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Kevin McCarthy opens impeachment inquiry without passing budget despite once criticizing Democrats for the same

By Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — In 2019, then-Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy vehemently criticized Democrats for initiating an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump without first passing a budget and securing government funding to prevent a shutdown. Fast forward four years later and McCarthy, now the House Speaker, is pushing

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Election officials reject calls to unilaterally block Trump from ballot using 14th Amendment but will defer to courts

By Marshall Cohen, CNN (CNN) — Election officials in key states have recently rejected calls to unilaterally remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot and are saying courts should decide whether he’s disqualified by the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.” The secretaries of state who oversee elections in Michigan, Georgia, New Hampshire and Minnesota

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Senate launches inquiry into Coast Guard sexual assault coverups exposed by CNN report

By Melanie Hicken and Pamela Brown, CNN (CNN) — The US Senate has launched a formal inquiry into the Coast Guard’s handling of a secret, yearslong investigation that found rapes, sexual assaults and other serious misconduct at the agency’s academy had been ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials. Dubbed “Operation Fouled Anchor,”

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Justice Alito extends pause on ruling limiting Biden administration communications with social media companies

By Devan Cole, CNN Washington (CNN) — Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito extended a pause Thursday on a ruling that limits the ability of the White House and other key federal agencies to communicate with social media companies about content related to Covid-19 and elections the government views as misinformation. In a brief order, Alito

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Iranian hackers target secrets held by defense, satellite and pharmaceutical firms, Microsoft says

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — Iranian state-backed hackers have targeted satellite, defense and pharmaceutical firms in the US and around the world to gather intelligence and to possibly build out domestic production in those industries amid heavy US sanctions, Microsoft analysts said Thursday. The hackers have since February successfully broken into a few dozen

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Wisconsin Senate votes to remove state’s top elections official, setting off legal dispute

By Whitney Wild and Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted Thursday to fire the state’s top elections administrator, Meagan Wolfe – a move that immediately triggered a legal battle over who will oversee voting in one of the nation’s most important presidential swing states as the 2024 election approaches. The 22-11

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Theater video surveillance shows US Rep. Lauren Boebert escorted out of ‘Beetlejuice’ musical

CNN By Amy Simonson, CNN (CNN) — Surveillance video from a performing arts theater in Denver shows Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert being escorted out of the musical “Beetlejuice” on Sunday after “multiple complaints” from patrons. The Buell Theater surveillance video, obtained by CNN affiliate KUSA, shows officials addressing Boebert and her companion at their seats

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Democratic rules panel meets in DC amid continuing primary calendar questions

By Ethan Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The rule-making panel of the Democratic National Committee will meet Thursday in Washington, DC, with several questions about the party’s 2024 presidential nominating calendar still unresolved. The biggest question is the timing of the nominating contests in the longtime early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Earlier this year,

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Fulton County prosecutors hand over list of 30 unindicted co-conspirators to Chesebro and Powell

By Jeremy Herb, Zachary Cohen and Sara Murray, CNN (CNN) — The two Georgia election subversion defendants headed to trial next month will get access to more information from prosecutors, including grand jury materials and details about unindicted co-conspirators, a judge decided Thursday. Fulton County prosecutors on Thursday provided the names of the 30 unindicted

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DeSantis warns against Covid-19 boosters for people under 65 contradicting CDC guidance

By Kit Maher and Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is advising people under the age of 65 against getting the new Covid-19 booster shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, contradicting federal health officials’ guidance. DeSantis, a 2024 Republican presidential contender, said he won’t allow federal officials who green-lit the new boosters

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Hunter Biden sues former Trump White House aide over alleged efforts to hack devices

By Paula Reid, CNN (CNN) — Attorneys for Hunter Biden have filed a civil lawsuit against former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler, alleging illegal hacking in violation of federal computer privacy laws. The suit, filed in federal court in California, accuses Ziegler of “accessing, tampering with, manipulation, altering, copying and damaging computer data that

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Biden advisers plotted impeachment response plan ahead of McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry announcement

By Kevin Liptak, Betsy Klein and Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden’s team has begun to execute an impeachment playbook more than a year in the making: Discredit the investigators while sticking to the business of governing. Biden’s aides spent the August congressional recess honing their plans after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested

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Theater video surveillance shows US Rep. Lauren Boebert escorted out of ‘Beetlejuice’ musical

By Amy Simonson, CNN (CNN) — Surveillance video from a performing arts theater in Denver shows Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert being escorted out of the musical “Beetlejuice” on Sunday after “multiple complaints” from patrons. The Buell Theater surveillance video, obtained by CNN affiliate KUSA, shows officials addressing Boebert and her companion at their seats inside

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Appeals court limits access to GOP congressman’s phone in defeat for special counsel

By Katelyn Polantz, Senior Reporter, Crime and Justice (CNN) — A federal appeals court has blocked federal prosecutors from obtaining a swath of cellphone records from a Pennsylvania Republican congressman who worked to overturn Donald Trump’s election defeat in 2020, in a ruling that could have dramatic legal implications that benefit federal lawmakers. The ruling

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Fact-checking McCarthy’s claims while launching Biden impeachment inquiry

By Annie Grayer, Marshall Cohen and Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made several unproven claims Tuesday while announcing the opening of a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The Republican-led investigation will focus on “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption” by Biden, related to his family’s overseas business

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Trump’s access to classified information restricted as he heads to trial in documents case, federal judge rules

By Katelyn Polantz, Tierney Sneed and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump will be restricted on how and when he can look at, and talk about, classified information, a judge decided Wednesday after a sealed hearing the day before. The decision appears to largely be in line with restrictions special counsel Jack

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Biden focuses on his domestic agenda and efforts to end cancer amid McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry announcement

By Donald Judd, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden convened a meeting of his Cancer Cabinet on Wednesday in the latest attempt from the administration to refocus the national conversation around the president’s domestic agenda.Th The event marked Biden’s first public appearance since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced plans to open an impeachment inquiry into

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Biden campaign corrals high-dollar donors while facing reelection headwinds and lagging poll numbers

By Arlette Saenz, Kayla Tausche and Jasmine Wright, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden’s campaign is assembling top donors in Chicago this week amid significant headwinds in his bid for reelection, including his age and approval rating, with questions looming about how the campaign’s high dollar and grassroots donor operations will fare as a key

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Judge to consider Peter Navarro’s mistrial request over juror break outside during deliberations

By Devan Cole, Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — The federal judge who oversaw Peter Navarro’s criminal contempt of Congress conviction last week revisited the integrity of the jury deliberations in a rare post-trial hearing Wednesday morning, bringing a court security officer who accompanied the jurors into the courtroom to testify. Attorneys for

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Tuberville’s hold on military promotions would take hundreds of hours to process individually, memo says

By Natasha Bertrand, CNN (CNN) — It would take the Senate approximately 700 hours of floor time to individually process and vote on hundreds of military officers whose promotions are being blocked by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Congressional Research Service concluded in a memo released on Tuesday. The number of pending nominations has

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Watchdog agency increases its pandemic unemployment benefits fraud estimate to as much as $135 billion

By Shawna Mizelle and Tami Luhby, CNN Washington (CNN) — As much as $135 billion in fraudulent Covid-19 pandemic unemployment insurance claims were likely paid out, according to a report released Tuesday by the US Government Accountability Office. The whopping figure, which equates to as much as 15% of total unemployment benefits distributed during the

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Supreme Court won’t intervene in Pennsylvania dispute over access to voting equipment after 2020 election

By Ariane de Vogue and Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an emergency bid from Republican election officials in a Pennsylvania county to freeze sanctions related to a dispute about voting equipment and the 2020 election. The case involves actions taken by two of three Fulton County, Pennsylvania, Commissioners –

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Virginia Democrat in key state House race calls sharing of pornographic videos ‘the worst gutter politics’

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — The Democratic candidate in a competitive Virginia House district denounced reports that she and her husband had performed sexual acts on a pornographic livestreaming website, describing the sharing of those videos as “the worst gutter politics.” The existence of the sexually explicit videos, first reported by The Washington Post

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White House secures AI safeguard agreements from eight additional tech companies

By Arlette Saenz (CNN) — Eight new-technology companies – including Adobe, IBM, Nvidia, Palantir and Salesforce – are making voluntary commitments on artificial intelligence, a senior Biden administration official told CNN, as the White House looks to safeguard development of the emerging technology while working toward more comprehensive regulation. The agreements, which will be discussed

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White House secures AI safeguard agreements from eight additional tech companies

CNN By Arlette Saenz (CNN) — Eight new-technology companies – including Adobe, IBM, Nvidia, Palantir and Salesforce – are making voluntary commitments on artificial intelligence, a senior Biden administration official told CNN, as the White House looks to safeguard development of the emerging technology while working toward more comprehensive regulation. The agreements, which will be

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2024 GOP contenders clash over Covid-19 records as they warn against future mandates

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Amid an uptick in coronavirus cases, Republican presidential candidates are taking aim at limited, local returns to masking requirements – using those moves as an opening to warn against broader restrictions. In recent days, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has lambasted front-runner Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic’s early stages.

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Biden admin takes step advancing deal to free Americans held in Iran by issuing waiver for transfer of restricted Iranian funds to Qatar

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration has issued a waiver to allow banks to transfer $6 billion in restricted Iranian funds to Qatar without fear of sanctions – a key step in a deal to free five Americans who have been deemed wrongfully detained in Iran by the US State Department. The

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Justice Department drops Mueller-era case against Michael Flynn ex-lobbying partner Bijan Kian

By Katelyn Polantz, Senior Reporter, Crime and Justice (CNN) — The Justice Department is dropping its five-year-old criminal case against Bijan Kian, the former lobbying partner of Michael Flynn whom prosecutors had accused of illicit lobbying for Turkey during the 2016 US presidential election. The move wraps up a long-running tangent of the Mueller-era Russia

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Voting rights activists sound alarms over private tool that could lead to canceling voter registrations

By Fredreka Schouten and Curt Devine, CNN (CNN) — Voting rights groups are urging election officials to reject a new tool championed by some conservatives as a way to root out fraudulent voter registrations – arguing that the private software depends on unreliable information and could be used to improperly disenfranchise legitimate voters. The leaders

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House GOP’s government shutdown threat set to collide with demands for Biden impeachment

By Melanie Zanona and Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy returns to Washington this week confronting a twin set of challenges: avoiding a costly government shutdown and addressing growing calls on the right to impeach President Joe Biden, despite resistance from the party’s moderates. Congress is already facing a chaotic work period, with

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Gun rights organizations sue New Mexico governor over gun violence order

By Mitchell McCluskey, CNN (CNN) — The National Association for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit against New Mexico’s Democratic governor and health secretary Saturday over orders declaring gun violence a public health emergency and suspending open and concealed carry laws in cities and counties based on crime statistics. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued the emergency

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Republican congressman says Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is ‘paralyzing’ and a ‘national security problem’

CNN By Shawna Mizelle, CNN Washington (CNN) — House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul, a Republican, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is “paralyzing” and a “national security problem.” “The idea that one man in the Senate can hold this up for months … is paralyzing

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Republican congressman says Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is ‘paralyzing’ and a ‘national security problem’

By Shawna Mizelle, CNN Washington (CNN) — House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul, a Republican, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is “paralyzing” and a “national security problem.” “The idea that one man in the Senate can hold this up for months … is paralyzing the

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White House press secretary ends news conference as Biden is still responding to questions from reporters

By Donald Judd, CNN (CNN) — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Sunday abruptly ended a news conference with President Joe Biden in Hanoi, Vietnam, at one point taking a microphone and announcing the event had concluded even as the president was still answering questions from reporters in the room. As the president was

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