CNN – US Politics

By Clare Foran, Melanie Zanona and Sonnet Swire, CNN Now that a House speaker has been selected following a dayslong stalemate and members have finally been sworn in, the chamber can look toward picking back up business and organizing GOP-led committees. Every new Congress must pass a new set of House rules, and doing so

By Simone Pathe, CNN Rep. Marcy Kaptur becomes the longest-serving woman in Congress this week after winning her first competitive race in decades. But she sees her work in Washington as far from over. “I operate in a different way than many of my colleagues simply because of what I have lived,” said the Ohio

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN The Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC, that was run by the opposition has suspended its operations, it announced in a press release Friday, following Juan Guaidó’s ouster as opposition leader. “We inform the Venezuelan community in the United States, and the public in general, that the Venezuelan Embassy in the United

By Kara Scannell, CNN A New York state judge on Friday denied motions from former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump to dismiss the New York attorney general’s $250 million lawsuit, finding some of the arguments “frivolous.” Judge Arthur Engoron had previously rejected several of the Trumps’ legal arguments when

By Maegan Vazquez, Kevin Liptak and Jennifer Hansler, CNN The Biden administration on Friday announced its largest drawdown yet in US military assistance to Ukraine, but there are lurking concerns that Republicans wielding newfound power in Washington could stand in the way of future aid — especially as chaos brews in the House. The administration

By Zachary Cohen, CNN Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has re-opened her criminal investigation into fake electors who signed a certificate claiming former President Donald Trump won the state in the 2020 election when he did not, she said on Friday. Nessel, a Democrat who previously referred the matter to federal prosecutors, told reporters that

By Ethan Cohen, CNN The co-chairs of the Democratic Party’s rule-making arm are recommending that New Hampshire and Georgia be given extra time to take steps toward changing their presidential primary dates. Last month, the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee approved a proposed calendar that would make South Carolina the first

By Phil Mattingly, Betsy Klein and Maegan Vazquez, CNN President Joe Biden on Friday commemorated two years since the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol — a day he’s called “one of the darkest periods of our nation’s history” — seeking to elevate the law enforcement and election officials who held firm against

By Clare Foran, Manu Raju, Annie Grayer and Melanie Zanona, CNN Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker in the early hours of Saturday morning — a major victory for the California Republican that elevates him to a powerful position leading the GOP majority in the chamber and an outcome that followed days of painstaking negotiations

By Zachary Cohen, Katelyn Polantz, Tierney Sneed, Sara Murray and Paula Reid, CNN Two years after rioters stormed the US Capitol, the Justice Department’s sprawling criminal investigation into the effort to block the peaceful transition of power enters a new phase with the special counsel adding two right-hand prosecutors to an experienced team that will

By Kaitlan Collins and Sara Murray, CNN A federal judge has asked former President Donald Trump’s attorneys to turn over the names of the individuals hired to search four properties for documents late last year, a source familiar with the order told CNN. The names were handed over Wednesday night, two sources told CNN. It’s

By Whitney Wild, CNN The US Capitol Police is ramping up its security posture and monitoring online chatter about planned protests set to occur on Friday’s two-year anniversary of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Multiple sources tell CNN that USCP will have civil disturbance units on standby for several protests on

By Devan Cole, CNN Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is planning to release a memoir on her life titled “Lovely One,” the book’s publisher announced Thursday. In the memoir, Jackson, who made history last year as the first Black woman to join the court, will chart her personal history, from her upbringing in Miami

By Kevin Liptak and Priscilla Alvarez, CNN President Joe Biden on Thursday announced he is expanding a program to accept up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela — along with a plan to expel as many migrants from those countries who circumvent US laws — as his administration confronts a

By Shania Shelton, CNN Sen. Debbie Stabenow will not seek reelection in 2024, the longtime Michigan Democrat said Thursday, opening up a Senate seat in a key swing state. “Inspired by a new generation of leaders, I have decided to pass the torch in the U.S. Senate. I am announcing today that I will not

By Clare Foran, Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona, Annie Grayer and Kristin Wilson, CNN The House has adjourned for the third day without electing a new speaker after Kevin McCarthy continued to suffer a string of defeats in multiple rounds of voting on Thursday. As the fight for the gavel drags on, it has now become

By Jack Forrest, CNN The far-right of the House Republican Party nominated Rep. Byron Donalds from Florida for speaker as the floor fight over the gavel continued Wednesday. Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who nominated Donalds, got two standing ovations from both sides of the aisle, including from GOP leader Kevin McCarthy when he

By Phil Mattingly, Sam Fossum and Priscilla Alvarez, CNN President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he intends to visit the US-Mexico border when he travels next week to the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City. “That’s my intention, we’re working out the details now,” Biden told reporters before boarding Air Force One. The visit

By Shawna Mizelle, CNN Hakeem Jeffries made history as the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress, addressing the 118th Congress for the first time in the early hours of Saturday morning. “As John Lewis would sometimes remind us on this floor, we may have come over on different ships but we’re all

By Natasha Bertrand Parts made by more than a dozen US and Western companies were found inside a single Iranian drone downed in Ukraine last fall, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment obtained exclusively by CNN. The assessment, which was shared with US government officials late last year, illustrates the extent of the problem facing

By MJ Lee, Kevin Liptak and Sam Fossum, CNN A rare scene unfolded Wednesday in Covington, Kentucky: President Joe Biden stood alongside Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as the two men promoted a major bipartisan legislative accomplishment they achieved together. The president’s visit to McConnell’s home state to herald the implementation of the massive $1.2

By Clare Foran, Melanie Zanona, Manu Raju and Lauren Fox, CNN After suffering yet another stinging defeat on Wednesday, in which he lost a sixth round of voting for House speaker, Kevin McCarthy proposed more key concessions in his push to get 218 votes — including agreeing to propose a rules change that would allow

By AnneClaire Stapleton, Julia Vargas Jones and Marcia Reverdosa, CNN Republican Rep.-elect George Santos admitted to stealing a man’s checkbook that was in his mother’s possession to purchase clothing and shoes in 2008, according to documents obtained by CNN. The admission came in a statement Santos gave to police in 2010, according to 150 pages

By Jack Forrest, CNN House Republicans’ failure to elect a speaker after days of voting has frozen business in the chamber — and some GOP members are now warning that the impasse has implications on national security-related briefings and oversight. The speaker position is traditionally filled on the first day of a new Congress, followed

By Katherine Dillinger and Evan Perez, CNN The US Food and Drug Administration is allowing certified pharmacies to dispense the abortion medication mifepristone to people who have a prescription. Mifepristone can be used along with another medication, misoprostol, to end a pregnancy. Previously, these pills could be ordered, prescribed and dispensed only by a certified

By Annie Grayer, Clare Foran, Kristin Wilson, Jessica Dean and Sonnet Swire, CNN Republican leader Kevin McCarthy suffered a third rebuke for speaker before the House adjourned Tuesday evening. Twenty Republicans voted against him — an increase from the 19 defections in the first two rounds of balloting. McCarthy, who needed 218 votes, had failed

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter New York Attorney General Letitia James asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow a new state law that places restrictions on carrying a concealed firearm to stay in effect while legal challenges play out. The dispute is the first time the court has been asked on

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN US officials “have had direct conversations with Russian officials regarding Paul Whelan,” an American wrongfully detained in Russia, since the release of fellow wrongfully detained American Brittney Griner, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday. “Our imperative is to see that outcome brought about swiftly so it doesn’t do us any

By Katie Lobosco, CNN Federal student loan borrowers are facing a lot of uncertainty about their future payments. The fate of President Joe Biden’s major student loan forgiveness program lies with the US Supreme Court, and it could be as late as summer before the justices rule on whether the policy can take effect. The

By Jack Forrest, CNN Hard-right Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs mounted a long-shot bid against GOP leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday in the race to become the next House speaker, before shifting his support to Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan after the first round of voting. Biggs peeled off 10 votes in the first ballot. Nine

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN All eyes are on a number of top House Republicans, including Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, after Tuesday’s speakership vote devolved into a drawn-out floor fight not seen in a century. The House adjourned until noon Wednesday after the chamber failed to elect a speaker in three rounds of voting. Scalise, the

By Gregory Krieg and Jeff Zeleny, CNN Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis swore an oath to a second term in office on Tuesday, trumpeting the state under his watch as “a promised land of sanity,” and pledged to make Florida a beacon for freedom across the country. “We are proud to be citizens of the great,

By Kate Sullivan, CNN Rep.-elect George Santos of New York is scheduled to be sworn in to Congress on Tuesday as he faces mounting scrutiny and condemnation over lies about his biography and amid an investigation by federal prosecutors into his finances. All incoming members of the 118th Congress are scheduled to be sworn in

By Jessica Dean and Clare Foran, CNN The 118th Congress will officially get underway Tuesday — and for freshman lawmakers, the transition can feel a bit like the first day of school. New members are coming to Washington from all over the country and must now learn the ins and outs of Capitol Hill. That

By Clare Foran, Annie Grayer, Melanie Zanona and Kristin Wilson, CNN The new House GOP majority is locked in a chaotic once-in-a-century fight to determine who will serve as the next speaker after Republican Kevin McCarthy failed to secure the necessary support to win in three rounds of voting on Tuesday. The House is now

By Zachary Cohen and Jeremy Herb, CNN The House January 6 committee has warned President Joe Biden’s White House that it cannot ensure that the identity of personnel who cooperated with its probe on the condition of anonymity will remain protected once the panel dissolves on Tuesday. The select committee had agreed it “would do

By Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona and Lauren Fox, CNN As House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has struggled to lock down the votes to become speaker, his top deputy has kept his head down. Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 in the House GOP leadership, has made clear he supports McCarthy, and GOP sources say he

By Katelyn Polantz, Annie Grayer and Whitney Wild, CNN A text exchange between Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff Julie Radford and White House aide Hope Hicks reveals their anger over then-President Donald Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, hurting them professionally, according to newly released documents collected by the House select committee investigating the Capitol

By Melanie Zanona and Lauren Fox, CNN Time is running out for Kevin McCarthy. Four days before the House speaker vote, when his critics were still noncommittal about their support for his speakership bid, even after the California Republican had offered a number of key concessions — including making it easier to oust the sitting

By Sara Murray, Annie Grayer and Tierney Sneed, CNN The House January 6 committee on Sunday released another wave of witness interview transcripts. The new release is part of a steady stream of transcript drops from the House select committee in recent days, complementing the release of its sweeping 845-page report. The latest transcript drop

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN Josh Shapiro had a massive spending advantage and a weak Republican opponent, but the incoming Pennsylvania governor thinks Democrats should still take note of how he made voters see his fight-for-the-little-guy speeches as more than just talk — and racked up the party’s biggest margin in any swing-state race of 2022.

By Melanie Zanona and Lauren Fox, CNN House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy outlined some of the concessions that he has agreed to in his campaign for speaker on a Sunday evening conference call — including making it easier to topple the speaker, according to multiple GOP sources on the call. But McCarthy could not say

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN Delia Ramirez walks toward the microphone determined to make her message heard. “It is time — it is past time that we deliver on the promise that we have made to our Dreamers,” she says. On a crisp morning in early December, Ramirez is standing steps away from the US

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter Chief Justice John Roberts urged continued vigilance for the safety of judges and justices in an annual report published Saturday, after a tumultuous year at the US Supreme Court. “A judicial system cannot and should not live in fear,” Roberts wrote. While drawing attention to judicial security,

By Arlette Saenz, CNN President Joe Biden mourned the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, saying in a statement Saturday that the late pontiff “will be remembered as a renowned theologian, with a lifetime of devotion to the Church, guided by his principles and faith.” Benedict died Saturday at the age of 95 in a

By Kevin Liptak, CNN Over the course of a half-century interviewing American presidents, Barbara Walters interviewed the most powerful men in the world about their regrets, their mothers, their marriages — even their sleeping arrangements with their wives. “Double bed,” Jimmy Carter told the newswoman in 1976. “Always have.” Perhaps like no one else in

By Sara Murray and Annie Grayer, CNN The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol is set to expire next week, but its work will remain accessible to the public. The House select committee will end with the conclusion of the current Congress on January 3, but the Government