Ari Shapiro

Ari Shapiro reports on the White House for NPR with a focus on national security and legal affairs. His stories appear on all of NPR's newsmagazines, including All Things Considered and Morning Edition, where he is also a frequent guest host. Shapiro began covering the White House in 2010 after five years as NPR's Justice Correspondent, during which time his coverage of Justice Department policies and controversies chronicled one of the most tumultuous periods in the department's history.

The first NPR reporter to be promoted to correspondent before age 30, Shapiro has been recognized with several journalism prizes, including The American Bar Association's Silver Gavel for his coverage of prisoners lost in Louisiana's detention system after Hurricane Katrina; The Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize for his investigation of methamphetamine use and HIV transmission; the Columbia Journalism Review's "laurel" recognition of his investigation into disability benefits for injured veterans; and the American Judges' Association's American Gavel for a body of work reporting on courts and the justice system. He has appeared as a guest analyst on television news programs including The NewsHour, The Rachel Maddow Show and CNN Newsroom.

Shapiro is based in Washington, D.C., where, as NPR's Justice Correspondent, he covered some of the most significant court cases in recent history, including Supreme Court rulings on Guantanamo detainees, the perjury trial of top White House official Lewis "Scooter" Libby and the fraud trial of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. He has also broken stories about the government's evolving approach to counterterrorism, detention and interrogation policies. He investigated abuses of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and covered the legal proceedings against American soldiers accused of those abuses.

Before covering the Justice Department, Shapiro was NPR's regional reporter in Atlanta and then in Miami. In 2003, he was an NPR reporting fellow at WBUR in Boston.

Shapiro is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale. He began his journalism career in 2001 in the office of NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg. Shapiro was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up in Portland, Oregon.

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Election 2012
5:00 am
Tue August 14, 2012

On The Road With Romney

Originally published on Tue August 14, 2012 6:37 am

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in Miami, where he courted Cuban-American voters Monday. They're one of the few minority communities that vote solidly Republican. In a news conference Monday, Romney suggested voters don't care about a candidate's race.

Presidential Race
4:50 pm
Mon August 13, 2012

Medicare A Hot Topic As Romney, Ryan Hit The Trail

Originally published on Mon August 13, 2012 6:09 pm

Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan campaigned in different states on Monday. Ryan was in Iowa, where President Obama was also campaigning. Meanwhile, Romney was in the important battleground state of Florida. Some analysts believe that Ryan's budgets proposals — which make major changes to Medicare — could hurt the Romney/Ryan ticket in Florida, especially among older voters.

Election 2012
4:23 am
Mon August 13, 2012

Ryan Energizes Romney's Weekend Campaign Stops

Originally published on Mon August 13, 2012 4:48 am

Rep. Paul Ryan will be campaigning in Iowa Monday. It will be his first day campaigning solo since GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney named him as his running mate on Saturday. Over the weekend, thousands of people lined up for hours to see the newly minted GOP ticket.

Presidential Race
3:32 pm
Sun August 12, 2012

Ryan Brings The Love To Romney's Campaign

Originally published on Sun August 12, 2012 4:59 pm

Since Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., came on the scene Saturday, Mitt Romney's rallies have felt different. The crowds are bigger. The audience is more raucous. Lines that used to be a routine part of the Republican presidential candidate's stump speech have become rousing battle cries.

At the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, N.C., 1,600 people crowded into the room and thousands more swarmed outside.

"I feel like I'm in Woodstock," gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory exclaimed. "There's a parking jam!"

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Presidential Race
5:51 am
Sun August 12, 2012

Romney-Ryan Ticket Debuts On The Trail

Originally published on Sun August 12, 2012 9:40 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer. The Romney campaign is calling it America's Comeback Team. Congressman Paul Ryan is officially Mitt Romney's choice for vice president. After a flashy rollout in Norfolk, Virginia, the two men campaigned together across the state. Today, they're holding rallies in North Carolina and Wisconsin. NPR's Ari Shapiro has the story of Ryan's first day on the ticket.

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It's All Politics
5:52 pm
Fri August 10, 2012

Romney Aims To Perk Up Poll Numbers On Swing-State Bus Tour

Originally published on Fri August 10, 2012 6:01 pm

It's All Politics
5:23 pm
Thu August 9, 2012

On The Trail, Even Republicans Spin Clinton Years Into Gold

Credit Tim Sloan / AFP/Getty Images
What a difference 14 years makes. Here, Bill Clinton departs the White House on July 31, 1998, after telling reporters he wouldn't take questions about the Monica Lewinsky investigation.

Originally published on Fri August 10, 2012 11:02 am

This week, the presidential campaign has been dominated by debate over the welfare law from the 1990s. It's just the latest example of how both sides are trying to use the Clinton years to their advantage — portraying them as a halcyon golden age.

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Election 2012
4:50 am
Wed August 8, 2012

Romney's Welfare Ad Slams Obama

Originally published on Wed August 8, 2012 11:52 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The latest clash between President Obama and Mitt Romney is over an issue dating to the 1990s - Bill Clinton's welfare overhaul. That law has a work requirement which is supposed to help move people off welfare and into jobs. Mitt Romney is now accusing the Obama White House of undermining the law, which the Obama administration calls an outright lie. We asked NPR's Ari Shapiro to do some truth squadding.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: First the accusation. The Romney campaign's new TV ad says Barack Obama has gutted the welfare laws.

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It's All Politics
6:00 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

On The Trail, A Campaign's Style Can Reveal A Lot About Substance

While President Obama and Mitt Romney offer competing visions every day on the campaign trail, there's also a more superficial aspect to their campaigns.

And on the surface, Obama and Romney events feel completely different.

Take a recent summer night in Leesburg, Va. Dorothy Fontaine had been standing outside of a local high school since the sun was high in the sky.

When asked why she would spend that much time waiting, Fontaine replied: "It's the president of the United States! I mean, isn't it cool to go see the president of the United States?"

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Presidential Race
6:10 am
Sun August 5, 2012

Back Scratch? Romney Has An Ally In Indiana

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, right, applauds as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign event at Stepto's Bar-B-Q Shack in Evansville, Ind., Saturday.

Originally published on Sun August 5, 2012 7:48 pm

Republican Mitt Romney campaigned this weekend in a state that has not seen much of either presidential candidate. Nobody considers Indiana a toss-up in the presidential race.

But the Senate contest there is a different story. It's a very close race, and the result could determine which party controls the Senate next year. So Romney showed up at a barbecue shack in Evansville to give the conservative Republican candidate a boost.

'Help Me Elect This Guy'

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