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‘I have no idea’: Biden told investigators he didn’t know how his aides stored sensitive documents, transcript shows

By Evan Perez and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN President Joe Biden told jokes and unfurled lengthy detailed stories from his decadeslong political career as he parried questions from special counsel Robert Hur and his investigators over two days last October, a transcript of the interview reviewed by CNN shows. The Justice Department has sent the transcript to Congress, which had

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4 key questions ahead of Robert Hur’s testimony on Biden’s mishandling of classified documents

By Marshall Cohen, Annie Grayer and Clare Foran, CNN (CNN) — All eyes on Tuesday will be on special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and delivered a political bombshell with his conclusions about Biden’s memory. The special counsel is set to testify at the GOP-run House Judiciary Committee, where

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Capitol Hill hearing puts Robert Hur, investigator behind Biden classified documents probe, back in the spotlight

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand and Paula Reid, CNN Robert Hur, at the start of his special counsel probe into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, was lauded as an experienced and fair federal prosecutor who was well-versed in handling high-profile and complex investigations. Then, after a year of near-total public silence, he released a damning

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‘This is not a witch hunt’: Takeaways from CNN’s sit-down with ex-Trump employee who unwittingly moved classified docs

By Jeremy Herb, CNN (CNN) — Brian Butler, a former Mar-a-Lago worker referenced as “Trump Employee Number 5” in the classified documents indictment of Donald Trump, spoke exclusively with CNN on Monday about what he saw at the former president’s private club and the subsequent fallout after a search there by federal investigators. Butler’s interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins provides new details

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House GOP alleges January 6 committee withheld transcripts that undercut some of their most explosive claims

By Marshall Cohen, Melanie Zanona and Holmes Lybrand, CNN The January 6 committee withheld witness transcripts from the public that undercut some of their most explosive claims about the insurrection, House Republicans alleged in a report released Monday. Some of the withheld transcripts include testimony from the driver of Trump’s SUV on January 6 and Trump

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US intelligence report states Netanyahu’s viability to lead Israel is in jeopardy

By Katie Bo Lillis and Michael Conte, CNN (CNN) — The US intelligence community assesses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “viability as a leader” to be “in jeopardy,” according to its annual report on the national security threats facing the United States that was presented to Congress on Monday. “Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule

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E. Jean Carroll’s attorneys say they’re paying attention to Trump’s latest comments

By Lauren del Valle and Kate Sullivan, CNN (CNN) — Attorneys for E. Jean Carroll are not ruling out another defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, who’s continued his attacks on the writer after two federal juries have ordered multimillion-dollar verdicts against him for defaming her. Trump claimed Carroll’s accusations against him were false in an

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US wants to reopen embassy in Libya

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The United States wants to reopen an embassy in Libya – a decade after suspending operations there – as Russia maintains an influential foothold in the country. In the State Department’s fiscal year 2025 request, the agency asks for $12.7 million “to enable a potential resumption of embassy operations

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Exclusive: ‘Trump Employee 5,’ who unknowingly helped move classified documents, speaks out

By Katelyn Polantz, Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Herb, CNN (CNN) — A longtime Mar-a-Lago employee who is a central witness in the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents is now speaking publicly because he believes that voters should hear the truth about his former boss and the case before the November

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‘This is not a witch hunt’: Takeaways from CNN’s sit-down with ex-Trump employee who unwittingly moved classified docs

CNN By Jeremy Herb, CNN (CNN) — Brian Butler, a former Mar-a-Lago worker referenced as “Trump Employee Number 5” in the classified documents indictment of Donald Trump, spoke exclusively with CNN on Monday about what he saw at the former president’s private club and the subsequent fallout after a search there by federal investigators. Butler’s interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins provides new

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What’s in Biden’s budget proposal

By Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden released his annual budget Monday, laying out policy proposals that he will campaign on as he seeks reelection in November. Many of the initiatives are longstanding priorities of Biden and congressional Democrats, including raising taxes on big corporations and the wealthy, lowering expenses

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Trump suggests he’s open to cuts to Medicare and Social Security after attacking primary rivals over the issue

By Kate Sullivan and Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday suggested he was open to making cuts to Social Security and Medicare after opposing touching the entitlement programs and attacking his GOP presidential primary rivals over the issue. Trump was asked in an interview with CNBC whether he had changed

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Former advisers sound the alarm that Trump praises despots in private and on the campaign trail

By Jim Sciutto, CNN (CNN) — To Donald Trump, Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán is “fantastic,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping is “brilliant,” North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is “an OK guy,” and, most alarmingly, he allegedly said Adolf Hitler “did some good things,” a worldview that would reverse decades-old US foreign policy in a second term

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Sen. Katie Britt acknowledges anecdote used to criticize Biden’s border policies didn’t happen during his presidency

CNN By Samantha Waldenberg, Sam Fossum and Michelle Shen, CNN (CNN) — Alabama Sen. Katie Britt on Sunday acknowledged that the graphic anecdote she employed to criticize President Joe Biden’s border policies didn’t occur during his presidency. During the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Thursday, Britt described a woman’s story of being “sex trafficked

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Sen. Katie Britt acknowledges anecdote used to criticize Biden’s border policies didn’t happen during his presidency

By Samantha Waldenberg, Sam Fossum and Michelle Shen, CNN (CNN) — Alabama Sen. Katie Britt on Sunday acknowledged that the graphic anecdote she employed to criticize President Joe Biden’s border policies didn’t occur during his presidency. During the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Thursday, Britt described a woman’s story of being “sex trafficked by

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One of the top donors to a pro-Biden dark-money group is a non-profit run by an early AI investor

By Casey Tolan, CNN (CNN) — A husband-and-wife duo whose fortune has ties to AI investments and cryptocurrency trading are quietly emerging as some of the largest backers of the main dark-money group boosting President Joe Biden. The second-largest donation in 2022 to the non-profit arm of Future Forward, the primary Super PAC supporting Biden,

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Sen. Katie Britt acknowledges anecdote used to criticize Biden’s border policies didn’t happen during his presidency

CNN By Samantha Waldenberg, Sam Fossum and Michelle Shen, CNN (CNN) — Alabama Sen. Katie Britt on Sunday acknowledged that the graphic anecdote she employed to criticize President Joe Biden’s border policies didn’t occur during his presidency. During the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Thursday, Britt described a woman’s story of being “sex trafficked

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Anecdote from Sen. Katie Britt’s criticism of Biden’s border policies appears to be from before he was president

By Samantha Waldenberg, CNN (CNN) — Alabama Sen. Katie Britt graphically described a woman’s story of being “sex trafficked by the cartels starting at age 12,” during the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Thursday, using the story as an anecdote of, what she called, President Joe Biden’s failed immigration policies.

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Exclusive: US prepared ‘rigorously’ for potential Russian nuclear strike in Ukraine in late 2022, officials say

By Jim Sciutto, CNN (CNN) — In late 2022, the US began “preparing rigorously” for Russia potentially striking Ukraine with a nuclear weapon, in what would have been the first nuclear attack in war since the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly eighty years before, two senior administration officials told CNN. The Biden administration was specifically concerned

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Trump praises ‘fantastic’ Viktor Orbán while hosting Hungarian autocrat at Mar-a-Lago for meeting and concert

By Kristen Holmes and Andrew Millman, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump heaped praise on Viktor Orbán while hosting the Hungarian prime minister at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night. “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán. He’s fantastic,” the former president told a crowd gathered for a concert at the Florida resort,

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Biden takes on Trump as he brings reelection pitch to Pennsylvania in his first post-SOTU speech

By Michael Williams, CNN Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden on Friday took his pitch for a second term to the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, contrasting himself with his predecessor in what was effectively his first rally of the 2024 general election campaign. Biden’s speech in the Philadelphia suburbs was essentially an abridged version

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US could take 2 months and 1,000 troops to construct floating pier to deliver aid to Gaza, Pentagon says

By Natasha Bertrand, Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt, CNN (CNN) — A floating pier and causeway that will be used to deliver critical humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza is expected to take at least one month or possibly as long as two for the US military to build and become fully operational, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder

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Justice Dept. pushes back on Hunter Biden’s efforts to dismiss charges, mirroring fights between Trump and prosecutors

By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — Special counsel David Weiss ridiculed efforts by Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, to dismiss tax charges against him as legally baseless and steeped in a “conspiracy theory,” in court filings Friday. Hunter Biden’s attorneys have argued that the tax case against him should be dismissed

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US military developing portable UFO detection kits as Pentagon says no evidence of alien tech found

By Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — The US military is developing portable UFO detection kits to collect better data on reports of sightings as the Pentagon says there is no evidence of alien technology found in any government investigation. The new portable detection kits, consisting of an array of sensors that fit inside a protective case, are

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UK court orders Trump to pay legal fees of company he sued over controversial Russia dossier

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — A London judge has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay six figures in legal fees to a company he sued over a controversial dossier that made unverified and salacious allegations about him, according to court documents released Thursday. After dismissing the former president’s case last month against retired British intelligence

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Trump’s takeover of Republican National Committee is official as McDaniel steps down

By Alayna Treene, Daniel Strauss and Aaron Pellish, CNN Houston (CNN) — Donald Trump wasted little time putting his imprint on the Republican Party just days after becoming its presumptive presidential nominee. At the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting here Friday, members elevated Trump’s endorsed candidates – North Carolina GOP chairman Michael Whatley and the former president’s daughter-in-law, Lara

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Alabama Sen. Katie Britt says ‘the American dream has turned into a nightmare’ in GOP rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union

CNN By Clare Foran and Kaanita Iyer, CNN Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman elected to the US Senate, criticized President Joe Biden and his administration over the border, the state of the US economy and crime and safety issues as she delivered the GOP’s rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address. “Right now,

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Biden directs US military to establish aid port in Gaza as Israel-Hamas war looms over his State of the Union

By Michael Williams, CNN Washington (CNN) — As President Joe Biden addressed Congress and the nation during his State of the Union speech on Thursday, tens of thousands of Palestinians face an increasingly harrowing humanitarian crisis – one that officials warn is hurling the territory into a famine. Although Biden had signaled repeated optimism that

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Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is the designated survivor for Biden’s State of the Union

By Betsy Klein, CNN Washington (CNN) — Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is this year’s designated survivor, retreating from Washington to an undisclosed location during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday. Cardona will stay away from the US Capitol, fulfilling the annual task of remaining outside the House chamber during the president speech in case disaster

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US Army intelligence analyst charged with leaking classified info to China in exchange for $42K

By Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — A US Army sergeant has been charged with leaking classified information to China in exchange for $42,000 after prosecutors said he repeatedly sent sensitive documents about some of the military’s most advanced weapons to a foreign national claiming to live in Hong Kong. Prosecutors said Sergeant Korbein Schultz, who served as

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Special counsel asks Judge Cannon to label Trump’s immunity claim in classified documents as ‘frivolous’

By Tierney Sneed, Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand and Devan Cole, CNN Washington (CNN) — Special counsel Jack Smith is forcefully opposing former President Donald Trump’s sweeping claim of presidential immunity in the criminal case over his handling of classified documents, urging the judge to cut off Trump’s ability to appeal the issue in a way

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Congressional probe finds communications gear in Chinese cranes, raising spying concerns

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — Some Chinese-made cranes used at US ports contain communications equipment with no clear purpose or record of their installation, according to a new congressional investigation that will heighten US concerns that the cranes could be used for surveillance or sabotage. The investigation by the House Committee on Homeland Security

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Alabama Sen. Katie Britt says ‘the American dream has turned into a nightmare’ in GOP rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union

By Clare Foran and Kaanita Iyer, CNN Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman elected to the US Senate, criticized President Joe Biden and his administration over the border, the state of the US economy and crime and safety issues as she delivered the GOP’s rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address. “Right now, the

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Judge in Trump’s NY criminal case will limit access to juror information over safety concerns

By Kara Scannell, CNN (CNN) — The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial beginning later this month agreed to limit access to juror information, citing the possibility of harassment. Judge Juan Merchan granted motions by prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office to restrict who can know the names of jurors to Trump,

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