By MATT BROWN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are preparing to release a report on the findings of their investigation into former President Joe Biden and what they allege is potential misuse of the presidential autopen during his term.

The report, which is likely to be released in the coming weeks, centers on contested and thus far unsubstantiated claims that Biden not only visibly aged while in office, but that his mental state declined to a degree that allowed White House officials to enact policies without his knowledge.

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“The House Oversight Committee has uncovered how the Biden Autopen Presidency ranks among the greatest scandals in U.S. history,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement. “As President Biden declined, his staff abused the autopen to carry out unauthorized executive actions. We have concluded interviews with key Biden aides and will soon report our findings to the American people.”

The Republican-led committee declined to offer instances where investigators may have heard testimony or otherwise found instances when the autopen — a mechanical device that is used to replicate a person’s authentic signature — was abused. A spokesperson for the Republican majority on the committee said the cases would be detailed in the report but offered no further details.

The committee has interviewed more than a dozen former senior Biden administration officials as part of the investigation, pressing them for information on Biden’s mental fitness while in office. Oversight Democrats have dismissed the investigation as a distraction and say the committee is turning a blind eye to wrongdoing by the Trump administration.

Biden has strenuously denied that he was unaware of his administration’s actions. He has also dismissed claims that he had mentally declined to a degree that inhibited his ability to lead as president while in office.

“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations,” Biden said in a statement over the summer. “Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

What the committee heard in testimony

Some Biden officials who were subpoenaed cited their Fifth Amendment rights and declined to answer questions, including Biden’s former physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor; Anthony Bernal, former chief of staff to first lady Jill Biden; and Annie Tomasini, a former senior adviser to Biden. Other aides spoke to the committee.

Several aides admitted that the pace of Biden’s schedule slowed over the course of his term, according to a person familiar with the private testimony who was granted anonymity to discuss it. Jeff Zients, who was chief of staff, said Biden’s decision-making slowed during the administration. Decisions that once required three meetings eventually required a fourth, he said.

Zients also discussed how to confirm the president’s mental fitness to the public. Senior officials, including O’Connor, discussed whether Biden should undergo a cognitive exam, which O’Connor said he would take into consideration.

But even as they described signs of Biden’s advancing age — he was 82 when he left office — some Biden officials also strongly pushed back on the central premise of the Republican investigation — namely that staff effectively usurped the powers of the presidency for themselves.

“There was no nefarious conspiracy of any kind among the president’s senior staff, and there was certainly no conspiracy to hide the president’s mental condition from the American people,” Steve Ricchetti, a longtime close adviser to Biden, told the committee.

Why the autopen questions matter

Biden’s age, apparent frailty in office and meandering public speeches were central to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ messaging during last year’s election cycle. The Trump White House has continued to mock Biden on the issue, going so far as to post an image of the presidential autopen in place of Biden’s official portrait in a recently installed West Wing presidential portrait gallery.

But Republicans’ fixation on the presidential autopen may have broader legal implications.

Trump and Republican lawmakers have argued that improper use of the autopen would raise the possibility that scores of Biden-era executive actions, pardons and laws may be ruled invalid in court. Trump has already ordered the Justice Department to investigate.

A Trump White House memo to Attorney General Pam Bondi argued that any cases where the autopen was used without Biden’s knowledge would be an “unconstitutional wielding of the power of the presidency” that “would have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions undertaken in Biden’s name.”

The argument is legally untested and may raise difficult questions for Trump’s own use of the autopen. Republican lawmakers insist that the Biden White House example was an exceptional situation.

Republicans have also argued that any former staffers found to have misused the autopen should be criminally prosecuted.

Legal experts and Democrats have called the arguments preposterous and warned that such precedents would imperil many of Trump’s own policies from both of his terms in office.

By CHRIS MEGERIAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to leave for Asia at the end of the week, betting that an around-the-world journey will help him untangle big issues that he can’t afford to get wrong.

At stake is nothing less than the future of the global economy, which could hinge on whether he’s able to calm trade tensions during an expected meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A misstep could send shock waves through American industries that have already been rattled by Trump’s aggressive tariffs, government layoffs and political brinkmanship.

FILE – President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Trump’s strategy of improvisation has had both hits and misses since he returned to office in January. Hamas returned hostages to Israel but the ceasefire in the Middle East remains fragile; a trade war with China has ebbed and flowed this year; and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hasn’t slowed down despite Trump’s efforts to resolve the conflict.

There’s been some mystery around Trump’s trip, with no official announcements from the White House about much of his itinerary. The president said Monday that he plans to go to Malaysia, which is hosting a regional summit, then Japan, where he’s trying to nail down foreign investment.

He’ll also visit South Korea, where he’s working on more trade issues and expects to sit down with Xi. Beijing has yet to confirm that they’ll meet, and the two leaders have recently exchanged threats of tariffs and export restrictions.

“I have a very good relationship with President Xi of China,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. He offered to lower tariffs but “they have to give us some things too,” including buying U.S. soybeans, reducing the flow of fentanyl ingredients and ending limits on rare earth minerals that are critical for high-tech manufacturing.

Trump expressed even more confidence on Monday, saying, “I think we’re going to end up having a fantastic deal with China” and “it’s going to be fantastic for the entire world.”

This will be Trump’s first trip to Asia in his second term

With just days to go before Trump leaves, there’s an unusual level of ambiguity even for a president who loves to keep people guessing about his next move.

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“The whole trip has seemed so uncertain from the beginning,” said Bonnie Glaser, a managing director at the German Marshall Fund, a Washington-based think tank.

It’s Trump’s first trip to Asia since returning to office. Although he’s hosted leaders from the region at the White House, he hasn’t forged the kind of foundational relationships that he has on other continents.

Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the president, responded to a list of questions about Trump’s plans by saying he “will participate in meetings and events in Asia that will result in many great deals for our country.” She added, “Stay tuned!”

Trump’s approach to Asia has focused on using tariffs to realign what he describes as unfair trade practices, unnerving countries that depend on the United States as the world’s largest market for exports. There’s also anxiety about Trump’s meeting with Xi, and the potential that a feud between the two leaders could send the international economy into a tailspin.

“There will be some appreciation for the fact that he’s there, but I don’t think it will go far enough to quell the doubts that are pervasive in the region,” Glaser predicted.

The Republican president has downsized his foreign policy team since his first term, eschewing the typical array of advisers at the National Security Council in favor of a core group of loyalists.

“There’s not very many White House staff to do this kind of work,” said Rush Doshi, who worked on China policy under President Joe Biden. “All of this puts us in uncharted waters.”

Michael Green, who worked on President George W. Bush’s National Security Council and now leads the United States Studies Centre in Sydney, Australia, said there’s been no clear Asia strategy from Trump.

“Everyone is waiting to see where he’s going to come down on all of this,” he said.

Others say Trump’s approach is paying off. Anthony Kim, a research fellow in international economic affairs at the Heritage Foundation, said Japan and South Korea are eager to work with the administration to solidify partnerships.

The message from them has been “let’s sit down, talk about relevant details to make a deal,” Kim said.

Trump’s plans remain in flux as the trip approaches

Malaysia is hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an annual summit that Trump attended only once during his first term, even skipping it when it was held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, this year the summit offers an opportunity to highlight Trump’s peacemaking efforts, which he’s made central to his foreign policy agenda.

Thailand and Cambodia skirmished along their disputed border over the summer, and Trump threatened to withhold trade deals with each country if they didn’t stop fighting.

“They were willing to come together and talk to avoid more economic pain,” said Ja Ian Chong, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore.

Malaysia and the U.S. have been working toward securing an expanded ceasefire. The Malaysian foreign minister said Trump “looks forward” to the signing of an agreement at the summit.

Trump’s next stop is Japan. Washington and Tokyo reached a trade agreement earlier this year, which included the promise of $550 billion of investments in U.S. projects.

Japan is in a moment of political transition, with Sanae Takaichi elected Tuesday to be the country’s first female prime minister.

Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi, right, and leader of Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin no Kai, Hirofumi Yoshimura shake hands after signing an agreement to form a coalition government in Tokyo, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

Takaichi is a protégé of Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister who was assassinated after leaving office. Trump was close with Abe during his first term, and Green said Takaichi “has the potential to also play that role.”

Working with Trump and keeping him committed to U.S. alliances “requires a level of interaction and trust that none of the Asian leaders have,” Green said.

South Korea is Trump’s final stop on his trip

The climax of the president’s journey will likely be South Korea, which is hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Trump has said he’ll sit down with Xi while he’s there.

Tensions have increased in recent weeks, particularly with China’s announcement of restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals. Trump threatened to retaliate with tariffs so high that he admits they would be unsustainable.

Doshi, the former Biden adviser, said there are three potential outcomes from Trump’s meeting with Xi — “deal, no deal or disaster.” He said China is emboldened after Trump backed down on an earlier tariff announcement when Beijing restricted the export of rare earth magnets.

“The Chinese feel they have President Trump’s number,” Doshi said. “They feel that if they push on this, he’ll fold.”

Trump said Monday that China has “treated us with great respect” since he’s been in office. He said “I could threaten them with many other things,” but “I want to be good to China.”

Another open question will be Trump’s trade negotiations with South Korea, which is facing U.S. tariffs that could undermine its auto industry. However, Seoul has balked at Trump’s demand for a $350 billion investment fund similar to the one in Japan.

“There’s some momentum to the talks,” said Wendy Cutler, who spent more than two decades as a U.S. trade negotiator and is now senior vice president at the Asia Society. “But I don’t want to overstate it, because there are some fundamental differences about this fund that need to be sorted out.”

She said it’s not unusual for talks to go down to the wire, but this time “there are so many balls in the air.”

Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

By MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY, Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has teetered over the past few days following a burst of deadly violence and questions over how to move forward with the plan for cementing a long-term peace.

Vice President J.D. Vance, right, and Second Lady Usha Vance arrive at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Oct. 21, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

Also Tuesday, Israel said it has identified the body of a hostage that was released by Palestinian militants overnight, while the chief Hamas negotiator said the group remains determined to implement the ceasefire agreement to end the two-year war.

Vance, who is accompanied by his wife, Usha Vance, will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is expected to stay in the region until Thursday. His visit follows that of two top White House envoys. After arrival, Vance held a working meeting at the airport with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump ’s former White House adviser and son-in-law.

Vance is to hold a news conference on Tuesday evening in Jerusalem and is also expected to meet with families of hostages whose bodies are still being held in Gaza and some of the living hostages released by the militants last week. Earlier on Tuesday, Witkoff and Kushner met in Tel Aviv with nine hostages who were released from captivity last week.

Israel identifies another body of a hostage

Israel confirmed that Hamas released the body of Tal Haimi, who was killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack that ignited the war. He was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the Gaza border. The 42-year-old was a fourth-generation resident of the kibbutz and part of its emergency response team. He had four children, including one born after the attack.

In this undated photo provided by Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Tal Haimi, who was taken from Israel’s Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and whose body was returned to Israel on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, is pictured at an undisclosed location. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum via AP)

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is still waiting for Hamas to turn over the remains of 15 deceased hostages. Thirteen bodies have been released since the ceasefire began.

The Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said that Israel transferred the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire. The International Committee of the Red Cross handed over the bodies to the Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, it said.

The new arrivals brought the number of bodies Israel sent back to Gaza to 165 since the exchanges started earlier this month, according to the health ministry.

Hamas says it’s committed to ending the war

After trading strikes earlier this week, Hamas negotiators reiterated that the group is committed to ensuring the war “ends once and for all.”

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“From the day we signed the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, we were determined and committed to seeing it through to the end,” Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who is in Cairo, told Egypt’s Al-Qahera News television late Monday.

He said the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and U.S. President Donald Trump, represented “an international will declaring the war in Gaza is over.”

Al-Hayya said Hamas received assurances from mediators and Trump that “give us confidence that the war has ended for good.”

He said Israel has complied with aid deliveries in the crossings according to the agreement but asked mediators to pressure Israel to deliver more shelter, medical supplies and winterization items before the weather changes.

Meanwhile, the head of Egypt’s intelligence agency traveled to Israel on Tuesday to meet with Israeli officials and Witkoff over the implementations of the ceasefire, according to Egyptian media.

2 Israeli soldiers and 45 Palestinians are reported killed

On Sunday, Israel’s military said militants had fired at troops, killing two Israeli soldiers in areas of Rafah in southern Gaza that are under Israeli control as per agreed-on ceasefire lines.

Israel soldiers mourn during the funeral of comrade Staff Sergeant Itay Yavetz, killed in Gaza, in Modiin, Israel, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Retaliatory strikes by Israel killed 45 Palestinians, according to the strip’s Health Ministry, which says a total of 80 people have been killed since the ceasefire took effect.

Similar strikes occurred on Monday in Gaza City and Khan Younis, where Israel said militants had crossed the yellow ceasefire line and posed an “immediate threat” to its troops.

The Israeli military said Monday it was using concrete barriers and painted poles to more clearly delineate the so-called yellow line in Gaza where troops have withdrawn to. It said several instances of violence have occurred.

Also on Tuesday, Qatar, a key mediator in the ceasefire, denounced Israel in a speech by its ruling emir. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said his nation would continue to serve as a mediator as a ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.

Sheikh Tamim specifically called Israel out for its “continued breaches of the ceasefire” in Gaza, as well as its expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Doctors in Gaza say bodies returned with evidence of torture

A senior health official in the Gaza Strip said the bodies of Palestinians that Israel returned to Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal bore “evidence of torture” and called for an investigation.

Israel returned 150 bodies for Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal, which required the release of all of Israeli hostages — living and deceased — in return for the release of over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and many bodies of Palestinians.

So far, only 32 of the returned bodies have been identified, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Dr. Muneer al-Boursh, the general director of the Health Ministry, said in a post of social media late Monday that some of the bodies had returned with evidence of being bound with ropes and metal shackles, blindfolds, deep wounds, abrasions, burns, and crushed limbs.

“What has happened constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity,” he said, calling for the United Nations to launch an “urgent and independent international investigation.”

The Israel Prisons Service denied that prisoners had been mistreated.

“All inmates are held according to legal procedures, and their rights including access to medical care and adequate living conditions are upheld by professionally trained staff,” a spokesperson for the prison services said.

Israeli hostages released from Gaza have also reported being bound by metal shackles and harsh conditions, including frequent beatings and starvation.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

By ALI SWENSON and LINLEY SANDERS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive, according to a new AP-NORC poll, as they make decisions about next year’s health coverage and a government shutdown keeps future health costs in limbo for millions.

About 6 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about their health costs going up in the next year, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds — a worry that extends across age groups and includes people with and without health insurance.

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Many Americans have other health care anxieties, too. The poll found that about 4 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about not being able to pay for health care or medications they need, not being able to access health care when they need it, or losing or not having health insurance.

Medicare beneficiaries are already shopping for next year’s coverage, and open enrollment periods for many other health plans are approaching quickly in November. Federal policies have left millions of people at risk of skyrocketing health insurance premiums or of losing their health insurance altogether. The findings show that many Americans are feeling vulnerable to spiking health care costs, with some expressing concerns about whether they’ll have coverage at all.

Latoya Wilson, an independent nurse consultant in Lafayette, Louisiana, currently uses a health insurance plan from the Affordable Care Act marketplace. But in the past two weeks, the 46-year-old has applied for more jobs than she had previously in her life, largely because she’s concerned about her premiums going up and wants the stability of employer-sponsored insurance.

“Even before these health care cuts came into play, I was already having a significant issue getting the care that I needed this year,” she said. “Anything worse than what I already have is pretty scary.”

Health care remains important to Americans when it’s center stage in Washington

About 8 in 10 U.S. adults say the issue of health care is “extremely” or “very” important to them personally. That includes about 9 in 10 Democrats and three-quarters of Republicans, and it puts health care next to the economy among Americans’ top issue priorities.

That significant attention on the issue raises the political stakes in what’s already been a crucial moment for federal health policy in the nation’s capital.

President Donald Trump’s mega-bill passed this summer cuts more than $1 trillion from federal health care and food assistance over a decade, largely by imposing work requirements on those receiving aid and by shifting certain federal costs onto the states. Republicans say the cuts will prevent people who don’t need aid from gaming the system, but the cuts will ultimately result in millions of people losing health insurance coverage, according to projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

More urgently, a congressional deadlock over Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire this year has thrown the federal government into a shutdown that’s dragged into a fourth straight week with no end in sight. Democratic lawmakers want any funding bill they sign to extend the subsidies, which have made ACA premiums less expensive for millions of people. Republicans in Congress have expressed willingness to negotiate on the issue, but only after the government is reopened.

In interviews, some Americans said they doubted government leaders would take the necessary action to address their concerns on health care.

“It is the federal government’s job to provide a better way of life for its people,” said Caleb Richter, a 30-year-old certified nursing assistant in Belleville, Wisconsin, who identifies as an independent. ”Right now, it just feels like they’re not trying.”

But the poll reveals a deep ideological divide over what the government’s role should be, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to say it’s the federal government’s job to make sure all Americans have health coverage. About 8 in 10 Democrats say this, compared with about one-third of Republicans.

Most US adults disapprove of Trump’s handling of health care, the poll finds

Health care continues to be a weakness for Trump. Only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of the Republican president’s handling of health care, which hasn’t changed meaningfully since September. Almost all Democrats disapprove of his approach, but so do about 8 in 10 independents and about one-third of Republicans.

Wilson, a Democrat, said she thinks Trump should be “doing things that affect the good of the group” when it comes to health care, including catering more to working-class Americans.

But Michelle Truszkowski, a disabled veteran in Sterling Heights, Michigan, who is politically conservative, said she appreciates how Trump is focused on cutting fraud and abuse in the health care system.

“I like that people who shouldn’t be getting benefits from the government are getting kicked off of them,” the 48-year-old said. “Health care is not a right. It’s a privilege.”

Democrats trusted more than Republicans on health care, but many trust neither

About 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they trust the Democrats to do a better job handling health care, compared with about one-quarter who trust the Republicans more. About one-quarter trust neither party, and about 1 in 10 trust both equally.

Americans are more likely to trust their own party on health care, generally speaking, but 76% of Democrats trust their party more on health care, while only 57% of Republicans have more trust in theirs.

Independents are especially likely to trust neither party on health care — about half of independents say this. But the remaining independents are more likely to trust the Democrats.

Richter, in Wisconsin, said he wishes Congress would put more faith and funding into hospital staffers who know how to help patients. He said he’d be fine with paying higher taxes if it meant ensuring health care for people who need it.

But instead of working toward solutions, he said, federal lawmakers are acting “like a bunch of high school kids arguing.”

“My faith that something will get done is very, very low at this point,” Richter said. “It just feels like they don’t really care.”

The AP-NORC poll of 1,289 adults was conducted Oct. 9-13, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Swenson reported from New York.