Washington correspondent and business of sports reporter

Jeff Barker

Jeff Barker is The Baltimore Sun's Washington correspondent and a business of sports reporter. A University of Pennsylvania graduate, he formerly worked for The Associated Press and as the Arizona Republic’s Washington reporter. He has covered politics and Terps basketball and football for The Sun. He is co-director of a documentary on the development of baseball in China.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asks questions as the House Rules Committee prepares the Presidential Tax Filing and Audit Transparency Act of 2022 for a floor vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin calls Trump ‘schoolyard bully’ after president calls him a ‘dope’ with an ‘ugly face’

July 3, 2025 at 3:28 p.m.

President Donald Trump took time out from rallying support for his “big, beautiful bill" to call Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin a “dope” with an “ugly face.”

Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) talks to reporters as he walks to the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on July 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans continue their work to pass the Senate version of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, President Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill.

Lobbied by Musk, Maryland Rep. Andy Harris is key player in ‘big, beautiful bill’ debate

July 2, 2025 at 5:40 p.m.

Maryland Rep. Andy Harris was a key player during tax and spending bill negotiations on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One, Sunday, June 15, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., for a trip to Canada to attend the G7 Summit. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump plan to target deportations in Democratic-run cities like Baltimore raises legal issues

June 16, 2025 at 6:26 p.m.

President Trump’s plan to target Democratic-led cities — potentially including Baltimore — for mass deportation operations raises legal questions, constitutional scholars say.

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., talks to reporters as he holds Pen and Pad on assuming chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023.

Maryland’s Cardin, ex-Foreign Relations chief, says U.S. must stand by Israel following diplomatic ‘failure’

June 13, 2025 at 3:50 p.m.

Former Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, a vocal ally of Israel and former U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said Friday that “we’ve got to stand by Israel in its defense”...

Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr., of Baltimore County poses with his wife Marisa Olszewski and daughter Daria Olszewski, 9. (Jeffrey Barker, The Baltimore Sun)

Republicans go MAGA in congressional baseball game; Olszewski bats cleanup for Democrats

June 11, 2025 at 10:03 p.m.

The annual Congressional ballgame, which originated in 1909, annually bills itself as an opportunity to display patriotic togetherness even in eras of extreme partisanship.

A demonstrator waves a flag with marijuana leaves on it during a protest calling for the legalization of marijuana, outside of the White House in Washington in April, 2016.

Rep. Andy Harris and D.C. have a long, personal war over marijuana and he’s not budging

June 11, 2025 at 6:54 a.m.

In every congressional session since 2014 — including the current one — Rep. Andy Harris' rider has appeared in appropriations bills. Norton and marijuana legalization advocates have vehemently railed against...

Alan Rifkin, the founder and managing partner of Rifkin Weiner Livingston, was instrumental in the creation of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)

Baltimore Sun Hall of Fame 2025: Alan Rifkin, sports lawyer

June 6, 2025 at 6:00 a.m.

Alan Rifkin, the founder and managing partner of Rifkin Weiner Livingston, was instrumental in the creation of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

FILE – A bronze statue of abolitionist Harriet Tubman is seen at the Maryland State House, Feb. 10, 2020, in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, file)

Navy proposal to rename ships honoring Tubman, Marshall denounced in their Maryland birthplaces

June 13, 2025 at 11:54 a.m.

A 'cultural and political war' continues in Maryland with reports that the Navy is considering renaming vessels bearing the names of Harriet Tubman and Thurgood Marshall.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies before House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing for the Department of State and related programs on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

U.S. is seeking release of man wrongly sent to El Salvador, but it’s not Abrego Garcia, court records show

June 3, 2025 at 1:50 p.m.

Court records show that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is personally intervening with El Salvador to facilitate the return of a Venezuelan man with the pseudonym “Cristian."

Brad Rogers is the executive director of South Baltimore Gateway Partnership and helps run Reimagine Middle Branch a program to mitigate against flooding and climate change in the vicinity of the MedStar Harbor Hospital and the Patapsco River. He is pictured near the current work being done at the Hanover Street Wetlands which is the first part of the project. (Lloyd Fox/Staff)

South Baltimore’s huge flood mitigation project takes multimillion dollar hit from Trump cuts

May 30, 2025 at 5:01 a.m.

'Baltimore's forgotten waterfront' is feeling the sting of the Trump administration’s decision to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in flood mitigation funding.

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