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NEW YORK (AP) — Legally, the most important words former President Donald Trump said after he was charged with 34 felonies by the Manhattan District Attorney last week were “not guilty.” But, politically, the most significant may be “election interference.” Trump’s repetition of those words, which have been taken up by other top Republicans, show how he is trying to turn his historic position as the first former president charged with crimes to his advantage. It’s another example of what’s been a consistent refrain throughout his political career — claiming without evidence that an election is being rigged against him....

New York is poised to strengthen its oversight of private and religious schools following years of complaints that thousands of children are graduating from ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools lacking basic academic skills, including the ability to read English. A Board of Regents committee unanimously approved guidelines Monday to make sure instruction at the state’s private and religious schools is equivalent to that of its public schools. The rules would apply to all of New York’s 1,800 nonpublic schools but would have the greatest impact on the ultra-Orthodox schools, called yeshivas, some of which provide rigorous religious instruction but little or no...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidential electors are meeting across the United States on Monday to formally choose Joe Biden as the nation’s next president. Monday is the day set by law for the meeting of the Electoral College. In reality, electors meet in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to cast their ballots. The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside. The electors’ votes have drawn more attention than usual this year because President Donald Trump has refused to concede the election...

President Donald Trump wrongly dismissed the continuing threat of the Islamic State group and spread a false tale of the U.S. paying out billions of dollars to Iran as part of the multinational deal freezing its nuclear program in an address Wednesday that fell short on facts. He also made an assertion that is as dubious as it was provocative: that the Iranian missiles fired by Tehran at two military bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq were paid for by money “made available” to Iran by the Obama administration. A look at some of the president’s claims in his remarks...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — As many in the United States celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, some minorities have mixed feelings about the revelry of fireworks and parades in an atmosphere of tension on several fronts. How do you celebrate during what some people of color consider troubling times? Blacks, Latinos and immigrant rights advocates say the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, recent non-convictions of police officers charged in the shootings of black men, and the stepped-up detentions of immigrants and refugees for deportation have them questioning equality and the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...

Lawyers for Washington state and Minnesota have told a federal appellate court that restoring President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries would “unleash chaos again.” The filing with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco came early Monday after the White House said it expected the federal courts to reinstate the ban. Washington and Minnesota said their underlying lawsuit was strong and a nationwide temporary restraining order was appropriate. If the appellate court reinstated Trump’s ban, the states said the “ruling would reinstitute those harms, separating families, stranding our university students...

Lamenting a “lack of spirit” between whites and blacks, Donald Trump encouraged racial unity on Thursday even as he called for one of the nation’s largest cities to adopt “stop and frisk” policing tactics that have been widely condemned as racial profiling by minority leaders. […] “I think Chicago needs stop and frisk,” Trump said. “When you have 3,000 people shot and so many people dying, I mean it’s worse than some of the places we’re hearing about like Afghanistan, you know, the war-torn nations.” …

EDGARTOWN, Mass. — President Barack Obama wrapped up a 10-day vacation Saturday that was blissfully free of the news emergencies that have interrupted some of his past getaways. Grim economic reports cast an inescapable shadow over the first family's stay in Martha's Vineyard, and tough tasks on Iraq and the Middle East await the president in Washington after a stop in New Orleans Sunday on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But during his time on this lovely island, the president never once had to shed his leisure wear to step in front of the podium and address a national...

I’ve gotten a few e-mails about the latest AP poll, which gives Obama a 56% approval rating — far above Gallup, Rasmussen, and practically every other pollster. In fact, AP’s survey of 1000 adults has Obama’s approval rating improving over last month, most definitely in opposition to the large surveys taken even in Gallup’s own survey of adults. But even the AP analysis notes that his approval rating seems somewhat disconnected to the “squeamish” reaction to Obama’s policies:

Wednesday evening, Atlanta — It all started about 24 hours ago, when I found a plain cardboard box on my doorstep. I was surprised to see my name on the label, as I wasn’t expecting anything this week. My surprise increased exponentially when I opened the package to find a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows within. With no disrespect meant to J. K. Rowling’s innumerable devotees, I’m not a particularly big Harry Potter fan. But I’d read two or three of the early books, and being as susceptible as the next guy to the hype for the...

Iraq's Interior Ministry said Thursday it had formed a special unit to monitor news coverage and vowed to take legal action against journalists who failed to correct stories the ministry deemed to be incorrect.

<p>Bill Frist: "I’m currently overseas visiting our troops in Afghanistan, but I wanted to take a moment to address an Associated Press story titled, “Frist: Taliban Should Be in Afghan Gov’t.” The story badly distorts my remarks and takes them out of context.</p>

****UPDATED: AP has apparently edited the original article. See update below.****Interesting little side by side here. Donald Rumsfeld gave a speech to the American Legion. You can read it here. Robert Burns from AP reported on the speech. You can read it here. Below are some comparisons from the story and the speech.1. What AP says Rumsfeld said:Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused critics of the Bush administration's Iraq and counterterrorism policies of trying to appease "a new type of fascism."What Rumsfeld said:I recount this history because once again we face the same kind of challenges in efforts...

White Supremacists Riot in Toledo, Ohio By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press Writer (10 minutes ago)

"AP WRITES NEGATIVE BOLTON CONFIRMATION STORY BEFORE IT EVEN HAPPENS!" On the confirmation hearing for Bush UN Ambassador nominee John Bolton, the Associated Press decided why wait for the actual questioning to take place when their reporter could just write it ahead of time? Bolton is being opposed ... [snip]

Presidential Elections - AP Kerry Takes Lead Over Bush in AP Poll Fri Oct 8, 2:34 AM ET By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) has taken a slight lead over President Bush (news - web sites), according to an Associated Press poll that found him gaining ground with women, boosting his overall popularity and cutting into the president's advantage on national security

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - President Bush mocked John Kerry's fitness to be commander in chief Wednesday, saying the way to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq "is not to wilt or waver." Kerry suggested to a campaign crowd that Bush might bring back the military draft and said in an Associated Press interview that the president was "living in a make-believe world." Answering a question about possible revival of the draft at a forum with voters in West Palm Beach, Fla., Kerry said, "If George Bush were to be re-elected, given the way he has gone about this war...

<p>ALBANY, Ga. (AP) - In a Sept. 11 story about military retirees' reaction to new documents concerning President Bush's National Guard service, The Associated Press incorrectly identified Ahmad Majied of Albany as a former Navy SEAL. Majied assisted SEAL teams while he was in the Navy, but never was trained as a SEAL. "I should have been more specific," he said Friday.</p>

AP Uses Fake SEAL to Back Kerry, Slam Bush Authentic or not, Bush memos no big deal to retired guardsmen U.S. Servicemen React to Bush Guard Memos (spreading the lie) Allegations of suspect conduct during the Vietnam war also have been leveled at John Kerry, who won three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star in Vietnam. A group sponsoring television ads challenging his wartime record contends Kerry's own gunfire caused the wound that brought his first Purple Heart. Navy records and other veterans do not support the charge. Ahmad Majied of Albany (GA) says the latest allegations...

WASHINGTON - George W. Bush began flying a two-seat training jet more frequently and twice required multiple attempts to land a one-seat fighter in the weeks just before he quit flying for the Texas Air National Guard in 1972, his pilot logs show. The logs show Bush flew nine times in T-33 trainers in February and March 1972, including eight times in one week and four of those only as a co-pilot. Bush, then a first lieutenant, flew in T-33s only twice in the previous six months and three times in the year ending July 31, 1971. The records also...