WASHINGTON — America’s 250th anniversary arrives at a time of deep political divisions and, in some quarters, heightened anxiety over whether representative government in the world’s oldest democracy can be sustained.

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Cultural institutions, sporting events, even communities are polarized. If there is any place the bitter partisanship is set aside, even temporarily, it is in the rotunda of the National Archives. This is home to the nation’s founding documents, including the one that will be commemorated this year, the Declaration of Independence.

The room is filled with a silent sense of reverence as visitors gaze down at the light brown parchment, secured under bullet-proof glass, that helped create the foundation of a government that has been a beacon of inspiration for people around the world for more than two centuries.

Its significance was not lost on those who filtered in on a recent day, braving a deep freeze in the nation’s capital to ensure they would not miss this stop on their Washington tour. Even as the crowd grew, the room was filled with a sense that people knew they were in the presence of something momentous.

Their visits coincided with a national reckoning over President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions, which had led to the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens on the streets of Minneapolis and grave concerns about attacks on constitutional rights. The Associated Press interviewed visitors after they had viewed the Declaration of Independence, along with the Constitution and Bill of Rights, for their thoughts on the state of America and its future as it approached its semiquincentennial moment.

They acknowledged the country’s ideological divides but were reluctant to assign blame, in many cases expressing hope the nation would be able to repair itself, as it has done many times over its history. With the Rotunda’s bus-sized oil on canvas paintings of the Founding Fathers as a backdrop, they gave complicated responses when asked whether America was living up to the ideals of its founding documents and where it might be headed.

Despite divides, the nation has found ways to come together

Ryan O’Neil, visiting from West Bloomfield, Michigan, said that while the country is split politically — what he called “very tribal” — he finds hope in the documents he viewed at the National Archives because they have guided the country for 250 years.

“We’ve not yet lived up to everything that we had hoped to, but we are continuing to progress and get closer to that,” he said.

The Archives has a special exhibit marking the 250th anniversary, “The American Story,” that highlights that complex history, mixing the country’s astonishing accomplishments and advances with images showing its darker moments.

O’Neil, 42, said the U.S. has been in similar divisive situations throughout its history and always managed to regroup. The one constant, he said is that the country’s political pendulum is always swinging.

“Despite many tests over the years, going back to its founding, throughout the last 250 years it has withstood challenges, has withstood complaints, has withstood protests,” he said, “and continues to evolve to what we have today.”

How would the founders approach this moment?

Kevin Sullivan had traveled to Washington from Milwaukee with his wife to visit their children and attend the confirmation of their oldest grandson.

He acknowledged the country was in a divisive moment, but said it wasn’t the only one the country had faced, and that gave him hope for the future.

“So I have some faith that we’ll put some of the uglier partisan disputes behind us,” he said.

Sullivan, 69, said he supported at least a few of Trump’s goals, including securing the southern border, but was conflicted about the president’s approach.

He opposed Democratic threats to shut off funding for the Department of Homeland Security without drastic reforms to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies, but he also said he didn’t like the mass deportation policy.

His advice to lawmakers and the president would be to get away from the cameras and hold meaningful discussions to find solutions. Looking at the oil paintings with images of the founders, he said having an equivalent of today’s media trying to report on the writing of the Declaration probably “would not have been a positive development for the decisions and the discussions that were going on at Independence Hall.”

The view from outside the US: ‘some confusion’

The Rev. Michael Stokes, a priest with the Church of England, was visiting friends in the Washington area. Before heading to the rotunda, he saw the Magna Carta, the English document signed in 1215 that set up a series of rights for the people and served as a model for America’s system of government.

Stokes, 30, said others look at the diversity of people, religions and industry that all come together “for this one common purpose of America.” It’s a vision that has inspired the world, he said, but also is one that appears to be waning.

“I think this is the time in history where it’s been challenged the most with the actions of the current administration. I think that the rest of the world is looking and seeing how this thing, this Constitution, which is held with such pride, the Bill of Rights, which is held with pride, how can that also be held in tension with a popularly elected government that seems to disregard so much of it,” Stokes said. “And I think the rest of the world is looking at that with some confusion.”

Life, liberty and a pursuit still in progress

Morgan Whitman, an executive assistant, was in Washington on business from Miami and was seeing the documents for the first time.

She said reading them created a mix of emotions. The ideals were lofty, she said, but “there’s also of course the feelings of hypocrisy” because Thomas Jefferson had argued for a passage opposing slavery that was not included.

“So I think we have this document that fought for independence and life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness,” she said. “My only wish was that it was for everybody at the time.”

Whitman, 25, said she is grateful for being granted rights that many others around the world do not have, but also said she is afraid some of those are under threat. She cited the killing by federal agents of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

“Take immigration out of it. These are American citizens that are being harmed now,” she said. “That’s unacceptable.”

The spirit of 1776. Is it alive today?

Jerry Curl was visiting the capital with his wife, Bobbi, from their home in Diamond, Illinois. A Trump supporter, he said the president’s second term has so far “lived up to my beliefs.”

But he also said he has stepped away from news coverage recently because it is too negative. When asked about the administration’s immigration enforcement, he wanted to see more discussions where people could share their views and do so respectfully.

He said trying to understand one another is crucial to maintaining American democracy.

”We owe it to our future generations that we never meet to uphold this,” he said of the founding documents.

Curl, 62, said the signers of the Declaration undoubtedly disagreed and had different beliefs, but they were able to find common ground as they took the first step to creating a new nation. He wonders whether the same spirit is alive today.

“Where we can now find common grounds to keep this one great nation on track is hard for me to fathom,” he said.

Associated Press video journalist River Zhang in Washington contributed to this report.

By GEIR MOULSON

BERLIN (AP) — Established democracies’ efforts against public-sector corruption appear to be flagging, according to a survey released Tuesday that serves as a barometer of perceived corruption worldwide. It raised concern about developments in the United States and the impact elsewhere of U.S. funding cuts.

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Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2025 gave top place to Denmark, with 89 points out of 100, followed by Finland and Singapore. At the bottom were South Sudan and Somalia with nine points apiece, followed by Venezuela. The leading trio was unchanged, and the last three only in that South Sudan gained a point to draw level with Somalia.

Most countries failing, while democracies slip

The group said most countries are failing to keep corruption under control, with 122 out of the 182 nations and territories surveyed scoring less than 50 points. The global average last year was 42, down one point to the lowest in over a decade. Only five countries scored above 80 in the 2025 report, down from 12 a decade ago.

The report lamented that “too often, we are seeing a failure of good governance and accountable leadership.”

It also pointed to “a worrying trend of democracies seeing worsening perceived corruption.”

Among those, it pointed even to high-scoring New Zealand, down two points at 81, and Sweden, unchanged on 80; as well as Canada, the United Kingdom, France and the United States, which scored 75, 70, 66 and 64 points respectively.

Concerns about the U.S.

The U.S. was down one point from 2024 for its worst showing yet under the methodology Transparency started using for its global ranking in 2012, putting it in 29th place in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.

“While the data has yet to fully reflect developments in 2025, the use of public office to target and restrict independent voices such as NGOs and journalists, the normalization of conflicted and transactional politics, the politicization of prosecutorial decision making, and actions that undermine judicial independence, among many others, all send a dangerous signal that corrupt practices are acceptable,” the report said.

Transparency International also argued that the U.S. decision “to temporarily freeze and then degrade enforcement of its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act … sends a dangerous signal that bribery and other corrupt practices are acceptable.”

Trump said a year ago, when he froze enforcement of the 1977 law that prohibits people or companies operating in the U.S. from giving money or gifts to foreign officials to win or retain deals in those countries, that “it sounds good on paper but in practicality, it’s a disaster.” To its detractors, the act has unfairly hobbled American companies while foreign rivals swoop in.

Separately, Transparency said that “U.S. aid cuts to funding for overseas civil society groups that scrutinize their governments has undermined anti-corruption efforts around the world.” It contended that “political leaders in various countries have also taken this as a cue to further target and restrict independent voices, such as NGOs and journalists.”

The ups and the downs

The organization measures experts’ perception of public-sector corruption around the world according to 13 data sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and private risk and consulting companies.

Fifty countries’ scores have declined significantly since 2012, it said — with Hungary, now on 40 points; Turkey, on 31; and Nicaragua, on 14, among the biggest fallers.

At the same time, it said 31 countries have improved significantly, highlighting Estonia (76 points), the Seychelles (68) and South Korea (63).

Russia remained close to the bottom of the index with an unchanged score of 22, with Transparency International citing “fully centralized, opaque governance that suppresses media, civil society and political opposition.”

Nearly four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine was up one point at 36 after an energy-sector corruption scandal forced high-level resignations. Transparency said that civil-society mobilization protected key anti-corruption institutions and investigations were increased, though “further reforms are needed to protect defense and reconstruction funds from misuse.”

By MELANIE LIDMAN

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to Washington on Tuesday to encourage President Donald Trump to expand the scope of high-stakes nuclear talks with Iran. The negotiations resumed last week against the backdrop of an American military buildup.

Israel has long called for Iran to cease all uranium enrichment, dial back its ballistic missile program and cut ties to militant groups across the region. Iran has always rejected those demands, saying it would only accept some limits on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

It’s unclear if Iran’s bloody crackdown on mass protests last month, or the movement of major U.S. military assets to the region, has made Iran’s leaders more open to compromise, or if Trump is interested in broadening the already difficult negotiations.

Netanyahu, who will be in Washington through Wednesday, has spent his decades-long political career pushing for stronger U.S. action toward Iran. Those efforts succeeded last year when the U.S. joined Israel in 12 days of strikes on Iran’s military and nuclear sites, and the possibility of additional military action against Iran is likely to come up in this week’s discussions.

Decisions are being made

Netanyahu’s visit comes just two weeks after Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, met with the prime minister in Jerusalem. The U.S. envoys held indirect talks in Oman with Iran’s foreign minister on Friday.

“The Prime Minister believes that any negotiations must include limiting ballistic missiles and ending support for the Iranian axis,” Netanyahu’s office said over the weekend, referring to Iran-backed militant groups like the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Years of nuclear talks have made little progress since Trump scrapped a 2015 agreement with Iran, with strong encouragement from Israel. Iran has shown little willingness to address the other issues, even after suffering repeated setbacks. But the meeting with Trump gives Netanyahu an opportunity to shape the process and may also bolster his standing back home.

“Clearly these are the days when decisions are being made, America is expected to complete its force buildup, and it’s trying to exhaust the prospect of negotiations,” said Yohanan Plesner, head of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based think tank.

“If you want to have influence on the process, only so much can be done via Zoom.”

Israel fears a narrow agreement

Trump threatened a military strike against Iran last month over the killing of protesters and concerns of mass executions, moving a number of military assets into the region. Thousands were killed and tens of thousands detained at Iranian authorities crushed the protests over widespread economic distress.

As the protests largely subsided, Trump shifted his focus to Iran’s nuclear program, which the U.S., Israel and others have long suspected is aimed at eventually developing weapons. Iran insists its program is entirely peaceful and says it has the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.

Sima Shine, an Iran expert formerly with Israel’s Mossad spy agency who is now an analyst at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said Israel fears that the U.S. might reach a narrow agreement with Iran in which it would temporarily halt uranium enrichment.

A deal in which Iran halts enrichment for several years would allow Trump to claim victory. But Israel believes any such agreement that does not end Iran’s nuclear program and reduce its ballistic missile arsenal will eventually require Israel to launch another wave of strikes, she said.

Iran might be unable to enrich uranium after last year’s strikes, making the idea of a temporary moratorium more appealing.

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Some members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have signaled that unilateral action remains on the table for Israel even if a deal is reached that Trump hails as a victory, with Energy Minister Eli Cohen telling Army Radio on Tuesday that Israel views Iran’s ballistic missiles as a grave threat and “reserves the option to act” should an agreement not meet its security needs.

In November, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was no longer enriching uranium due to the damage from last year’s war. The U.S. and Israeli airstrikes killed nearly 1,000 people in Iran, while Iranian missile barrages killed almost 40 in Israel.

It’s unclear how much damage was done to Iran’s nuclear program. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have been unable to visit the bombed nuclear sites. Satellite images show activity at two of them.

Netanyahu faces election this year

Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, has long touted his close ties to world leaders, particularly Trump, who he has praised as the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House. This week’s meeting allows Netanyahu to show Israelis he is a player in the Iran talks.

“The issue of relations between Netanyahu and Trump will be the issue of the campaign, and he is saying, ‘Only I can do this, it’s only me,’” Shine said.

Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, having held the office for a total of over 18 years. His government, the most nationalist and religious in Israel’s history, is expected to survive until the election in October, or close to it.

Netanyahu was originally scheduled to visit Washington next week for the Feb. 19 launch of Trump’s Board of Peace, an initiative that was initially framed as a mechanism for rebuilding Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war but has taken on a larger mandate of resolving global crises.

Netanyahu agreed to join the initiative but is wary of it because it includes Turkey and Qatar, countries he does not want to have a presence in postwar Gaza because of their relations with Hamas.

Moving the visit up could provide an “elegant solution” that allows Netanyahu to skip the launch without offending Trump, Plesner said. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under questioning from Democrats Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged that he had met with Jeffrey Epstein twice after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child, reversing Lutnick’s previous claim that he had cut ties with the late financier after 2005.

Lutnick once again downplayed his relationship with the disgraced financier who was once his neighbor in New York City as he was questioned by Democrats during a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He described their contact as a handful of emails and a pair of meetings that were years apart.

“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with him,” Lutnick told lawmakers.

But Lutnick is facing calls from several lawmakers for his resignation after the release of case files on Epstein contradicted Lutnick’s claims on a podcast last year that he had decided to “never be in the room” with Epstein again after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

The commerce secretary said Tuesday that he and his family actually had lunch with Epstein on his private island in 2012 and he had another hour-long engagement at Epstein’s home in 2011. Lutnick, a member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, is the highest-profile U.S. official to face bipartisan calls for his resignation amid revelations of his ties to Epstein. His acknowledgement comes as lawmakers are grasping for what accountability looks like amid the revelations contained in what’s known as the Epstein files.

In countries like the United Kingdom, the Epstein files have triggered resignations and the stripping of royal privileges, but so far, U.S. officials have not met the same level of retribution.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the Democrat who questioned Lutnick, told him, “There’s not an indication that you yourself engaged in any wrongdoing with Jeffrey Epstein. It’s the fact that you believe that you misled the country and the Congress based on your earlier statements.”

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Meanwhile, House members who initiated the legislative effort to force the release of the files are calling for Lutnick to resign. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky called for that over the weekend after emails were released that alluded to the meetings between Lutnick and Epstein.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, joined Massie in pressuring Lutnick out of office on Monday.

“Based on the evidence, he should be out of the Cabinet,” Khanna said.

He added, “It’s not about any particular person. In this country, we have to make a decision. Are we going to allow the rich and powerful people who are friends and (had) no problem doing business and showing up with a pedophile who is raping underage girls, are we just going to allow them to skate?”