Politics

Pete Hegseth walks to an elevator for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 15, 2016. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit, … Read more

Donald Trump speaks last month at a rally in Coachella, during which he threatened to withhold federal firefighting aid to California unless Gov. Gavin Newsom carries out his demands on water policy. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) Of the many ways Donald Trump’s return to the White House promises to upend federal policy, few … Read more

(Photo illustration by Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times; photo via Getty Images) A progressive prison reform that was on the ballot in California and Nevada this month met drastically different outcomes after the votes were counted: In California, voters chose to keep the status quo, allowing “involuntary servitude” to remain legal in prisons. On … Read more

President Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) Biden administration officials are working against the clock doling out billions in grants and taking other steps to try to preserve at least some of the outgoing president’s legacy before President-elect Donald Trump … Read more

Activists demonstrate against fossil fuels at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday. (Peter Dejong / Associated Press) Hundreds of activists formed a human chain outside one of the main plenary halls at the United Nations climate summit, which aims to curb warming from coal, oil and natural gas. The demonstration in … Read more

If confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would have oversight of institutions including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the National Institutes of Health. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) With President-elect Donald Trump’s selection … Read more

Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, shown here in 2020, this week railed against the purchase of his Infowars site by the Onion. (Matt York / Associated Press) Here’s a quiz. Read the following sentences and decide if they’re a headline from satirical news site the Onion or my summaries of comments from the … Read more

President Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Nov. 13. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President-elect Donald Trump opened his transition back to the White House this week with a flurry of personnel announcements that sent forceful messages to major constituent groups, potential political rivals and the country at large. Two … Read more

Outgoing Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff, seen in his home city of Burbank in 2021, was elected this month to serve as California’s next U.S. senator. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) Rep. Adam B. Schiff is a darling of the Democrats, a fighter and political veteran accustomed to the limelight on Sunday talk shows … Read more

When President Trump ordered a vast overhaul of immigration law enforcement during his first week in office, he stripped away most restrictions on who should be deported, opening the door for roundups and detentions on a scale not seen in nearly a decade. Up to 8 million people in the country illegally could be considered … Read more