Jay Carney

When they heard that the White House would use the District's pointed "taxation without representation" license plates on presidential limousines, city leaders called friends and reporters to share the news — and made plans to take photos of the plates during Monday's inaugural parade. District leaders originally felt as if a special crush had just called them for a second date. They wondered whether President Obama's decision could be a breakthrough in the District's decades-long struggle for...

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress Wednesday that a serious national security leak required the secret gathering of telephone records at The Associated Press as he stood by an investigation in which he insisted he had no involvement. Pestered by Republicans and some Democrats, Holder testified that he has faith in the individuals conducting the broad investigation, driven in large part by GOP outrage last year over the possibility that administration officials leaked information to enhance...

WASHINGTON — White House spokesman Jay Carney says the IRS inspector general notified the White House counsel's office during the week of April 22 that it was completing a review of the IRS office in Cincinnati that targeted conservative political groups for special examination. Carney says the counsel's office was not given details about the review. Carney said President Barack Obama was not told about the review, and he reiterated Obama's assertion Monday that he did not learn...

WASHINGTON — White House spokesman Jay Carney says the IRS inspector general notified the White House counsel's office during the week of April 22 that it was completing a review of the IRS office in Cincinnati that targeted conservative political groups for special examination. Carney says the counsel's office was not given details about the review. Carney said President Barack Obama was not told about the review, and he reiterated Obama's assertion Monday that he did not learn...

KENNER, La. — President Obama made his first visit Monday to tour the destruction from Hurricane Isaac in southern Louisiana, arriving three days after Republican nominee Mitt Romney made his own trip to the region. Putting his campaign on hold briefly, Obama left a rally in Toledo, Ohio, and flew 2½ hours south to get a briefing from state and local officials and inspect flooding damage in St. John the Baptist Parish. The president canceled a planned rally in Cleveland to make the detour.

Federal prosecutors announced terrorism charges against the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday, outlining a chilling plot in which the man and his brother allegedly used low-grade but deadly explosives timed to detonate a block apart. As he lay seriously injured in a Boston area hospital, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property, counts that could bring him the death penalty. He made his first...

Correction: A previous version of the graphic in this article included incorrect data, plotting the benchmark's movement over the two previous days instead of only the day in question. This version has been corrected. A fake tweet about an attack on the White House briefly roiled the financial markets on Tuesday afternoon, sending stocks tumbling within minutes and prompting the FBI and securities regulators to look into the hacking...

Recent events suggest that the 44th president may not be immune to the phenomenon that historians call the "second-term curse. " Not four months after his ambitious inaugural address, President Obama finds himself struggling to move his legislative agenda through an unbudging Congress. And over the past week, two flaring controversies — one over his administration's handling of the killing of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya , the other over Internal Revenue Service employees...

First came a fancy dinner in which President Obama treated Republican senators to lobster thermidor and Colorado lamb açaí. Then came phone calls, Oval Office meetings and more dinners. Finally on Monday, Obama took his charm offensive onto the golf course . "Well," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters, "he's willing to try anything. " With deals on the budget and other pillars of his second-term agenda still elusive, Obama on Monday...

"Entertainment Tonight" scored one last year. The New York Times did not. "The View" has gotten several. The Washington Post hasn't had one in years. Albuquerque radio station KOB-FM's "Morning Mayhem" crew interviewed him in August. The last time the Wall Street Journal did so was in 2009. America's newspapers have trouble enough these days, what with shrinking ad revenue and straying readers. But the daily print-and-pixel press also hasn't gotten much love lately from the...

Recent events suggest that the 44th president may not be immune to the phenomenon that historians call the "second-term curse. " Not four months after his ambitious inaugural address, President Obama finds himself struggling to move his legislative agenda through an unbudging Congress. And over the past week, two flaring controversies — one over his administration's handling of the killing of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya , the other over Internal Revenue Service employees targeting tea party...

WASHINGTON — The White House says it was inappropriate for the Internal Revenue Service to target tea party groups for additional reviews during last year's presidential election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. White House spokesman Jay Carney said he did not know when administration officials learned of the practice. The IRS apologized Friday for targeting groups because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in...

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans boycotted Thursday a scheduled committee vote on President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. All eight GOP members of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee failed to show up at the meeting to consider the nomination of Gina McCarthy, who currently heads the EPA's air pollution office. Committee rules require at least two minority members to be present for a vote. Republicans are demanding answers from the EPA on a...

First came a fancy dinner in which President Obama treated Republican senators to lobster thermidor and Colorado lamb açaí. Then came phone calls, Oval Office meetings and more dinners. Finally on Monday, Obama took his charm offensive onto the golf course . "Well," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters, "he's willing to try anything. " With deals on the budget and other pillars of his second-term agenda still elusive, Obama on Monday continued his "inside...

There was little time to mingle Tuesday night at the White House. Five minutes after greeting them, President Obama ushered 20 female senators into the State Dining Room and invited each to offer her thoughts on the issues of the day. And that was about it. "That took up our entire two hours, to go around the table," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), recalled in an interview. "It was not the kind of warm banter that can go back and forth. People had their points they wanted to...

President Obama is seeking time before deciding whether Syria's probable use of chemical weapons will force the United States off the sidelines of a two-year conflict that he has never seen as a central national security threat. "What we have right now is an intelligence assessment," Obama said Friday, in his first comments on Syria since the White House acknowledged Thursday that Syria's government probably used chemical agents "on a small...

President Obama is considering an executive order that would force government contractors to disclose their donations to groups that participate in political activities, a move Republicans slammed Wednesday as an attempt to restrict political speech. White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that the administration has a draft proposal and would not offer details. But he said Obama thinks it is crucial to allow taxpayers to learn more about contractors who seek federal funds.

President Obama on Tuesday outlined a government-sponsored initiative to map the human brain, casting the proposal as a way to discover new cures for neurological disease and strengthen the economy. "Ideas are what power our economy," Obama said as he announced the proposal from the East Room of the White House. "When we invest in the best ideas before anybody else does, our businesses and our workers can make the best products and deliver the best services before anybody else.

Correction: A previous version of the graphic in this article included incorrect data, plotting the benchmark's movement over the two previous days instead of only the day in question. This version has been corrected. A fake tweet about an attack on the White House briefly roiled the financial markets on Tuesday afternoon, sending stocks tumbling within minutes and prompting the FBI and securities regulators to look into the hacking incident. A posting on the Twitter account of...

Federal prosecutors announced terrorism charges against the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday, outlining a chilling plot in which the man and his brother allegedly used low-grade but deadly explosives timed to detonate a block apart. As he lay seriously injured in a Boston area hospital, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property, counts that could bring him the death penalty. He made his first...