By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump intends to preview his agenda for next year and beyond in a live speech from the White House on Wednesday night. His remarks are coming at a crucial time as he tries to rebuild his steadily eroding popularity.

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The White House offered few details about what the Republican president intends to emphasize in the 9 p.m. EST speech. Public polling shows most U.S. adults are frustrated with his handling of the economy as inflation picked up after his tariffs raised prices and hiring slowed.

Trump’s mass deportations of immigrants have also proved unpopular even as he is viewed favorably for halting crossings along the U.S. border with Mexico. The public has generally been nonplussed by his income tax cuts and globe-trotting efforts to end conflicts, attack suspected drug boats near Venezuela and attract investment dollars into the United States.

In 2026, Trump and his party face a referendum on their leadership as the nation heads into the midterm elections that will decide control of the House and the Senate.

Trump has said that he thinks more Americans would back him if they simply heard him describe his track record. Administration officials say investment commitments for new factories will reverse the recent decline in manufacturing jobs and that consumer activity will improve dramatically as people receive increased tax refunds next year.

“It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!” Trump said in a Tuesday social media post announcing the speech.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump would discuss his achievements this year and his plans for the remainder of his second term.

Trump has been omnipresent on social media and television this year with his impromptu news conferences and speeches. But addresses to the nation often can be relatively sober affairs, as was Trump’s June address describing the U.S. bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran.

The president has eschewed the messaging discipline that’s common among most politicians, an authenticity that appeals to some voters and repels others.

In a speech in Pennsylvania last week, he said his tariffs might mean that American children should have fewer dolls and pencils, while confirming a previously denied story from his first term in 2018 that he did not want immigrants from “shithole” countries.

On Monday, Trump on his social media site blamed Rob Reiner’s vocal objections to the president for the killing of the actor-director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.

A report released on Tuesday showed a jobs market that looks increasingly fragile, even if the overall economy still appears to be stable.

Employers were adding on average 122,750 jobs a month during the first four months of this year. But since Trump announced his broad tariffs in April, monthly job gains have averaged a paltry 17,000 as the unemployment rate has climbed from 4% in January to 4.6%.

Trump’s team has blamed Democratic lawmakers for shutting down the government for the job losses reported Tuesday during October. The president continues to blame his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for any challenges the nation might face over inflation or ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Follow the AP’s coverage of President Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump.

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and LEAH WILLINGHAM

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — With the search for the Brown University shooter in its fifth day Wednesday, authorities were asking the public to review any security or phone footage from the week before the attack in the hopes it might help investigators identify the suspect, believing he may have cased the scene ahead of time.

“We’re looking for a moment that is shorter than someone taking a breath,” Providence’s police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, said at a Tuesday news conference.

The request came after authorities released several videos from the hours and minutes before and after Saturday’s attack showing the suspect standing, walking and even running along streets just off campus, but always with a mask on or his head turned.

Although Brown President Christina Hull Paxson said there are 1,200 cameras on campus, the attack, which killed two students and wounded nine others, happened in a first-floor classroom in an older part of the engineering building that has “fewer, if any” cameras, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha noted. Investigators also believe the shooter entered and left the building through a door that faces a residential street bordering campus, which might explain why the cameras Brown does have didn’t capture footage of him.

The lack of campus video of the shooter led President Donald Trump to accuse the Ivy League school of being unprepared, posting Wednesday on Truth Social: “Why did Brown University have so few Security Cameras? There can be no excuse for that. In the modern age, it just doesn’t get worse!!!”

Where the investigation stands

Investigators have described the suspect as about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall and stocky, but they’ve given no indication that they are close to zeroing in him.

The attacker’s motives also remain a mystery, and Neronha batted away questions about what they might be, saying Tuesday, “That is a dangerous road to go down.”

Authorities have been canvassing the surrounding neighborhoods and have received about 200 tips, and Neronha defended the investigation as going “really well” as he pleaded for patience.

But the timing of the attack, coming just before the winter break, could complicate the investigation, as remaining classes and exams were canceled after the shooting and many students have already gone home.

The investigation also comes as Boston-area police search for the person who killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor earlier this week. That attack happened in the professor’s home, and the FBI said it had no reason to think the two attacks were linked.

Campus security comes under scrutiny

The attack and shooter’s escape have raised questions about campus security.

Paxson said Brown has two security systems. One system, activated at a time of emergency, sent out text messages, phone calls and emails that reached 20,000 people. The other features three sirens across the campus and was not activated Saturday, a decision Paxson defended because doing so would have caused people to rush into buildings, including the one where the shooting was happening.

“So that is not a system we would ever use in the case of an active shooter,” she said.

Brown’s website says the sirens can be used when there is an active shooter, but Paxson said it “depends on the circumstances” and the location of the shooter.

A city on edge

With the shooter still at-large, Providence remained tense Wednesday as additional police were stationed at city schools to reassure worried parents that their kids would be safe. Some schools canceled afterschool activities and field trips.

Prior to the shooting, nearly 1,600 Providence residents were registered to receive texts through a city text alert service. According to the city, 760 new accounts have been created since Sunday, bringing the total number of people registered to receive texts to more than 2,300 as of late Tuesday.

Brown also cautioned people to refrain from accusing people online of having any link to the attack, after it said such speculation led to a student being doxed — their identifying information was posted.

“Accusations, speculation and conspiracies we’re seeing on social media and in some news reports are irresponsible, harmful, and in some cases dangerous for the safety of individuals in our community,” the school said in a statement.

Honoring the victims

About 200 people gathered at a campus church service Tuesday to honor the victims, including Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, the two students who died.

Cook was a 19-year-old sophomore from Alabama who was very involved in her church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans.

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Umurzokov was an 18-year-old freshman from Virginia whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan and who hoped to go to medical school one day.

Two of the wounded students had been released as of Tuesday. Of the seven still hospitalized, Mayor Brett Smiley said one remained in critical condition, five were in critical but stable condition and one was in stable condition.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jennifer McDermott, Matt O’Brien and Robert F. Bukaty in Providence; Brian Slodysko in Washington; Michael Casey in Boston; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu.

There has been some marked improvement from young quarterback J.J. McCarthy over the past couple of weeks. He has been in complete control while leading the Vikings to upset wins over the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys.

Though the mechanics are still an issue for the McCarthy in the grand scheme of his development — the leg whip when he releases the ball is as aggressive as ever — he has been much more accurate for the Vikings as of late.

The growth been noticed by pretty much everybody, including former NFL quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan, who hasn’t pulled punches on his popular YouTube channel The QB School when discussing where McCarthy has fallen short.

After dishing out some harsh criticism this season, however, O’Sullivan showered McCarthy with praise for leading the Vikings to a 34-26 win over the Cowboys in primetime.

The most recent film review from O’Sullivan is roughly 30 minutes in length and highlights some of McCarthy’s highlights from the best game of his career to this point.

The most notable comment from O’Sullivan came at the end. After shouting ou head coach Kevin O’Connell for his play calling, O’Sullivan turned the focus back to McCarthy, saying, “A pretty damn impressive performance.”

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the detailed breakdown:

The touchdown passes

After throwing an interception on his first pass, McCarthy bounced back in a big way, leading a drive and capping it off with a touchdown pass to receiver Jalen Nailor in the back of the end zone.

It’s a very good sequence from McCarthy as he rolled to his left after, spotted Nailor breaking open open down the field, then delivered a catchable ball on time. As he replayed the touchdown pass a few times, O’Sullivan credited McCarthy for not allowing an early mistake to snowball into something much worse.

“We’re showing that resiliency,” O’Sullivan said. “He does a nice job flipping his hips and driving the ball down the field.”

The other touchdown pass from McCarthy also went to Nailor and helped the Vikings pull away from the Cowboys for good. There wasn’t very much that McCarthy had to do because the play design was so good. He simply had to throw with conviction and he did.

“You can’t get this ball out fast enough,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s wide open.”

The naked bootleg

It’s no secret that O’Connell wasn’t a huge fan of McCarthy hitting The Griddy on his touchdown run. Neither was O’Sullivan as he watched the perfectly executed naked bootleg near the goal line.

That said, O’Sullivan acknowledged that McCarthy’s ball handling on the naked bootleg was exceptional, emphasizing how the sleight of hand is perhaps the biggest reason the play call works as well as it does.

“As he reverses out, he shows the ball, then he hides the ball on his hip, and shows that empty hand,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s a really nice job of making sure this side all collapses with the run fit and he’s able to walk in.”

The chunk plays

There are a few chunk plays from McCarthy that O’Sullivan spends a lot of time on, including the 58-yard completion to receiver Jordan Addison, the 29-yard completion to tight end T.J. Hockenson, and the 23-yard completion to Nailor.

The strike that McCarthy threw to Addison came as a result of some subtle pocket movement followed by some very good arm strength. Those are both areas that have plagued McCarthy at times so it was good to see the development in real time.

“A really nice job here moving to his left, getting that up and down, not running out of club,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s everything except finishing in the end zone. This is beautiful. I love the play design, the idea, the aggressiveness down the field.”

The seam ball McCarthy threw to Hockenson was arguably his best rep of the game. Not only did he showcase decisiveness after catching the snap out of the shotgun, he also threw with a good amount of anticipation.

“I love the read, the timing, the rhythm,” O’Sullivan said. “This is a big time throw and he’s making it look easy.”

The back shoulder fade McCarthy threw to Nailor showcased some feathery touch. A deeper look at the play shows it could’ve gone for another touchdown pass if McCarthy let it rip down the field.

“You don’t want to back shoulder that,” O’Sullivan said. “You want to throw that down the stem. This ends up being a really nice adjustment. They’re rewarded for the aggressiveness down the field.”

The interception

Notably, the video started with O’Sullivan basically giving McCarthy a pass for the interception, crediting him for making the correct read in the face of pressure. The play almost certainly would’ve resulted in a first down had the ball not been tipped at the line of scrimmage.

“I would classify this as bad luck,” O’Sullivan said. “This looks like it’s the right decision.”

The only critique O’Sullivan had of McCarthy was the fact that he didn’t bat the ball down while it was fluttering in the air. The ball landed in the arms of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams after McCarthy opted for more of a volleyball set than a volleyball spike.

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By ERIC TUCKER and LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door interview on Wednesday that his team of investigators “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump had criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to portions of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.

He also said investigators had accrued “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by hoarding classified documents from his first term as president at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records.

“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”

He said that if asked whether he would “prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat.”

The private deposition before the House Judiciary Committee gives Smith his first chance to face questions, albeit behind closed doors, about a pair of investigations into Trump that resulted in since-abandoned criminal charges between the Republican president’s first and second terms in office. Smith was subpoenaed earlier this month to provide both testimony and documents as part of a Republican investigation into the Trump probes during the Biden administration.

The former special counsel cooperated with the congressional demand despite having volunteered more than a month earlier to answer questions publicly before the committee, an overture his lawyers say was rebuffed by Republicans.

“Testifying before this committee, Jack is showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House,” one of Smith’s lawyers, Lanny Breuer, told reporters Wednesday. “Let’s be clear: Jack Smith is a career prosecutor, who conducted this investigation based on the facts and based on the law and nothing more.”

Trump told reporters at the White House that he supported the idea of an open hearing, saying: “I’d rather see him testify publicly. There’s no way he can answer the questions.”

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Smith is expected to discuss both of his investigations of Trump but will not answer questions that call for grand jury materials, which are restricted by law, according to a person familiar with the investigation who insisted on anonymity to discuss the interview. He is also expected to correct what he regards as mischaracterizations from Republicans about his work, including about his team’s use of cellphone records belonging to certain GOP lawmakers, the person said.

Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee the Justice Department investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden and his hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Smith’s team filed charges in both investigations.

Smith abandoned the cases after Trump was elected to the White House again last year, citing Justice Department legal opinions that say a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Republicans who control Congress have sought interviews with at least some individual members of Smith’s team.

In recent weeks they have seized on revelations that the team, as part of its investigation, had analyzed the phone records of select GOP lawmakers from on and around Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to halt the certification of Trump’s election loss to Biden. The phone records reviewed by prosecutors included details only about the incoming and outgoing phone numbers and the length of the call but not the contents of the conversation.

Follow the AP’s coverage of former special counsel Jack Smith at https://apnews.com/hub/jack-smith.