The refusal of top department officials to acknowledge Donald J. Trump’s loss that year is the engine driving an intensifying effort to intercede in state administration of elections.
On the eve of the election, the president held forth in great detail on columns, drain pipes and granite at the newly refilled Reflecting Pool.
Election officials across the country have conducted hundreds of exercises to prepare for possible threats or disruptions at polling sites.
The court’s ruling came just hours after administration lawyers asked the justices to immediately order California to set aside 20,000 mail-in ballots.
The Trump administration’s campaign to identify and charge immigrants in connection with voting violations has led to fears of being jailed, or deported.
Republicans, worried about losing control of Congress, are sending dire warnings about the opposing party. Democrats are trying to keep their focus on affordability, corruption and President Trump.
Rejecting President Trump’s election denial playbook, nationalist leaders in Serbia and Hungary opted for an orderly retreat.
History doesn’t give us second chances.
Vice President JD Vance’s sharp-edged rhetoric shows his instincts as a politician as attention is about to shift to the 2028 presidential race.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill sent a letter to 12 port and terminal operators in the state, warning them they “could be subject to millions of dollars in penalties” long after President Trump leaves office.
China may see Trump’s decision to hold up arms sales to Taiwan as a lasting concession, raising the stakes in a future confrontation over the island.
Two Times journalists, blending A.I. analysis and traditional reporting, evaluated public speeches to spot trends.
The rejection demonstrates the department’s harried push to prove President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud.
Despite worries about federal intervention, local and state officials say they are well prepared to run a secure election.
We answer your questions about the midterm elections and what they will mean for the world.
Repeated compliance disputes and personal attacks on judges are straining relations between the executive branch and the judiciary.
President Trump and his administration have repeatedly sidestepped court limits in his second term. Here’s how they do it.
The president has repeatedly complimented Senator Jon Husted’s body. For better or worse, it has caught the attention of voters and raised Mr. Husted’s profile in a key midterm race.
Some Florida Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, have started to sound alarms about sluggish turnout among their voters.
Of all the Democratic appointees, if not all nine justices, Justice Kagan has a reputation as the most restrained and institutionalist. Until now.
“We just have to protect those people,” President Trump said in an interview, when asked about potential investigations of allies and administration officials if Democrats won control of Congress.
Our polls suggest the economy is biggest motivator of voters’ choices in these midterm elections and that Democrats are more trusted to fix things.
Readers offer some final thoughts before Election Day. Also: Hard times, or not; Halloween candy bliss.
The Kennedy Center Honors, the venue’s marquee event, will also recognize the veteran actor Andy Garcia, the country singer Barbara Mandrell and the music producer David Foster.
The president will make his closing arguments before the midterm elections at a landmark that came to symbolize his administration’s dysfunction.
Democrats are up in Michigan, Texas, Kansas, Maine and Ohio, have an edge in Alaska and are effectively tied with Republicans in Iowa, new New York Times/Siena polls found.
Democrats lead in all the key states that will decide Senate control, according to new Times/Siena surveys.
Will Americans decide this week that character does, after all, matter?
The long-running comedy show “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” is having a heyday playing with the fraught relationship between President Trump and Canada.
In 2024, Hispanic voters in the region delivered a political earthquake: majority support for Republicans. Now, that support appears to be evaporating.
Experts say it could take days and even weeks before winners are known in key states including Maine, Alaska, Arizona and California that could determine who controls Congress.
Young men no longer favor Republicans, new Times/Siena data shows. We asked them why.
We’re one day away from the midterms. Here’s the state of play.
Facing an energized Democratic opponent, the Texas attorney general is testing whether party loyalty can overcome voters’ reservations about him.
What does an opinion look like?
China and the U.S. need mutually assured collaboration to quash the threat of A.I.-empowered bad actors, even while their economic differences sharpen.
$20 million from the Social Security Administration. $8 billion from the Department of Agriculture. Have you received a check from the Trump administration? According to the Opinion contributor Cristian Farias, an “alphabet soup of agencies” have been deputized by President Trump to bribe his way through the midterms and, he argues, to “interfere with the democratic process.”
A Times review of the president’s public speeches finds that he is more profane, more absolutist, longer-winded and less coherent than he was in 2016.
Across the country, many voters have drawn a straight line between President Trump’s policies and inflation.
The governor campaigned in the city with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her opponent, Bruce Blakeman, focused on Long Island and upstate.
Most voters say they trust that the results of the election will be accurate. But some worry that President Trump will try to sow doubt.
The history of triumphal arches is long and messy. Where does Donald Trump’s proposed edifice fit in?
Notching wins from Washington, the Russian leader is talking with foreign leaders and could return to diplomatic center stage with possible summit meetings.
A decade after the Pizzagate theory began, the Epstein files give the conspiracy theory a new life.
The Department of Justice is in a state of moral collapse.
Tom Hanks returned, all too briefly, to play his baffling Halloween character on a “Saturday Night Live” episode hosted by the “Obsession” star Inde Navarrette.
President Trump attended his jungle-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago dressed as a distinctly recognizable figure.
At a Halloween event in Florida, President Trump told reporters that Alina Habba Mildon’s lucrative work for someone seeking a pardon was “not acceptable.”
Messages sent by the I.R.S. and the Social Security Administration days before the midterms could violate the Hatch Act, which restricts political activity by federal employees.
Anthony Romero has led the American Civil Liberties Union since 2001. He worries that Americans have fewer rights now.
Voters have shrugged off accusations of corruption for years, believing all politicians are corrupt, but thanks to President Trump’s unpopularity and growing wealth, the issue is breaking through.
Facing backlash over inflation and anger with the president, Republicans have turned to an onslaught of baseless claims about Democratic candidates.
None of the firms that struck deals to avoid crippling executive orders are publicly involved in the major legal efforts to check the Trump administration’s attempts to meddle in the midterm elections, a review by The New York Times shows.
The defamation suit focused on an article about a birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein. It was the president’s second attempt to claim the publication had acted with actual malice.
With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fighting to stay in power and President Trump facing a tough midterm, Iran’s leaders expect no major shift in policy.
It’s become screamingly obvious who represents billionaires and unchecked plutocratic power.
The lawsuit was the latest move to stave off pressure from the Trump administration to pursue its unsubstantiated claim that noncitizens are voting en masse.
Democratic sweep or not, politics are about to change.
Lawyers for a Democratic lawmaker suing to block President Trump from closing the arts venue say documents support their view that the decision was part of a “sham process.”
Doctors like Annie Andrews, Amy Acton and Abdul El-Sayed remind us that Americans don’t trust Republicans with their nation’s health.
In its push to clear out people who live on the street and are mentally ill, the Trump administration is targeting legal protections that cover a much bigger population.
President Trump complained on Friday about his demanding campaign schedule, and reinstated his weekend rallies in Iowa and Kansas a day after canceling them.
Lawyers for the children praised the pause on fast-tracked interviews of unaccompanied minors, calling it a blow against the Trump administration’s “deportation assembly line.”
Democrats and former officials have accused the department of pursuing a political goal in the guise of a legal one: to publicize a scheme, sordid but not illegal under state law, damaging to Democrats.
Premiums will increase an average 13 percent next year for millions of Americans, on top of an earlier steep increase. It adds to the problems facing the program, which the Trump administration has weakened.
Turhan Mildon, who married Alina Habba this summer, presents himself as a 29-year-old billionaire with ties to global leaders. His story has inconsistencies.
That was almost three times as much as what businesses producing and refining oil in the United States made in the same period in 2025.
A backlash over high prices helped Republicans capture a majority in 2024. Now, it may be the source of the party’s own undoing.
Plus, the Friday news quiz.
At a hearing in federal court, prosecutors defended an unusual, 11th-hour criminal case accusing the former F.B.I. director of leaking classified information a decade ago.
Judge Ana C. Reyes said an outside investigator would help determine whether parks officials or Justice Department lawyers withheld plans for Washington’s East Potomac Park.
The Trump administration plans to fly the Afghan immigrants from Louisiana to Pakistan, where they are expected to be expelled over the border to Afghanistan.
Polls show the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham in a virtual tie with her Democratic opponent, Dr. Annie Andrews. An upset was unthinkable just a few months ago.
A White House social media account said the surprise Air Force One flight was part of a Halloween event hosted by the president and the first lady.
The recent purchase of the prison to hold immigrants is among the acquisitions facing scrutiny in the Trump administration’s mass deportation push.
The Justice Department issued subpoenas, a House oversight committee sought interviews and the state opened its own inquiry into a Democratic plan to recruit a spoiler into a Senate race.
The move is part of the Canadian prime minister’s effort to reduce American influence over Canada and expand trade to other parts of the world.
In a 2-to-1 vote, an appeals court panel declined to order the state to set aside more than 20,000 mail-in ballots, calling the notion plainly unconstitutional.
The Salvadoran government dispatched more than 2,000 troops to Haiti this week in an extraordinary deployment on foreign soil.
Some European foreign ministers had refused to pose alongside Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, at a Group of 20 gathering hosted by the United States.
Readers vent their frustrations and offer suggestions. Also: A public health scandal; giving in to Vladimir Putin.
The back-and-forth over President Trump’s schedule comes as polls show Republicans are in danger of losing seats, including in areas he won handily in 2024.
The ruling could deprive the Justice Department of its most important leverage in extracting concessions from local officials, the threat of prosecution.
Unless you — and your audience — are avowedly and solidly Trump-supporting, it seems to make no sense to play the venue.
Federal prosecutors have targeted President Trump’s political opponents and sued states over election administration just before the midterms. Devlin Barrett, a reporter for The New York Times, explains how this activity is compared with the Justice Department’s usual election-year behavior.
What is different about the way that President Trump has approached pardons? Kenneth P. Vogel, a New York Times investigative reporter, joined Natalie Kitroeff, a host of “The Daily,” to talk about how connections and shared grudges against the justice system are now driving clemency decisions.
Forget California’s billionaire wealth tax. The economist Natasha Sarin believes there are better ways to make billionaires pay up.
An inmate paid lobbyists and lawyers with ties to the president’s team and walked free. Others are following his blueprint.
American capitalism may never be the same again.
Military-involved deaths have roiled a country with an iron-fisted new president — and a history of extrajudicial killings.
The department has issued grand jury subpoenas to local election officials as part of a widening effort to prove unsubstantiated claims about large numbers of illegal voters in the state.
A federal judge gave the government until noon on Friday to share which states had received letters trying to enlist them in an effort to find evidence of voter fraud.
President Trump has been holding hours-long rallies for G.O.P. candidates nearly every day for weeks.
Angry about the scale of a contract signed by one of his former lawyers with the family of a wealthy pardon seeker, the president told allies he wanted some of the money to go to his future presidential library.
This panorama of Washington shows the president’s growing imprint on the city.
The economy grew 3.4 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace in a year. Strong spending and growth contrast with the poor marks many voters are giving the economy.
A Chinese businesswoman who had a close relationship with Jensen Huang was found to be passing intelligence to Beijing. President Trump was briefed and took no action.
Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was fired as part of a broad and highly unusual campaign to find and punish senior military officers who speak to reporters.
The Trump administration is carrying out the most intense pressure campaign on Cuba in decades. The Cuban government says its plan is simply to endure.
Federal Reserve officials are expected to restart rate increases in December, but the cadence of additional moves will depend on the data.
Despite years of political baggage, the Israeli prime minister outperformed expectations, and his rivals, by playing on Jewish voters’ fears of Arab political power and potential security threats.
Expectations are cresting for Democrats, and some kind of wave seems likely, but so much will depend on a few close Senate races.
The president’s attack line follows a similarly divisive campaign strategy from 2024, when Mr. Trump sought to drive a wedge between Jewish and Arab voters.
Former President Barack Obama doubled down on his viral criticism of President Trump’s White House renovations. He used the moment to further critique the Trump administration’s priorities.
A nonprofit said it released the information to promote transparency about the Trump administration’s deportation campaign. Homeland security officials told workers they are reviewing the incident.
President Trump insulted Black and Jewish supporters of Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed during a rally in South Carolina on Thursday.
Finally home in Caracas, María Corina Machado called for elections next year, and said her return was organized by her team, not any government.
More than 140 statewide ballot measures will go before voters during the midterms. Here are the races we’re watching.
Several current and former law enforcement officials said an Obama-era investigation found some evidence that Ms. Omar had entered into a sham marriage with a man suspected of being her brother.
The judge ruled that no immediate action was necessary, dealing another setback to the administration as it moves to target voting by noncitizens.
Ned Lamont, a Democrat, is seeking a third consecutive term, which would position him to become the state’s longest-serving governor.
Readers react to the Alaska controversy. Also: Punishing critics of President Trump; victories for democracy; help for farmers; a women’s health agenda.
A Supreme Court decision and ethics opinions give judges room to speak their minds.
In today’s Backstory, an election night dress rehearsal, surveillance towers at the border and A.I. in the newsroom.
The Treasury Department accused Rwanda of undermining a U.S.-brokered peace agreement by supporting a rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
It’s time to take stock. Here are 12 takeaways from the last 10 years.
Trump’s new diesel deal with Russia is a dark sign of his new American agenda, argues the Opinion columnist M. Gessen. The agreement, along with Ukraine’s accusation that the United States withheld military intelligence, points to a new story in this war: “If Vladimir Putin’s plan is to starve Ukraine into submission this winter, then Donald Trump is going to help Putin do that.”
What are the key differences between now and two years ago? Between now and 2016?
In his letter, the vice president suggested an immediate resumption of comprehensive talks, including about Iran’s nuclear program.
Our trade and international economics reporter, Ana Swanson, unravels how a tech executive in Singapore aided in steering banned Nvidia advanced A.I. chips to China and provided information to the Chinese government. When President Trump was briefed on this, and the knowledge that this executive was in close contact with the Nvidia chief executive, Jensen Huang, he did nothing about it.
Democrats need to flip four Republican-held Senate seats to regain the majority, but some of their targets are in states President Trump won by double digits in 2024. Our election data reporter Evan Reynolds explains just how difficult that might be.
The government said in a court filing that it would meet the Nov. 15 deadline set by President Trump to close East Potomac Park to build a championship golf course there.
The White House has been rocked by turnover and anxiety over the midterms. The president, who is tightening his inner circle, has lashed out at critics, held meandering rallies and feasted on a diet of news clips and “A.I. slop,” as one aide put it.
Operatives aligned with Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee for Senate, spent months recruiting candidates to peel votes from Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican.
Mr. Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday’s presidential election, fled Brazil for the United States via Argentina after the police canceled his passport in relation to an investigation.
Long before its baroque décor and class identity became midterm talking points, this durable restaurant chain survived some withering critiques.
Together, they have pursued cases against the president’s enemies and protesters and amplified false claims of widespread election fraud, often citing thin evidence.
The news outlets argued in an updated lawsuit that they should be granted access to the White House reporting pools.
Senator Darline Graham, the South Carolina Republican, is struggling to replicate her late brother’s success. Republicans lead in the Florida Senate race and Democrats are up in Minnesota.
More than a dozen news organizations have asked a federal judge to unseal documents related to a search warrant executed at Ms. Omar’s home this month.
A Russian official said potential relief for a state investment fund was part of talks. Russia has sought to wring economic benefits from the negotiations on ending the war with Ukraine.
The education secretary says her old furniture “cannot be configurationally or aesthetically integrated” into new office space.
The central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday, just days before the midterm elections.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, submitted sworn statements to a federal court regarding the construction project.
Health officials will now allow some levels of a powerful substance to remain in products marketed as natural. The change could help a G.O.P. donor facing wrongful death lawsuits.
Lisa D. Cook, a Fed governor, is set to face an unorthodox, private hearing over allegations of mortgage fraud she has consistently denied.
It was a showdown of sorts in western Texas as James Talarico and Ken Paxton appeared at dueling rallies on either side of a prairie-dog-filled city park.
National politics dominate people’s attention, but local politics often play a greater role in shaping their lives.
Trump has no use for pretense and he’s not interested in playing along.
In the legal tangle between the Justice Department and California, a federal judge on Tuesday deferred a ruling but said the government already had a remedy it could use after the election.
A look at candidates from President Trump’s party who are running on a platform of criticizing him.
The estimate through Oct. 16 shows that bombs, missiles and other munitions accounted for more than 60 percent of expenses.
We investigated Watergate. The former president and his henchmen got what they deserved.
In some cases, court paperwork bears unmistakable signs of urgency — typos, unorthodox tactics and the signatures of the department’s senior political leadership.
The rejection of the indictment was the latest extraordinary setback in President Trump’s wide-ranging campaign to go after his political opponents.
The U.S. plans to issue a visa to Mr. Bolsonaro, a U.S. official said. Brazilian police had asked him to hand over his passports because of his links to an investigation.
The diplomatic outreach was part of an effort to push talks to end the war in Ukraine, though it was not welcomed by all European leaders.
The move would be the latest U.S. concession to Moscow as President Trump pursues economic incentives he hopes will secure an end to war in Ukraine.
A regional coalition convened as part of a U.S. military effort to disrupt and combat drug traffickers that officials have compared to the campaign against the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.
The administration had filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent certification of the election if the Republican incumbent narrowly loses.