Month: July 2021

By Devan Cole, CNN Americans’ approval of the US Supreme Court fell to 49% this year after hitting a 10-year high in 2020, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday, underscoring the country’s changing opinion of the newly solidified 6-3 conservative majority court. The 49% approval rating — and 44% disapproval rating — given to

By Gregory Krieg, Ethan Cohen and Sabrina Souza, CNN Texas state Rep. Jake Ellzey will win the special election runoff in Texas’ 6th Congressional District, CNN projects — without the endorsement of Donald Trump. The Republican overcame the former President’s backing of his opponent, Republican Susan Wright, to claim victory. Wright is the widow of

By Jeremy Diamond, Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins, CNN The steps President Joe Biden’s administration is adopting this week to re-recommend masks and require vaccines for federal workers amount to emergency actions designed to contain a new surge of Covid-19 that has quickly become the top issue confronting the White House. The moves reflect a

By Clare Foran, Jeremy Herb, Lauren Fox and Annie Grayer, CNN The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol kicked off its first high-profile hearing Tuesday with harrowing testimony from officers who experienced firsthand the violent events of that day at the hands of a pro-Trump mob. The vivid testimony puts

By Marshall Cohen and Tierney Sneed, CNN The Justice Department on Tuesday rejected a request from GOP Rep. Mo Brooks to protect him from a civil lawsuit against him and former President Donald Trump concerning the January 6 insurrection. The lawsuit was brought earlier this year by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California. Brooks, an

By Jenn Selva and Devan Cole, CNN Former Oregon GOP state Rep. Mike Nearman has been banned from the state Capitol and its grounds after pleading guilty Tuesday to official misconduct in the first degree, a charge that stemmed from an incident in December in which he helped protesters enter the closed building. Nearman was

By Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette, CNN A swastika was found carved into an elevator at the State Department on Monday, leading Secretary of State Antony Blinken to condemn the hateful carving and describe it as a reminder that anti-Semitism is still alive. “As this painfully reminds us, anti-Semitism isn’t a relic of the past,”

By Phil Mattingly and Lauren Fox, CNN President Joe Biden met with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Tuesday at the White House as his administration ramped up its push for a path forward for its sweeping dual track infrastructure agenda. Sinema is the lead Democratic negotiator in the bipartisan infrastructure talks — negotiations that for

By Geneva Sands, CNN Critical pipeline operators have reported more than 220 cybersecurity incidents since the Transportation Security Administration implemented emergency measures in the wake of the crippling ransomware attack on one of America’s most important pipelines, according to TSA Administrator David Pekoske. Companies have been reporting incidents since day one of the agency’s May

By Shawna Mizelle, CNN Former US President Barack Obama has joined NBA Africa as a strategic partner, the National Basketball Association announced on Tuesday. Obama “will help advance the league’s social responsibility efforts across the continent, including programs and partnerships that support greater gender equality and economic inclusion,” according to a news release from the

By Paul LeBlanc, CNN A New York federal court has ordered US craft store Hobby Lobby to forfeit an ancient artifact purchased at a 2014 auction that “originated in the area of modern-day Iraq and entered the United States contrary to federal law,” the Justice Department announced Tuesday. The artifact — known as the Gilgamesh

By Annie Grayer, Melanie Zanona and Ryan Nobles, CNN Some of Donald Trump’s fiercest allies in Congress are continuing to downplay or ignore the January 6 insurrection, taking cues from the former President even after four police officers testified Tuesday, in front of the House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol attack, about their harrowing

By Brad Lendon, CNN US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that China’s claims and actions in the Indo-Pacific threaten the sovereignty of nations around the region while Washington is committed to building partnerships that guarantee the vital interest of all nations. “Beijing’s claim to the vast majority of the South China Sea has

By Veronica Stracqualursi and Kristen Holmes, CNN A Democratic-led House select committee says it has uncovered evidence of political interference by the Trump administration into the federal government’s coronavirus response last year, including attempts to alter or block data reports from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detailing the dire effects of the

By Christina Carrega Federal agents have arrested a man for allegedly sending threatening emails with derogatory slurs to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. Thomas Patrick Connally Jr. was charged on Monday with threats against a federal official and interstate communication containing a threat to harm, according to the criminal complaint filed

By Jeremy Herb, CNN The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack at the Capitol held its first hearing on Tuesday with harrowing testimony from four officers who shared their stories of being attacked by the rioters. The three-hour hearing was the opening act for the committee that’s preparing to investigate all of the

By Zachary Cohen, CNN A group of bipartisan lawmakers is urging President Joe Biden to continue investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic until the intelligence community has a high degree of confidence in its conclusion about where and how it started, even if that effort exceeds the ongoing 90-day review set to end later

By Geneva Sands, CNN After coming into close contact with a Department of Homeland Security employee who later tested positive for Covid-19, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will work virtually this week, according to a department spokesperson. “The Secretary has no symptoms and has tested negative twice. Official DHS contact tracing is underway,” DHS Assistant