TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Sen. Cory Booker, who took hold of the Senate floor Monday night and held onto it Tuesday as he railed against President Donald Trump's Republican agenda, once found common ground with the president during his first term.
Booker, a New Jersey Democrat who ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020, expressed frustration bordering on exasperation at a host of Trump issues in his long Senate speech — from the possibility of annexing Greenland and Canada to slashing social programs and cutting taxes.
Booker's speech, occasionally interrupted by Democratic colleagues to whom he yielded for questions while catching his breath, came as Democrats are in the minority in the Senate and the House. It's unclear what effect Booker's speech could have, but it reflects one of the levers available to out-of-power parties.
Here's a closer look at who Booker is and what he's been saying:
Booker, 55, was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to northern New Jersey when he was a boy. He's spoken about growing up in a Black family in a predominantly white neighborhood and how his parents faced opposition when they tried to buy a house.
He played football in college at Stanford University before attending Yale Law School and then worked as an attorney in nonprofits, giving legal aid to poorer families. Elected to the Newark City Council and then as mayor of the state's biggest city, he served there until 2013.
His time in office coincided with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million donation to the city's public schools, a boon that burnished his status as a Democratic rising star at the time.
In 2013, he was elected in a special election to the U.S. Senate after the death of incumbent Frank Lautenberg. He then won his first full-term in 2014 and was reelected in 2020.
He launched an upbeat but ultimately doomed 2020 bid for president in a crowded Democratic field. Standing in the front yard of his Newark house, Booker declared “love ain't easy.”
Booker's Senate speech started about 7 p.m. Monday and carried through the night.
By Tuesday morning, his voice occasionally wavered with emotion as he recognized his colleagues who asked him questions, giving him a chance to take a break from speaking.
He read letters from constituents, cited authors like Langston Hughes and leaned into foreign policy and potential social safety net cuts.
He said Republicans' budget language aimed to cut health care for Americans “to give tax cuts disproportionately to the wealthy” and would drive up deficits.
He said the U.S. was giving up leading the planet and cited Trump's proposals to take over Greenland and Canada while feuding with longtime allies.
Reflecting his inclination toward uplifting rhetoric, Booker lamented a lack of unity.
“We are a union in trouble compared to our global peers,” he said. "Yet we are a nation of utter abundance, and we've proven in the past to be a nation of incredible vision."
He also occasionally took aim at Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, who's advising Trump and leading the Department of Government Efficiency. He criticized the president's agenda to renew tax cuts that would benefit wealthy Americans, like Musk.
“I wish he would say the truth — I don't need a tax cut,” Booker said.
Booker played part in a 2018 bipartisan measure to overhaul federal sentencing laws passed after a few Black ministers, leaders and lawmakers forged an alliance with Trump, whom some had condemned as racist for the previous two years. The reforms aimed to create a path to freedom for hundreds of Black and Latino prisoners.
Among the bills he’s sponsored that became law was a 2019 measure that permitted states to transfer money from clean water revolving funds to drinking water revolving funds to address public health.
He chairs the Democratic Strategic Communications Committee and touts in his Senate biography that he sought to protect the Affordable Care Act from repeal.
In this image provided by Senate Television, Sen, Cory Booker, D-N.J. speaks on the Senate floor, Tuesday morning, April 1, 2025. (Senate Television via AP)
FILE - Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
