Texas Gov. Abbott: Targeted killing of police should be a hate crime

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott responds to questions about the police shootings during a news conference at City Hall in Dallas in early July. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wants the targeted killing of a police officer to be deemed a hate crime in Texas and urged lawmakers to send him such a bill to sign during next year's legislative session.

The most popular convention speaker on Monday night isn’t who you think it is

Donald Trump is joined by his wife Melania as he speaks during a news conference at the Trump National Golf Club Westchester, Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. Trump had promised a convention soaked in celebrity, a different kind of convention. And so we get an opening night during which Americans who tune in will hear from celebrities from "Duck Dynasty's" Willie Robertson to former sitcom actor Scott Baio.

In Trump’s GOP, Jeff Sessions rockets from the fringe to prime time

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, stands beside Sen. Jeff Sessions during a Feb. 28 rally in Madison, Ala. By the time Jeff Sessions appeared before the Senate to answer questions about his nomination to the federal bench, his reputation was in tatters.

The Latest: Manafort: Bushes are ‘part of the past’ of GOP

Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort walks off the floor of the Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena after talking to reporters, Sunday, July 17, 2016, in Cleveland. . Workers place a sign as they prepare at Quicken Loans Arena for the Republican National Convention, Sunday, July 17, 2016, in Cleveland.

The Latest: Manafort: Close to 20 states are battlegrounds

Donald Trump's campaign chair says he has "close to 20" states on his list of competitive general election battlegrounds. Paul Manafort says that includes such states as Connecticut and Oregon, which he says are coming into play.

Tom Cotton rips ‘socialist’ Hillary Clinton: She’s ‘running for president so she can pardon herself’

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton blasted Hillary Clinton as a "socialist" who's only running for president so she can "pardon herself" in the investigations surrounding her use of a private email server. At an Ohio delegation breakfast during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Monday, Cotton began his speech by tracking the success of the Republican Party in recent years, noting its majorities in Congress and the state offices the party has won.

Trump’s convention to feature less glitz, more family

Donald Trump once promised a "showbiz" convention, packed with flash, celebrities and a "winner's night" featuring sports stars and champion coaches. Instead, the Republican National Convention kicking off Monday is shaping up to be a staid family-focused affair, with a lineup that features everyday Americans, successful business people and four of his five children.

Stephen Colbert crashed the RNC stage to insult Trump, then got kicked off

Stephen Colbert unofficially kicked off the Republican National Convention before it was supposed to start, and he insulted presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, while he was at it. The "Late Show" host took the stage at the RNC in Cleveland, Ohio, dressed as his "Hunger Games" alter-ego on Sunday.

NRCC chair: Trans-Pacific Partnership will fail in Congress

Congress won't ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the foreseeable future, according to the lawmaker who leads the campaign arm of the House Republicans. "My guess is that if you put it up for a vote on the floor today, it would go down dramatically," National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden said during an Atlantic Live breakfast at the Republican National Convention.

Portman’s Ohio campaign differs sharply from Trump’s

Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman and his re-election team have been beating the bushes and sifting through reams of data for more than a year. Republicans say Trump needs to take a page from Portman's playbook, and they worry that Trump's flyby approach to one of the most important states on the electoral map won't give him the edge he needs over Democrat Hillary Clinton, who already has a strong Ohio operation.

Donald Trump’s terrible character

In tapping Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, Donald Trump moved to persuade America that the White House would be in steady hands with his election. Now, Trump will no doubt use the Republican Convention, which starts Monday, to reinforce that message while lacquering his policy prescriptions with a gloss of mainstream rationality.

Make Utah site monument, tribes urge

U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell heard emotional statements Saturday from both sides of a divisive proposal to create a national monument at a sacred American Indian site. Jewell's 3A1 2-hour meeting in the town of Bluff capped off a four-day research trip to Utah as a coalition of tribes urges President Barack Obama to turn 1.9 million acres around the twin Bears Ears buttes into a national monument.

Huckabee opts for Fox over convention speech

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee won't be speaking at the Republican National Convention this week, opting instead to appear on Fox News as a political contributor. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, had invited his former rival to address the delegates, but the network told Huckabee he'd have to choose between the news set and the convention stage.

Coalesce around Trump, governor urges state GOP

None of Arkansas' top Republican leaders supported Donald Trump in the state's March 1 primary, but now that the party's presidential nominating convention is here, they're lining up to back him. Five of the six Republicans in the state's congressional delegation are present.

Trump ready to complete improbable rise at GOP convention

CLEVELAND >> A year ago, few imagined Donald Trump as a headline speaker at the Republican National Convention - let alone as its star. Back then, maybe the billionaire New Yorker was alone in thinking he would arrive in Cleveland this week as the GOP's presumptive nominee for president.