dissected one of President Donald Trump’s daily coronavirus briefings, capturing the curious theater playing out on TV against the backdrop of the pandemic’s surging death toll. https://bit.ly/2JPk0CS
teamed up to provide the fastest, most complete coverage of the Trump administration’s announcement that it would resettle no more than 15,000 refugees in 2021, another record low.Their work began days before the Sept. 30 deadline for a decision. Lee worked sources on his State Department beat, while Watson drew on her long experience covering refugees, speaking with advocates and with an Eritrean refugee in the U.S. whose dream of reuniting with his family became more remote as a result of Trump’s decision. At 11:26 p.m. on the evening of the deadline, Lee received confirmation of the 15,000 cap from the State Department. Watson rushed it to wire, delivering a 700-word story by 12:04 a.m., including a quote of Trump vilifying refugees at a campaign rally that night in Minnesota. A major competitor moved its story at 2:37 a.m., and no one else had a story for hours. https://bit.ly/2Gr9NyA
exclusively obtained documents from a former Cambridge Analytica insider revealing what an election watchdog group claims was illegal coordination between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and a billionaire-funded pro-Trump super PAC. The cache of previously unreleased emails, presentations and slide decks was provided to the AP by Cambridge Analytica’s first business development director, Brittany Kaiser. Burke’s story detailed how Trump’s 2016 campaign coordinated behind the scenes with the political action committee, and provided rich detail on how some key 2016 staffers are involved in the president’s current re-election campaign.In a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission, the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center says the now-defunct British data analytics firm violated election law by ignoring its own written policy, blurring the lines between work performed for Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Make America Number 1 political action committee, largely funded by billionaire Robert Mercer. https://bit.ly/3dINJvqhttps://bit.ly/31tUnAy
revealed that former President Donald Trump’s social media posts have regularly amplified QAnon, a platform for baseless conspiracy theories.New York-based Swenson had noticed a pattern of Trump referencing QAnon in his online posts. She and Klepper, both of whom report on disinformation, then began monitoring the activity; they found that far from distancing himself from a false narrative, Trump embraced it, publishing dozens of recent QAnon-related posts and evoking the movement at rallies.Read more
prior to former President Donald Trump’s felony arraignment for allegedly falsifying business records, captured in a crackerjack of a story Trump’s love of the Empire State, from childhood to indictment, with humor and wit.Read more.
AP staff and freelancers scrambled to Florida and set up an ad hoc newsroom inside and outside the federal courthouse in Miami, and many others in Washington, U.S. News and beyond dove in to provide support and expertise after the surprise news that the Trump documents case had been moved from Washington to Florida by prosecutors.Read more
conducted extensive research and reporting on the high stakes of a near-final Trump administration plan to scrap criminal enforcement of the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which former top wildlife officials fear will devastate American bird populations already in extreme decline. A former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned that without criminal penalties billions of wild birds could be killed in coming decades. The piece, well-illustrated with staff and member photos, received wide play. https://bit.ly/3e3Tp2T
for seeking comment from Chief Justice John Roberts after President Donald Trump made disparaging remarks about judges on a federal court circuit. Roberts’ response, an unprecedented rebuke of Trump, scored a major scoop on what quickly became the top story in the United States. The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and most, if not all other news organizations, mentioned that Roberts’ statement was the result of AP’s inquiry. https://bit.ly/2PGAUsK
for their analysis showing that brand-name prescription prices continue to rise and that the Trump Administration has not delivered on its promises to cut prescription drug price increases. https://bit.ly/2xCVi2M
for a story that revealed how former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman’s turn against President Trump wasn’t enough to convince blacks to let her return to the family fold. https://bit.ly/2MJbjwW
for his fascinating story on how Elkhart County, Indiana, grappled with the economic, cultural and moral ramifications of becoming a place known for locking up immigrants. https://bit.ly/2nafiEy
for tracking from South America a source at the White House who confirmed that President Trump on at least three occasions last year pressed his aides in private about the possibility of invading Venezuela. https://bit.ly/2KVFl0r
for exclusively reporting that a letter from the Trump legal team to special counsel Robert Mueller called fired FBI Director James Comey “Machiavellian,” dishonest and “unbounded by law and regulation.” https://bit.ly/2ukovhs
for obtaining the first published western interview of Natalia Veselnitskaya. The Russian lawyer, with reported links to the Kremlin, was at the center of a famous meeting in Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. She told AP she has not yet been called for questioning by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. https://bit.ly/2HYgQNR
for an intimate look at how refugee families living side by side in the same city have been affected by President Trump’s refugee policies in very different ways. https://bit.ly/2GUJPPr
for breaking the news that recently fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe had written contemporaneous memos after his meetings with President Donald Trump, similar to the records kept by his former boss James Comey. http://trib.in/2uatdAK
for an investigation revealing that a dozen potentially lifesaving Transportation Department safety regulations have been sidelined in the Trump administration’s push to cut red tape. http://bit.ly/2HfgVbU
for being first to report that testing of prototypes of Trump’s proposed wall with Mexico found that their imposing heights would likely stop border crossers, a finding that pleased border hawks. http://bit.ly/2n4PUzF
for breaking the news that actor Leonardo DiCaprio and the head of his foundation met with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss how jobs centered on preserving the environment can boost the economy. http://apne.ws/2gWUOKy
for his exclusive story on a Trump team memo that described the businessman's support for the Dakota Access pipeline and rejected the criticism that his support was due to his personal investments. http://bit.ly/2hhjRvw