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Children play at the Branford Childcare Center in Arleta on Monday

Trump administration freezes billions in social services funding to five Democratic states

By Alex Stambaugh, Tami Luhby, Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is freezing $10 billion in funds for social services and child care in five Democratic-led states, according to a Department of Health and Human Services official, with the agency suggesting without evidence that the funding has been used fraudulently. The freeze, first

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Even after Maduro’s capture, Democrats try to keep their focus on affordability

By Arit John, CNN (CNN) — Democrats are grappling with how best to respond to the Trump administration’s military intervention in Venezuela, as the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro highlighted foreign policy differences within the party and distracted from its focus on affordability issues. Maduro’s capture has forced Democrats to consider how much to criticize

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The political divide over January 6 is only deepening five years after the deadly US Capitol attack

By Annie Grayer, Marshall Cohen, CNN (CNN) — Five years after the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol, the fundamental facts of that day continue to fuel deep divisions that have created dueling political realities. On Tuesday, members of the former January 6 select committee – whose final report concluded that President Donald

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This photograph taken on March 18

US is making plans to intercept Venezuela-linked oil tanker that Russia has claimed jurisdiction over, sources say

By Natasha Bertrand, Alayna Treene, Kylie Atwood, Zachary Cohen, Avery Schmitz, CNN (CNN) — The US is making plans to try to intercept a fleeing oil tanker that Russia has claimed jurisdiction over, according to four people familiar with the matter, setting up a possible confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin over the vessel’s fate.

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Sen. Mark Kelly speaks at a news conference in the U.S. Capitol on December 1

Pentagon moves to cut Sen. Mark Kelly’s military retirement pay as punishment over ‘illegal orders’ video

By Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Monday that the Pentagon is taking administrative action to punish Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain, by moving to cut his retirement pay for participating in a video where he and other Democratic lawmakers reminded US service members of their duty to

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Venezuelans face uncertainty as the Trump administration’s plans for their country emerge. Here’s what to know

By Piper HudspethBlackburn, CNN (CNN) — An emboldened President Donald Trump declared Sunday night that the US is “in charge” of Venezuela after detaining President Nicolás Maduro in a military raid over the weekend, as he issued stark warnings to other countries that they could be next. Maduro, who was dragged into custody with his

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Venezuelans face uncertainty as the Trump administration’s plans for their country emerge. Here’s what to know

CNN, POOL, OBTAINED BY CNN, OBTAINED BY X, RAPIDRESPONSE47, X, VTV, NBC, RapidResponse47/X By Piper HudspethBlackburn, CNN (CNN) — An emboldened President Donald Trump declared Sunday night that the US is “in charge” of Venezuela after detaining President Nicolás Maduro in a military raid over the weekend, as he issued stark warnings to other countries

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Mar-a-Lago is a familiar place for Trump to manage high-stakes military operations

By Kevin Liptak, CNN West Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) — Hours after declaring from underneath the tented ceiling of Mar-a-Lago’s Tea Room that Venezuela’s leader was in American custody and the US was running the country on Saturday, President Donald Trump emerged victorious onto his club’s crowded patio as dinner-goers cheered the audacious mission he’d

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View of Caracas from the San Agustin neighborghood on January 4

A clearer picture is emerging of what Trump meant when he said the US will ‘run’ Venezuela

CNN By Kevin Liptak, Kristen Holmes, Jennifer Hansler, CNN West Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s administration is working quickly to establish a pliant interim government in Venezuela following the dramatic capture of Nicolás Maduro, according to US officials, prioritizing administrative stability and repairing the country’s oil infrastructure over an immediate turn to

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View of Caracas from the San Agustin neighborghood on January 4

A clearer picture is emerging of what Trump meant when he said the US will ‘run’ Venezuela

By Kevin Liptak, Kristen Holmes, Jennifer Hansler, CNN West Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s administration is working quickly to establish a pliant interim government in Venezuela following the dramatic capture of Nicolás Maduro, according to US officials, prioritizing administrative stability and repairing the country’s oil infrastructure over an immediate turn to democracy.

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Aspirin, CT scans and sleep: Five questions raised by Trump’s new disclosures on his health

By Sarah Owermohle, Jacqueline Howard, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump wants to tamp down on public debates about his health. The oldest president to assume office has been dogged by questions about recent doctors’ visits, bruises on his hands and whether he’s fallen asleep during public events. Trump dismissed these concerns in an apparently

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Trump’s super PAC builds $300 million cash stockpile, fueling unrivaled fundraising pace

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — A super PAC aligned with President Donald Trump has built more than $304 million in cash reserves that it can deploy to help shape this year’s midterm elections, according to information released Friday by the political committee. MAGA Inc.’s massive stockpile underscores the unrivaled fundraising by a president who

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Brian Cole Jr. in federal court.

Man accused of placing pipe bombs near GOP and Democratic headquarters in Washington to remain in jail pending trial

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — The man accused of being the Washington, DC, pipe bomber will remain in jail until he faces trial, a federal judge ruled Friday. The decision to keep Brian Cole Jr., who allegedly placed explosives outside the Democratic and Republican National Committee buildings on January 5, 2021, was made two

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Mamdani revokes Israel-related executive orders signed by Adams, directs team to focus on housing in first acts as mayor

By Gloria Pazmino, CNN (CNN) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani used his executive powers to revoke a handful of orders put into place by his predecessor after the former mayor was federally indicted, including a directive that expanded the definition of antisemitism and another that barred city employees and agencies from boycotting or

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Trump tells WSJ he takes a higher daily dose of aspirin than his doctors advise in lengthy interview on his health

By Kaanita Iyer, Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday that he takes a higher dose of aspirin than his doctors have recommended, blaming that for the visible hand bruises that have generated renewed questions about his health. “They say aspirin is good for

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New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks after taking the oath of office inside the the Old City Hall subway station

Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration celebrates the progressive movement as New York’s incoming mayor pledges an expansive agenda

CNN By Gloria Pazmino, Jeremy Herb, Harmeet Kaur, Nicki Brown, CNN New York (CNN) — Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who campaigned on a promise to tackle the affordability crisis in one of America’s most expensive cities, vowed to govern “expansively and audaciously” as he was sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor Thursday.

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Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration celebrates the progressive movement as New York’s incoming mayor pledges an expansive agenda

By Gloria Pazmino, Jeremy Herb, Harmeet Kaur, Nicki Brown, CNN New York (CNN) — Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who campaigned on a promise to tackle the affordability crisis in one of America’s most expensive cities, vowed to govern “expansively and audaciously” as he was sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor Thursday. Mamdani’s

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Trump administration terminates nonprofit’s control over DC golf courses in possible takeover bid

By Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is terminating a nonprofit’s management of three public Washington, DC, golf courses, in what may be the latest effort to put President Donald Trump’s stamp on local institutions. The Department of the Interior said National Links Trust’s lease was terminated because the group defaulted on several

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Chief Justice John Roberts pushes for judicial independence in history-heavy report

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — Chief Justice John Roberts touted the independence of the federal judiciary as a “counter-majoritarian check” and urged Americans rattled by partisan politics to keep faith with the Constitution in an annual report Wednesday that steered clear of direct discussion of modern controversies. Focusing on the Declaration of Independence as

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What’s new, what’s not: Parsing the rhetoric around the Minnesota child care fraud firestorm

By Steve Contorno, Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — A conservative influencer’s viral video alleging widespread fraud at taxpayer-funded child care centers in Minnesota’s Somali community kicked off a political firestorm years in the making. President Donald Trump has long singled out Minnesota’s Somali population of approximately 108,000 for criticism and, even before the video emerged,

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Senator Michael Bennet attends a Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 4.

Trump vetoes two bipartisan bills, marking first vetoes of second term

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump issued the first vetoes of his second term Tuesday, blocking two bipartisan, infrastructure-related bills. The president argued that blocking both measures was necessary to save taxpayer dollars. “Enough is enough. My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies. Ending the

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Tatiana Schlossberg attends an event in New York City in September 2019.

Tatiana Schlossberg, environmental journalist and JFK’s granddaughter, dies at 35 after terminal cancer diagnosis

CNN By Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — Tatiana Schlossberg, an environmental journalist who was a granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, died on Tuesday, her family announced. She was 35. “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the family said in a statement posted on social media by

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Top DOJ officials may have been pressing to bring criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, judge says

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — Internal Justice Department files “suggest” that top officials in Washington, DC, worked with federal prosecutors in Nashville to prosecute Kilmar Abrego Garcia after he fought his wrongful deportation to El Salvador, a federal judge said in a newly unsealed ruling. The December 3 opinion from US District Judge Waverly

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Tatiana Schlossberg, environmental journalist and JFK’s granddaughter, dies at 35 after terminal cancer diagnosis

By Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — Tatiana Schlossberg, an environmental journalist who was a granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, died on Tuesday, her family announced. She was 35. “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the family said in a statement posted on social media by the

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The exterior of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters.

Judge rebuffs Trump administration’s latest attempt to shut down consumer protection watchdog

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge said Tuesday that the Trump administration must keep funds flowing to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, rebuffing its latest gambit to shut down the regulatory agency that has long been a target of conservatives. US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who previously halted President Donald

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US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) along with New York State Assembly member Zohran Kwame Mamdani attend the 2025 National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City on June 8

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce Zohran Mamdani at New Year’s Day inauguration

CNN By Gloria Pazmino, CNN (CNN) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration will feature Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two most prominent leaders of the Democratic Party’s progressive movement. Mamdani, who will be publicly sworn in at a City Hall inauguration ceremony on New Year’s Day, will be introduced

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce Zohran Mamdani at New Year’s Day inauguration

By Gloria Pazmino, CNN (CNN) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration will feature Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two most prominent leaders of the Democratic Party’s progressive movement. Mamdani, who will be publicly sworn in at a City Hall inauguration ceremony on New Year’s Day, will be introduced by

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US strikes vessel in eastern Pacific, killing 2

CNN By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — The US military conducted a strike against an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing two people, according to US Southern Command. “On Dec. 29, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on

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Hundreds of thousands of ‘Epstein files’ have been released — and there’s a lot more to come

By Marshall Cohen, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — The “Epstein files” saga will spill into 2026, despite a deadline last week to release all of the records. Congress passed a law last month — with near-unanimous support — requiring the Justice Department to release all of its files about Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and

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President of the Kennedy Center Richard Grenell poses on the red carpet for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington

Kennedy Center president rebukes performer who called off Christmas Eve show over addition of Trump’s name

By Aleena Fayaz, CNN (CNN) — Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell lambasted a performer’s decision to cancel an annual Christmas Eve jazz concert, following the addition of President Donald Trump’s name to the Washington, DC, arts venue. In a letter, which the Kennedy Center shared a copy of with CNN, Grenell sharply criticizes jazz artist

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More House Republicans are leaving Congress to run for governor than in decades amid frustration over ‘toxic environment’

By Annie Grayer, Molly English, Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN (CNN) — Congressional Republicans have yet to break the record for most retirements in a single year, but some say it’s only a matter of time before widespread frustration with the current state of Washington leads to a tipping point as many in the party head

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Democratic-led states sue HHS over proposal targeting hospitals that offer transgender care to minors

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Eighteen Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new Trump administration policy seeking to bar transgender care for minors at federally-funded hospitals. The new proposal and the legal fight it has provoked is the latest front in the battle over transgender rights and

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Supreme Court’s National Guard decision could force new debate over how Trump could use Insurrection Act

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday blocking President Donald Trump from sending the National Guard into American cities is likely to raise a politically fraught debate about the president’s willingness to invoke a 19th-century law to deploy the regular military on American soil instead. Throughout his campaign and in the

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‘It’s perpetuated this news cycle’: Frustration mounts in Trump’s orbit about messaging on latest Epstein documents

By Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — When the Justice Department released a first batch of Jeffrey Epstein files on Friday that included photographs of former President Bill Clinton, White House officials raced to amplify the importance of the new documents. But days later, amid a second trove that contains several references to President Donald Trump,

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Botched Epstein redactions trace back to Virgin Islands’ 2020 civil racketeering case against estate

By Marshall Cohen, CNN (CNN) — A botched redaction in the Epstein files revealed that government attorneys once accused his lawyers of paying over $400,000 to “young female models and actresses” to cover up his criminal activities Social media users on Reddit and TikTok noticed in recent days that the redacted allegations could be uncovered by simply copying the

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Documents released from Jeffrey Epstein

Exclusive: Justice Department scrambling to find holiday volunteers to redact the Epstein files, internal DOJ email says

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — The Justice Department’s leadership asked career prosecutors in Florida to volunteer over the “next several days” to help redact the Epstein files, in the latest Trump administration push toward releasing the hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos and other evidence around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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State Department imposes sanctions on former EU official, disinformation group leaders for ‘censorship’

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon

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