MIAMI (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;has been indicted on charges of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-merrick-garland-government-and-politics-f63c018b600e1539ff3660a896a132d0">mishandling classified documents</a>&nbsp;at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw.

The Justice Department was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states.

The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump's convicted.

But it also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump had been dominating and testing anew the willingness of GOP voters and party leaders to stick with a now twice-indicted candidate who could face still more charges. And it sets the stage for a sensational trial centered on claims that a man once entrusted to safeguard the nation's most closely guarded secrets willfully, and illegally, hoarded sensitive national security information.

The Justice Department did not immediately confirm the indictment publicly. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said that the indictment included seven criminal counts. One of those people said Trump's lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.

Within minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, began fundraising off it for his presidential campaign. He declared his innocence in a video and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation is a “witch hunt.”

The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-arraignment-hush-money-81225510ef7638494852816878f612f0">indicted in New York</a>&nbsp;and faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-investigations-charges-classified-documents-d822569227ea882cedfeffd3284f9d4c">additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta</a>&nbsp;that also could lead to criminal charges. But among the various investigations he faces, legal experts — as well as Trump's own aides — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as the most perilous threat and the one most ripe for prosecution. Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when.

Appearing Thursday night on CNN, Trump attorney James Trusty said the indictment includes charges of willful retention of national defense information — a crime under the Espionage Act, which polices the handling of government secrets — obstruction, false statements and conspiracy.

The inquiry took a major step forward last November when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/merrick-garland">Attorney General Merrick Garland</a>, a soft-spoken former federal judge who has long stated that no one person should be regarded as above the law, appointed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jack-smith-special-counsel-prosecutor-donald-trump-garland-e1fdb71cfc258bc2be48a8b890a9269b">Jack Smith</a>, a war crimes prosecutor with an aggressive, hard-charging reputation to lead both the documents probe as well as a separate investigation into efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. The most notable investigation was an earlier special counsel probe into ties between his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-russia-48f9d5132d7a4e2d823edad8fc407979">2016 campaign and Russia,</a>&nbsp;but prosecutors in that probe cited Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president. Once he left office, though, he lost that protection.

The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation into whether Trump broke the law by holding onto&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-6bd103a8e418166b17a34d77e8d9102d">hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property</a>, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.

Prosecutors have said that Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-6bd103a8e418166b17a34d77e8d9102d">including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August</a>&nbsp;in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department’s investigation. Trump has repeatedly insisted that he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.

Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-merrick-garland-government-and-politics-f63c018b600e1539ff3660a896a132d0">including the retention of national defense information</a>, destruction of government records and obstruction.

Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-grand-jury-justice-department-623428540a6cff1b5dcdf697cdf45b5d">including his own lawyers</a>. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction.

Even so, it remains unclear how much it will damage Trump's standing given that his first indictment generated millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn’t weaken him in the polls.

The former president has long sought to use his legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being driven by Democratic prosecutors out to hurt his 2024 election campaign. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia — is somehow weaponized against him.

Trump’s legal troubles extend beyond the New York indictment and classified documents case.

Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election in that state.

Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-justice-department-classified-documents-maralago-455e06ae11fecd5fc6aa565bee6b3878">Monday meeting between Trump’s lawyers</a>&nbsp;and Justice Department officials. His lawyers had also recently been notified that he was the target of the investigation, the clearest sign yet that an indictment was looming.

Though the bulk of the investigative work had been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where many of the alleged acts of obstruction scrutinized by prosecutors took place.

The Justice Department has said Trump repeatedly resisted efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to get the documents back. After months of back-and-forth, Trump representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including about 184 documents that officials said had classified markings on them.

FBI and Justice Department investigators issued a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents that remained in Trump’s possession. But after a Trump lawyer provided three dozen records and asserted that a diligent search of the property had been done, officials came to suspect even more documents remained.

The investigation had simmered for months before bursting into front-page news in remarkable fashion last August. That’s when FBI agents served a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including top-secret documents stashed in a storage room and desk drawer and commingled with personal belongings. Some records were so sensitive that investigators needed upgraded security clearances to review them, the Justice Department has said.

The investigation into Trump had appeared complicated — politically, if not legally — by the discovery of documents with classified markings in the Delaware home and former Washington office of President Joe Biden, as well as in the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. The Justice Department recently informed Pence that he would not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents.

But compared with Trump, there are key differences in the facts and legal issues surrounding Biden’s and Pence’s handling of documents, including that representatives for both men say the documents were voluntarily turned over to investigators as soon as they were found. In contrast, investigators quickly zeroed on whether Trump, who for four years as president expressed disdain for the FBI and Justice Department, had sought to obstruct the inquiry by refusing to turn over all the requested documents.

MIAMI (AP) — Donald Trump said Thursday he’s been indicted on charges of mishandling&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-merrick-garland-government-and-politics-f63c018b600e1539ff3660a896a132d0">classified documents</a>&nbsp;at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.

The Justice Department did not immediately publicly confirm the indictment. But two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said Trump's team had been informed that he had been indicted on seven counts and that prosecutors had contacted lawyers to advise them of the indictment shortly before Trump announced it himself on his Truth Social platform.

“This is indeed a DARK DAY for the United States of America,” Trump posted. “We are a Country in serious and rapid Decline, but together we will Make America Great Again!”

Within 20 minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, had begun fundraising off it for his 2024 presidential campaign.

The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-arraignment-hush-money-81225510ef7638494852816878f612f0">indicted in New York</a>&nbsp;and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges. As the prosecution moves forward, it will pit Trump’s claims of sweeping executive power against Attorney General Merrick Garland’s oft-stated mantra that no person, including a former commander in chief, should be regarded as above the law.

The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jack-smith-special-counsel-prosecutor-donald-trump-garland-e1fdb71cfc258bc2be48a8b890a9269b">special counsel Jack Smith</a>&nbsp;into whether Trump broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.

Prosecutors have said that Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-6bd103a8e418166b17a34d77e8d9102d">including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August</a>&nbsp;in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department’s investigation.

Trump and his team have long seen the special counsel investigation as far more perilous than the New York matter — both politically and legally. Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when.

But it remains unclear what the immediate and long-term political consequences will be for Trump. His first indictment spurred millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn’t damage Trump in the polls. No matter what, the indictment — and the legal fight that follows -- will throw Trump back into the spotlight, sucking attention away from the other candidates who are trying to build momentum in the 2024 presidential race.

Trump has insisted he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.

The former president has long sought to use mounting legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being driven by Democratic prosecutors out to hurt his 2024 election campaign. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia — is somehow weaponized against him.

The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. Garland was appointed by President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection in 2024.

Among the various state and federal investigations that Trump faces, legal experts — including Trump’s own former attorney general — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as one of the most likely to result in indictment and the one where evidence seemed to favor the government. Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed, including the retention of national defense information, destruction of government records and obstruction of an investigation.

Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Trump, including his own lawyers. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction.

Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a June 5 meeting between Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department officials. After that meeting, Trump said on social media that he anticipated he could be charged, even as he insisted he had done nothing wrong.

Though the bulk of the investigative work had been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where many of the alleged acts of obstruction scrutinized by prosecutors — including efforts to move the boxes — took place.

The special counsel has a separate probe underway focused on efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election in that state.

The Justice Department did not immediately publicly confirm the indictment.

Trump is currently in Bedminster, New Jersey. A person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly said Trump's lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.

Trump said he is due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661941600753.jpeg" alt="This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and redacted by in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search by the FBI of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.&nbsp; &nbsp;(Department of Justice via AP)" />
 <figcaption>This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and redacted by in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search by the FBI of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.&nbsp; &nbsp;(Department of Justice via AP)</figcaption>
 </figure>MIAMI (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;has been indicted on charges of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-merrick-garland-government-and-politics-f63c018b600e1539ff3660a896a132d0">mishandling classified documents</a>&nbsp;at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw.The Justice Department was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states.<figure>
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 </figure>The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump's convicted.But it also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump had been dominating and testing anew the willingness of GOP voters and party leaders to stick with a now twice-indicted candidate who could face still more charges. And it sets the stage for a sensational trial centered on claims that a man once entrusted to safeguard the nation's most closely guarded secrets willfully, and illegally, hoarded sensitive national security information.The Justice Department did not immediately confirm the indictment publicly. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said that the indictment included seven criminal counts. One of those people said Trump's lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.Within minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, began fundraising off it for his presidential campaign. He declared his innocence in a video and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation is a “witch hunt.”The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-arraignment-hush-money-81225510ef7638494852816878f612f0">indicted in New York</a>&nbsp;and faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-investigations-charges-classified-documents-d822569227ea882cedfeffd3284f9d4c">additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta</a>&nbsp;that also could lead to criminal charges. But among the various investigations he faces, legal experts — as well as Trump's own aides — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as the most perilous threat and the one most ripe for prosecution. Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when.Appearing Thursday night on CNN, Trump attorney James Trusty said the indictment includes charges of willful retention of national defense information — a crime under the Espionage Act, which polices the handling of government secrets — obstruction, false statements and conspiracy.The inquiry took a major step forward last November when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/merrick-garland">Attorney General Merrick Garland</a>, a soft-spoken former federal judge who has long stated that no one person should be regarded as above the law, appointed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jack-smith-special-counsel-prosecutor-donald-trump-garland-e1fdb71cfc258bc2be48a8b890a9269b">Jack Smith</a>, a war crimes prosecutor with an aggressive, hard-charging reputation to lead both the documents probe as well as a separate investigation into efforts to subvert the 2020 election.The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. The most notable investigation was an earlier special counsel probe into ties between his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-russia-48f9d5132d7a4e2d823edad8fc407979">2016 campaign and Russia,</a>&nbsp;but prosecutors in that probe cited Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president. Once he left office, though, he lost that protection.The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation into whether Trump broke the law by holding onto&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-6bd103a8e418166b17a34d77e8d9102d">hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property</a>, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.Prosecutors have said that Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-6bd103a8e418166b17a34d77e8d9102d">including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August</a>&nbsp;in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department’s investigation. Trump has repeatedly insisted that he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-merrick-garland-government-and-politics-f63c018b600e1539ff3660a896a132d0">including the retention of national defense information</a>, destruction of government records and obstruction.Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-grand-jury-justice-department-623428540a6cff1b5dcdf697cdf45b5d">including his own lawyers</a>. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction.Even so, it remains unclear how much it will damage Trump's standing given that his first indictment generated millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn’t weaken him in the polls.The former president has long sought to use his legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being driven by Democratic prosecutors out to hurt his 2024 election campaign. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia — is somehow weaponized against him.Trump’s legal troubles extend beyond the New York indictment and classified documents case.Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election in that state.Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-justice-department-classified-documents-maralago-455e06ae11fecd5fc6aa565bee6b3878">Monday meeting between Trump’s lawyers</a>&nbsp;and Justice Department officials. His lawyers had also recently been notified that he was the target of the investigation, the clearest sign yet that an indictment was looming.Though the bulk of the investigative work had been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where many of the alleged acts of obstruction scrutinized by prosecutors took place.The Justice Department has said Trump repeatedly resisted efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to get the documents back. After months of back-and-forth, Trump representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including about 184 documents that officials said had classified markings on them.FBI and Justice Department investigators issued a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents that remained in Trump’s possession. But after a Trump lawyer provided three dozen records and asserted that a diligent search of the property had been done, officials came to suspect even more documents remained.The investigation had simmered for months before bursting into front-page news in remarkable fashion last August. That’s when FBI agents served a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including top-secret documents stashed in a storage room and desk drawer and commingled with personal belongings. Some records were so sensitive that investigators needed upgraded security clearances to review them, the Justice Department has said.The investigation into Trump had appeared complicated — politically, if not legally — by the discovery of documents with classified markings in the Delaware home and former Washington office of President Joe Biden, as well as in the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. The Justice Department recently informed Pence that he would not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents.But compared with Trump, there are key differences in the facts and legal issues surrounding Biden’s and Pence’s handling of documents, including that representatives for both men say the documents were voluntarily turned over to investigators as soon as they were found. In contrast, investigators quickly zeroed on whether Trump, who for four years as president expressed disdain for the FBI and Justice Department, had sought to obstruct the inquiry by refusing to turn over all the requested documents.--------------MIAMI (AP) — Donald Trump said Thursday he’s been indicted on charges of mishandling&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-merrick-garland-government-and-politics-f63c018b600e1539ff3660a896a132d0">classified documents</a>&nbsp;at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.The Justice Department did not immediately publicly confirm the indictment. But two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said Trump's team had been informed that he had been indicted on seven counts and that prosecutors had contacted lawyers to advise them of the indictment shortly before Trump announced it himself on his Truth Social platform.<figure>
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 </figure><figure>
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 </figure>“This is indeed a DARK DAY for the United States of America,” Trump posted. “We are a Country in serious and rapid Decline, but together we will Make America Great Again!”Within 20 minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, had begun fundraising off it for his 2024 presidential campaign.The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-arraignment-hush-money-81225510ef7638494852816878f612f0">indicted in New York</a>&nbsp;and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges. As the prosecution moves forward, it will pit Trump’s claims of sweeping executive power against Attorney General Merrick Garland’s oft-stated mantra that no person, including a former commander in chief, should be regarded as above the law.The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jack-smith-special-counsel-prosecutor-donald-trump-garland-e1fdb71cfc258bc2be48a8b890a9269b">special counsel Jack Smith</a>&nbsp;into whether Trump broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.Prosecutors have said that Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-6bd103a8e418166b17a34d77e8d9102d">including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August</a>&nbsp;in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department’s investigation.Trump and his team have long seen the special counsel investigation as far more perilous than the New York matter — both politically and legally. Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when.But it remains unclear what the immediate and long-term political consequences will be for Trump. His first indictment spurred millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn’t damage Trump in the polls. No matter what, the indictment — and the legal fight that follows -- will throw Trump back into the spotlight, sucking attention away from the other candidates who are trying to build momentum in the 2024 presidential race.Trump has insisted he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.The former president has long sought to use mounting legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being driven by Democratic prosecutors out to hurt his 2024 election campaign. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia — is somehow weaponized against him.The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. Garland was appointed by President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection in 2024.Among the various state and federal investigations that Trump faces, legal experts — including Trump’s own former attorney general — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as one of the most likely to result in indictment and the one where evidence seemed to favor the government. Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed, including the retention of national defense information, destruction of government records and obstruction of an investigation.Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Trump, including his own lawyers. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction.Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a June 5 meeting between Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department officials. After that meeting, Trump said on social media that he anticipated he could be charged, even as he insisted he had done nothing wrong.Though the bulk of the investigative work had been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where many of the alleged acts of obstruction scrutinized by prosecutors — including efforts to move the boxes — took place.Trump’s legal troubles extend beyond the New York indictment and classified documents case.The special counsel has a separate probe underway focused on efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election in that state.The Justice Department did not immediately publicly confirm the indictment.Trump is currently in Bedminster, New Jersey. A person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly said Trump's lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.Trump said he is due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami.

Trump indicted in classified documents case; historic first for a former president

OMAHA — A $25 million gift from a local philanthropist couple is to transform “The Barn” at the University of Nebraska’s rural agricultural campus and also spur more innovative projects at NU’s urban Omaha campus.

Announced Wednesday, the pledge by Barbara and Wally Weitz of Omaha will direct $19 million to UNO and $6 million to the College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Nebraska.

The gift is part of “Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future” — an effort to encourage benefactors to give a total of $3 billion to support NU students, faculty, research and programs addressing needs of Nebraska. The Weitzes are campaign chairs.

At the Curtis campus, the funds are to contribute to the renovation and expansion of a building students call “The Barn” into the Student Success and Activity Center. Originally built in 1917, the structure was the original gymnasium for the campus and now serves as a café and meeting place.&nbsp;

The $6 million from the Weitzes, said to be the largest donation to that rural arm of NU, is to match other private donations. Work on the $12 million project, intended to double the size and create more community event space, is to launch after fundraising is complete.&nbsp;

Barbara Weitz, a member of the NU Board of Regents, said she was “charmed” by the Curtis campus and called it a “too well-kept secret south of North Platte.”

“It is a seemingly small but remarkably important part of our commitment to bring resources, faculty and students to improving our agricultural knowledge and workforce in Nebraska,” she said.

The funds were inspired by the couple’s desire to promote workforce development in the agricultural sector and improve educational opportunities in rural Nebraska, said a statement by the University of Nebraska Foundation.&nbsp;

NCTA, a two-year school, seeks to grow from under 300 students to 500 in the next 10 years.

“We are teaching agriculture ‘in the field’ at the collegiate level, with the latest technology and practices in our academic programs,” said Larry Gossen, dean of NCTA. Programs include agronomy, animal science, equine industry management, ag mechanics, irrigation technology and agribusiness and veterinary technology.

Gossen foresees the student center project as a gathering place students will be proud of, where they can study, socialize and dine.

“It will draw in students living off-campus and generate the energy and excitement our students need to feel a sense of belonging,” he said.

At UNO, the Weitzes directed $14 million to create the Weitz Innovation and Excellence Fund, which is designed to elevate good programs to nationally recognized ones.

“UNO will have discretion in how to use these funds,” Wally Weitz said. “We have trust in the people doing the work to come up with the best ideas for our students and the community.”

UNO Chancellor Joanne Li is to request proposals annually that will be reviewed by a committee of senior faculty. She said projects are to be selected with an eye toward how they strengthen the community and state as a whole.

The fund, Li said, “will support our faculty to dream big and realize opportunities to make the future of Nebraska’s teaching, working and learning a reality.”

The remaining $5 million is to support the Barbara and Wally Weitz Endowed Chair in Higher Education Leadership. Awarded to the UNO chancellor, it is to aid in recruitment and retention of top leadership. The investment is to provide an estimated $200,000 in annual distributions to support the chancellor’s strategic priorities.

Barbara Weitz is also a retired faculty member of UNO’s Grace Abbott School of Social Work. Wally is founder and co-chair of the Omaha-based Weitz Investment Management.

UNO and the NU system are important to the state’s economy, Barbara Weitz said.

“We must have well-educated citizens for Nebraska,” she said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1686253928204.png" alt="Rendering of the exterior of a planned $12 million expanded student and community center at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Nebraska. (Courtesy of CG ID Architecture)" />
 <figcaption>Rendering of the exterior of a planned $12 million expanded student and community center at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Nebraska. (Courtesy of CG ID Architecture)</figcaption>
 </figure>OMAHA — A $25 million gift from a local philanthropist couple is to transform “The Barn” at the University of Nebraska’s rural agricultural campus and also spur more innovative projects at NU’s urban Omaha campus.Announced Wednesday, the pledge by Barbara and Wally Weitz of Omaha will direct $19 million to UNO and $6 million to the College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Nebraska.The gift is part of “Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future” — an effort to encourage benefactors to give a total of $3 billion to support NU students, faculty, research and programs addressing needs of Nebraska. The Weitzes are campaign chairs.<h2>‘Well-kept secret’</h2>At the Curtis campus, the funds are to contribute to the renovation and expansion of a building students call “The Barn” into the Student Success and Activity Center. Originally built in 1917, the structure was the original gymnasium for the campus and now serves as a café and meeting place.&nbsp;The $6 million from the Weitzes, said to be the largest donation to that rural arm of NU, is to match other private donations. Work on the $12 million project, intended to double the size and create more community event space, is to launch after fundraising is complete.&nbsp;Barbara Weitz, a member of the NU Board of Regents, said she was “charmed” by the Curtis campus and called it a “too well-kept secret south of North Platte.”“It is a seemingly small but remarkably important part of our commitment to bring resources, faculty and students to improving our agricultural knowledge and workforce in Nebraska,” she said.The funds were inspired by the couple’s desire to promote workforce development in the agricultural sector and improve educational opportunities in rural Nebraska, said a statement by the University of Nebraska Foundation.&nbsp;NCTA, a two-year school, seeks to grow from under 300 students to 500 in the next 10 years.“We are teaching agriculture ‘in the field’ at the collegiate level, with the latest technology and practices in our academic programs,” said Larry Gossen, dean of NCTA. Programs include agronomy, animal science, equine industry management, ag mechanics, irrigation technology and agribusiness and veterinary technology.Gossen foresees the student center project as a gathering place students will be proud of, where they can study, socialize and dine.“It will draw in students living off-campus and generate the energy and excitement our students need to feel a sense of belonging,” he said.<h2>On to national prominence</h2>At UNO, the Weitzes directed $14 million to create the Weitz Innovation and Excellence Fund, which is designed to elevate good programs to nationally recognized ones.“UNO will have discretion in how to use these funds,” Wally Weitz said. “We have trust in the people doing the work to come up with the best ideas for our students and the community.”UNO Chancellor Joanne Li is to request proposals annually that will be reviewed by a committee of senior faculty. She said projects are to be selected with an eye toward how they strengthen the community and state as a whole.The fund, Li said, “will support our faculty to dream big and realize opportunities to make the future of Nebraska’s teaching, working and learning a reality.”The remaining $5 million is to support the Barbara and Wally Weitz Endowed Chair in Higher Education Leadership. Awarded to the UNO chancellor, it is to aid in recruitment and retention of top leadership. The investment is to provide an estimated $200,000 in annual distributions to support the chancellor’s strategic priorities.Barbara Weitz is also a retired faculty member of UNO’s Grace Abbott School of Social Work. Wally is founder and co-chair of the Omaha-based Weitz Investment Management.UNO and the NU system are important to the state’s economy, Barbara Weitz said.“We must have well-educated citizens for Nebraska,” she said.

$25 million gift to NU will expand ‘The Barn’ into a rural student center

WASHINGTON (AP) — Willa Cather, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author renowned for her portrayal of the lives of pioneer settlers in the U.S. Heartland, was honored Wednesday with the unveiling of a bronze statue in her likeness in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.

(Click below to watch a replay of the ceremony)

The statue’s creator, Littleton Alston, a professor of sculpture at Creighton University, is the first Black artist to have work represented in the national collection.

Cather, whose works include “My Ántonia” and “O Pioneers,” spent her young years in Red Cloud, Nebraska, and graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1895. She won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel “One of Ours.”

U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, a Republican from Nebraska, noted that Cather was a trailblazer in the literary world who has earned a lasting place among the great American writers.

And U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska said Cather’s fiction “truly feels like it grew from the soil of Nebraska.”

“For decades until her death in 1947, Cather was unable to shake her creative spirit away from its home on the open plains of the Heartland,” Fischer said.

“You’re work inspires us, and hopefully this experience can inspire all of us in this room to go home and to do a little bit more than we ever thought we could,” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told the crowd that Cather’s prose is still celebrated because it gave a voice to pioneers who chose to take a chance for a better life.

“Nebraskans are lucky to call Willa Cather one of their own,” McCarthy said. “But ultimately, her work belongs here because it is American to the core. Her authenticity, emotion, artistry spoke of Americans’ fundamental values. Ultimately, it reminds us that this is a land of opportunity.”

Each state has two statues at the U.S. Capitol, with many in the Statuary Hall. Nebraska’s other statue, of Ponca Chief Standing Bear, was unveiled in 2019.

U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic minority leader of the House, said Cather was the first Pulitzer Prize winner and 12th woman recognized in the collection. He said she and Standing Bear captured “the heart and soul of the great state of Nebraska.”

“Her stories are the stories of people who risked everything,” Jeffries said. “She captured in such a powerful way the story of America and our country’s exceptionalism.”

By ASHLEY MURRAY <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/03/30/u-s-judge-rules-insurers-dont-have-to-cover-many-free-preventive-health-services/">States Newsroom</a>

WASHINGTON — Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather, who brought to life the Great Plains of Nebraska, is now honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol, becoming the 12th woman represented in the National Statuary Hall Collection.

U.S. and Nebraska lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled the bronze figure of the woman who wrote the widely acclaimed “O Pioneers!,” “My Ántonia” and the Pulitzer-winning “One of Ours,” depicting the human experience in Nebraska and beyond in the years surrounding the turn of the 20th century.

“‘Let your fiction grow out of the land beneath your feet,’ this quote attributed to Cather, is an apt summation of the author’s life and work,” Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska said at the morning ceremony in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. “Cather’s vivid, reflective writing has become synonymous with the pioneer spirit of Nebraska.”

Omaha sculptor Littleton Alston, who created the Cather statue, becomes the first Black artist to have a piece in the collection. Alston is an&nbsp;associate professor of sculpture at Creighton University.

“Thank you sir, for capturing this American hero’s impact on this nation and on our literary canon with such dignity and honor,” U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said to Alston, who sat with his family in the front row. Jeffries is the first Black party leader in the House.

Lawmakers from both parties delivered remarks to the hundreds seated in the hall to watch as a black cloth was ceremoniously removed to reveal Cather’s likeness.

Alston sculpted Cather in motion, walking through the open Nebraska prairie with a walking stick in her right hand. Cather is dressed in her field research clothing — a large, brimmed hat and a wool jacket — and holds a writing pen and paper in her left hand.&nbsp;

Goldenrod, the Nebraska state flower, and a Western meadowlark, the state bird, are depicted at her feet.&nbsp;

“I’ve portrayed Cather as a mature artist in her prime,” Alston said in 2021 upon the approval of his final design by the Architect of the Capitol. He added: “I sought to capture Willa Cather’s spirit, coupled with her achievements and aspirations, in this sculpture. I hope it will provide insight into Cather and her literature for viewers both young and old.”

Cather is Nebraska’s most recent addition to the U.S. Capitol, erected alongside the state’s other effigy, of Chief Standing Bear, a Native American of the Ponca Tribe, installed in 2019. The two bronze figures frame the entrance to the south corridor leading from Statuary Hall to the House chamber.

"As anyone walks (to the chamber) you’ll see these two today,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said to the crowd.&nbsp;

“Willa’s statue stands today as a monument to her incredible legacy and our people’s incredible spirit,” McCarthy, a California Republican, later continued. “Today we should celebrate the progress that America continues to make as a land of opportunity, but it is equally important that we follow in the footsteps of Willa’s pioneers.”

Each state can contribute two statues to the Capitol’s collection. Standing Bear and Cather replace Nebraska’s former statues — Populist lawmaker William Jennings Bryan and former Secretary of Agriculture J. Sterling Morton.

Cather was born in Back Creek Valley, Virginia, in 1873 and later moved with her family to Webster County, Nebraska, at the age of 9 before relocating to Red Cloud.

She attended the University of Nebraska but began her writing career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she worked as a journalist and teacher for a decade.&nbsp;

In 1908, she moved to New York City, where she worked as the managing editor of McClure’s Magazine before dedicating her focus to her own literary works that gained both national and international readers.

Cather, who authored 12 novels and many works of short fiction, poetry and nonfiction, was awarded the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for “One of Ours,” the story of a Nebraska man who fights in World War I.

Cather died in 1947, age 73, in Manhattan. She is buried in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

“Willa Cather was always a champion for Nebraska. While her writing spans settings that include the desert Southwest, 17th-century Quebec and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, among others, many of her most well-known stories are about Nebraska and its people. I hope her representation in our U.S Capitol will encourage even more readers to discover the beauty and complexity of her writing,” said Ashley Olson, executive director of the National Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1686173046821.png" alt="A crowd gathered to photograph the bronze statue of author Willa Cather after a dedication ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall on Wednesday June 7, 2023. The Cather statue is Nebraska’s second added to the National Statuary Hall Collection. (Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)" />
 <figcaption>A crowd gathered to photograph the bronze statue of author Willa Cather after a dedication ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall on Wednesday June 7, 2023. The Cather statue is Nebraska’s second added to the National Statuary Hall Collection. (Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Willa Cather, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author renowned for her portrayal of the lives of pioneer settlers in the U.S. Heartland, was honored Wednesday with the unveiling of a bronze statue in her likeness in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.(Click below to watch a replay of the ceremony)<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/icmwM9y618o?start=511" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>The statue’s creator, Littleton Alston, a professor of sculpture at Creighton University, is the first Black artist to have work represented in the national collection.Cather, whose works include “My Ántonia” and “O Pioneers,” spent her young years in Red Cloud, Nebraska, and graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1895. She won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel “One of Ours.”U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, a Republican from Nebraska, noted that Cather was a trailblazer in the literary world who has earned a lasting place among the great American writers.And U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska said Cather’s fiction “truly feels like it grew from the soil of Nebraska.”“For decades until her death in 1947, Cather was unable to shake her creative spirit away from its home on the open plains of the Heartland,” Fischer said.Officials also recognized Alston.“You’re work inspires us, and hopefully this experience can inspire all of us in this room to go home and to do a little bit more than we ever thought we could,” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said.Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told the crowd that Cather’s prose is still celebrated because it gave a voice to pioneers who chose to take a chance for a better life.“Nebraskans are lucky to call Willa Cather one of their own,” McCarthy said. “But ultimately, her work belongs here because it is American to the core. Her authenticity, emotion, artistry spoke of Americans’ fundamental values. Ultimately, it reminds us that this is a land of opportunity.”Each state has two statues at the U.S. Capitol, with many in the Statuary Hall. Nebraska’s other statue, of Ponca Chief Standing Bear, was unveiled in 2019.U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic minority leader of the House, said Cather was the first Pulitzer Prize winner and 12th woman recognized in the collection. He said she and Standing Bear captured “the heart and soul of the great state of Nebraska.”“Her stories are the stories of people who risked everything,” Jeffries said. “She captured in such a powerful way the story of America and our country’s exceptionalism.”---------------By ASHLEY MURRAY <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/03/30/u-s-judge-rules-insurers-dont-have-to-cover-many-free-preventive-health-services/">States Newsroom</a>WASHINGTON — Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather, who brought to life the Great Plains of Nebraska, is now honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol, becoming the 12th woman represented in the National Statuary Hall Collection.U.S. and Nebraska lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled the bronze figure of the woman who wrote the widely acclaimed “O Pioneers!,” “My Ántonia” and the Pulitzer-winning “One of Ours,” depicting the human experience in Nebraska and beyond in the years surrounding the turn of the 20th century.“‘Let your fiction grow out of the land beneath your feet,’ this quote attributed to Cather, is an apt summation of the author’s life and work,” Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska said at the morning ceremony in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. “Cather’s vivid, reflective writing has become synonymous with the pioneer spirit of Nebraska.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1686173095001.png" alt="Littleton Alston, associate professor of sculpture at Creighton University in Omaha, stands next to his bronze depiction of author Willa Cather after a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday June 7, 2023. Alston was selected from over 70 artists to create the statue and becomes the first African American artist to have a sculpture in the National Statuary Hall Collection. (Ashley Murray/StatesNewsroom)" />
 <figcaption>Littleton Alston, associate professor of sculpture at Creighton University in Omaha, stands next to his bronze depiction of author Willa Cather after a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday June 7, 2023. Alston was selected from over 70 artists to create the statue and becomes the first African American artist to have a sculpture in the National Statuary Hall Collection. (Ashley Murray/StatesNewsroom)</figcaption>
 </figure>Omaha sculptor Littleton Alston, who created the Cather statue, becomes the first Black artist to have a piece in the collection. Alston is an&nbsp;associate professor of sculpture at Creighton University.“Thank you sir, for capturing this American hero’s impact on this nation and on our literary canon with such dignity and honor,” U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said to Alston, who sat with his family in the front row. Jeffries is the first Black party leader in the House.Lawmakers from both parties delivered remarks to the hundreds seated in the hall to watch as a black cloth was ceremoniously removed to reveal Cather’s likeness.Alston sculpted Cather in motion, walking through the open Nebraska prairie with a walking stick in her right hand. Cather is dressed in her field research clothing — a large, brimmed hat and a wool jacket — and holds a writing pen and paper in her left hand.&nbsp;Goldenrod, the Nebraska state flower, and a Western meadowlark, the state bird, are depicted at her feet.&nbsp;“I’ve portrayed Cather as a mature artist in her prime,” Alston said in 2021 upon the approval of his final design by the Architect of the Capitol. He added: “I sought to capture Willa Cather’s spirit, coupled with her achievements and aspirations, in this sculpture. I hope it will provide insight into Cather and her literature for viewers both young and old.”Cather is Nebraska’s most recent addition to the U.S. Capitol, erected alongside the state’s other effigy, of Chief Standing Bear, a Native American of the Ponca Tribe, installed in 2019. The two bronze figures frame the entrance to the south corridor leading from Statuary Hall to the House chamber."As anyone walks (to the chamber) you’ll see these two today,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said to the crowd.&nbsp;“Willa’s statue stands today as a monument to her incredible legacy and our people’s incredible spirit,” McCarthy, a California Republican, later continued. “Today we should celebrate the progress that America continues to make as a land of opportunity, but it is equally important that we follow in the footsteps of Willa’s pioneers.”Each state can contribute two statues to the Capitol’s collection. Standing Bear and Cather replace Nebraska’s former statues — Populist lawmaker William Jennings Bryan and former Secretary of Agriculture J. Sterling Morton.<h2>Cather’s life</h2>Cather was born in Back Creek Valley, Virginia, in 1873 and later moved with her family to Webster County, Nebraska, at the age of 9 before relocating to Red Cloud.She attended the University of Nebraska but began her writing career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she worked as a journalist and teacher for a decade.&nbsp;In 1908, she moved to New York City, where she worked as the managing editor of McClure’s Magazine before dedicating her focus to her own literary works that gained both national and international readers.Cather, who authored 12 novels and many works of short fiction, poetry and nonfiction, was awarded the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for “One of Ours,” the story of a Nebraska man who fights in World War I.Cather died in 1947, age 73, in Manhattan. She is buried in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.“Willa Cather was always a champion for Nebraska. While her writing spans settings that include the desert Southwest, 17th-century Quebec and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, among others, many of her most well-known stories are about Nebraska and its people. I hope her representation in our U.S Capitol will encourage even more readers to discover the beauty and complexity of her writing,” said Ashley Olson, executive director of the National Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud.

🎥 Congress unveils a new Statue: Willa Cather of Nebraska

WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;unveiled new initiatives Thursday to protect LGBTQ+ communities but hastily postponed a big Pride Month celebration on the White House lawn with thousands of guests from around the country because of poor air quality from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-canada-quebec-3291016eaa4905177c90feae02a139c5">the Canadian wildfires</a>.

The event, which will now be held on Saturday, was intended to be a high-profile show of support at a time when members of the LGBTQ+ community feel under attack like never before and the White House has little recourse to beat back a flood of state-level legislation against them.

The Biden administration announced initiatives designed to protect LGBTQ+ communities from attack, help young people with mental health issues and homelessness, and counter&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">book bans</a>, though the effects may be limited. Biden was to discuss them at the event, which the White House had said would be the largest Pride Month celebration ever held there.

Thousands of guests had been invited from around the country for an evening filled with food, games and other activities on the South Lawn. Queen HD the DJ was handling the music, and singer Betty Who was on tap to perform.

But the nation’s capital by late morning Thursday was under a “code purple” air quality alert, the fifth-highest level on the six-level&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/">U.S. air quality index</a>, with authorities recommending that everyone limit their exposure to the hazardous smoke wafting south from Canada. District of Columbia schools canceled all outdoor activities for a second day Thursday, and the National Zoo also closed.

The White House initially resisted altering its plans for the celebration, saying there were no changes, even as the air quality steadily worsened along the East Coast on Wednesday and into Thursday.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay White House press secretary, said Wednesday that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses are strong supporters of the LGBTQ+ community and think a celebration is an important way to “lift up” their accomplishments and contributions. She said LGBTQ+ people need to know Biden “has their back” and “will continue to fight for them. And that’s the message that we want to make sure that gets out there.”

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer individuals, earlier this week declared&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-emergency-human-rights-campaign-guidebook-5a1195f8a6759bdfd37cd7f5a6c5ee34">a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ individuals</a>&nbsp;in the United States and released a guidebook outlining laws it deems discriminatory in each state.

Just a few days into June's Pride Month, the campaign said it acted in response to an “unprecedented and dangerous” spike in discriminatory laws sweeping statehouses this year, with more than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced and more than 70 signed into law so far — more than double last year’s number.

Kelley Robinson, the campaign's president, called for a “swift and powerful” response by people in power, including in government, business and education.

"This is a full-out crisis for our communities that demands a concerted response," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think this is kind of a national call to action and a call to arms to stand up and fight back.”

Biden, a Democrat, announced that the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, will partner with LGBTQ+ community organizations to provide safety resources and training to help thwart violent attacks.

Separately, HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide resources to help LGBTQ+ young people with mental health needs, support in foster care and homelessness.

To confront a spike in book bans, the Department of Education's civil rights office will appoint a new coordinator to work with schools to address that threat. The White House said banning books erodes democracy, deprives students of material needed for learning and can contribute to the stigma and isolation that LGBTQ+ youth feel because books about them are often the ones that are prohibited.

The White House points to Biden's support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals. He has appointed many to prominent positions in the White House, such as Jean-Pierre, and throughout the federal government. He signed legislation to protect&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-marriage-united-states-government-virginia-state-4968ff59107e511609fc3e301890942e">marriage equality</a>&nbsp;and continues to urge Congress to send him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-vote-lgbtq-protections-9347578b80d3ad3ac4b92365da81096e">the Equality Act</a>, which would add civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ individuals to federal law.

Polls show public support for the rights of people who are gay and lesbian has expanded dramatically over the last two decades, with about 7 in 10 U.S. adults in polling by Gallup saying that marriages between same-sex adults should be legally valid and that gay and lesbian relationships are morally acceptable.

But attitudes toward transgender people are complex: In polls conducted in 2022 by KFF and the Washington Post and by the Pew Research Center, majorities said they support laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in areas such as housing, jobs and schools.

At the same time, both polls found that a majority of Americans think that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by sex assigned at birth, and many also support restrictive policies aimed at people who are transgender, for example preventing transgender women and girls from participating in sports teams matching their gender identity, along with restrictions on access to medical treatment like puberty blockers and hormone treatment for transgender teens and children.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;has invited thousands of LGBTQ+ individuals to celebrate Pride Month on Thursday in a high-profile show of support at a time when the community feels under attack like never before and the White House has little recourse to beat back a flood of state-level legislation against them.

Biden announced new initiatives to protect LGBTQ+ communities from attacks, help youths with mental health resources and homelessness and counter book bans, though the impacts may be limited.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay White House press secretary, said Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses are strong supporters of the LGBTQ+ community and think that having a celebration is an important way to “lift up” their accomplishments and contributions.

She said LGBTQ+ people need to know that Biden “has their back” and “will continue to fight for them. And that’s the message that we want to make sure that gets out there.”

The White House was closely monitoring air quality due to hazardous smoke from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/canada-wildfires-air-quality-8af805b127ba4d4f5933463cf8fdc746">Canadian wildfires</a>&nbsp;to determine whether to proceed with plans for a Thursday night picnic featuring food, games, face painting and photos. Queen HD the DJ was handling the music; singer Betty Who was on tap to perform. The nation's capital was under a “code purple” air quality alert, the fifth-highest level on the six-level&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/">U.S. air quality index</a>, with authorities recommending that all people limit their exposure to smoke, and District of Columbia schools canceled all outdoor activities for a second day Thursday.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer individuals, earlier this week declared a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-emergency-human-rights-campaign-guidebook-5a1195f8a6759bdfd37cd7f5a6c5ee34">state of emergency for LGBTQ+ individuals</a>&nbsp;in the United States and released a guidebook outlining laws it deems discriminatory in each state.

Hundreds of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-transgender-rights-rainbow-flag-gay-pride-bbab91ca858e13b3aca88afbbef35843">bills have been proposed</a>&nbsp;restricting the rights of transgender people, including limiting their access to certain forms of health care, and LGBTQ+ advocates say they’ve seen a record number of such measures&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/restrictions-targeting-transgender-people-legislative-updates-df66b5a86be47b03dd5a50449d239275">in statehouses</a>.

The White House points to Biden's support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals, including appointing them to prominent positions in the White House, such as Jean-Pierre, and across the federal government.

After the Supreme Court last year overturned a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, Biden signed legislation to protect&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-marriage-united-states-government-virginia-state-4968ff59107e511609fc3e301890942e">marriage equality</a>. He continues to urge Congress to send him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-vote-lgbtq-protections-9347578b80d3ad3ac4b92365da81096e">the Equality Act</a>, which would add civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ individuals to federal law.

The Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBTQ+ conservatives, criticized the Human Rights Campaign's declaration of a “state of emergency” as a “PR stunt so ignorantly detached” from the community's progress over the past decade.

Charles Moran, the group's president, noted the gay marriage legislation Biden signed, increased public support for equal rights for LGBTQ+ Americans and their higher visibility across society and accused the campaign of “destructively redefining” support for these individuals around trans surgeries for minors, biological men competing in women’s sports, and sex and gender identity lessons in kindergarten.

“While these issues can be emotional and complex, they in no way pose an unprecedented ‘state of emergency’ to the LGBT community, which has persevered through far worse,” Moran said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1656015992947.png" alt="President Biden during a White House Pride Month reception in June of 2022-photo courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>President Biden during a White House Pride Month reception in June of 2022-photo courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;unveiled new initiatives Thursday to protect LGBTQ+ communities but hastily postponed a big Pride Month celebration on the White House lawn with thousands of guests from around the country because of poor air quality from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-canada-quebec-3291016eaa4905177c90feae02a139c5">the Canadian wildfires</a>.The event, which will now be held on Saturday, was intended to be a high-profile show of support at a time when members of the LGBTQ+ community feel under attack like never before and the White House has little recourse to beat back a flood of state-level legislation against them.The Biden administration announced initiatives designed to protect LGBTQ+ communities from attack, help young people with mental health issues and homelessness, and counter&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">book bans</a>, though the effects may be limited. Biden was to discuss them at the event, which the White House had said would be the largest Pride Month celebration ever held there.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671017343149.png" alt="In December the White House lit up&nbsp; rainbow to celebrate Biden's signature on a gay marriage bill- White House&nbsp; photo" />
 <figcaption>In December the White House lit up&nbsp; rainbow to celebrate Biden's signature on a gay marriage bill- White House&nbsp; photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Thousands of guests had been invited from around the country for an evening filled with food, games and other activities on the South Lawn. Queen HD the DJ was handling the music, and singer Betty Who was on tap to perform.But the nation’s capital by late morning Thursday was under a “code purple” air quality alert, the fifth-highest level on the six-level&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/">U.S. air quality index</a>, with authorities recommending that everyone limit their exposure to the hazardous smoke wafting south from Canada. District of Columbia schools canceled all outdoor activities for a second day Thursday, and the National Zoo also closed.The White House initially resisted altering its plans for the celebration, saying there were no changes, even as the air quality steadily worsened along the East Coast on Wednesday and into Thursday.Karine Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay White House press secretary, said Wednesday that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses are strong supporters of the LGBTQ+ community and think a celebration is an important way to “lift up” their accomplishments and contributions. She said LGBTQ+ people need to know Biden “has their back” and “will continue to fight for them. And that’s the message that we want to make sure that gets out there.”The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer individuals, earlier this week declared&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-emergency-human-rights-campaign-guidebook-5a1195f8a6759bdfd37cd7f5a6c5ee34">a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ individuals</a>&nbsp;in the United States and released a guidebook outlining laws it deems discriminatory in each state.Just a few days into June's Pride Month, the campaign said it acted in response to an “unprecedented and dangerous” spike in discriminatory laws sweeping statehouses this year, with more than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced and more than 70 signed into law so far — more than double last year’s number.Kelley Robinson, the campaign's president, called for a “swift and powerful” response by people in power, including in government, business and education."This is a full-out crisis for our communities that demands a concerted response," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think this is kind of a national call to action and a call to arms to stand up and fight back.”Biden, a Democrat, announced that the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, will partner with LGBTQ+ community organizations to provide safety resources and training to help thwart violent attacks.Separately, HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide resources to help LGBTQ+ young people with mental health needs, support in foster care and homelessness.To confront a spike in book bans, the Department of Education's civil rights office will appoint a new coordinator to work with schools to address that threat. The White House said banning books erodes democracy, deprives students of material needed for learning and can contribute to the stigma and isolation that LGBTQ+ youth feel because books about them are often the ones that are prohibited.The White House points to Biden's support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals. He has appointed many to prominent positions in the White House, such as Jean-Pierre, and throughout the federal government. He signed legislation to protect&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-marriage-united-states-government-virginia-state-4968ff59107e511609fc3e301890942e">marriage equality</a>&nbsp;and continues to urge Congress to send him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-vote-lgbtq-protections-9347578b80d3ad3ac4b92365da81096e">the Equality Act</a>, which would add civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ individuals to federal law.Polls show public support for the rights of people who are gay and lesbian has expanded dramatically over the last two decades, with about 7 in 10 U.S. adults in polling by Gallup saying that marriages between same-sex adults should be legally valid and that gay and lesbian relationships are morally acceptable.But attitudes toward transgender people are complex: In polls conducted in 2022 by KFF and the Washington Post and by the Pew Research Center, majorities said they support laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in areas such as housing, jobs and schools.At the same time, both polls found that a majority of Americans think that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by sex assigned at birth, and many also support restrictive policies aimed at people who are transgender, for example preventing transgender women and girls from participating in sports teams matching their gender identity, along with restrictions on access to medical treatment like puberty blockers and hormone treatment for transgender teens and children.___WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;has invited thousands of LGBTQ+ individuals to celebrate Pride Month on Thursday in a high-profile show of support at a time when the community feels under attack like never before and the White House has little recourse to beat back a flood of state-level legislation against them.Biden announced new initiatives to protect LGBTQ+ communities from attacks, help youths with mental health resources and homelessness and counter book bans, though the impacts may be limited.Karine Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay White House press secretary, said Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses are strong supporters of the LGBTQ+ community and think that having a celebration is an important way to “lift up” their accomplishments and contributions.She said LGBTQ+ people need to know that Biden “has their back” and “will continue to fight for them. And that’s the message that we want to make sure that gets out there.”The White House was closely monitoring air quality due to hazardous smoke from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/canada-wildfires-air-quality-8af805b127ba4d4f5933463cf8fdc746">Canadian wildfires</a>&nbsp;to determine whether to proceed with plans for a Thursday night picnic featuring food, games, face painting and photos. Queen HD the DJ was handling the music; singer Betty Who was on tap to perform. The nation's capital was under a “code purple” air quality alert, the fifth-highest level on the six-level&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/">U.S. air quality index</a>, with authorities recommending that all people limit their exposure to smoke, and District of Columbia schools canceled all outdoor activities for a second day Thursday.The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer individuals, earlier this week declared a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-emergency-human-rights-campaign-guidebook-5a1195f8a6759bdfd37cd7f5a6c5ee34">state of emergency for LGBTQ+ individuals</a>&nbsp;in the United States and released a guidebook outlining laws it deems discriminatory in each state.Just a few days into June's Pride Month, the campaign said it acted in response to an “unprecedented and dangerous” spike in discriminatory laws sweeping statehouses this year, with more than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced and more than 70 signed into law so far — more than double last year’s number.Kelley Robinson, the campaign's president, called for a “swift and powerful” response by people in power, including in government, business and education."This is a full-out crisis for our communities that demands a concerted response," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think this is kind of a national call to action and a call to arms to stand up and fight back.”Biden, a Democrat, announced that the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, will partner with LGBTQ+ community organizations to provide safety resources and training to help thwart violent attacks.Separately, HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide resources to help LGBTQ+ young people with mental health needs, support in foster care and homelessness.To confront a spike in book bans, the Department of Education's civil rights office will appoint a new coordinator to work with schools to address that threat. The White House said banning books erodes democracy, deprives students of material needed for learning and can contribute to the stigma and isolation that LGBTQ+ youth feel because books about them are often the ones that are prohibited.Hundreds of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-transgender-rights-rainbow-flag-gay-pride-bbab91ca858e13b3aca88afbbef35843">bills have been proposed</a>&nbsp;restricting the rights of transgender people, including limiting their access to certain forms of health care, and LGBTQ+ advocates say they’ve seen a record number of such measures&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/restrictions-targeting-transgender-people-legislative-updates-df66b5a86be47b03dd5a50449d239275">in statehouses</a>.The White House points to Biden's support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals, including appointing them to prominent positions in the White House, such as Jean-Pierre, and across the federal government.After the Supreme Court last year overturned a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, Biden signed legislation to protect&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-marriage-united-states-government-virginia-state-4968ff59107e511609fc3e301890942e">marriage equality</a>. He continues to urge Congress to send him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-vote-lgbtq-protections-9347578b80d3ad3ac4b92365da81096e">the Equality Act</a>, which would add civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ individuals to federal law.Polls show public support for the rights of people who are gay and lesbian has expanded dramatically over the last two decades, with about 7 in 10 U.S. adults in polling by Gallup saying that marriages between same-sex adults should be legally valid and that gay and lesbian relationships are morally acceptable.But attitudes toward transgender people are complex: In polls conducted in 2022 by KFF and the Washington Post and by the Pew Research Center, majorities said they support laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in areas such as housing, jobs and schools.At the same time, both polls found that a majority of Americans think that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by sex assigned at birth, and many also support restrictive policies aimed at people who are transgender, for example preventing transgender women and girls from participating in sports teams matching their gender identity, along with restrictions on access to medical treatment like puberty blockers and hormone treatment for transgender teens and children.The Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBTQ+ conservatives, criticized the Human Rights Campaign's declaration of a “state of emergency” as a “PR stunt so ignorantly detached” from the community's progress over the past decade.Charles Moran, the group's president, noted the gay marriage legislation Biden signed, increased public support for equal rights for LGBTQ+ Americans and their higher visibility across society and accused the campaign of “destructively redefining” support for these individuals around trans surgeries for minors, biological men competing in women’s sports, and sex and gender identity lessons in kindergarten.“While these issues can be emotional and complex, they in no way pose an unprecedented ‘state of emergency’ to the LGBT community, which has persevered through far worse,” Moran said.___

Pride Month: Biden unveils updated LGBTQ+ initiatives 

By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/06/grieving-moms-plea-to-kansas-lawmakers-do-something-this-epidemic-is-killing-our-kids/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner of Kansas denounced the decision of manufacturers to stop installing AM radio systems in new vehicles, arguing millions of people rely on that format for weather, agriculture and emergency information as well as conservative news and talk shows.

LaTurner, a Republican who serves the 2nd District in eastern Kansas, introduced a two-page nonbinding resolution with U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, a Missouri Republican, to amplify criticism of manufacturers that made the decision or were contemplating removal of AM radio technology from new vehicles, especially electric cars.

“Millions of Americans across the country rely on AM radio for crucial information or as an alternative to mainstream media outlets,” LaTurner said. “Not only is AM radio vital to the freedom of expression and ideas, but it also provides weather updates, crop reports, and emergency alerts to rural communities across America that can’t access cellular or broadband networks.”

Alford, the 4th District congressman in Missouri and a former television news anchor in the Kansas City market, said commercial radio on the AM dial was a vital communications tool.

“This isn’t a dying medium,” he said. “It’s a vibrant network that connects diverse communities across our nation. As members of Congress, it is our duty to protect this resource at all costs.”

Volvo, BMW, Tesla, Volkswagen and Mazda were among companies that moved to drop AM radio from new electric cars in wake of consternation with the irritating buzz of electromagnetic interference with audio from AM stations.

In May, bills were introduced in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate directing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to step into the marketplace with a rule requiring automakers to install AM radio in vehicles without assessing customers a special payment, fee or surcharge.

That legislation also would mandate the Government Accountability Office determine whether alternative communication systems could replicate effectiveness of AM radio in alerting the public to local, state and federal emergencies.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey and sponsor of the federal AM for Every Vehicle Act, said if Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk could buy Twitter and run SpaceX rocket company it shouldn’t be a problem for him to include AM radio in Tesla vehicles.

“The importance of AM radio during large-scale emergencies cannot be underestimated,” Gottheimer said. “When the cell phone runs out, the internet gets cut off or the television doesn’t work because of no electricity or power to your house, you can still turn on your AM radio.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1686074395960.png" alt=" U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, a Kansas Republican, introduced a nonbinding resolution supporting an effort to convince vehicle manufacturers to continue installing AM radio technology at the factory. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, a Kansas Republican, introduced a nonbinding resolution supporting an effort to convince vehicle manufacturers to continue installing AM radio technology at the factory. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/06/grieving-moms-plea-to-kansas-lawmakers-do-something-this-epidemic-is-killing-our-kids/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner of Kansas denounced the decision of manufacturers to stop installing AM radio systems in new vehicles, arguing millions of people rely on that format for weather, agriculture and emergency information as well as conservative news and talk shows.LaTurner, a Republican who serves the 2nd District in eastern Kansas, introduced a two-page nonbinding resolution with U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, a Missouri Republican, to amplify criticism of manufacturers that made the decision or were contemplating removal of AM radio technology from new vehicles, especially electric cars.“Millions of Americans across the country rely on AM radio for crucial information or as an alternative to mainstream media outlets,” LaTurner said. “Not only is AM radio vital to the freedom of expression and ideas, but it also provides weather updates, crop reports, and emergency alerts to rural communities across America that can’t access cellular or broadband networks.”Alford, the 4th District congressman in Missouri and a former television news anchor in the Kansas City market, said commercial radio on the AM dial was a vital communications tool.“This isn’t a dying medium,” he said. “It’s a vibrant network that connects diverse communities across our nation. As members of Congress, it is our duty to protect this resource at all costs.”Volvo, BMW, Tesla, Volkswagen and Mazda were among companies that moved to drop AM radio from new electric cars in wake of consternation with the irritating buzz of electromagnetic interference with audio from AM stations.In May, bills were introduced in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate directing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to step into the marketplace with a rule requiring automakers to install AM radio in vehicles without assessing customers a special payment, fee or surcharge.That legislation also would mandate the Government Accountability Office determine whether alternative communication systems could replicate effectiveness of AM radio in alerting the public to local, state and federal emergencies.U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey and sponsor of the federal AM for Every Vehicle Act, said if Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk could buy Twitter and run SpaceX rocket company it shouldn’t be a problem for him to include AM radio in Tesla vehicles.“The importance of AM radio during large-scale emergencies cannot be underestimated,” Gottheimer said. “When the cell phone runs out, the internet gets cut off or the television doesn’t work because of no electricity or power to your house, you can still turn on your AM radio.”

Kan. Rep. turns up volume on opposition to elimination of AM radio from new vehicles

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have canceled his plan to forgive student debt.

The measure had been pushed by Republicans, but it garnered a handful of Democratic votes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loans-cancellation-debt-college-biden-veto-df3b377dd651153cbc7d5e04bfb7094f">in the Senate</a>&nbsp;as well. Kansas Senators voted to end Biden's plan.

Despite the veto, Biden’s plan still isn’t secure. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-hearing-2128da75fc27ff3bcc0c3804ebd98aa7">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;will have the final say on the issue. A decision from the court is expected this summer.

“It is a shame for working families across the country that lawmakers continue to pursue this unprecedented attempt to deny critical relief to millions of their own constituents,” Biden said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/06/07/message-to-the-house-of-representatives-presidents-veto-of-h-j-res-45/">in a statement</a>&nbsp;when announcing his veto.

If enacted, Biden’s plan would forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year.

Student loan payments were paused at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loans-repayment-a6560bab75419007049cba34a30d6657">they will resume</a>&nbsp;in August for anyone whose debt is not wiped out by Biden’s plan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have canceled his plan to forgive student debt.The measure had been pushed by Republicans, but it garnered a handful of Democratic votes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loans-cancellation-debt-college-biden-veto-df3b377dd651153cbc7d5e04bfb7094f">in the Senate</a>&nbsp;as well. Kansas Senators voted to end Biden's plan.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Congressional Republicans led an effort to pass a bill blocking my Administration’s plan to provide up to $20,000 in student debt relief to working and middle class Americans. I won’t back down on helping hardworking folks. That’s why I’m vetoing this bill. <a href="https://t.co/ZeYEm4LOjz">pic.twitter.com/ZeYEm4LOjz</a>&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1666567992929394689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Despite the veto, Biden’s plan still isn’t secure. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-hearing-2128da75fc27ff3bcc0c3804ebd98aa7">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;will have the final say on the issue. A decision from the court is expected this summer.“It is a shame for working families across the country that lawmakers continue to pursue this unprecedented attempt to deny critical relief to millions of their own constituents,” Biden said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/06/07/message-to-the-house-of-representatives-presidents-veto-of-h-j-res-45/">in a statement</a>&nbsp;when announcing his veto.If enacted, Biden’s plan would forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year.Student loan payments were paused at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loans-repayment-a6560bab75419007049cba34a30d6657">they will resume</a>&nbsp;in August for anyone whose debt is not wiped out by Biden’s plan.

🎥 Supreme Court will have final say on student debt loan relief plan

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93.

Robertson's death Thursday was announced by his broadcasting network. No cause was given.

Robertson’s enterprises also included Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of religious people; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization.

For more than a half-century, Robertson was a familiar presence in American living rooms, known for his “700 Club” television show, and in later years, his televised pronouncements of God’s judgment, blaming natural disasters on everything from homosexuality to the teaching of evolution.

The money poured in as he solicited donations, his influence soared, and he brought a huge following with him when he moved directly into politics by seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 1988.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-evangelical-abortion-iowa-0707607982651226d6859733637a453e">Robertson pioneered the now-common strategy</a>&nbsp;of courting Iowa’s network of evangelical Christian churches, and finished in second place in the Iowa caucuses, ahead of Vice President George H.W. Bush.

His masterstroke was insisting that three million followers across the U.S. sign petitions before he would decide to run, Robertson biographer Jeffrey K. Hadden said. The tactic gave him an army.

″He asked people to pledge that they’d work for him, pray for him and give him money,” Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3265228b1b14e865922bd51ac0bf1bc9">told The Associated Press in 1988</a>. ″Political historians may view it as one of the most ingenious things a candidate ever did.″

Robertson later endorsed Bush, who won the presidency. Pursuit of Iowa’s evangelicals is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, including those currently seeking the White House in 2024.

Robertson started the Christian Coalition in Chesapeake in 1989, saying it would further his campaign’s ideals. The coalition became a major political force in the 1990s, mobilizing conservative voters through grass-roots activities.

By the time of his resignation as the coalition's president in 2001 — Robertson said he wanted to concentrate on ministerial work — his impact on both religion and politics in the U.S. was “enormous,” according to John C. Green, an emeritus political science professor at The University of Akron.

Many followed the path Robertson cut in religious broadcasting,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pat-robertson-700-club-steps-down-as-host-cf058279cc326ce21e089fef05357382#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20will%20no%20longer%20be,to%20thank%20all%20of%20you.%E2%80%9D">Green told the AP in 2021</a>. In American politics, Robertson helped “cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.”

Marion Gordon “Pat” Robertson was born March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia, to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father served for 36 years as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Virginia.

After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he served as assistant adjutant of the 1st Marine Division in Korea.

He received a law degree from Yale University Law School, but failed the bar exam and chose not to pursue a law career.

Robertson met his wife, Adelia “Dede” Elmer, at Yale in 1952. He was a Southern Baptist, she was a Catholic, earning a master’s in nursing. Eighteen months later, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, knowing neither family would approve.

Robertson was interested in politics until he found religion, Dede Robertson&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-television-united-states-virginia-norfolk-b345bab8c17c66e7836ff7db3488ebd7#:~:text=NORFOLK%2C%20Va.,Robertson%20was%2094.">told the AP in 1987</a>. He stunned her by pouring out their liquor, tearing a nude print off the wall and declaring he had found the Lord.

They moved into a commune in New York City’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood because Robertson said God told him to sell all his possessions and minister to the poor. She was tempted to return home to Ohio, “but I realized that was not what the Lord would have me do ... I had promised to stay, so I did,” she told the AP.

Robertson received a master’s in divinity from New York Theological Seminary in 1959, then drove south with his family to buy a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth, Va. He said he had just $70 in his pocket, but soon found investors, and CBN went on the air on Oct. 1, 1961. Established as a tax-exempt religious nonprofit, CBN brought in hundreds of millions, disclosing $321 million in “ministry support” in 2022 alone.

One of Robertson’s innovations was to use the secular talk-show format on the network’s flagship show, the “700 Club,” which grew out of a telethon when Robertson asked 700 viewers for monthly $10 contributions. It was more suited to television than traditional revival meetings or church services, and gained a huge audience.

“Here’s a well-educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics,” said Green, the University of Akron political science professor. “It was with a religious inflection to be sure. But it was an approach that took up everyday concerns.”

His guests eventually included several U.S. presidents — Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.

At times, his on-air pronouncements drew criticism.

He claimed that the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 were caused by God, angered by the federal courts, pornography, abortion rights and church-state separation. Talking again about 9-11 on his TV show a year later, Robertson described Islam as a violent religion that wants to “dominate” and “destroy,” prompting President George W. Bush to distance himself and say Islam is a peaceful and respectful religion.

He called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005. Later that year, he warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them because they voted out school board members who favored teaching “intelligent design” over evolution. And in 1998, he said Orlando, Florida, should beware of hurricanes after allowing the annual Gay Days event.

In 2014, he angered Kenyans when he warned that towels in Kenya could transmit AIDS. CBN issued a correction, saying Robertson “misspoke about the possibility of getting AIDS through towels.”

Robertson also could be unpredictable: In 2010, he called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. Two years later, he said on the “700 Club” that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs had failed.

Robertson condemned Democrats caught up in sex scandals, saying for example that President Bill Clinton turned the White House into a playpen for sexual freedom. But he helped solidify evangelical support for Donald Trump, dismissing the candidate's sexually predatory comments about women as an attempt “to look like he’s macho.”

After Trump took office, Robertson interviewed the president at the White House. And CBN welcomed Trump advisers, such as Kellyanne Conway, as guests.

But after President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an “alternate reality” and should “move on,” news outlets reported.

Robertson’s son, Gordon, succeeded him in December 2007 as chief executive of CBN, which is now based in Virginia Beach. Robertson remained chairman of the network and continued to appear on the “700 Club.”

Robertson stepped down as host of the show after half a century in 2021, with his son Gordon taking over the weekday show.

Robertson also was founder and chairman of International Family Entertainment Inc., parent of The Family Channel basic cable TV network. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought IFE in 1997.

Regent University, where classes began in Virginia Beach in 1978, now has more than 30,000 alumni, CBN said in a statement.

Robertson wrote 15 books, including “The Turning Tide” and “The New World Order.”

His wife Dede, who was a founding board member of CBN,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-television-united-states-virginia-norfolk-b345bab8c17c66e7836ff7db3488ebd7#:~:text=NORFOLK%2C%20Va.,Robertson%20was%2094.">died last year at the age of 94</a>. The couple had four children, 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, CBN said in a statement.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">With great sadness, we announce that Dr. M.G. “Pat” Robertson has gone home to be with his Lord and Savior today, June 8, 2023. Thank you for your prayers for the Robertson family and the ministry of CBN at this time. For more details on Pat’s life and legacy, visit… <a href="https://t.co/vxbvrNxEG8">pic.twitter.com/vxbvrNxEG8</a>&mdash; CBN News (@CBNNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBNNews/status/1666776042969653249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Robertson's death Thursday was announced by his broadcasting network. No cause was given.Robertson’s enterprises also included Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of religious people; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization.For more than a half-century, Robertson was a familiar presence in American living rooms, known for his “700 Club” television show, and in later years, his televised pronouncements of God’s judgment, blaming natural disasters on everything from homosexuality to the teaching of evolution.The money poured in as he solicited donations, his influence soared, and he brought a huge following with him when he moved directly into politics by seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 1988.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-evangelical-abortion-iowa-0707607982651226d6859733637a453e">Robertson pioneered the now-common strategy</a>&nbsp;of courting Iowa’s network of evangelical Christian churches, and finished in second place in the Iowa caucuses, ahead of Vice President George H.W. Bush.His masterstroke was insisting that three million followers across the U.S. sign petitions before he would decide to run, Robertson biographer Jeffrey K. Hadden said. The tactic gave him an army.″He asked people to pledge that they’d work for him, pray for him and give him money,” Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3265228b1b14e865922bd51ac0bf1bc9">told The Associated Press in 1988</a>. ″Political historians may view it as one of the most ingenious things a candidate ever did.″Robertson later endorsed Bush, who won the presidency. Pursuit of Iowa’s evangelicals is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, including those currently seeking the White House in 2024.Robertson started the Christian Coalition in Chesapeake in 1989, saying it would further his campaign’s ideals. The coalition became a major political force in the 1990s, mobilizing conservative voters through grass-roots activities.By the time of his resignation as the coalition's president in 2001 — Robertson said he wanted to concentrate on ministerial work — his impact on both religion and politics in the U.S. was “enormous,” according to John C. Green, an emeritus political science professor at The University of Akron.Many followed the path Robertson cut in religious broadcasting,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pat-robertson-700-club-steps-down-as-host-cf058279cc326ce21e089fef05357382#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20will%20no%20longer%20be,to%20thank%20all%20of%20you.%E2%80%9D">Green told the AP in 2021</a>. In American politics, Robertson helped “cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.”Marion Gordon “Pat” Robertson was born March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia, to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father served for 36 years as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Virginia.After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he served as assistant adjutant of the 1st Marine Division in Korea.He received a law degree from Yale University Law School, but failed the bar exam and chose not to pursue a law career.Robertson met his wife, Adelia “Dede” Elmer, at Yale in 1952. He was a Southern Baptist, she was a Catholic, earning a master’s in nursing. Eighteen months later, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, knowing neither family would approve.Robertson was interested in politics until he found religion, Dede Robertson&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-television-united-states-virginia-norfolk-b345bab8c17c66e7836ff7db3488ebd7#:~:text=NORFOLK%2C%20Va.,Robertson%20was%2094.">told the AP in 1987</a>. He stunned her by pouring out their liquor, tearing a nude print off the wall and declaring he had found the Lord.They moved into a commune in New York City’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood because Robertson said God told him to sell all his possessions and minister to the poor. She was tempted to return home to Ohio, “but I realized that was not what the Lord would have me do ... I had promised to stay, so I did,” she told the AP.Robertson received a master’s in divinity from New York Theological Seminary in 1959, then drove south with his family to buy a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth, Va. He said he had just $70 in his pocket, but soon found investors, and CBN went on the air on Oct. 1, 1961. Established as a tax-exempt religious nonprofit, CBN brought in hundreds of millions, disclosing $321 million in “ministry support” in 2022 alone.One of Robertson’s innovations was to use the secular talk-show format on the network’s flagship show, the “700 Club,” which grew out of a telethon when Robertson asked 700 viewers for monthly $10 contributions. It was more suited to television than traditional revival meetings or church services, and gained a huge audience.“Here’s a well-educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics,” said Green, the University of Akron political science professor. “It was with a religious inflection to be sure. But it was an approach that took up everyday concerns.”His guests eventually included several U.S. presidents — Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.At times, his on-air pronouncements drew criticism.He claimed that the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 were caused by God, angered by the federal courts, pornography, abortion rights and church-state separation. Talking again about 9-11 on his TV show a year later, Robertson described Islam as a violent religion that wants to “dominate” and “destroy,” prompting President George W. Bush to distance himself and say Islam is a peaceful and respectful religion.He called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005. Later that year, he warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them because they voted out school board members who favored teaching “intelligent design” over evolution. And in 1998, he said Orlando, Florida, should beware of hurricanes after allowing the annual Gay Days event.In 2014, he angered Kenyans when he warned that towels in Kenya could transmit AIDS. CBN issued a correction, saying Robertson “misspoke about the possibility of getting AIDS through towels.”Robertson also could be unpredictable: In 2010, he called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. Two years later, he said on the “700 Club” that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs had failed.Robertson condemned Democrats caught up in sex scandals, saying for example that President Bill Clinton turned the White House into a playpen for sexual freedom. But he helped solidify evangelical support for Donald Trump, dismissing the candidate's sexually predatory comments about women as an attempt “to look like he’s macho.”After Trump took office, Robertson interviewed the president at the White House. And CBN welcomed Trump advisers, such as Kellyanne Conway, as guests.But after President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an “alternate reality” and should “move on,” news outlets reported.Robertson’s son, Gordon, succeeded him in December 2007 as chief executive of CBN, which is now based in Virginia Beach. Robertson remained chairman of the network and continued to appear on the “700 Club.”Robertson stepped down as host of the show after half a century in 2021, with his son Gordon taking over the weekday show.Robertson also was founder and chairman of International Family Entertainment Inc., parent of The Family Channel basic cable TV network. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought IFE in 1997.Regent University, where classes began in Virginia Beach in 1978, now has more than 30,000 alumni, CBN said in a statement.Robertson wrote 15 books, including “The Turning Tide” and “The New World Order.”His wife Dede, who was a founding board member of CBN,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-television-united-states-virginia-norfolk-b345bab8c17c66e7836ff7db3488ebd7#:~:text=NORFOLK%2C%20Va.,Robertson%20was%2094.">died last year at the age of 94</a>. The couple had four children, 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, CBN said in a statement.

Pat Robertson, broadcaster, former presidential candidate has died

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/michael-pence">Former Vice President Mike Pence</a>&nbsp;opened his bid for the Republican nomination for president Wednesday with a firm denunciation of former&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump,</a>&nbsp;accusing his two-time running mate of abandoning conservative principles and being guilty of dereliction of duty on Jan. 6, 2021.

Pence, launching his campaign in a suburb of Des Moines, became the first vice president in modern history to challenge the president under whom he served. He said Trump had disqualified himself when he insisted that Pence had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-senate-elections-elections-aaa00b96179c454426453a99ca1e2e30">the power to keep him in office</a>&nbsp;— even though he did not.

Trump, he said, “endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol” on the 6th. "But the American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice.”

“I believe anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United Sates again," he said.

Pence has spent much of the past two-and-a-half-years obliquely criticizing Trump, trying to navigate his political future in a party that has been transformed in Trump's image. But Wednesday, as he made his pitch to voters for the first time as a declared candidate, he did not hold his tongue.

He accused the former president of abandoning the conservative values he ran on, including on abortion. Pence, who supports a national ban on the procedure said that, “After leading the most pro-life administration in American history, Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn. The sanctity of life has been our party’s calling for half a century — long before Donald Trump was a part of it. Now he treats it as an inconvenience, even blaming our election losses in 2022 on overturning Roe v. Wade.”

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/michael-pence">Former Vice President Mike Pence</a>&nbsp;opened his bid for the Republican nomination for president Wednesday with a firm denunciation of former&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump,</a>&nbsp;accusing his two-time running mate of abandoning conservative principles and being guilty of dereliction of duty on Jan. 6, 2021.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Hello, Iowa! Indiana will always be home, but <a href="https://twitter.com/KarenPence?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KarenPence</a> and I wanted to be here today, in person, because we know this is where the great American Comeback begins! 🇺🇸 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pence2024?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pence2024</a> <a href="https://t.co/mPYBaFwbng">pic.twitter.com/mPYBaFwbng</a>&mdash; Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike_Pence/status/1666531712833028096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Pence, launching his campaign in a suburb of Des Moines, became the first vice president in modern history to challenge the president under whom he served. He said Trump had disqualified himself when he insisted that Pence had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-senate-elections-elections-aaa00b96179c454426453a99ca1e2e30">the power to keep him in office</a>&nbsp;— even though he did not.Trump, he said, “endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol” on the 6th. "But the American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice.”“I believe anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United Sates again," he said.Pence has spent much of the past two-and-a-half-years obliquely criticizing Trump, trying to navigate his political future in a party that has been transformed in Trump's image. But Wednesday, as he made his pitch to voters for the first time as a declared candidate, he did not hold his tongue.He accused the former president of abandoning the conservative values he ran on, including on abortion. Pence, who supports a national ban on the procedure said that, “After leading the most pro-life administration in American history, Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn. The sanctity of life has been our party’s calling for half a century — long before Donald Trump was a part of it. Now he treats it as an inconvenience, even blaming our election losses in 2022 on overturning Roe v. Wade.”Trump has declined to say what limits he supports nationally and has blamed some midterm candidates’ rhetoric for their losses last November.Pence also bemoaned the current politics of “grudges and grievances," saying the country needs leaders who know the difference between the “politics of outrage and standing firm."“We will restore a threshold of civility in public life,” he pledged.With Pence's entry into the race, on his 64th birthday, the GOP field is largely set. It includes Trump, who's leading in early polls, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who remains in second, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/doug-burgum-north-dakota-president-1b187576423968c422d2adbd70c9b3dc">launched his campaign Wednesday</a>.Pence's campaign will test the party's appetite for a socially conservative, mild-mannered and deeply religious candidate who has criticized the populist tide that has swept through his party under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Trump</a>. And it will show whether Pence has a political future when many in his party still believe&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-michael-pence-electoral-college-elections-health-2d9bd47a8bd3561682ac46c6b3873a10">Trump's false statements</a>&nbsp;that the 2020 election was stolen and that Pence had the power to reject the results of the election,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">won by Democrat Joe Biden</a>.Pence and his advisers see Iowa — the state that will cast the first votes of the GOP nominating calendar — as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pence-announcement-2024-presidential-trump-iowa-35c99dfa2f4f265b346b1aeddb6d7cae">key to his potential pathway to the nomination</a>. Its caucusgoers include a large portion of evangelical Christian voters, whom they see as a natural constituency for Pence, a social conservative who supports a national ban on abortion and often talks about his faith. They also think Pence, who represented Indiana in Congress and as governor, is a good personality fit with the Midwestern state.“We believe the path to victory runs through Iowa and all of its 99 counties," said Scott Reed, co-chair of a super PAC that launched last month to support Pence's candidacy.But Pence also faces steep challenges. Despite being one of the best-known Republican candidates in the crowded field, he is also saddled with high unfavorability ratings. Trump critics consider him complicit in the former president's most indefensible actions, while Trump loyalists have maligned him as a traitor.A CNN poll conducted last month found 45% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they would not support Pence under any circumstance. Only 16% said the same about Trump.Pence’s favorability has also slipped in Iowa, according to The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll. The poll also found Pence with higher unfavorable ratings than all of the other candidates it asked about, including Trump and DeSantis, with 26% of Republicans polled saying they have a “somewhat” or “very” unfavorable view of him.But Pence, who has visited Iowa more than a dozen times since leaving office, has been warmly welcomed by voters during his trips. During&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pence-desantis-republican-presidential-candidates-iowa-26a86acff94e204362586c45ab0bc00f">a “Roast and Ride” event</a>&nbsp;over the weekend that drew a long list of 2024 candidates, Pence stood out as the only contender to actually mount a Harley and participate in the event’s annual motorcycle ride. When he arrived at a barbecue at the state fairgrounds, he moved easily from table to table, greeting and chatting with attendees.But there remains lingering skepticism among many Republican voters who still believe Pence could have stopped Biden from becoming president. Trump's lies about mass voting fraud and Pence lacking the “courage” to do the right thing led&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">a mob of his supporters</a>&nbsp;to storm the Capitol, with some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”Pence advisers say they recognize the challenge and intend to explain to voters directly that Pence was adhering to his constitutional duty and never had the power to impact the vote.“I think it’s something you have to walk straight through,” said his longtime adviser Marc Short.Beyond Jan. 6, his team sees their primary goal as reintroducing Pence to a country that largely knows him as Trump's second-in-command. They want to remind voters of his time in congressional leadership and as governor and envision a campaign heavy with town halls, house parties and visits to local diners and Pizza Ranch restaurants — more intimate settings that will help voters get to know him personally.“People have seen Mike Pence the vice president. I think what people are going to see is Mike Pence the person," said Todd Huston, the Indiana House speaker and a longtime friend who has signed on to help with outreach to state legislators.Reed believes there is a strong desire in the party for a candidate like Pence who espouses Reagan-style conservatism, including traditional social values, hawkish foreign policy and small government economics.“We think this nomination fight is going to be an epic battle for the heart and soul of the conservative, traditional wing of the Republican Party. And Pence is going to campaign as a classic conservative. His credentials are unmatched,” he said.Unlike Trump and DeSantis, Pence has argued that cuts to Social Security and Medicare must be on the table and has blasted those who have questioned why the U.S. should continue to send&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">aid to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression</a>.