Politics

By Kevin Liptak, CNN Washington (CNN) — As President Joe Biden was walking from the White House residence to a briefing on the unfolding crisis in Russia, not much was certain. It wasn’t obvious, for example, how a column of Wagner group mercenaries rapidly advancing toward Moscow might affect the war in Ukraine. Nor was

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter (CNN) — A federal appeals court judge previously on short lists for the Supreme Court is taking the rare step to broadly and publicly reject allegations that Justice Clarence Thomas has been improperly influenced by lavish gifts provided by a conservative billionaire, dismissing “pot shots” at the

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN Reporter, Crime and Justice (CNN) — The special counsel’s office has asked for Donald Trump to be tried in December in the Mar-a-Lago documents matter, because of how classified records must be handled carefully within the criminal case. A federal judge previously put the trial on the calendar for mid-August but

Sabrina Souza and Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law Friday that legally protects doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states where abortion services are outlawed or restricted. “We are witnessing a shameful regression of women’s rights in this country as abortion

By Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump spoke Thursday at a fundraiser on behalf of defendants charged for their participation in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a Trump campaign official told CNN. The fundraiser was hosted at Trump’s private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on behalf of

By Kylie Atwood and Sam Fossum, CNN (CNN) — The White House confirmed Friday that an official diplomatic reprimand, known as a démarche, had been given to the US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns following President Joe Biden’s comments comparing China’s Xi Jinping to a dictator at a political fundraiser in California earlier this week.

By Morgan Rimmer, Lauren Fox and Haley Talbot, CNN (CNN) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his allies met with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus ahead of a two-week recess to discuss their strategy for funding the government, as negotiations over appropriations bills loom large over the next month. The meeting came after members

By Kara Scannell, CNN New York (CNN) — Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a judge on Friday to sign off on an agreement with E. Jean Carroll’s attorneys to transfer $5.5 million to a court-controlled account in a step toward satisfying the judgment from the defamation lawsuit. The agreement is Trump’s first step toward paying

By Rebekah Riess and Shania Shelton, CNN (CNN) — The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Andrew Warren, a state attorney who was ousted by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, citing an “unreasonable delay” in filing a challenge to the Republican governor’s authority to suspend him. Warren, a twice-elected Democrat, drew

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — A key GOP election official in Arizona is suing defeated gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake for defamation, arguing that her repeated false claims of malfeasance in the 2022 election have upended his life. In the lawsuit, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer asserts that Lake, her campaign and an affiliated fundraising

By Katelyn Polantz, Sara Murray, Zachary Cohen and Casey Gannon, CNN Washington (CNN) — Special counsel Jack Smith has compelled at least two Republican fake electors to testify to a federal grand jury in Washington in recent weeks by giving them limited immunity, part of a current push by federal prosecutors to swiftly nail down

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter (CNN) — The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 ruling on Friday, revived the Biden administration’s immigration guidelines that prioritize which noncitizens to deport, dismissing a challenge from two Republican state attorneys general who argued the policies conflicted with immigration law. The court said the states, Texas and

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a provision of federal law that prohibits the encouragement of illegal immigration for financial gain, ruling against a man who ran an organization falsely claiming that noncitizens could obtain citizenship in the US through adult adoption. The case raised

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — The fallout from a global hacking incident tied to Russian cybercriminals widened on Thursday as US insurance provider Genworth Financial revealed that 2.5 million of its policyholders and customers had their data accessed in the hack, while California’s public pension fund said 769,000 of its members were affected. The

By Annette Choi and Shawna Mizelle, CNN (CNN) — In the year since the monumental US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the federal constitutional right to abortion nationwide, more than a dozen US states have banned or severely restricted access to the procedure. Abortion remains legal in seven states that

By Steve Contorno and Kate Sullivan, CNN (CNN) — Republican presidential candidates took turns Friday pitching themselves to a ballroom full of religious conservatives in Washington as the most viable alternative to front-runner Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination. The specter of the former president loomed large over the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road

By Betsy Klein and Sam Fossum, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined a trio of key reproductive rights activist groups to mark the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs Supreme Court decision Friday, highlighting what’s expected to be a major Biden campaign plank for the 2024 presidential election. “MAGA Republicans

By Andy Rose and Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — Medication abortion will remain legal in Wyoming for now after a district judge on Thursday blocked the state’s ban on abortion pills, according to the Casper Star-Tribune. The law, intended to take effect July 1, would have prohibited the prescription, sale and use of abortion pills

By Mark Morales, Lauren del Valle and Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge on Thursday unsealed the identities of the co-signers on embattled Rep. George Santos’ $500,000 bond that allowed the New York Republican to stay out of federal custody after he was charged in a 13-count indictment. The guarantors were listed as

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against the Navajo Nation, dismissing a lawsuit arguing that the federal government has the legal duty under treaties signed in the 1800s to develop a plan to provide the tribe with an adequate water supply. The ruling was 5-4

By Kate Sullivan, CNN (CNN) — Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, who announced his 2024 Republican presidential campaign earlier Thursday with an anti-Donald Trump message, said he won’t sign the Republican National Committee’s pledge to back the party’s ultimate nominee in order to participate in primary debates. “I won’t be signing any kind of pledges,

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — US President Joe Biden downplayed the impact of his comments likening his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to a dictator, even as the Chinese government warned of “consequences” for the remarks. “I don’t think it’s had any real consequence,” Biden said at a news conference Thursday, dismissing concerns that the

By Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — Democratic institutions in the United States and around the world have grown “creaky,” former President Barack Obama warned in an exclusive CNN interview Thursday, and it remains incumbent on American leaders to find ways to sustain them into the future. He told CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour that

By Ariane de Vogue and Devan Cole, CNN Washington (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of a federal prisoner who argued he should be able to challenge his 27-year sentence for firearms possession based on changes in the law since his trial. The court’s decision will make it harder for federal

By Andy Rose and Sydney Kashiwagi, CNN (CNN) — State Sen. Angela Paxton, the wife of embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, will no longer be allowed to vote in her husband’s upcoming impeachment proceedings as a result of new rules the state Senate approved Wednesday night. The Dallas-area Republican state senator had previously vowed

By Jim Sciutto, Chief National Security Correspondent (CNN) — In its early phases, Ukraine’s counteroffensive is having less success and Russian forces are showing more competence than western assessments expected, two western officials and a senior US military official tell CNN. The counteroffensive is “not meeting expectations on any front,” one of the officials said.

By Brad Lendon, CNN Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — A US Coast Guard ship “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit” on Tuesday, according to a statement released by the US Navy. “The Legend-class national security cutter USCGC Stratton (WMSL 752) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on June 20 (local time) through waters where high-seas

By Tierney Sneed and Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — Special counsel Jack Smith has begun producing evidence in the Mar-a-Lago documents case to Donald Trump, according to a Wednesday court filing that hints that investigators collected for the case multiple recordings of the former president – not just audio of an interview Trump gave at

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens quietly traveled to Venezuela this week, a State Department spokesperson confirmed to CNN Wednesday. Carstens traveled to the capital city of Caracas for “discussions about the welfare and safety of US nationals wrongfully detained in Venezuela,” the spokesperson said. “We

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration announced a proposal Wednesday to strengthen the Endangered Species Act, including repealing Trump-era rules that loosened protections for vulnerable species. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, along with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Maritime Fisheries Service, has proposed clarifying the standards for how the agencies

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — The stage is now set in Virginia for the most important down-ballot election of 2023 – a battle for control of the split legislature that will offer an important window into the mood of swing-state voters as next year’s presidential race kicks off. One incumbent state senator, an anti-abortion

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN Worcester, Massachusetts (CNN) — Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents on social media, pleaded not guilty in a Massachusetts court Wednesday to six federal charges. Teixeira, 21, was indicted earlier this month on several counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related

By Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis acknowledged on Wednesday the state has in its possession a golf simulator that reportedly was given to the governor’s mansion by a wealthy political donor with close ties to the Republican governor. The Washington Post and Reuters reported Wednesday that Mori Hosseini,

By Holmes Lybrand (CNN) — Daniel Rodriguez, the man who attacked then-Washington, DC, police officer Michael Fanone with an electroshock weapon in the neck during the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, was sentenced Wednesday to 12 and a half years in prison. Rodriguez, 40, had pleaded guilty to four counts in February, including

By Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson, CNN (CNN) — The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, a key lawmaker in Democrats’ congressional investigations into former President Donald Trump during his presidency. The resolution accuses Schiff of misleading the American people while pursuing the congressional investigation into Russia and the

By Tierney Sneed, Marshall Cohen and Jack Forrest, CNN (CNN) — The federal judge who oversaw a dramatic day in court that ended with Hunter Biden’s plea deal being placed on hold is a Donald Trump appointee who was confirmed with Democratic support in 2018. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was set to decide whether

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Drugmakers’ leading industry group is the latest to file a lawsuit seeking to stop Medicare’s newly granted power to negotiate drug prices. In a suit filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, along

By Annie Grayer, Manu Raju, Haley Talbot and Morgan Rimmer, CNN (CNN) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged House Republicans to vote against the resolution brought forward by GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado forcing a vote to impeach President Joe Biden this week, arguing now is not the right time, multiple sources in the closed

By Kevin Liptak, Arlette Saenz and Jeremy Diamond, CNN (CNN) — When President Joe Biden referred to his Chinese counterpart as a dictator late Tuesday in California, the response from Beijing was swift and angry. “The remarks seriously contradict basic facts, seriously violate diplomatic etiquette, and seriously infringe on China’s political dignity,” the spokesperson for

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — Attorney General Merrick Garland pushed back Wednesday against GOP accusations that the Justice Department’s plea agreement with Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, reflects a double standard of preferential treatment for Democrats. Garland was pressed during a news conference in Sweden to address accusations from Republican lawmakers that Hunter

By Sabrina Souza, CNN (CNN) — A bill that would legally protect doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states where abortion services are outlawed or restricted is now headed to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk after the state legislature passed the legislation on Tuesday. The bill ensures that doctors, medical

By Nicky Robertson and Lauren Fox, CNN (CNN) — Senate Democrats intend to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade by pushing a collection of abortion rights messaging bills. Ahead of the anniversary on Saturday, Senate Democrats will ask for “unanimous consent” on legislation which would seek to expand abortion

By Jennifer Hansler and Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — It appears increasingly likely that the 31 NATO members will be unable to coalesce around a candidate to be the alliance’s next secretary general and Jens Stoltenberg will be asked to remain in the job for an additional year, multiple sources told CNN. Although there are

By Casey Gannon (CNN) — Kellye SoRelle, the woman who claimed to be general counsel for the right-wing Oath Keepers militia, will be held in federal custody for mental health treatment after a judge ruled Tuesday that she was incompetent to stand trial. SoRelle is facing several charges related to the January 6, 2021, attack

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — A conservative candidate who unsuccessfully ran for Mark Meadows’ former House seat in North Carolina in 2020 and was endorsed by then-President Donald Trump was sentenced Tuesday to one year of probation for violating federal campaign law. Lynda Bennett, a North Carolina real estate agent, pleaded guilty in March

By Natasha Bertrand, Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt, CNN (CNN) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “made very clear” during his meetings in Beijing this week that the United States “would have deep concerns” about China increasing its intelligence or military activities in Cuba, the top US diplomat told reporters during a press conference