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.

Pages

Presidential Race
6:35 am
Sun November 4, 2012

Romney Brings Bipartisan Appeal To Final Push

Originally published on Sun November 4, 2012 12:08 pm

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: I'm Ari Shapiro, traveling with the Romney campaign. And here's a summary of Romney's final sprint: a rally in New Hampshire, a flight to Iowa for another rally, a flight to Colorado, two rallies there with a long bus drive in between then back to Iowa for a few hours' sleep in Des Moines. And that was just yesterday. Romney means it when he says:

MITT ROMNEY: We've had some long days and some very short nights.

Read more
Presidential Race
5:37 pm
Fri November 2, 2012

Romney Makes His Campaign's 'Closing Argument'

Mitt Romney made his "closing arguments" on the campaign trail in Wisconsin on Friday.

Presidential Race
5:35 pm
Thu November 1, 2012

Romney Says Obama Doesn't Understand Business

Originally published on Thu November 1, 2012 6:42 pm

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: I'm Ari Shapiro, traveling with the Romney campaign. After a few days of muted criticism of the president, Mitt Romney let loose in Virginia today.

MITT ROMNEY: We really can't have four more years like the last four years. I know the Obama folks are chanting four more years, four more years. But our chant is this, five more days. Five more days is our chant.

(APPLAUSE)

Read more
Election 2012
5:06 am
Thu November 1, 2012

Romney Returns To The Campaign Trail In Florida

Originally published on Thu November 1, 2012 6:41 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

If there is any political effect from a Republican governor touring his state with a Democratic president, it may simply be this: three entire days have passed in which politicians finally failed to turn a major national issue into a full-blown depressing partisan fight. As the two men did their jobs, of course, the political debate did continue about disasters and everything else - as you'd understand. It is election time. Republican Mitt Romney resumed campaigning yesterday in Florida. Here's NPR's Ari Shapiro.

Read more
Presidential Race
5:29 pm
Wed October 31, 2012

Romney Picks Campaign Trail Back Up In Florida

Originally published on Wed October 31, 2012 6:53 pm

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney campaigned in Florida on Wednesday, the resumption of a crowded campaign schedule thwarted by superstorm Sandy.

Election 2012
5:33 am
Tue October 30, 2012

Romney Campaign Has Tricky Balancing Act On Storm

Originally published on Tue October 30, 2012 1:20 pm

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

All this morning we'll be bringing you the latest on the massive storm Sandy that made landfall last night on the East Coast and is now making its way to the Midwest. President Obama and Mitt Romney both cancelled their campaign rallies scheduled for today. President Obama's role is clear as he monitors events from the White House and oversees the federal response.

It's a trickier balancing act for Mitt Romney, as NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.

Read more
It's All Politics
5:01 pm
Mon October 29, 2012

Romney Retrospective: The Business Candidate, Still Working To Close The Deal

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Mitt Romney greets supporters Sunday during a campaign rally in Findlay, Ohio.

Originally published on Mon October 29, 2012 8:17 pm

Looking at this year's Republican primary field, Sigmund Freud might have divided the candidates into superego and id.

The id is all about passion and zeal — and that defined most of Romney's challengers: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, businessman Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich all made pulses race.

The superego is more measured.

This much smaller column consisted briefly of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, and more notably, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Read more
Presidential Race
4:50 pm
Fri October 26, 2012

Romney: Obama's Policies Slowed The Recovery

Originally published on Fri October 26, 2012 5:57 pm

After a week full of campaigning across several battleground states, Mitt Romney delivered an economic policy address in Ames, Iowa, on Friday.

Election 2012
5:07 am
Fri October 26, 2012

Romney Hits Campaign Trail In Ohio

In this last mile of the presidential race, Mitt Romney has been all over the country. Yet half his events this week are in Ohio, which looks to be the most important battleground in this race.

Presidential Race
4:47 pm
Thu October 25, 2012

Romney Pitches 'Big Change' In Swing State Ohio

Originally published on Thu October 25, 2012 6:51 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Mitt Romney has also been flying all over the country, hitting as many battleground states as he can. But today, the Republican left his plane behind and boarded the big blue Romney bus to focus on just one state, Ohio.

NPR's Ari Shapiro has this story about Romney's tour of one of the most contested states in the campaign.

Read more
Presidential Race
7:05 am
Thu October 25, 2012

Romney Exudes Confidence In Nev., Iowa

Originally published on Thu October 25, 2012 7:18 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Mitt Romney has also accelerated the pace of his campaign. Yesterday, he was in four states and four time zones, as the endurance test intensifies.

NPR's Ari Shapiro is traveling with the Romney campaign.

Read more
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
7:30 am
Wed October 24, 2012

Romney Rides Momentum To Nevada, Colorado

Republican nominee Mitt Romney campaigned Tuesday in Nevada and Colorado.

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?

Read more
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.

Read more

Pages