The Latest: Many Democrats are still down on the Democratic Party, AP-NORC poll finds

Democratic candidates have notched a series of wins in recent special elections — but a new AP-NORC poll finds views of the Democratic Party among rank-and-file Democrats have not bounced back since President Donald Trump 's 2024 victory.

Only about 7 in 10 Democrats have a positive view of the Democratic Party, according to new polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. While the overwhelming majority of Democrats still feel good about their party, they're much less positive than they've been in the past.

The midterm elections are still many months away, and lackluster favorability doesn't spell electoral doom. Other factors could benefit Democrats this year, including broadly negative views of Trump and other Republicans.

But the lack of enthusiasm could be a longer-term problem for the party. Democrats' favorability of their party plummeted after the 2024 election. And despite overwhelming victories in November's offseason elections and a string of wins since then, those views haven't recovered.

The latest:

US military leader meets Venezuela's acting president

The head of U.S. military operations in Latin America met with Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, and members of her cabinet during an hourslong visit Wednesday to the South American country's capital.

Rodríguez's press office said Marine Gen. Francis Donovan met with Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.

The meeting comes weeks after the U.S. military captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in a stunning raid in Caracas and brought him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.

A readout of the meeting from U.S. Southern Command said the discussions focused on security in Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere as well as the ''steps to ensure the implementation'' of Trump's phased plan for the country.

Air Force One will be painted red, white and blue as Trump has hinted, US military says

A red, white and blue color scheme championed by President Trump will become the new look for Air Force One, the U.S. military said Thursday.

Boeing is in the process of modifying two of its 747-800 aircraft that are slated to replace the existing fleet of two aging Boeing 747-200 aircraft that the president currently uses and that take on the Air Force One call sign when the president is aboard.

In 2018, Trump directed that those new jets would ditch the iconic Kennedy-era blue-and-white design for a white-and-navy color scheme. Instead, the top half of the plane would have been white, while the bottom, including the belly, would have been dark blue. A streak of dark red would have run from the cockpit to the tail. The coloring was almost identical to the exterior of Trump's personal plane.

FDA will drop 2-study requirement for new drug approvals

The Food and Drug Administration 's plan to drop the longtime standard is the latest change from Trump administration officials vowing to speed up the availability of certain medical products.

Going forward, the FDA's ''default position'' will be to require one study for new drugs and other novel health products, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and a top deputy, Dr. Vinay Prasad, wrote in a New England Journal of Medicine piece published Wednesday.

It contrasts with the FDA's more restrictive approach to other products, including vaccines.

Last week, the FDA's vaccine division, headed by Prasad, refused to accept Moderna's application for a new mRNA flu shot, saying its clinical trial was insufficient. Then on Wednesday the agency reversed course, saying it would review the vaccine after Moderna agreed to conduct an additional study in older people.

▶ Read more about the updated requirements

US fighter jets and other aircraft head to Middle East

Dozens of U.S. fighter jets, including F-35s, F-22s and F-16s, have left bases in the U.S. and Europe in recent days to head to the Middle East, according to the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts that routinely analyzes military and government flight activity.

Steffan Watkins, a researcher based in Canada and a member of the MATA, said he also has spotted support aircraft like six of the military's early-warning E-3 aircraft head to a base in Saudi Arabia.

Those aircraft are key for coordinating operations with a large number of aircraft. He says they were pulled from bases in Japan, Germany and Hawaii.

Trump moves to protect domestic production of phosphorous for the military and key herbicides for farming

The president has signed an executive order meant to safeguard domestic supplies of elemental phosphorus, which the U.S. military uses, as well as glyphosate-based herbicides vital to agriculture production.

His order invokes the Defense Production Act and instructs the Department of the Interior to coordinate with defense officials.

''Ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security,'' the order states. ''Without immediate Federal action, the United States remains inadequately equipped and vulnerable.''

Rubio to visit Israel next week, officials say

Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to travel to Israel next week to update Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, two Trump administration officials said.

Rubio is expected to meet with Netanyahu on Feb. 28, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail travel plans that have not yet been announced.

The U.S. and Iran have held two rounds of recent indirect talks over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

As Trump weighs whether to take military action against Tehran, he said Friday that a change in power ''would be the best thing that could happen.''

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— By Matthew Lee

More than 40 nations and the EU to send representatives to Trump's inaugural Board of Peace meeting

Countries that have confirmed they're sending representatives to Thursday's meeting, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly, include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Several of the countries expected to attend have opted not to join the board and will be attending as observers.

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— By Aamer Madhani

US ambassador defends Trump's Board of Peace structure ahead of Thursday meeting

During a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Palestinian territories Wednesday, Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., appeared to criticize the many world powers who have not yet signed on to join the Board of Peace, saying that unlike the 15-member council, the board is ''not talking, it is doing.''

''We are hearing the chattering class criticizing the structure of the board, that it's unconventional, that it's unprecedented,'' Waltz said. ''Again, the old ways were not working.''

Christian pastors assert that US is in a state of crisis

In an open letter issued on Ash Wednesday, several hundred Christian pastors, scholars and civic leaders from across the United States declared the country to be in a state of crisis.

The letter, '' A Call to Christians in a Crisis of Faith and Democracy,'' was released to mark the start of the Christian season of repentance. Organizers said the letter asserts that Christians ''have a moral obligation to speak out in the face of an endangered democracy, the rise of tyranny, and a Christian faith corrupted by the heretical ideology of white Christian nationalism.''

Among the signatories were top leaders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church.

At the White House's Black History Month event, Trump didn't mention his recent racist social media post featuring former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as primates in a jungle that was later deleted.

But he shrugged off charges he's racist, saying that former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who is Black, can vouch for him.

''Whenever they come out and they say, ‘Trump's a racist,''' the president told the event, ''Mike Tyson goes, ‘He's not a racist, he's my friend.'''

Trump also mentioned another Black former athlete he is friendly with, noting that former NFL running back Herschel Walker is his administration's ambassador to ''I don't know, Bahamas? Bermuda?'' The president later added, ''Whatever.''

Walker is U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.

White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson says her elevation from prison to a White House job is uniquely American.

Trump commuted Johnson's sentence for federal drug and money laundering charges in 2018 and later pardoned her. She had spent more than two decades serving life without parole for a nonviolent drug offense.

As pardon czar, Johnson advises Trump and the administration on clemency cases.

''When you see me, you see a miracle, you see hope, you see second chances, and you see someone who is willing to roll up their sleeves and do the work, do the hard work to help individuals gain their freedom,'' Johnson said during a Black History Month event at the White House.

Johnson, who is Black, touted Trump as a friend to Black Americans.

Trump remembers Jesse Jackson at Black History Month event

Trump remembered the late civil rights leader Jesse Jackson as ''a real piece of work'' but ''a good man'' and a hero.

''I knew him well long before becoming president, and he really was special, with lots of personality, grit and street smarts,'' Trump said during a White House event commemorating Black History Month.

He said Jackson was ''gregarious and someone who truly loved people and a force of nature,'' adding he'll be greatly missed.

Democratic leader supports censure of GOP congressman over anti-Muslim remarks

If the House produces a censure resolution against the GOP congressman, Jeffries said he would ''strongly support it.''

Fine, who is Jewish, has drawn widespread rebuke for his latest remarks, saying he prefers having dogs over Muslims in the United States.

''If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,'' he posted on social media.

The congressman was reacting to online posts from New York City about complaints over dog feces emerging in the melting snow. Some Muslims do not believe the animals should be kept indoors as pets. And one pro-Palestinian advocate joked in a post that the city was coming around to the view.

He has since doubled-down on his position and posted a number of images of dogs.

Does Trump have a speech on aliens prepared? The White House hasn't heard that

''A speech on aliens would be news to me,'' Leavitt said when asked about the president's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, recently suggesting that Trump has a speech on aliens and would be ready to give at the ''right time.''

Former President Barack Obama caused a stir when he recently suggested that UFOs were ''real.''

Leavitt said with a laugh that the prospect that Trump has prepared remarks on aliens, ''Sounds very exciting.''

''I'll have to check in with our speechwriting team, and that would be of great interest to me personally,'' she added. ''And I'm sure all of you in this room, and apparently former President Obama, too.''

Leavitt said during Wednesday's briefing that the Democrats' latest proposal to end a shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security is ''unserious.''

She said White House officials, but not President Trump, has been in contact with Democratic leaders over the impasse, blaming Democrats for forcing some federal employees to work without paychecks.

''Last night, they sent over a counter proposal that, frankly, was very unserious,'' Leavitt said of Democrats. ''And we hope they get serious very soon because Americans are going to be impacted by this.''

White House pushes back on Zelenskyy calling Trump's pressure on Ukraine ‘unfair'

Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with news site Axios on Tuesday that it's ''not fair'' that Trump has persistently called on Ukraine to make concessions to Russia, but has been less forceful in his calls on President Vladimir Putin to come to the table to end Russia's war on Ukraine.

She added, ''I think the president views this entire situation as very unfair, not just for Russians and Ukrainians who have lost their lives, but also for the American people and the American taxpayer who were footing the bill for this war effort.''

Trump must seek approval from Congress before any US action against Iran, top Democrat says

House minority leader Jeffries said he ''wouldn't put anything past this president,'' when asked about potential US military action toward Iran.

But he insisted Trump cannot act alone in conducting military actions.

''The American people clearly are of the view that before any adverse military action is taken unilaterally by Donald Trump and Republicans, that, of course, Congress — consistent with our constitutional responsibility — should approve any acts of war,'' Jeffries said.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said without ''dramatic, bold, meaningful'' reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the funding Homeland Security bill funding will not move forward.

Jeffries said Trump and Republicans need to ''own up to the chaos that they've created'' under the big tax breaks and spending cuts bill that sent some $75 billion to ICE.

Democrats are making a number of demands, including that immigration agents identify themselves by wearing body cameras and taking off their masks.

They further want agents to seek judicial warrants before entering private property and they're pushing for a ban on immigration enforcement around sensitive locations, including schools, hospitals, houses of worship and polling places.

These remain ''lines in the sand'' in the negotiations with the administration, he said.

White House says local leaders need to invoke Stafford Act

As the sewage spill in the Potomac River continues to persist, the White House is continuing to push the leaders of Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia to ask for federal assistance.

The next step is for those officials to ''step forward and to ask the federal government for help,'' press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.

Leavitt said those leaders need to ask for the implementation of the Stafford Act, the 1988 law that outlines FEMA's responsibilities as well as cost-sharing between the feds and state, so the federal government can go in and take control.

But local leaders have noted that the burst pipe is already under federal jurisdiction. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said again earlier Wednesday that the Potomac Interceptor is a D.C. pipe that is on federal land.

Democrats hold an edge on health care, but struggle to make gains on the economy

Despite the internal negativity, Democrats have at least one potential advantage going into the midterm year.

About one-third of U.S. adults — 35% — trust the Democrats to do a better job handling health care, compared to 23% for the Republicans.

At the same time, Republicans have lost some ground on issues that were key to Trump's reelection — the economy and immigration — but Democrats haven't managed to capitalize on that.

Only 31% of U.S. adults say Republicans are the party they trust to handle the economy, down slightly from 36% last year. But Democrats haven't made any gains on this issue; rather, slightly more Americans now say they trust ''neither'' party.

It's not just Democrats — Americans aren't thrilled with either party right now.

Only about one-third of U.S. adults have a favorable view of either the Democratic or Republican Party, according to the AP-NORC poll. Roughly one-quarter of Americans have a negative view of both, and that double-negativity is especially sharp among independents and Americans under 45.

But Democrats' loss of goodwill is more recent. Polling over the past 25 years from Gallup shows that Americans used to feel much more positively toward the Democrats. Around 2010, public sentiment turned against them. Since then, at least half of Americans have held unfavorable views of the party.

Negative views of the Democrats now rival the most negative points in time for the Republicans.

Many Democrats are still down on the Democrats, a new AP-NORC poll finds

New AP-NORC polling shows that 70% of rank-and-file Democrats have a positive view of the Democratic Party. While the overwhelming majority of Democrats still feel good about their party, they're much less positive than they've been in the past.