Ari Shapiro

Ari Shapiro has been NPR's White House Correspondent since 2010. 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 reporting on the White House after five years as NPR's Justice Correspondent, covering national security and counterterrorism during one of the most tumultuous periods in the Justice Department's history.

He spent 2012 on the campaign trail, leading NPR's coverage of Mitt Romney during the primary and general election. He also travels widely overseas in his reporting, including visits to Afghanistan with President Obama and to Iraq with Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

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 regularly appears as a guest analyst on CNN, PBS, NBC, and other TV news outlets.

Before covering the Justice Department, Shapiro worked as a public radio reporter in Atlanta, Miami, and Boston.

Shapiro moonlights as a guest singer with the "little orchestra" Pink Martini, based in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. Since he debuted with them at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009, he has performed with the band at many of the world's most storied venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, L'Olympia in Paris, and Mount Lycabettus in Athens. He has recorded songs on three of Pink Martini's albums, in five languages.

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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It's All Politics
5:00 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
5:10 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 6:48 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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Election 2012
3:50 pm
Thu July 26, 2012

Romney Aims Tough Talk At China, And Obama

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Reno, Nev., on Tuesday. In the speech, Romney attacked the Obama administration's approach to China.

Originally published on Thu July 26, 2012 5:24 pm

President Obama's national security adviser visited China this week, just as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was attacking the administration's approach to that country.

"The cheating must finally be brought to a stop," Romney said Tuesday in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Reno, Nev. "The president hasn't done it and won't do it, and I will."

China is the world's largest economy after the United States. It is one of the most important — and complicated — foreign relationships the U.S. has.

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Mitt Romney
3:04 am
Tue July 24, 2012

Romney's Foreign Agenda: Listen, Learn, Olympics

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks in Bow, N.H., on July 20. On his upcoming trip, Romney plans to make stops in the United Kingdom, Israel and Poland.

Originally published on Sun July 29, 2012 8:18 am

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Reno, Nev., on Tuesday. It's a sort of launching pad for a foreign trip that will take Romney to three countries over the next week: the United Kingdom, Israel and Poland.

Romney, a man with a lot of domestic policy experience, is now trying to demonstrate his proficiency with international affairs.

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Money & Politics
2:29 am
Tue July 3, 2012

Gay Donors Open Wallets On Both Sides Of The Aisle

Originally published on Tue July 3, 2012 7:26 am

In politics, money talks. And money from gay and lesbian donors is talking louder than ever in this election cycle.

That's partly a result of President Obama endorsing same-sex marriage, and it's partly because Republicans are starting to see contributions as well.

That's a huge change from just a few decades ago.

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Judging The Health Care Law
4:53 pm
Fri June 29, 2012

Court's Recent Rulings Shake Up Partisan Narrative

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
The U.S. Supreme Court justices — (first row, from left) Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, (back row) Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan — pose at the Supreme Court in 2010.

Originally published on Fri June 29, 2012 9:26 pm

It's a bit less likely now than a week ago that you'll hear people accuse the Supreme Court of being politicized.

That's because this week, the court ended its session with two controversial decisions — neither one of which was decided on the usual and predictable split between the five justices appointed by Republican presidents and the four appointed by Democrats.

But that doesn't make the court any less of a political animal.

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It's All Politics
2:27 pm
Wed June 27, 2012

Obama Saw Immediate Fundraising Spike After Same-Sex Marriage Announcement

Originally published on Fri June 29, 2012 2:53 pm

In the days following President Obama's announcement that he supports same-sex marriage, anecdotal evidence suggested that the political position had a financial payoff.

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National Security
2:07 am
Wed June 20, 2012

Are Drones Obama's Legacy In War On Terrorism?

Credit Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP
President Obama's use of drones, and his direct involvement in whom they target, has both U.S. and international communities questioning the administration's secret drone policy.

Originally published on Wed June 20, 2012 9:17 am

The Obama administration's use of drones to kill suspected terrorists in foreign countries may be President Obama's biggest legacy in the fight against terrorism.

One privilege — or burden — of the Oval Office is that each inhabitant gets to decide how dirty to get his hands in wartime. President Truman made the ultimate decision to use the atomic bomb, while President Kennedy chose not to use a nuclear weapon in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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Presidential Race
6:48 am
Sat June 16, 2012

Romney Rolls Into States Where 'Every Town Counts'

Originally published on Sat June 16, 2012 1:22 pm

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. It's a classic tradition of presidential campaigns - the small town bus tour. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney began his in New Hampshire yesterday at the farm where he kicked off his campaign a year ago. NPR's Ari Shapiro was along for the ride.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Summer in New England is practically designed for political ads: waving green fields, cherry red barns popping against a bright blue sky, and on this morning, live bluegrass music.

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Election 2012
5:25 pm
Fri June 15, 2012

City Slickers Romney And Obama Woo Rural Voters

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 6:24 pm

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in New Hampshire on Friday, back at the farm where he launched his presidential campaign one year ago.

"In the days ahead, we'll be traveling on what are often called the backroads of America," he said. "But I think our tour is going to take us along what I'll call the backbone of America."

It was the first stop on a five-day bus tour that will take him to small towns. The former Massachusetts governor's campaign is calling it the "Every Town Counts" tour.

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