CNN – US Politics

By Eric Bradner, CNN Magnolia, Texas (CNN) — Ken Paxton may be the political equivalent of Teflon. He’s survived under a cloud of controversy all 12 years he has served as the state’s attorney general. Republicans in the state House impeached him before the Senate declined to remove him from office, authorities investigated him for

By Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — Two new pieces of economic data, one released Thursday and one released Friday, blew another hole in President Donald Trump’s triumphant narrative about the effects of his tariffs. The figures released early Thursday showed Trump had wildly overstated the impact of the tariffs on the trade deficit. The figures

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst (CNN) — Chief Justice John Roberts brought the drama Friday as he ascended the courtroom bench to declare — at long last — President Donald Trump’s tariffs unlawful. For 10 gripping minutes, he methodically laid out the case against Trump’s signature economic initiative, one that has yielded billions

By Zachary Cohen, Kylie Atwood, CNN (CNN) — US intelligence agencies believe that China is developing a new generation of nuclear weapons and has conducted at least one covert explosive test in recent years as part of a broader push to completely transform its nuclear arsenal into the world’s most technologically advanced, according to multiple

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — Just hours after the federal judges in the Eastern District of Virginia appointed a new interim US attorney to replace Trump loyalist Lindsey Halligan, the administration said he is fired. The judges on Friday unanimously appointed James Hundley, a Virginia defense attorney with more than three decades of experience,

By Aleena Fayaz, CNN (CNN) — The US military conducted a strike against another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Friday, killing three people, according to US Southern Command. “On Feb. 20, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — CIA Director John Ratcliffe has ordered the retraction or “substantive revision” of 19 of the agency’s intelligence products after a review determined they failed to meet standards for analytic tradecraft and political independence, the Central Intelligence Agency said on Friday. The spy agency released unredacted versions of three of

By Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s months of preparation for a Supreme Court ruling on his sweeping tariff powers did little to contain his rage when the verdict finally came. “I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for the country,”

By Holmes Lybrand, Jamie Gangel, CNN (CNN) — New Secret Service protective detail agents are about to get a wardrobe upgrade, courtesy of taxpayers. The Secret Service will soon offer each agent who graduates from protective detail training two tailored suits, according to sources familiar with the matter and a public contract solicitation. The initiative

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge ripped into the Justice Department on Friday for failing to inform him of the applicability of a law intended to protect journalists from government searches and seizures when it asked him for permission to raid a Washington Post reporter’s home earlier this year. “How could you

By Emily R. Condon, CNN (CNN) — Protesters calling for the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan told CNN they were attacked by security guards protecting the country’s President Ilham Aliyev in Washington, DC on Thursday following President Donald Trumps’s inaugural Board of Peace meeting. Footage circulated on social media shows protesters being thrown to

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — A ransomware attack has forced one of Mississippi’s largest health care systems to close clinics across the state on Friday, raising larger concerns about the cybersecurity of medical facilities across the country. The closure affects all 35 of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s health clinics, which provide a

By John Fritze, Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs on Friday, a significant decision that could redirect the course of the administration’s economic and foreign policy agenda. The 6-3 decision, which included both conservative and liberal justices in the majority, had the potential to reset

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — The estate of Jeffrey Epstein agreed on Thursday to pay up to $35 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by survivors of the late convicted sex offender. The complaint, which was first filed in 2024, alleges that Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, co-executors of Epstein’s estate, “facilitated” Epstein’s

By Avery Schmitz, Annette Choi, CNN (CNN) — The US military has assembled a massive collection of weapons systems in the Middle East amid diplomatic negotiations between the US and Iran, flooding ships and aircraft to nearby waters and the constellation of US bases in the region. Military planners have told President Donald Trump they

By Abby Phillip, Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — House Speaker Mike Johnson has denied a request for the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. to lie in honor at the United States Capitol, citing past precedent over how the deaths of other high-profile figures were handled, according to sources familiar with the matter. The civil rights

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — US Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas is denying that he had an affair with a staffer who died by suicide last year, allegations that have gained new traction in the final days before a March 3 primary election. Attorney Bobby Barrera, who represents Adrian Aviles, said his client’s

CNN By Aileen Graef, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will direct the Pentagon and other federal agencies to release government records related to extraterrestrial life and UFOs. “Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration plans to double down on targeted immigration enforcement, taking Tom Homan’s playbook in Minneapolis and applying it to multiple cities nationwide, according to current and former Homeland Security officials. It’s a marked departure from the highly visible and aggressive tactics employed by top Border Patrol official

By Annie Grayer, Gabe Cohen, Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — Lawmakers who oversee the Department of Homeland Security say the agency has repeatedly stymied their requests for information in recent months, with even some Republicans alleging they’ve had phone calls go unanswered and data requests left to languish. As the Department of Homeland Security has

By Steve Contorno, Kristen Holmes, Austin Culpepper, CNN (CNN) — Earlier this month, as the latest disclosures in the Epstein files rippled through right-wing media, the conservative morning television show “American Sunrise” devoted several segments to calls for harsher consequences and sustained attention on the scandal. “We need to make an example of all of

By Kit Maher, Lex Harvey, CNN (CNN) — Florida lawmakers have passed a bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump. The bill to rename the south Florida hub passed the state Senate Thursday with 25 votes in favor and 11 votes against, all from Democrats, two days after Florida’s House of

By Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth railed against what he called the “Godless left” and praised “Western Christian” values and traditions in a headliner speech Thursday night at a Christian communicators conference in Tennessee. “Under the leadership of President Trump, the military once again supports and trains our troops and tends

By Aileen Graef, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will direct the Pentagon and other federal agencies to release government records related to extraterrestrial life and UFOs. “Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process

By Kevin Liptak, Kristen Holmes, Zachary Cohen, Natasha Bertrand, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump faces one of the weightiest decisions of his second term as he orders the largest military buildup in the Middle East in 22 years. If he decides to go ahead with an attack on Iran, his options now range from

By Jennifer Hansler, Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — It had the hallmarks of a Trump political rally – Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” blaring over speakers and red “USA” hats handed out to participants. But the event in Washington, DC, Thursday was meant to mark a major moment in global governance. It was the inaugural meeting of

By Ellis Kim, CNN (CNN) — Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic Party’s response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, giving a high-profile platform to the Virginia governor. Democratic congressional leaders are tapping a recent history-maker who became the Commonwealth’s first female governor in January. Prior to that, she served

By Brian Todd, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Veterans Affairs is halting enforcement of a new rule for determining disability payments after veterans across the US expressed outrage for what they said would likely reduce benefits for many. The rule said a veteran’s disability level would be based on how well they function while

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — A large banner of Donald Trump was hung outside of the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, DC, on Thursday, emphasizing the White House’s control over the nation’s top law enforcement branch that once pursued criminal prosecutions against the president. The image of Trump in shades of blue is a

By Michael Williams, Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security admitted that its website featuring what it calls the “worst of the worst” arrested immigrants was rife with errors and changed the site this week after receiving questions from CNN about it. DHS created the website in December and the agency,

By Kaanita Iyer, Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — A controversial pastor who supports repealing women’s right to vote and believes homosexuality should be a crime led a worship service at the Pentagon this week, saying he was invited by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. During a 15-minute sermon in the Pentagon’s auditorium and broadcast live on

By Devan Cole, Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge in Minnesota held a Trump administration attorney in civil contempt for “flagrant disobedience of court orders” in the case of a noncitizen swept up in the immigration crackdown there earlier this year. The contempt finding by US District Judge Laura Provinzino on Wednesday appears

By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN (CNN) — The Commission of Fine Arts fast-tracked approval for President Donald Trump’s East Wing renovation plans Thursday, bringing the president’s quest for a new ballroom one step closer to reality. In a unusual move, the committee, an independent federal agency that advises the president and Congress on design plans for

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt arrived in Washington this week with invitations to two White House meetings from an angry President Donald Trump. Trump and Stitt, chair of the National Governors Association, were at odds over whether all the nation’s governors should be invited to the White House for what’s

By Matthew Rehbein, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security is broadening federal immigration authorities’ ability to detain legal refugees who have not yet obtained green cards, citing national security concerns and the need to ensure refugees undergo additional screening, according to a DHS memo obtained by CNN. Immigration officers may “arrest and detain”

By Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump is preparing to make health care a central focus of his midterm sales pitch, despite weak polling and misgivings among some of his own advisers about elevating an issue that’s long proved disastrous for the Republican Party. The approach developed by Trump and his senior aides

By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN (CNN) — The Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency that advises the president and Congress on design plans for monuments, memorials, coins and federal buildings, is usually made up of experts in architecture, art and urban and landscape design. But when the commission meets on Thursday to evaluate President

By Kristen Holmes, Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — The US military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend, though President Donald Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether he’ll authorize such actions, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. The White House has been briefed that the military could

By Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, CNN (CNN) — When President Donald Trump convenes the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday, he is expected to run it like one of his Cabinet meetings, a US official told CNN. Instead of his Cabinet officials, however, he will be joined by representatives from countries like

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — The 18-year-old accused of running up to the US Capitol with a loaded shotgun on Tuesday told officers he wanted to talk to a member of Congress, according to the criminal complaint filed against him. The man from Georgia, Carter Camacho, made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday

By Gabe Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to suspend the deployment of hundreds of aid workers to disaster-torn areas around the US while the Department of Homeland Security is shut down, according to sources and internal messages obtained by CNN. The new edict comes even though

By Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — As Florida prepares to rename the Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump, a recent trademark filing has some state lawmakers wondering if the Trump family is looking to profit. The bill to rename the south Florida hub after Trump has now passed the Legislature and now awaits

By Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — In Texas, a pair of US Senate primaries set for next month have emerged as an early gauge of where the energy is in both political parties and sparked a sharp debate over what it will take to win the reliably Republican state in November. With early voting now

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — New Mexico’s House of Representatives has approved creating a bipartisan special committee to investigate the ranch that the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein owned in the state. The measure, which passed Monday, directs the committee, called the Truth Commission, to look into the “allegations of criminal activity” on the

By Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — After passing notes for three-and-a-half hours Tuesday, Iranian and American negotiators departed their indirect talks in Geneva with an agreement to keep talking. What they’re talking about, exactly, remains an open question. It’s unclear if the two sides are focused just on Iran’s nuclear program or other issues like

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — An 18-year-old in a tactical vest who charged the US Capitol with a loaded shotgun Tuesday was quickly arrested, US Capitol Police said. Police identified the man as Carter Camacho of Smyrna, Georgia, and said he acted alone. They are working to determine a motive. Capitol Police Chief Michael

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will start using software to assist in justices’ decisions to recuse themselves from cases that present a potential conflict of interest. A brief press release issued by the court described an electronic matching process already used by some lower courts to compare

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Officials in Fulton County, Georgia, accused the Justice Department of making “serious” omissions in the application the FBI filed to obtain a search warrant for 2020 election ballots last month. The local officials, who are seeking the return of the election materials, wrote in a court filing Tuesday that

By Natasha Bertrand, CNN (CNN) — The US military struck three alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean on Monday night, killing all 11 people on board, US Southern Command said Tuesday. “Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” Southern Command said in a

By Priscilla Alvarez, Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security’s top spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, is stepping down. McLaughlin is expected to leave her position as assistant secretary next week, a Trump administration official told CNN. Her departure comes on the heels of high-profile shootings in Minnesota, where conflicting accounts called into question

CNN By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “continuing cover-up” in the way it has handled the release of millions of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein. “They are slow-walking it, they are redacting the names of men who are in it, they

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “continuing cover-up” in the way it has handled the release of millions of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein. “They are slow-walking it, they are redacting the names of men who are in it, they are

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — Informational panels on slavery returned to a popular historical museum in Philadelphia on Thursday, after a federal judge evoked the dystopian world of George Orwell’s novel “1984” to order the Trump administration to bring back the long-standing exhibit earlier this week. US District Judge Cynthia Rufe, an appointee

By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Haley Britzky, Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler, Avery Schmitz, Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN (CNN) — The US military is continuing a significant buildup of air and naval assets in the Middle East as negotiations over a deal with Iran continued with talks in Geneva on Tuesday. The pieces are being moved into

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — Hopes that the FBI would share information gathered in the investigation into Alex Pretti’s killing with state investigators in Minnesota have shattered. Despite initial statements in the wake of meeting with White House border czar Tom Homan, Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a statement Monday the FBI

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — As the Trump administration has sued 25 mostly Democratic state election chiefs for their voter rolls, it has also encountered quieter resistance from Republican officials who have balked at the Justice Department’s demands for confidential voter registration information. At least a half-dozen Republican-led state election offices have declined the

By Logan Schiciano, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Justice on Saturday sent Congress a list of “politically exposed persons” in the millions of files released related to its probes into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The six-page letter, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, includes the names of many prominent

By Jeremy Herb, Adam Cancryn, Matt Egan, CNN (CNN) — When Howard Lutnick had a problem in 2018, he turned to his next-door neighbor for help: Jeffrey Epstein. Lutnick emailed Epstein’s assistant in May 2018 about a proposed expansion to the Frick Collection, a museum one block south of Lutnick’s and Epstein’s adjacent townhouses on

By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — As Hakeem Jeffries sits in the minority of a GOP-controlled Washington, he is still haunted by a Republican gerrymandering gambit that he believes cost him the speaker’s gavel — and cost his party control of the House. This time, he’s making sure Democrats fight back. Jeffries is

By René Marsh, Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — At first glance, the December meeting of a little-known government panel looked like ordinary bureaucratic business. But then, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s advisory board opened its proceedings in an unusual way: with a Christian prayer. The benediction was delivered by a White House official. “Thank you

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN (CNN) — Former President Barack Obama criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ conduct in Minnesota as dangerous, saying “the rogue behavior” is akin to what “we’ve seen in authoritarian countries” and “in dictatorships.” The comments, which came during a wide-ranging interview with liberal podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen out Saturday, are the

By Kaanita Iyer, Sunlen Serfaty, CNN (CNN) — The most-detailed renderings yet of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project were briefly made available Friday, showing the massive scale of the planned 89,000-square-foot space. The renderings from Shalom Baranes Associates — which were posted by the National Capital Planning Commission on its website and then

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — Casey Wasserman, a prominent entertainment and sports agent and the chair of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, is putting his eponymous talent agency up for sale after facing backlash over his appearance in files the US Justice Department released last month related to its investigations into convicted sex offender

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst (CNN) — Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill arrived at the Supreme Court shortly before 10 a.m. on January 9 and took a seat in the spectator section of the columned courtroom. When US Solicitor General John Sauer, the Trump administration’s top courtroom lawyer, entered a few minutes later,

By Kaanita Iyer, Marshall Cohen, Tami Luhby, Sunlen Serfaty, René Marsh, CNN (CNN) — For Ashley Garley, the past year has been “messy, challenging and heartbreaking.” Garley, a former contractor and malaria expert with the US Agency for International Development, was among the first people impacted by the Department of Government Efficiency’s massive shrinking of

By Sean Lyngaas, Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — James Luckey-Lange has been spending a lot of time looking at the names he carved on a bar of soap he smuggled out of a Venezuelan prison in his underwear. The 28-year-old New York native spent just over a month detained by Venezuelan officials, whom he says

By Aleena Fayaz, CNN (CNN) — The US military conducted a strike against another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean on Friday, killing three people, according to US Southern Command. “On Feb. 13, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a

By Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — Hours after refusing to apologize for a racist video posted to his Truth Social account, President Donald Trump hadn’t let go. He spent last weekend complaining to allies about Republicans who had condemned the video depicting the Obamas as apes, questioning the lawmakers’ loyalty and vowing consequences, sources familiar

By Holmes Lybrand, Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — A day after the US announced it took the unusual step of shuttering it’s Drug Enforcement Administration office in the Dominican Republic — a key site in the agency’s effort to combat drug trafficking in the Caribbean — a top agent there was charged with running a

By Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — Military officers could soon find dozens of top colleges and universities across the United States abruptly off limits for tuition assistance as part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s campaign against schools he describes as being biased against the US military and sponsoring “troublesome partnerships with foreign adversaries.”

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — A British dinosaur convention is banning some paleontologists named in the Jeffrey Epstein files from attending DinoCon – as the global scientific community becomes the latest to grapple with the convicted sex offender’s connections to prominent people in the worlds of business, politics and academia. “As a result of

By Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among the high-profile Democrats looking to counter President Donald Trump at the Munich Security Conference this week as they outlined their foreign policy visions and what could come next. “Donald Trump is temporary. He’ll be gone in three years,” said

By Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — The Defense Department has been aggressively pursuing laser weapons and defense systems, a push that gained significant attention this week when the use of an anti-drone laser system led to the temporary shutdown of airspace over El Paso, Texas. The interest in high-energy systems has only accelerated as military

By Kevin Liptak, Jim Sciutto, CNN (CNN) — The Pentagon is sending a second aircraft carrier group – the USS Gerald Ford – to the Middle East, according to a senior administration official and three sources familiar with the matter, a move that puts pressure on Iran even as President Donald Trump has said talks

By Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, Priscilla Alvarez, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration has spent more than $30 million to send migrants to far-flung countries that are not their own, including, in a few instances, paying over $1 million a person, a new report from the Democratic chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says.

By Brian Todd, Isabelle Khurshudyan, CNN (CNN) — An Army combat veteran now living in the Midwest was dealing with multiple injuries by the time he finished his military service. He’d suffered a traumatic brain injury after his vehicle struck an IED during his deployment to Afghanistan in the late 2000s. But when the veteran,

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s administration is stepping into high-profile appeals at the Supreme Court without invitation at an unprecedented pace, supporting conservative groups in cases dealing with guns, religion and climate change. The court regularly invites the Justice Department to offer its view on whether to hear appeals, and recommendations

By Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — When Said Noor, a US Army veteran, picked up a phone call on December 2, he immediately knew something was wrong. His brother Lal was in Laredo, Texas, several hours south of their home in Austin, nervously explaining that the commercial truck he drove had been stopped at a

By Em Steck, Matt Egan, CNN (CNN) — Kathy Ruemmler, the chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs, said Thursday night she is resigning amid fallout from the Justice Department’s release of millions of pages of Jeffrey Epstein documents. Her resignation is effective June 30. Her announcement comes as she has weathered numerous news stories in

By Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The CIA is ramping up its efforts to recruit Chinese spies by releasing a new Mandarin-language video on Thursday that appeals directly to the country’s military officers who may be disillusioned with the corruption in their current government and President Xi Jinping’s extensive purges of top generals. It portrays

By Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, Natasha Bertrand, Pete Muntean, CNN (CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration’s abrupt and unexplained closure of airspace above El Paso, Texas, early Wednesday has given way to a blame game inside the administration, with key senior officials asserting they hadn’t been alerted to the decision beforehand, according to several people

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Newly released ethics guidance for the federal judiciary makes clear that judges can speak out against “illegitimate forms of criticism and attacks.” The guidance comes as judges have been targeted with smears by President Donald Trump and allies for their rulings against administration policies. Judges have spoken publicly about

By Jennifer Hansler, Christian Sierra, CNN (CNN) — Jeremy Carl, the Trump administration’s pick for a top State Department position, is unlikely to get the job after a bipartisan group of senators grilled him over his history of racist, sexist and reported antisemitic comments and posts. Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah said in a

By Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — While White House border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday morning the federal immigration surge in Minnesota would be ending, state officials were facing tough questions about the circumstances that led to that crackdown in the first place. Those officials, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the state’s corrections commissioner,

CNN, POOL, SENATE TV, USCG By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security has been ensnared by a partial government shutdown as Congress did not act to fund the agency by the end of Friday. But nearly all DHS workers will remain on the job — even if many won’t get paid

By Holmes Lybrand, Annie Grayer, Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — Attorney General Pam Bondi obtained Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s search history of the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files and even President Donald Trump’s most powerful ally in Congress has a problem with it. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday said the Justice Department’s tracking of lawmakers’

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge on Thursday shut down Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attempts to punish Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over his urging of US service members to refuse illegal orders, ruling that the Pentagon chief’s actions were unconstitutionally retaliatory. The decision landed two days after a grand jury in Washington,

By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — US military forces have departed a strategic military garrison in Syria after more than a decade “as part of a deliberate and conditions-based transition” to a smaller US footprint in the country, US Central Command said on Thursday. The US troops at al-Tanf garrison had primarily been

By Kaitlan Collins, CNN (CNN) — Gail Slater, who ran the antitrust division for the Justice Department for nearly a year, was forced out by the Trump administration this week, two people familiar with the matter told CNN. Slater, who suggested in a post on X Thursday she was leaving on her own, had been

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security has been ensnared by a partial government shutdown that began February 14, after Congress failed to fund the agency. But nearly all DHS workers will remain on the job — even if many won’t get paid until the lapse ends. Overall, much of the

By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN (CNN) — Gallup, one of the country’s most well-known polling firms, announced Wednesday that it will no longer track presidential approval or favorability of political figures. The move ends the longest-running continuous effort to track US opinion of the nation’s president, dating back to the tenure of Franklin D. Roosevelt in

By Annie Grayer, Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — The budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency that upended the federal government at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term has stalled out on Capitol Hill, a reality that’s left conservative lawmakers fuming. Inside the White House, the cost-cutting crusade marked by mass firings and blanket funding

By Donald Judd, CNN (CNN) — The chairman of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission said Wednesday that he ousted a member of the commission after she sparred with fellow members during a contentious public hearing on antisemitism. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who chairs the commission, said on X that it was his call

By Donald Judd, CNN (CNN) — The National Governors Association said Wednesday that a traditionally bipartisan meeting at the White House next week is back on after invitations were extended to all of its members, even as President Donald Trump continued to rage against two of the nation’s Democratic governors and the organization’s co-chair, GOP

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — The Justice Department’s ongoing struggle with redactions in the released records related to Jeffrey Epstein continued Wednesday when it was discovered that the face of an undercover FBI employee was left uncovered in a video. The department requested CNN make the face of an undercover person unidentifiable in a

By Lauren Fox, Sarah Ferris, CNN (CNN) — Republicans’ warning for President Donald Trump is growing louder with the Department of Homeland Security set to shut down in just days: Don’t feel public pressure to relent on an issue central to his campaign. Even as the White House has engaged with Democrats over reforms to