Inside the Weekend When Biden Decided to Withdraw
A reconstruction of the final days before President Biden ended his re-election campaign and remade the 2024 race.
Vol. XV · Reporting from London & Washington
Chief U.K. Correspondent · The New York Times
Reporting on power, policy, and the people who shape both.
Michael D. Shear is a chief U.K. correspondent for The New York Times, based in London. He spent more than a decade covering the White House and writes about politics, diplomacy, and the impact of the Trump administration on Britain and the world.
Selected reporting
Heathrow Shutdown Caused by Problem Left Unfixed for Years
Reporting from the U.K. on how a single infrastructure failure shut down one of the world’s busiest airports.
Shoot Migrants’ Legs, Build Alligator Moat
The Times excerpt from Border Wars that revealed private demands for extreme border measures.
Americans Suffer Pandemic Whiplash
A reported look at the public confusion created by changing guidance and a shifting political response.
Biden Sets Afghanistan Withdrawal
White House coverage of the decision to set an end date for America’s military presence in Afghanistan.
About
A reporter, in his own words.
I’ve been a working journalist for more than thirty years. I came to The New York Times in 2010 after eighteen years at The Washington Post, and I covered the White House across three administrations — writing about domestic policy, immigration, the regulatory state, and the daily life of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
I am now reporting from London on British politics, diplomacy, and how decisions made in Washington land in the United Kingdom and beyond. The job, in any city, is the same: to be there, to ask the next question, and to write what is true.
Television, video & the book
Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration
Co-authored with Julie Hirschfeld Davis. A reported account of how the first Trump administration tried to remake American immigration — and what it meant for migrants, refugees, and bipartisan consensus.
Selected TV & video appearances
Conversations with NYT, CBS Local New York, Claremont McKenna, and others on immigration, the White House, and accountability journalism.