Latest Stories By Louis Jacobson

Showing 277-288 of 1260 items

Greeks don’t trust their media. Fact-checkers are trying to help

October 10, 2022

ATHENS, Greece — Dubious news and online content is everywhere. Even here, in the birthplace of democracy. The challenges facing media outlets across the globe are many, including widespread public distrust, dubious claims spreading virally on social media, and a broken economic model for the news industry. But while these problems are common in many […]

Not all results will be known on election night 2022. That’s normal

October 3, 2022

In 2020, it took four days for enough votes to be counted in Pennsylvania for media outlets to declare with confidence that Joe Biden had won the presidential election.  During those days, armed protesters showed up outside Philadelphia’s vote-counting center, and Rudy Giuliani, an ally of then-President Donald Trump, held a press conference outside Four […]

Mar-a-Lago documents August 2022

Could Donald Trump declassify documents with just a thought? Three legal precedents say no

September 23, 2022

Former President Donald Trump attracted wide attention for his comments about presidential declassification powers in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was searched in August by federal agents who were looking for documents the government believes he may have taken improperly when he left the presidency. At least some of these documents […]

Pence electoral votes

Electoral reform: What would updating the Electoral Count Act do?

September 20, 2022

One of the major legislative efforts to prevent another insurrection like the one on Jan. 6, 2021, is moving a step closer to enactment. Both chambers of Congress have introduced legislation to update the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, which supporters of then-President Donald Trump exploited for its murkiness. Trump and his allies sought to convince […]

Midterm elections: What does history say? And what could make 2022 different?

September 12, 2022

The 2022 midterm campaign will barrel to a close eight weeks from now, on Nov. 8. What does history tell us about what to expect? And could 2022 diverge from historical patterns? Here, we answer those questions.  Historically, what usually happens in midterm elections? Since at least the mid-1800s, the party that controls the White […]

Biden prime time Phila speech

Fact-checking Joe Biden’s speech about democracy before the 2022 midterms

September 2, 2022

In a prime-time speech in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, President Joe Biden called on Americans to “stop the assault on American democracy” by Republicans who deny the results of the 2020 election. In an unusual pattern for his presidency, Biden mentioned the name of his predecessor, Donald Trump, several times in the speech, warning […]

Biden and Cardona in WH

Is Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan legal?

August 30, 2022

President Joe Biden has made a long-awaited decision on how to handle student debt. On Aug. 24 Biden announced that his administration will waive student loan debt for qualifying Americans — $10,000 for individuals earning less than $125,000, plus an additional $10,000 for those who had received Pell Grants, which support tuition for lower-income students. […]

The Democrats’ overstated claim that the Inflation Reduction Act curbs debt, inflation

August 19, 2022

When the major Democratic bill on climate change, health care and corporate taxation was being finalized, its Senate backers settled on a title that reflected the reality that inflation was at a 40-year high. They called it the Inflation Reduction Act. But as the legislation was being debated — and after it passed on a […]

The Democrats’ big IRA bill fulfills some Biden promises, leaves others behind

August 12, 2022

A bill on climate change, health care and corporate taxation advances some of the key promises President Joe Biden campaigned on in 2020. But the scaled-back bill also offers a reminder of other Biden campaign promises that had to be pushed off until later, if ever. The bill is expected to receive Biden’s signature in […]

Read the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, what agents took

August 12, 2022

An unsealed search warrant shows that the Justice Department suspects former President Donald Trump of violations of the Espionage Act. Additionally, the warrant that granted the FBI access to Mar-a-Lago says Trump is under investigation for concealing federal records, an offense that could be applied to obstructing justice charges.  The list of items taken by […]

Could Trump argue he declassified the documents found in the Mar-a-Lago search?

August 11, 2022

The search warrant served on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home appears to involve documents that investigators say should not have remained in Trump’s possession after his presidency. This development has elevated some novel legal scenarios involving national-security classification. Some of the papers in question may be ordinary presidential documents that fall under the Presidential […]

Trump says Watergate burglary and search of Mar-a-Lago were similar. They’re not

August 9, 2022

After the FBI searched Donald Trump’s home Aug. 8, the former president criticized it in a post on his social media network, Truth Social. “What is the difference between this and Watergate, where operatives broke into the Democrat(ic) National Committee?” Trump asked. “Here, in reverse, Democrats broke into the home of the 45th President of the […]

Showing 277-288 of 1260 items