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Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Gaetz pick shows value Trump places on loyalty — and retribution — as he returns to Washington
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has had few defenders in Congress as reliable as Matt Gaetz, who has thundered at one prosecutor after another for perceived bias against the president-elect and emphatically amplified the Republican’s rallying cry that the criminal investigations into him are “witch hunts.” That kinship was rewarded Wednesday...
Republicans win 218 U.S. House seats, giving Donald Trump and the party control of government
WASHINGTON — Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump. A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories...
Prosecutor failed to show that Elon Musk’s $1M-a-day sweepstakes was an illegal lottery, judge says
PHILADELPHIA — The $1 million voter sweepstakes linked to billionaire Elon Musk was allowed to continue through Election Day because Philadelphia’s top prosecutor failed to show that it was an illegal lottery, a judge said in a new opinion. District Attorney Larry Krasner had filed suit last month to try...
Casey-McCormick race heads to automatic recount
Pennsylvania’s hard-fought U.S. Senate race is being extended potentially another two weeks. With the contest between Democratic incumbent Bob Casey and Republican businessman Dave McCormick within 0.5 percentage point, the race is legally required to go to automatic recount under Pennsylvania law, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced Wednesday....
Trump makes a victor’s return to Washington and pledges a smooth transition of power 
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump made a victor’s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a nearly two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power as the president-elect moves quickly to build out his new administration. Sitting in front of a crackling...
Trump’s defense choice stuns the Pentagon and raises questions about the Fox News host’s experience
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military. The news was met...
GOP asks Pa. Supreme Court to reject mail-in ballots with handwritten date errors
The Republican Party is calling on the state Supreme Court to discount mail-in ballots that arrive on time but lack written dates. On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Pennsylvania filed a petition asking the court to reverse a decision last month by the state’s Commonwealth Court....
Provisional ballot challenges heard in Westmoreland County
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg students Sadiki Raessa and Brionna Woodson were anxious to cast their first votes in a presidential election. Raessa, 22, of Lancaster and Woodson, 21, of Philadelphia learned Tuesday their votes will not count. Both were among the 39 voters whose provisional ballots were rejected by...
Trump spends 1st week as president-elect behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago
WASHINGTON — For a man who loves the spotlight, Donald Trump has been conspicuously out of view since his triumph in last week’s presidential election. There have been no rallies, no press conferences, no speeches. Instead, Trump has spent most of his first week as president-elect behind closed doors at...
Trump has promised to ‘save TikTok’; what happens next is less clear
After a tumultuous year filled with anxiety and a legal battle about its future in the U.S., TikTok may have just been thrown a lifeline by the man who was once its biggest foe: Donald Trump. President-elect Trump, who tried to ban the social media platform the last time he...
Schumer invites McCormick to Senate orientation
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has reversed course and invited Pennsylvania Republican Dave McCormick to the chamber’s orientation for new senators following an initial snub because of uncounted ballots in McCormick’s race. McCormick was declared the winner Friday by The Associated Press in an upset victory, but Democratic incumbent...
Biden funded new factories and infrastructure projects, but Trump might get to cut the ribbons
WASHINGTON — All that’s left is for President-elect Donald Trump to put his name on it — if he wants. Trump won the White House in large part because of voters’ frustration with high prices and a sense that the United States needs major changes. But when he enters office...
A pair of Trump officials have defended family separation and ramped-up deportations
SAN DIEGO — Donald Trump’s first picks for immigration policy jobs spent the last four years angling for this moment. Stephen Miller and Thomas Homan had critical roles in the first Trump administration and are unapologetic defenders of its policies, which included separating thousands of parents from their children at...
Democrat Ruben Gallego wins Arizona U.S. Senate race against Republican Kari Lake
PHOENIX — Democrat Ruben Gallego has been elected Arizona’s first Latino U.S. senator, defeating Republican Kari Lake and preventing Republicans from further padding their Senate majority. Gallego’s victory continues a string of Democratic successes in a state that was reliably Republican until Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. Arizona...
McCormick to go to Washington for Senate orientation over Schumer objections
Republican Dave McCormick said Monday he is off to Washington, D.C. for freshman orientation at the U.S. Senate, even as the chamber’s Democratic leaders are withholding an invitation while waiting for the remaining votes to be counted in Pennsylvania. The Associated Press Friday declared McCormick the winner in an upset...
How did Pa. Dems keep the state House during a red wave? Meet Frank Burns
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania House Democrats have clung to their one-vote majority despite a statewide wave of GOP wins that...
Trump names Lee Zeldin to lead EPA, Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday named former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as he continues to build out his future administration with loyal supporters. Trump, in a statement, said Zeldin, who mounted a failed bid for governor of New York in 2022, would...
Trump chooses New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as ambassador to United Nations
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations. “Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement Monday announcing his pick. Stefanik, 40, who serves as House Republican Conference Chair, has...
Will Trump’s hush money conviction stand? A judge will rule on the president-elect’s immunity claim
NEW YORK — A gut punch for most defendants, Donald Trump turned his criminal conviction into a rallying cry. His supporters put “I’m Voting for the Felon” on T-shirts, hats and lawn signs. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” Trump proclaimed after his conviction...
Trump on Day 1: Begin deportation push, pardon Jan. 6 rioters and make his criminal cases vanish
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has said he wouldn’t be a dictator — “except for Day 1.” According to his own statements, he’s got a lot to do on that first day in the White House. His list includes starting up the mass deportation of migrants, rolling back Biden administration policies...
Trump names Tom Homan, former director of immigration enforcement, as ‘border czar’
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump says Tom Homan, his former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as “border czar” in his incoming administration, a position that is likely to play a key role in Trump’s campaign pledges to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and mount a massive deportation...
Biden and Trump will meet in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House says
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump for a traditional postelection meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said Saturday. Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing president and the incoming president, and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful...
Gov. Tim Walz vows to fight Donald Trump’s agenda while working to understand his appeal
EAGAN, Minn. — Gov. Tim Walz vowed on Friday to make Minnesota a safe haven for the values that drove the Democratic presidential ticket he helped lead, while at the same time promising to work harder to understand the concerns of President-elect Donald Trump’s voters. Inside a high school auditorium...
A guide to key figures in Donald Trump’s orbit
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump will return to the White House accompanied by a crew of longtime friends and aides as well as newfound, splashy allies. The Republican president-elect has barely begun naming key figures in his administration, but he has kept a rotation of associates with him on and off...
Judge cancels court deadlines in Trump’s 2020 election case after his presidential win
WASHINGTON — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case canceled any remaining court deadlines Friday while prosecutors assess the “the appropriate course going forward” in light of the Republican’s presidential victory. Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump last year with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020...


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