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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Presidential Race
5:18 pm
Wed October 24, 2012

Romney Faces Challenges In Nevada

Originally published on Wed October 24, 2012 5:53 pm

Republican nominee Mitt Romney campaigned in Nevada on Wednesday.

Presidential Race
5:31 pm
Tue October 23, 2012

Romney Hits Ground Running After Final Debate

Originally published on Wed October 24, 2012 4:18 am

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Governor Romney went straight to Nevada this morning and is now in Henderson for a campaign event. NPR's Ari Shapiro is there and joins us now. Hi there, Ari.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Hi, Audie.

CORNISH: So, what does Mitt Romney have to say out there on the campaign today?

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Presidential Race
8:11 am
Mon October 22, 2012

Foreign Policy Takes Center Stage In Final Debate

Originally published on Sun October 28, 2012 9:44 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. Good morning.

Tonight the presidential candidates meet for the final debate of this presidential election. President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney will be in Boca Raton, Florida. The event will focus on foreign policy, which was never expected to rival the economy as a major issue in this campaign. But foreign policy has played a bigger role than anticipated in recent weeks.

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It's All Politics
4:54 pm
Fri October 19, 2012

White Men, A Key GOP Demographic, Discuss The Romney Appeal

Credit Daytona Beach Visitors Bureau
Annual "Biketoberfest" participants ride along Beach Street in downtown Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2010.

Originally published on Fri October 19, 2012 7:12 pm

For all the attention paid to women in this race, there's another gender gap — with white men.

The Republican ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan campaigned in northeastern Florida on Friday, where thousands of men had descended on Daytona Beach for the annual motorcycle festival Biketoberfest.

A bunch of them were at Willie's Tropical Tattoo smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and listening to music.

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Presidential Race
5:44 pm
Wed October 17, 2012

GOP Angry With Moderator Crowley After Debate

Originally published on Wed October 17, 2012 7:09 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Now, to NPR's Ari Shapiro, who's travelling with Mitt Romney. The Republican flew this morning to Chesapeake, Virginia, for a rally. And Ari, what did he have to say about last night's debate?

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Well, he came out sounding chipper and he relived the moments of the debate that he was proudest of. This was right near the start of his stump speech today.

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Presidential Race
5:44 pm
Tue October 16, 2012

Can Romney Debate As Well When Not The Underdog?

Originally published on Tue October 16, 2012 7:06 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

For Mitt Romney, this moment is a peak in a campaign that has had more than its fair share of valleys. During the Republican primary campaign, Romney suffered a number of close calls as the nomination and the presidency seemed about to slip through his fingers. The most recent of those close calls came just two weeks ago in Denver when Romney lagged far behind President Obama going into that first debate.

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Presidential Race
4:57 pm
Fri October 12, 2012

Ryan Attacks Biden On Libya Post-Debate

Originally published on Fri October 12, 2012 5:59 pm

One day after Congressman Paul Ryan debated Vice President Joe Biden, Mitt Romney took to the campaign trail in Virginia and Ohio.

Presidential Race
8:05 am
Sat October 6, 2012

Romney Skirts Drop In Unemployment

Originally published on Sat October 6, 2012 7:55 pm

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And Mitt Romney a little more than a day to savor his presidential debate win before the September unemployment figures forced him to recalibrate. High unemployment has been Mitt Romney's number one argument for why voters should replace President Obama. Now, the jobless rate is still high, but it is below the important psychological threshold of 8 percent. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on how the Republican presidential nominee reacted to the news.

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Presidential Race
4:46 pm
Fri October 5, 2012

Romney Brushes Off Positive Unemployment News

Originally published on Fri October 5, 2012 11:07 pm

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: I'm Ari Shapiro, traveling with the Romney campaign. The Republican presidential nominee had been chugging along on momentum from Wednesday's debate performance when this morning's unemployment numbers changed the story. At a rally near Virginia's border with Tennessee, that did not faze voters like Nancy Lemieux(ph). She says the statistics are bogus.

NANCY LEMIEUX: Because they twist the numbers to suit the politicians and right now, it's Obama's cronies. So I don't believe anything I hear on TV.

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Presidential Race
5:16 pm
Wed October 3, 2012

Romney, Obama Have Parallel Points On The Economy

Originally published on Wed October 3, 2012 6:40 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And you can listen to tonight's debate live on many NPR stations. We'll also have analysis and fact checking at NPR.org. Now, our next story looks not at the differences between the candidates, which we're sure to hear about tonight, but at a similarity. President Obama and Mitt Romney share something that goes to the core of this campaign. As NPR's Ari Shapiro reports, it comes up in every stump speech they give.

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