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Senate Democrats block first-of-its-kind bill regulating cryptocurrency amid concerns over Trump’s crypto dealings

By Morgan Rimmer, CNN (CNN) — Senate Democrats blocked a first-of-its-kind bill aimed at regulating cryptocurrency in the US amid Democratic concerns over President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency dealings. The vote came after months of intense negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. The final tally was 49-48, with GOP Sens. Rand Paul and Josh Hawley joining Democrats

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Trump says he’ll announce new pick for DC top prosecutor as controversial Ed Martin nomination falters

By Annie Grayer and Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he will soon announce a new nominee for US attorney in Washington, DC, replacing Ed Martin, whose nomination had been imperiled in recent days amid what appeared to be insurmountable pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill. “He’s a terrific person, and

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Trump’s diversity purge freezes hundreds of millions in medical research at universities across the country

By Sarah Owermohle, CNN (CNN) — Universities across the country are scrambling to comply with President Donald Trump’s anti-diversity push in an effort to hold on to hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants that fund critical medical research in areas such as cancer and maternal health. Last month, the Trump administration threatened to

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Exclusive: Some ‘Les Mis’ cast members plan to boycott Trump’s attendance at Kennedy Center performance next month

By Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb, Shania Shelton and Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — When President Donald Trump descends on the Kennedy Performing Arts Center next month for a high-dollar fundraiser and a performance of “Les Misérables,” he won’t be seeing the usual cast performing, sources told CNN. At least 10 to 12 performers in Les

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Vance says Russia ‘asking for too much’ in concessions, while Trump says decisions ‘have to be made’ soon

By Kit Maher, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the Russians are “asking for too much” in requirements to end the war with Ukraine and that he believes it’s time the two sides come together in “direct negotiation.” “I wouldn’t say that the Russians are uninterested in bringing this

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‘What president ever talks like that?’: Biden criticizes Trump for Ukraine stance and threats to Panama, Greenland and Canada

CNN By Shania Shelton and Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — Former President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump for suggesting Ukraine may have to give up territory in exchange for peace, calling it a “modern-day appeasement,” in reference to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s efforts to appease Adolf Hitler as he sought to annex land

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‘What president ever talks like that?’: Biden criticizes Trump for Ukraine stance and threats to Panama, Greenland and Canada

By Shania Shelton and Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — Former President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump for suggesting Ukraine may have to give up territory in exchange for peace, calling it a “modern-day appeasement,” in reference to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s efforts to appease Adolf Hitler as he sought to annex land in

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Virginia Republicans reel from party infighting over nominee for lieutenant governor

By Arit John, CNN (CNN) — Virginia Republicans are reeling from an intraparty fight over a disputed social media account that has pitted lieutenant governor nominee John Reid against Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s political operation, imperiling the party’s chances of holding on to power in this year’s general election. The controversy comes as Republicans look to

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Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Carney didn’t reach Zelensky-level tension. But it wasn’t all neighborliness

CNN By Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — It wasn’t the most contentious meeting the Oval Office has ever seen. Nor was it the warmest. Instead, the highly anticipated meeting Tuesday between President Donald Trump and his new Canadian counterpart Mark Carney fell somewhere in the middle: neither openly hostile nor outwardly chummy, evincing very little

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Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Carney didn’t reach Zelensky-level tension. But it wasn’t all neighborliness

By Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — It wasn’t the most contentious meeting the Oval Office has ever seen. Nor was it the warmest. Instead, the highly anticipated meeting Tuesday between President Donald Trump and his new Canadian counterpart Mark Carney fell somewhere in the middle: neither openly hostile nor outwardly chummy, evincing very little neighborliness,

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Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Carney didn’t reach Zelensky-level tension. But it wasn’t all neighborliness

CNN By Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — It wasn’t the most contentious meeting the Oval Office has ever seen. Nor was it the warmest. Instead, the highly anticipated meeting Tuesday between President Donald Trump and his new Canadian counterpart Mark Carney fell somewhere in the middle: neither openly hostile nor outwardly chummy, evincing very little

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Fact check: Trump claimed the US doesn’t do ‘much business with Canada.’ Canada is the world’s top buyer of US exports

By Daniel Dale, CNN Washington (CNN) — During his Tuesday meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, President Donald Trump falsely minimized the importance of the US trade relationship with Canada. “We don’t do much business with Canada from our standpoint. They do a lot of business with us. We’re at like 4%,” Trump said.

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Federal judge won’t undo order requiring Trump administration to facilitate return of asylum seeker deported to El Salvador

By Devan Cole, CNN Baltimore (CNN) — A federal judge refused on Tuesday to wipe away her order that the Trump administration “facilitate” the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker deported to El Salvador but agreed to put the directive on hold so the government can appeal it. The decision by US District Judge

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Two more judges block the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants

By Katelyn Polantz and Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — Two more federal judges on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s use of deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, saying the wartime power shouldn’t be used. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said the administration is indefinitely blocked from removing migrants from the Southern District of New York under

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US intelligence finds Venezuela not directing gang, undercutting Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act

By Katie Bo Lillis, CNN (CNN) — The US intelligence community believes that the Venezuelan government is “probably” not directing the gang Tren de Aragua’s movements and operations inside the United States, according to a declassified assessment released on Monday that undercuts the Trump administration’s key argument for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to speed

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Trump judges pump brakes so far on Alien Enemies Act deportations to El Salvador

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN Johnstown, Pennsylvania (CNN) — The centerpiece of Donald Trump’s hardline attempts to deport undocumented immigrants using a wartime power has been met with resistance by federal courts, including among judges Trump himself has appointed. The latest, on Monday, was district Judge Stephanie Haines, presiding over a federal court in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

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Pence rebuffs Trump on tariffs, Russia and January 6 pardons in CNN interview

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs on Monday, arguing that a looming “price shock” to the economy and potential shortages will lead Americans to “demand a different approach” from the White House. In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Pence rebuffed Trump’s recent comments

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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a rising Democratic star, leans into a sense of national pride as the party searches for new vision

By Eva McKend, CNN (CNN) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore appears to be everywhere at the moment — popping up on “The View,” delivering a commencement address at a historically Black university in battleground Pennsylvania and, later this month, delivering an address to South Carolina Democrats, who could be pivotal in determining the Democratic Party’s

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Pence says January 6 attack’s failure ‘became a triumph of freedom’ as he receives JFK Profile in Courage Award

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday while receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award that January 6, 2021, “became a triumph of freedom” because Congress returned to do its constitutional duty after the attack on the Capitol. “Our institutions held that day, not because of any

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Trump says he is directing Bureau of Prisons to reopen Alcatraz to house ‘ruthless and violent offenders’

By Samantha Waldenberg, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump said in a social media post Sunday that he is directing the Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, the infamous former prison, as a place to “house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.” “I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department

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What the restart of defaulted student loan collection means for borrowers

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Education restarts collections of loans in default on Monday, putting millions of borrowers at risk of having their benefits and wages garnished. The move arrives as the Trump administration works to dismantle the Education Department and aggressively roll back former President Joe Biden’s policies, including

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Trump’s IRS nominee awaits confirmation as agency churns through 4 acting leaders this year

By Marshall Cohen and Fredreka Schouten, CNN Washington (CNN) — Since President Donald Trump took office, the Internal Revenue Service has churned through four acting leaders and spiraled into turmoil, while the president’s pick for full-time commissioner waits for a Senate confirmation hearing. Trump announced in early December that he was nominating Republican former Rep.

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Trump budget proposes $1 trillion for defense, slashes education, foreign aid, environment, health and public assistance

By Tami Luhby, Ella Nilsen, Andrew Freedman, Samantha Delouya, Sarah Owermohle and Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The White House unveiled a budget blueprint Friday that would pump more money into defense and homeland security, while taking an ax to programs the Trump administration has already targeted, including education, foreign aid, environment, health and public

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Tennessee authorities release video of Abrego Garcia at a traffic stop that officials have used to paint him as a criminal

CNN By Karina Tsui and Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — Tennessee state law enforcement on Thursday released a video showing a 2022 traffic stop involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an incident Trump administration officials have used to justify the removal of the Maryland man who the government has admitted was wrongly deported to El Salvador in

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Tennessee authorities release video of Abrego Garcia at a traffic stop that officials have used to paint him as a criminal

By Karina Tsui and Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — Tennessee state law enforcement on Thursday released a video showing a 2022 traffic stop involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an incident Trump administration officials have used to justify the removal of the Maryland man who the government has admitted was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March.

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Trump administration considering labeling some suspected cartel and gang members inside the US as ‘enemy combatants’

By Natasha Bertrand, Josh Campbell, Zachary Cohen, Haley Britzky and Priscilla Alvarez, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration has been examining whether it can label some suspected cartel and gang members inside the US as “enemy combatants” as a possible way to detain them more easily and limit their ability to challenge their imprisonment, according

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Politico: Ketanji Brown Jackson warns Trump’s rhetoric against judges are ‘attacks on our democracy’

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday strongly criticized President Donald Trump — without naming him — for his attacks on judges, arguing that the rhetoric of the president and his allies threatens democracy, according to Politico. Politico reported that Jackson, speaking at a legal conference in Puerto

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Intelligence suggests Putin’s immediate goals for Ukraine war may have shifted

By Alex Marquardt and Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — New intelligence reviewed by US and Western officials suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin may have shifted his immediate focus in the Ukraine war toward the shorter-term objectives of solidifying his hold on territory his forces have seized and boosting his country’s struggling economy, multiple people familiar

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Trump-appointed judge says president’s use of Alien Enemies Act is unlawful in first-of-its-kind ruling

By Devan Cole, Priscilla Alvarez and Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — A Donald Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas ruled that the president unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act and blocked the administration from quickly deporting some alleged members of a Venezuelan gang. US District Judge Fernando Rodriguez of the Southern District of Texas said Trump

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Power of judges to hold Trump administration in contempt may be undermined with filibuster-proof GOP proposal

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — The ability of federal judges to hold the Trump administration in contempt for defying their orders could be undermined by legislation approved by a House Republican-led committee late Wednesday in a bill that may be impossible for Senate Democrats to filibuster. Republicans say that the provision is aimed at

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Fact check: Trump falsely claims he warned Americans during his campaign of a tariff ‘transition period’

By Daniel Dale, CNN Washington (CNN) — President Donald Trump falsely claimed Tuesday that he warned during his 2024 campaign that his tariffs would require Americans to experience a “transition period.” In reality, Trump’s 2024 campaign rhetoric about tariffs was reliably glowing and warning-free; he said his tariffs would make Americans “so rich” and that

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Young Democrats challenge longtime incumbents as party grapples with generational divide

By Eric Bradner, Arit John and Arlette Saenz, CNN Indianapolis (CNN) — In his bid to unseat Rep. Andre Carson, the 50-year-old Democrat who has represented Indiana’s 7th Congressional District since 2008, 34-year-old challenger George Hornedo has argued the Democratic Party isn’t working, nationally or locally. Some voters in the district are open to hearing

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Harris accuses Trump of abandoning American ideals in first major speech since leaving office

By David Wright and Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris rebuked President Donald Trump in her first major speech since leaving office, accusing her former rival of setting off the “greatest man-made economic crisis” in modern history through his across-the-board tariffs, and warning that his conflicts with the courts were moving

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