Politics

PITTSBURGH — The case for Joseph R. Biden Jr. has always come down to Pennsylvania. It is not just that the former vice president, who jumped into the presidential race last week, is a native son of a state that is a 2020 must-win for Democrats. The argument is that Mr. Biden’s brand of politics […]

‘You Are My Brother’ For all of that, Mr. Obama grew genuinely fond of his vice president, learning to appreciate Mr. Biden’s authenticity and embrace his contrary voice. “You know what has surprised me?” Mr. Obama said at one of their lunches. “How we have become such good friends.” “Surprised you?” Mr. Biden joked. “Both

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s diplomatic darts this week flew as fast at friends as they did at foes. First, on Monday, came the end of permissions for important partner nations to buy Iranian oil without fear of American sanctions. Then, on Tuesday, American officials wrestled with allies over a United Nations measure on combating

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The White House Correspondents’ Dinner meant so little to the Trump administration and its boosters that thinly veiled rebukes of the First Amendment-focused event were a running theme of the president’s Saturday night campaign rally in Wisconsin. It meant little to Brad Parscale, the Trump campaign manager, who took the stage

Pete Buttigieg, whose upstart presidential campaign has benefited from an early surge of donations and national attention, will no longer accept contributions from federal lobbyists, his campaign said Friday, bowing to pressure from fellow Democrats who want to reform the way campaigns raise money. Mr. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., was somewhat isolated

Manuel Luján Jr., a former 10-term Republican congressman from New Mexico and a secretary of the interior whose efforts to balance development and conservation of federal lands often left him at loggerheads with environmentalists, died on Thursday night at his home in Albuquerque. He was 90. A granddaughter, Amy Everett, confirmed the death. In a

Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidential campaign announced Friday that it had raised $6.3 million in its opening 24 hours, surpassing the first-day totals of his rivals and easing concerns among some supporters over whether he would be able to compete financially in the Democratic primary. Mr. Biden’s team had viewed his early fund-raising as an

It was not clear how Virginia reached its decision, but one member of the university’s powerful Board of Visitors — its version of a Board of Regents — said Saturday that the board as a whole had not been involved. The decision, though, was not that surprising to some Virginia supporters who are among the

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. director warned anew on Friday about Russia’s continued meddling in American elections, calling it a “significant counterintelligence threat.” The bureau has shifted additional agents and analysts to shore up defenses against foreign interference, according to a senior F.B.I. official. The Trump administration has come to see that Russia’s influence operations have

But the familial ties to the land, coupled with the pride in their work, are enough for the majority of farmers to vow that somehow, they will figure it out. “If I quit now, I could still have a pretty comfortable life,” said Michael Stenzel, 45, a fourth-generation farmer in Hamburg, Iowa. Waist-high water still