MICHELLE R. SMITH

Investigative reporter

Smith reports for AP’s global investigations team. She is based in Providence, Rhode Island.

New Orleans attack and Vegas explosion highlight extremist violence by active military and veterans

The military ties of the man who carried out an attack in New Orleans on New Year’s and another who died in an explosion in Las Vegas highlight the increased role of people with military experience in ideologically driven attacks, especially those that seek mass casualties.

Takeaways from AP’s report on a study into extremism in the military that used old data

Early this year, Pete Hegseth told a Fox News audience a new, Pentagon-funded study proved that the number of military service members and veterans involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection did not indicate a wider problem in the armed forces.

AP finds that a Pentagon-funded study on extremism in the military relied on old data

Early this year, Pete Hegseth told a Fox News audience a new, Pentagon-funded study proved that the number of military service members and veterans involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection did not indicate a wider problem in the armed forces.

Trump Pentagon pick had been flagged by fellow service member as possible ‘Insider Threat’

Pete Hegseth, the Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Defense, was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that’s associated with white supremacist groups.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a long record of promoting anti-vaccine views

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was building up a following with his anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, and became one of the world’s most influential spreaders of fear and distrust around vaccines.

RFK Jr. wants federal health data so he can show vaccines are unsafe, Trump transition co-chair says

A co-chair of Donald Trump’s transition team says Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants access to federal health data so he can show vaccines are unsafe and lead to them being pulled from the market in a second Trump administration.

What’s a ‘Jezebel spirit’? Some Christians use the term to paint Kamala Harris with a demonic brush

Christian nationalist leaders are telling followers that Vice President Kamala Harris is under the influence of a “Jezebel spirit.”

Takeaways from The Associated Press’ reporting on extremism in the military

The number of U.S. service members and veterans who radicalize make up a tiny fraction of a percentage point of the millions and millions who have honorably served their country.

His country trained him to fight. Then he turned against it. More like him are doing the same

The number of U.S. service members and veterans who radicalize make up a tiny fraction of a percentage point of the millions and millions who have honorably served their country.

RFK Jr. suggests he’ll have a significant role on agriculture and health policy if Trump is elected

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suggesting he will have significant influence on American agriculture policy if Donald Trump is elected president.

Takeaways from AP’s report on JD Vance and the Catholic postliberals in his circle of influence

Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s 2019 conversion to Catholicism put him in close touch with a Catholic intellectual movement known as postliberalism. Vance calls himself postliberal and echoes some of the movement’s ideas.

JD Vance’s Catholicism helped shape his views. So did this little-known group of Catholic thinkers

Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s 2019 conversion to Catholicism helped shape his political worldview. It also put him in close touch with a Catholic intellectual movement known as postliberalism.

VP nominee JD Vance to dissolve last vestige of mothballed charity, give its $11K to Appalachia

The Trump-Vance campaign says Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance is preparing to dissolve what’s left of the modest charitable effort he launched to help people in Appalachia after writing “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Vance praises a key leader behind Project 2025, a conservative effort Trump has disavowed

JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, has praised the vision of Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts in the foreword of a forthcoming book.

Trump tells supporters, ‘Guard the vote.’ Here’s the phrase’s backstory and why it’s raising concern

Former President Donald Trump is urging supporters to “guard the vote” during next year’s election, a phrase that set off alarm bells among pro-democracy advocates who say it signals permission to his followers to take extreme measures.

When a man began shooting in Maine, some froze while others ran. Now they’re left with questions

A billiard ball being hit, a dropped bowling ball and a popping balloon. Those are some of the noises that witnesses in Lewiston, Maine, thought they heard when a gunman opened fire at a bowling alley Wednesday.

Maine mass killing suspect found dead, ending search that put entire state on edge

The man wanted in the mass shooting at a bowling alley and bar that killed 18 people and wounded 13 has been found dead, bringing an end to a search that put the entire state of Maine on edge for the last two days.

International terror defendants face longer prison terms than domestic counterparts, new study finds

A new study has found that people convicted of crimes related to domestic extremism face far shorter prison terms than those convicted in international terrorism cases, even when the crimes are similar.

Takeaways from AP’s reporting on who gets hurt by RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine work

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent years disseminating false information about vaccines in a time when spreading conspiracy theories has become a powerful way to grow a constituency.

RFK Jr. spent years stoking fear and mistrust of vaccines. These people were hurt by his work

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent years disseminating false information about vaccines in a time when spreading conspiracy theories has become a powerful way to grow a constituency.

Takeaways from AP’s reporting on inconsistencies in RFK Jr.'s record

As Democratic presidential primary candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenges President Joe Biden, the stories he tells on the campaign trail about himself, his life’s work and what he stands for are often the opposite of what his record shows.

RFK Jr. says he’s not anti-vaccine. His record shows the opposite. It’s one of many inconsistencies

As Democratic presidential primary candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenges President Joe Biden, the stories he tells on the campaign trail about himself, his life’s work and what he stands for are often the opposite of what his record shows.

Hollowed out public health system faces more cuts amid virus

The U.S. public health system has been starved for decades and it lacks the resources to confront the worst health crisis in a century.

Rhode Island governor backs Michael Bloomberg for president

Billionaire presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has snagged his first gubernatorial endorsement. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo called him the right leader to take on President Donald Trump.

‘A serious-minded kid:’ Pete Buttigieg aimed high early

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — It was a running joke in his AP U.S. history class at Saint Joseph High School: Would Peter Buttigieg — the smartest kid in class, language whiz and devotee of John F.

Congregants at oldest US synagogue ask high court to step in

The congregants at the oldest synagogue in the United States are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision giving a New York congregation control of Rhode Island’s Touro Synagogue and a set of bells valued in the millions.

Some states place limits on secret harassment settlements

Confidential settlements that have been blamed during the #MeToo movement for allowing serial sexual harassers to continue their bad behavior are facing new limits.

Brown University cancels Rosa Parks house display in dispute

Brown University has canceled plans to display the house where Rosa Parks lived for a time after she left the south and moved to Detroit.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s great fear: Courts viewed as partisan

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says one of her great fears is that the federal judiciary will start to be seen as just another political branch of government.

Gov. Raimondo touts job numbers in State of the State

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is citing improved unemployment numbers and an improving economy to say the state is stronger than it’s been in decades.