4 trillion in spending to rebuild America’s aged infrastructure and vastly expand the government social safety net.

President Joe Biden has used his first address before a joint session of Congress to make the case that his administration has made progress during the first 100 days he’s been in office, confronting the public health and economic maelstrom caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Republican Sen_ Tim Scott is accusing Democrats of tearing the country apart and suggesting they’re wielding race as “a political weapon.”.

South Carolina Sen_ Tim Scott has used the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s address to Congress to vow that “America is not a racist country.”.

Tim Scott of South Carolina is the only Black Republican senator.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina will deliver Republicans’ rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s joint address to Congress.

Lawmakers from both parties say once-stalled legislation on Capitol Hill that would change the nation's policing laws is now closer than ever to consensus.

Bolstered with new momentum, Congress is ready to try again to change the nation’s policing laws.

President Joe Biden says the conviction of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd “can be a giant step forward” for the nation in the fight against systemic racism.

Crowds nationwide are reacting with jubilation but also with deep awareness of the progress left to be made after a jury convicted former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin of murder in the killing of George Floyd.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday defended the central bank’s increasing scrutiny of the impact climate change could have on banks, in the wake of criticism by Republican members of Congress that by doing so the Fed is overstepping its mandate.

A Democratic state lawmaker is mounting a bid to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the West Side Conservative Club, Friday, March 26, 2021, in Urbandale, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)DES MOINES, Iowa – Ambitious Republicans are starting to make moves in Iowa, long a proving ground for future presidents. Pompeo's two-day Iowa trip leads an exceptionally early round of Iowa travel planned by U.S. senators, emerging as national GOP figures. Ecklund, Crawford County Republicans' communication director, has encountered Republicans “ready to move on” and “tired of the extreme controversy” in a county Trump carried by more than 30 percentage points twice. ___This story has been corrected to show Ecklund is the Crawford County Republicans' communication director, not Crawford County Republicans' co-chair.

Nursing homes have to publicly disclose their vaccination rates for flu and pneumonia, but theres no similar mandate for COVID-19 shots. Nursing homes have been required since last May to regularly report cases and deaths among residents and staff to the government. Nursing homes are again allowing loved ones to visit, and hugs are included. The main nursing home industry trade group, the American Health Care Association, says it supports disclosure of vaccination data. Wyden and Crapo said current government policy that encourages nursing homes to voluntarily report vaccination data to the government has only led to “limited participation by the industry.”The government should require nursing homes to break down vaccination data by race and ethnicity, given disparities in vaccine acceptance.

FILE - In this Monday, June 25, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Airport High School in West Columbia, S.C. for Republican Gov. Former President Donald Trump on Friday, March 5, 2021 endorsed South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster's bid for a second full term in 2022, continuing their yearslong alliance in a move to strengthen ties with the early-voting state that Trump won twice. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)COLUMBIA, S.C. – Former President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed South Carolina Gov. That summer, McMaster was one of two speakers to formally nominate Trump at the Republican National Convention.

Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – House Democrats passed the most ambitious effort in decades to overhaul policing nationwide, avoiding a potential clash with moderates in their own party who were wary of reigniting the “defund the police” debate they say hurt them during last fall's election. Approved 220-212 late Wednesday, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is named for the man whose killing by police in Minnesota last Memorial Day sparked demonstrations nationwide. “We want to feel safe when we encounter law enforcement. “Our law enforcement officers need more funding not less,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis. Another possible point of contention is provisions easing standards for prosecution of law enforcement officers accused of wrongdoing.

House Democrats are hustling to pass the most ambitious effort in decades to overhaul policing. The bill would ban chokeholds and “qualified immunity” for law enforcement and create national standards for policing in a bid to bolster accountability. “Our law enforcement officers need more funding not less,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said during Wednesday's debate. AdPolice unions and other law enforcement groups have argued that, without such legal protections, fear of lawsuits will stop people from becoming police officers — even though the measure permits such suits only against law enforcement agencies, rather than all public employees. California Rep. Karen Bass, who authored the bill, understands the challenge some House members face in supporting it.

“I feel like we've significantly made our city better; now, it's time to pass the baton.”Benjamin was elected in 2010 as Columbia's first Black mayor. As for higher office, Benjamin — South Carolina’s 2002 Democratic attorney general nominee, beaten in that contest by now-Gov. AdAs was witnessed in Jaime Harrison's unsuccessful 2020 challenge of Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Democratic challenger winning a statewide office in South Carolina — where all such offices are in GOP hands — remains an uphill climb. When asked if that had factored into his decision-making, Benjamin said the outcome had no effect on his ultimate decision. Even out of elected office, Benjamin will likely continue to play an outsized role in the Democratic politics of South Carolina, particularly in the state's first-in-the-South presidential primary.

Biden is expected to address the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that calls on political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning. The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year's installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Ad“For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time,” Biden told those watching the event. During the 2020 breakfast, Trump singled out Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had voted to convict the president during his first impeachment trial. The event went entirely virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with Biden and all other speakers appearing via taped remarks.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference on the day after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. “It has been an epiphany for the world to see that there are people in our country led by this president, for the moment, who have chosen their whiteness over democracy,” Pelosi said. Pelosi says, “The complicity, not only the complicity, the instigation of the president of United States, must and will be addressed.”___1:25 p.m. Flight attendants have expressed concern that their flights could be carrying supporters of President Donald Trump who took part in Wednesday’s violent protest and siege of the U.S. Capitol. ___2:25 a.m.Democrats in Congress are laying the groundwork to impeach President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, hallowed spaces of American democracy, one after another, yielded to the occupation of Congress. There was a heavy police presence at the Capitol on Thursday morning, including officers from D.C., Maryland and Virginia and the D.C. National Guard. Trump told his morning crowd at the Ellipse that he would go with them to the Capitol, but he didn’t. Video footage also showed officers letting people calmly walk out the doors of the Capitol despite the rioting and vandalism. Shortly after being told to put on gas masks, most members were quickly escorted out of the chamber.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., stops to look at damage in the early morning hours of Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, after protesters stormed the Capitol in Washington, on Wednesday. ”Make no mistake: these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior. Both law enforcement and Trump supporters deployed chemical irritants during the hourslong occupation of the complex before it was cleared Wednesday evening. D.C. police said Thursday that 68 people were arrested, while Capitol police said 14 were arrested, most for unlawful entry. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a former police chief, said it was “painfully obvious" that Capitol police “were not prepared” for what took place Wednesday.

(Samuel Corum/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – Wednesday's congressional joint session to count electoral votes could drag late into the night as some Republicans plan to challenge Democrat Joe Biden's victory in at least six states. Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count the electoral votes. The presiding officer opens and presents the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order of the states. If they do not both agree, the original electoral votes are counted with no changes.

Some Republican lawmakers were in the midst of raising objections to the results on his behalf when the proceedings were abruptly halted by the mob. Together, the protests and the GOP election objections amounted to an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have coursed through the country during Trump’s four years in office. Before dawn Thursday, lawmakers completed their work, confirming Biden won the presidential election. In the aftermath, several Republicans announced they would drop their objections to the election, including Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., who lost her bid for reelection Tuesday. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices.

NEW YORK – The Republican Party is facing a defining moment. But what comes next for the Republican Party is anything but clear. Trump’s hold over his adopted party has been all but absolute in his time in office. If he does, the Republican Party could continue to shape itself in his image. “I believe he will have as much hold over the party as he wants to,” said Alice Stewart, a Republican strategist who advised Cruz's 2016 campaign.

Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count the electoral votes. The presiding officer opens and presents the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order of the states. The appointed "tellers" from the House and Senate, members of both parties, then read each certificate out loud and record and count the votes. If they do not both agree, the original electoral votes are counted with no changes.

On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, President Donald Trump pardoned 15 people, including Collins. Papadopoulos was the first Trump aide to plead guilty as part of Mueller’s investigation – pleading guilty to lying to the FBI – and served a nearly two-week sentence in federal prison. The White House said Stockman had contracted coronavirus while in federal prison and has served more than two years of his 10-year sentence. Esformes’ prison sentence was commuted by the president on Tuesday, but other aspects of his sentence, including supervised release and millions in restitution, remained intact. The White House said the commutation was supported by a number of former attorneys general and said Esformes is in declining health.

Gavin Newsom speaks at a COVID-19 testing facility in Valencia, Calif. As California Gov. Gavin Newsom's shoulders as he considers his pick to serve out the rest of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' Senate term through 2022. The South saw its highest number of Black Senate candidates ever this year, but none won races outright. Labor icon Dolores Huerta and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice want Newsom to appoint a Black woman. De Leon won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party and prominent labor unions, in part because of his support for immigrant rights and aggressive policies to curb climate change.

WASHINGTON – When a party loses the White House, a new crop of presidential hopefuls typically begin moving quickly to lay the groundwork for a run in the next campaign. President Donald Trump's increasingly overt flirtations with running again in 2024 are freezing the potentially vast field of Republican candidates. GOP White House hopefuls are essentially left to watch what Trump does next instead of courting fundraisers, building networks and visiting early-voting states — the usual campaign planning steps — for fear of angering Trump and risking turning off his large and loyal base. That followed comments during a White House Christmas party this past week when Trump said, "We’re trying to do another four years. His supporters argue that if Trump did run, Hogan would enjoy a near-open lane unlike the one crowded with Trump defenders.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison speaks at a campaign rally on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)COLUMBIA, S.C. – In the battle for control of the U.S. Senate this year, the Deep South is fielding more Black candidates than it has since Reconstruction. Mike Espy and Adrian Perkins, meanwhile, are launching spirited bids for the Senate in Mississippi and Louisiana, respectively. The Senate currently has three Black members: Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina and Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California. “The more competitive races are, and Black candidates win those competitive races, it diminishes this worry that Black candidates can’t win,” Abrams recently told The Associated Press. In Mississippi, Espy is trying for a second time to become the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction with his challenge to Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Less than 12 hours after the wild debate concluded, Biden called Trump's behavior in the prime-time confrontation a “a national embarrassment." Trump proclaimed his debate performance a smashing success during a Wednesday evening rally in Duluth, Minnesota. I’m going to be an American president," Biden said at the Cleveland train station. While some Republicans feared that Trump's debate performance was too aggressive, he gave himself high marks as he left Washington. He had spent much of the day assailing Biden and debate moderator Chris Wallace on social media.

Trump's exchange with Democrat Joe Biden left the extremist group Proud Boys celebrating what some of its members saw as tacit approval. “I don’t know who Proud Boys are. When pushed by Wallace, Trump asked for the name of a group to condemn — and Biden suggested Proud Boys. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump said. Proud Boys members are ardent Trump supporters known for their violent confrontations with antifascists and other ideological opponents at protests, often drawing the largest crowds in the Pacific Northwest.