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Pentagon unlikely to use all of the billions Congress authorized it to spend on Ukraine weapons before Biden leaves office, officials say

By Oren Liebermann, Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis and Alex Marquardt, CNN (CNN) — The Pentagon is unlikely to use all of the billions of dollars authorized by Congress to arm Ukraine before President Joe Biden leaves office, according to two US officials and three defense officials. The administration has less than two months left

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Trump transition team says several Cabinet picks targeted with bomb threats and swatting

By Kit Maher, Steve Contorno, Holmes Lybrand and Jeff Zeleny, CNN (CNN) — The Trump-Vance transition team said Wednesday that several of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks and administration appointees “were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them” Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. “These attacks ranged from bomb

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US to sanction Maduro-aligned officials, to put pressure on Venezuela’s president to accept election results

By Samantha Waldenberg and Stefano Pozzebon, CNN (CNN) — The United States announced new individual sanctions Wednesday on more than 20 officials aligned with Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, to put pressure on Maduro to accept the results of Venezuela’s July presidential election, senior administration officials said in a briefing with reporters. Thursday marks exactly

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Supreme Court’s transgender care fight creates conservative ‘reckoning’ over parental rights

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — Conservative groups have for years sought to reduce the government’s sway over parents’ childrearing choices, particularly when it comes to decisions about school and health care. But the Supreme Court’s upcoming and potentially explosive transgender care case is dividing conservatives, with many of those same groups backing Tennessee’s ban

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Trump team looks to allay GOP concerns about RFK Jr’s past support for abortion access

By Alayna Treene, Aaron Pellish, Kate Sullivan and Kristen Holmes, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump’s transition team is quietly strategizing how to assuage the anti-abortion wing of the Republican Party amid concerns that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s past comments supporting abortion access could complicate his confirmation as the president-elect’s pick to lead the Department of

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Trump tries to force other countries to negotiating table on immigration and trade with promise to hike tariffs

By Eric Bradner, Priscilla Alvarez and Kayla Tausche, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to impose massive tariffs was an early warning shot to try to force the hand of allies and adversaries to come to the negotiating table on immigration and trade issues, a transition official told CNN. Trump on Monday vowed hikes

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‘We enjoy this sometimes’: The rhetorical battle between Justices Alito and Kagan at the Supreme Court

CNN By Joan Biskupic, CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst (CNN) — The morning after Donald Trump was reelected president, Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan began jousting more than usual. They personify the ideological and political gulf on America’s highest court. Alito, a 74-year-old Trenton, New Jersey, native is prepared to tear through decades-old landmarks, while

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What could get more expensive if Trump launches a new trade war with Mexico and Canada

CNN By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — During President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, America launched an all-out trade war with China to boost US manufacturing, secure US national security interests and resolve what Trump believed was an extremely out-of-balance trade relationship. President Joe Biden kept most of those tariffs in place and added

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7.4 million Americans could gain Medicare or Medicaid coverage for anti-obesity drugs under Biden proposal

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Millions more senior citizens and lower-income Americans could obtain coverage for costly anti-obesity drugs under a proposal unveiled Tuesday by the Biden administration. Some 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries and about 4 million Medicaid recipients would gain access to these medications, which can cost as much as $1,000 a month

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‘We enjoy this sometimes’: The rhetorical battle between Justices Alito and Kagan at the Supreme Court

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst (CNN) — The morning after Donald Trump was reelected president, Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan began jousting more than usual. They personify the ideological and political gulf on America’s highest court. Alito, a 74-year-old Trenton, New Jersey, native is prepared to tear through decades-old landmarks, while Kagan,

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Trump ups the ante on tariffs, vowing massive taxes on goods from Mexico, Canada and China on Day 1

By David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada and China starting on the first day of his administration, a policy that could sharply increase costs for American businesses and consumers. The move, Trump said, will be in retaliation for illegal immigration

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Nancy Mace, now targeting transgender lawmaker, called herself ‘pro-transgender rights’ in 2023

By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — Republican Rep. Nancy Mace as recently as last year called herself “pro-transgender rights” and said she supported children exploring gender identities with different hairstyles, clothing and preferred pronouns, a stark contrast to more recent comments that have put her in the national spotlight. Last week, the South Carolina Republican

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Trump lawyers investigate allegations that top aide sought financial gain from influence with president-elect, sources say

By Sara Murray, Kristen Holmes and Kate Sullivan, CNN (CNN) — Attorneys for Donald Trump conducted an internal investigation into allegations that one of his top aides, Boris Epshteyn, has sought to gain financially from his influence with Trump and others in the president-elect’s orbit, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The internal

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Special counsel Jack Smith drops election subversion and classified documents cases against Donald Trump

By Paula Reid, Tierney Sneed and Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — Special counsel Jack Smith is dropping the federal election subversion and the mishandling of classified documents cases against President-elect Donald Trump, seeking the cases’ dismissal in court filings Monday. Trump has said he would fire Smith once he retook the office, shattering previous norms

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Supreme Court rejects tobacco industry challenge to graphic anti-smoking images on cigarette packs

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a challenge from major tobacco companies to the Food and Drug Administration’s requirement that they place graphic health warnings on cigarette packages and in advertisements. The FDA issued a rule in 2020 that requires health warnings on cigarette packages and in advertisements,

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What’s at stake for student loan borrowers during the next Trump administration

By Katie Lobosco, CNN Washington (CNN) — With much of President Joe Biden’s student loan agenda tied up in court, the incoming Trump administration could have a significant impact on millions of borrowers. President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t made specific promises on student loans or other forms of college financial aid, but delivering student loan forgiveness

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Trump names Brooke Rollins as his pick for Agriculture secretary

By Alayna Treene, Kaitlan Collins, Kristen Holmes, Shania Shelton and Kate Sullivan, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday announced one of his former policy advisers, Brooke Rollins, as his pick for secretary of the Department of Agriculture. “Brooke’s commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of

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Trump’s AG pick Pam Bondi is more conventional than Gaetz, but the agenda to disrupt the Justice Department won’t change

CNN By Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — With his new pick for attorney general, President-elect Donald Trump has found not only a powerhouse media strategist and loyal ally, but a tenacious litigator known for her battles in court for conservative causes. And while little about Trump is conventional, Pam Bondi is a

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Trump’s AG pick Pam Bondi is more conventional than Gaetz, but the agenda to disrupt the Justice Department won’t change

By Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — With his new pick for attorney general, President-elect Donald Trump has found not only a powerhouse media strategist and loyal ally, but a tenacious litigator known for her battles in court for conservative causes. And while little about Trump is conventional, Pam Bondi is a far

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National security officials meet with US telecom execs to share intel on Chinese cyber-espionage campaign, White House says

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — Top telecom executives met with US national security officials at the White House on Friday as concerns mount over a long-running Chinese cyber-espionage campaign that has targeted some of the most senior US political figures in the country. The hackers burrowed deep into some major US telecom providers to

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Trump fills out his key public health roles

By Kaanita Iyer, Katherine Dillinger and Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump has announced his picks for critical remaining public health roles in his incoming administration. Trump named Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as US surgeon general; Dr. Marty Makary as US Food and Drug Administration commissioner; Dr. Dave Weldon, a former congressman from Florida,

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Trump chooses Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer as his pick for Labor secretary

By Kaitlan Collins, Katie Lobosco and Gregory Krieg, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday threw a curveball to business-friendly conservatives by announcing Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon as his pick to serve as the next secretary of the Department of Labor. A favorite of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, Chavez-DeRemer is considered one

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Trump’s intel pick was placed on government watch list for overseas travel and foreign connections

By Katie Bo Lillis, Zachary Cohen and Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the intelligence community, was briefly placed on a Transportation Security Administration list that prompts additional security screening before flights after her overseas travel patterns and foreign connections triggered a government algorithm earlier this year, three sources

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Pew poll: Democrats’ pessimism about their party’s future is at its highest level in the Trump era

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN (CNN) — In the aftermath of the 2024 elections, Democrats are less optimistic about their party’s future than they’ve been at any point in the past eight years, according to new Pew Research Center polling released Friday. The poll, which was conducted November 12-17, also finds that views of President-elect Donald

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Trump names Pam Bondi as his pick for attorney general after Gaetz drops from consideration

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Kristen Holmes, Zachary Cohen, Steve Contorno, Evan Perez and Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — Hours after his first pick to run the nation’s top law enforcement agency dropped out, President-elect Donald Trump named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his new choice to run the Justice Department. Trump made the announcement

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FBI seizes websites that North Koreans allegedly used to impersonate American companies

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — The FBI has seized multiple websites that North Korean operatives used to impersonate legitimate US and Indian businesses in a likely effort to raise money for the nuclear armed-North Korean regime, according to statements on the websites and security researchers who investigated the activity. All four websites identified by

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More Biden judges will be confirmed, but four appeals court nominees won’t see a vote under Senate deal

By Tierney Sneed and Ted Barrett, CNN (CNN) — Senate leaders have reached a deal that will smooth the path for Democrats to confirm several of President Joe Biden’s district court nominees, averting Republican procedural tactics that significantly slowed down the process, in exchange for ending efforts to confirm four pending appeals court nominees. Liberal

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Mexican cartel leader who faked his own death has been arrested in California, Justice Department says

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — A high-ranking member of a Mexican drug cartel who allegedly faked his own death and has been living in California under a fake name is now facing federal charges, the US Justice Department announced Thursday. Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, a member of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación and the

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Gaetz withdraws from attorney general consideration after Trump told him he didn’t have the votes in the Senate

By Eric Bradner, Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene, Lauren Fox, Sarah Ferris and Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — When Vice President-elect JD Vance and Matt Gaetz left the Capitol Hill room where they’d spent Wednesday trying to convince GOP senators to confirm the former Florida congressman as attorney general, Vance told reporters those meetings “went great.”

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Police report reveals new details from sexual assault allegation against Trump’s defense secretary nominee

By Casey Tolan, Scott Glover and Sara Murray, CNN (CNN) — A California woman told police that Trump Cabinet pick Pete Hegseth physically blocked her from leaving a hotel room, took her phone, and then sexually assaulted her even though she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot,” a police report obtained by CNN shows. The 22-page

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Republican’s effort to block first transgender House member from using women’s bathrooms brings campaign issue to the Capitol

By Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — On one side of the Capitol, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace vowed to “stand in the way” of Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, the first out transgender woman elected to Congress, using women’s bathrooms in the US Capitol. Across the building, McBride was privately counseling her Democratic colleagues how to balance

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Biden administration approves sending anti-personnel mines to Ukraine in another major policy shift

By Oren Liebermann and Natasha Bertrand, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration has approved sending anti-personnel mines to Ukraine for the first time in another major policy shift, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed on Wednesday. The decision comes just days after the US gave Ukraine permission to fire long-range US missiles at targets in

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House has ‘numerous’ photos from women who say they were paid a total of more than $10,000 by Gaetz for sex, lawyer says

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Two women who claim they were paid for sex by former Rep. Matt Gaetz provided House ethics investigators with “numerous” photos related to time they spent with the Florida Republican, a lawyer for the women said Tuesday, including from an alleged 2019 trip to New York. The women said

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