Even in Alabama, some Republicans worry about Trump’s sweeping agenda

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — On a day when stock markets around the world dropped precipitously, Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl led a celebration of the president whose global tariffs sparked the sell-off.

With no mention of the Wall Street roller coaster and global economic uncertainty, Wahl declared his state GOP’s “Trump Victory Dinner” — and the broader national moment — a triumph. And for anyone who rejects President Donald Trump, his agenda and the “America First” army that backs it all, Wahl had an offer: “The Alabama Republican Party will buy them a plane ticket to any country in the world they want to go to.”

Wahl's audience — an assembly of lobbyists and donors, state lawmakers, local party officials and grassroots activists — laughed, applauded and sometimes roared throughout last week's gala in downtown Birmingham, the rare Democratic stronghold in one of the nation’s most Republican states. The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. elicited perhaps the most enthusiasm with an unapologetically partisan pitch, even repeating the lie that his father won the 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden.

Yet beyond the cheerleading, there were signs of a more cautious optimism and some worried whispers over Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the particulars of his deportation policy and the aggressive slashing by his Department of Government Efficiency.

That doesn’t mean Trump or Republicans are in danger of losing their grip in Alabama, where the GOP holds all statewide offices, dominates the Legislature and has won every presidential electoral vote since 1980. But it’s a notable wrinkle in a place where there's long been tension between relying on the federal government for funding and jobs, and an embrace of the kind of anti-Washington, anti-establishment populism that has twice propelled Trump to the Oval Office. And any cracks for Trump in Alabama — where he got 65% of the vote in 2024 — could portend trouble elsewhere, as the effects of a seismic shift in U.S. policy reach across the economy and society.

“There are some concerns, some conversations,” said John Merrill, a former secretary of state, over just what Trump’s agenda will mean on the ground. Alabama, he acknowledged, has “been a net recipient” of the very federal government and economic model Trump is upending, meaning it receives more money back from Washington than its taxpayers send the federal government.

“It’s a big risk,” said Merrill, who sported a Trump 45-47 pin on his lapel, a nod to the president's two terms.

Blocks to the south of the complex where Republicans convened sits the multibillion-dollar University of Alabama at Birmingham health system, a regional gem where research depends on grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, listed as a “Silver Sponsor” of the gala, didn't join the Democratic attorneys general suing the Trump administration to stop the cancellation of certain research funding streams Congress already has approved.

Most of the medical services provided at UAB and many other hospitals throughout the state are covered by Medicare and Medicaid, two of the largest federal outlays. Alabama, because its per-capita income ranks among the lower tier among states, has one of the most generous federal match rates for Medicaid funding.

A short drive west toward Tuscaloosa sits a gargantuan Mercedes-Benz complex, one of the earliest examples of foreign auto manufacturers coming to the American South, where state laws are hostile to organized labor. The plants have provided jobs at wages higher than the local norms but in some cases lower than in union shops of the Great Lakes region around Detroit. Many suppliers have followed in the South, but not so many that the assembly plants don’t still import many parts that now will be subject to Trump’s tariffs.

Terry Martin, a county GOP committeeman in Tallapoosa County, said he supports the tariffs as leverage. Trump has “something to bargain with,” Martin said. But, “the parts that are coming from overseas … it’s going to pop it up” in price, he said, at least in the short term.

Agriculture, meanwhile, is still a dominant Alabama industry. Meat processing plants in the North and row crop farms in the South depend on migrant labor that Merrill, the former secretary of state, said involves workers who are in the U.S. both legally and illegally. Alabama, he recalled, passed its own strict immigration bill during Barack Obama's presidency only to roll it back after industry leaders complained of a depleted workforce.

Wahl, in an interview after the gala, took a more nuanced approach than he did at the podium.

“It is possible to secure our border and still take into account migrants who deserve to be here,” he said. “This has to be a two-pronged approach.”

Back in Birmingham, Interstate 65 splits the city. The aging, increasingly congested artery is a local priority for widening. The proposal has support from Alabama's two Republican senators, Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt. U.S. interstate projects, though, are typically a 90-10 split, meaning 90% of the money comes from Washington, 10% from the state.

That funding — along with money for schools, Medicaid and other areas — could be at risk with Trump adviser Elon Musk and DOGE carrying Trump’s blessing to slash spending. GOP lawmakers who control Congress have supported Trump's agenda, which also includes dismantling the Education Department.

Tallapoosa County GOP Chair Denise Bates said “absolutely” there's a possibility DOGE could go too far. “I hope there are guardrails,” she said, noting she was once a local school board member.

“Am I 100% for getting rid of the Department of Education? I can’t say that I am,” she said, adding a phrase similar to Merrill’s description of the state as a whole. “You know, we’re a net receiver.”

Yet for all the caveats offered in one-on-one conversations, the GOP crowd cheered when Tuberville, the former football coach turned Trump acolyte on Capitol Hill, offered a plainspoken defense of Musk and his pop-up agency, telling the crowd, “We're dead broke.” And they roared as he addressed tariffs.

“It's past time we level the playing field and tell the rest of the world to get off their ass and start paying their fair share,” Tuberville said.

Bates argued that Alabama's embrace of Trump's “America First” push is not simply loyalty to the president. She said it reflects generations of voters watching the steel industry decline in Birmingham and, after the North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted in 1994, the textile industry leaving for Mexico and, eventually, Southeast Asia.

“We just want jobs,” she said.

Still, state Sen. Jabo Waggoner, the longest-serving member of the Alabama Legislature, made clear Trump's visceral appeal, declaring him “the most popular president here since Ronald Reagan, hands down.”

Wahl recalled Trump’s first massive outdoor rally as a presidential candidate: 30,000 people at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, in August 2015.

Wahl, who owns a butterfly farm outside Huntsville, said perhaps the best way to understand Trump and Alabama and this moment of uncertainty is to see a president who, at least to his supporters in the state, has earned the benefit of the doubt.

“He’s going to let everybody know he’s serious,” the chairman said. Trump is “going to bring people to the bargaining table. We’re actually going to see the negotiator conduct business.”

A guest looks over the program for Donald Trump Jr.'s visit to speak at the Alabama Republican Party's Trump Victory Celebration, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Alabama Sen. Jabo Waggoner, left, high fives a guest as they wait for Donald Trump Jr. to speak at the Alabama Republican Party's Trump Victory Celebration, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Donald Trump Jr. speaks at the Alabama Republican Party's Trump Victory Celebration, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Alabama Republican Party Chair, John Wahl, speaks before Donald Trump Jr.'s visit at the Alabama Republican Party's Trump Victory Celebration, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Alabama Republican Party Chair, John Wahl, speaks before Donald Trump Jr.'s visit at the Alabama Republican Party's Trump Victory Celebration, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Russian-American woman freed by Moscow arrived back in the United States late Thursday as part of a prisoner swap completed as the two countries aim to repair ties.

A plane carrying Ksenia Karelina landed around 11 p.m. EDT at Joint Base Andrews, where she was greeted by her fiancé. Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump's deputy special envoy to the Middle East, presented her with a bouquet. She was released earlier in the day in exchange for a Russian-German man who'd been jailed in the U.S. on smuggling charges.

Karelina was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 and convicted of treason on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine. U.S. authorities have called the case “absolutely ludicrous.”

“They released the young ballerina and she is now out, and that was good. So we appreciate that,” President Donald Trump said at a Cabinet meeting Thursday. He said the release followed conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Arthur Petrov was released as part of the swap in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, according to the Federal Security Service, or FSB, Russia's main security and counterintelligence agency. Petrov was arrested in Cyprus in August 2023 at the request of the U.S. on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia and extradited to the U.S. a year later.

Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine. Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the U.S. carried out in the last three years — and the second since Trump took office and reversed Washington's policy of isolating Russia in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe hailed “the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort.” The CIA also emphasized that “the exchange shows the importance of keeping lines of communication open with Russia, despite the deep challenges in our bilateral relationship.”

Meanwhile, Russian and U.S. diplomats met in Istanbul for a second round of talks on normalizing embassies' work, following the first such meeting in February. The State Department said the delegations “exchanged notes to finalize an understanding to ensure the stability of diplomatic banking for Russian and U.S. bilateral missions.”

It said the U.S. reiterated its concerns about the Russian ban on hiring of local staff, “the key impediment to maintaining for stable and sustainable staffing levels at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow."

Alexander Darchiyev, Russia’s ambassador to Washington, who led Moscow’s delegation in the talks, praised their “positive atmosphere” and noted the parties agreed to continue discussions to facilitate diplomats’ travel. He added that the Russian side also pushed for a quick return of its diplomatic property seized by U.S. authorities.

In February, Russia released American teacher Marc Fogel, imprisoned on drug charges, in a swap that the White House described as part of a diplomatic thaw that could advance peace negotiations. That same month, Russia released another American just days after arresting him on drug smuggling charges.

Karelina, a former ballet dancer also identified in some media as Ksenia Khavana, lived in Maryland before moving to Los Angeles. She was arrested when she returned to Russia to visit her family last year.

The FSB accused her of “proactively" collecting money for a Ukrainian organization that was supplying gear to Kyiv's forces. The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a U.S. charity aiding Ukraine.

“I am overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia,” Karelina’s fiancé, professional boxer Chris van Heerden, said in a statement. “She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”

He thanked Trump and his envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case, including Dana White, a Trump friend and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Trump also credited White, too, saying the UFC boss had called him about the case.

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said on X, “President Trump and his administration continue to work around the clock to ensure Americans detained abroad are returned home to their families.”

The exchange was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The United Arab Emirates' state-run WAM news agency released photos of Karelina boarding a plane and one of her standing next to Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to the U.S.

The FSB, which said Putin had pardoned Karelina before the swap, released a video showing her being escorted to a plane somewhere in Russia. The footage then featured what appeared to be the scene of exchange at the Abu Dhabi airport, with Petrov walking off a plane and shaking hands with Russian officials on the tarmac.

The video showed Petrov undergoing medical checkups on a flight to Russia. “I have no particular complaints, just a bit tired,” he said.

Another video released by the FSB later in the day showed him walking off a plane after arriving in Russia.

Petrov was accused by the U.S. Justice Department of involvement in a scheme to procure microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical components for the country's weapons industries. He was facing a 20-year prison term in the U.S.

Abu Dhabi was the scene of another high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. In December 2022, American basketball star Brittney Griner was traded for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The UAE has been a mediator in prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine, while the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai has become home to many Russians and Ukrainians who fled there after the start of Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.

Ksenia Karelina and her fiancé, professional boxer Chris van Heerden, talk with Morgan Ortagus, deputy special presidential envoy to the Middle East, Thursday, April 10, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Ksenia Karelina arrives Thursday, April 10, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Ksenia Karelina greets her fiancé, professional boxer Chris van Heerden, as she arrives Thursday, April 10, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE – Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was exchanged for U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, speaks to the media at an opening for an exhibition of his artworks at the Mosfilm studio in Moscow, Russia, March 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Basketball player Brittney Griner listens to her verdict while standing in a cage in a courtroom in Khimki, outside Moscow, Russia, Aug. 4, 2022. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump greets Marc Fogel on the South Lawn at the White House, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Ksenia Karelina sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Ksenia Karelina speaks with her lawyer while standing in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

This photo released by the state-run WAM news agency shows Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the U.S., left, standing next to U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina after her release at an airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (WAM via AP)

This photo released by the state-run WAM news agency shows U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina getting on a private jet after her release at an airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (WAM via AP)

FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.(AP Photo/File)