Politics

By Shawna Mizelle, CNN Washington (CNN) — A bill signed by Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte this week enacts far-reaching limits on the presence of children among drag performers, including by banning drag story hours at public schools and libraries. HB359, which went into effect when Gianforte signed it on Monday, prevents children from attending

By Melanie Zanona, Kristen Holmes, Jeremy Herb and Katelyn Polantz, CNN Washington (CNN) — In January, as Kevin McCarthy fought to win the House speakership through 15 rounds of grinding votes and late-night sessions at the Capitol, a few blocks away a group of right-wing holdouts huddled with a familiar but surprising source – former

By Kristen Holmes (CNN) — Donald Trump and his allies are planning a coordinated effort to upend the media cycle around the presidential campaign launch of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which will include videos and a social media blitz leaning on high-profile, Trump-aligned conservative commentators, sources familiar with the plans told CNN. The messaging strategy

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump has consolidated the support of slightly above half of his party at this early stage of the race for the Republican nomination, a newly released CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds, highlighting the former president’s potential path to a third nomination – and the challenges his rivals

By CNN Staff Washington (CNN) — To get the latest on Republican presidential primaries: Tim Scott announced his bid for president. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his run for president Wednesday night. The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

By Katie Lobosco, CNN Washington (CNN) — The Biden administration’s one-time student loan forgiveness program is facing a fresh threat from House Republicans while it awaits a ruling from the Supreme Court about whether the proposal can take effect. The House voted Wednesday to pass a resolution seeking to block the forgiveness program as well

By Clare Foran, Kristin Wilson, Haley Talbot, Nicky Robertson and Lauren Fox, CNN (CNN) — House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has announced that the House will recess following votes on Thursday and will be called back to vote if a debt limit deal is reached. “Following tomorrow’s votes, if some new agreement is reached between

By Fredreka Schouten (CNN) — Florida lawmakers were poised this year to protect election workers from harassment. Then, conservative “election integrity” activists worked to kill the effort. Emails obtained by the investigative group Documented through public record requests – and provided to CNN – show how leaders of a coalition called Florida Fair Elections raised

By Devan Cole, CNN Washington (CNN) — Americans’ approval of the Supreme Court has fallen since the start of the year, according to a new poll released Wednesday, with 41% of the country saying it approves of the nine justices amid a barrage of media reports and watchdog complaints concerning ethics and transparency at the

By Kit Maher and Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — Throughout this year’s session, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature has pushed through several pieces of legislation that are considered big policy wins for GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. With the governor set to announce his bid for the White House Wednesday evening, here’s a breakdown of the key

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter (CNN) — Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday night that he wants to assure the public that the Supreme Court is committed to adhering to the “highest standards of conduct,” appearing to direct his remarks at critics of the high court amid recent ethics controversies. “We are

By Natasha Bertrand, Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — The senior general in charge of US forces in the Middle East ordered that his command announce on Twitter that a senior al Qaeda leader had been targeted by an American drone strike in Syria earlier this month – despite not yet having confirmation

By Jennifer Hansler, Michael Conte and Jack Forrest, CNN (CNN) — House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul on Tuesday viewed a dissent cable sent by US diplomats before the frenzied US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the classified information afterward. The viewing was a win

By Sydney Kashiwagi, Dianne Gallagher, Carma Hassan and Devon M. Sayers, CNN (CNN) — A controversial six-week abortion ban bill is headed to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk to be signed into law after the measure cleared the state Senate Tuesday. The state Senate approved a House-amended version of the bill by a vote

By Melanie Zanona, Annie Grayer and Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — Last week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus posed a formal ask to its members: were there any proposals they could accept included in the list of GOP demands in exchange for raising the debt ceiling? The overwhelming consensus: The GOP demands were too much to

By Clare Foran and Ted Barrett, CNN (CNN) — The House voted Tuesday to rescind a Biden administration emissions regulation for heavy-duty trucks. The Senate voted to overturn the rule in April, so it will now be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk. The White House has said the president will veto it. A veto

By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director (CNN) — Sixty percent of Americans say Congress should only raise the nation’s debt ceiling if it cuts spending at the same time, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, as the government’s June 1 “hard deadline” to avoid economic catastrophe looms large over Washington. Few see

By Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — China’s new ambassador arrived in the United States on Tuesday as both the US and Chinese governments have indicated that they want to put relations between their two nations back on track. Xie Feng said he aims to enhance US-China relations at a time of “serious

By Ariane de Vogue and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A lawyer for GOP megadonor Harlan Crow told Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin that his committee did not have “the authority to investigate Mr. Crow’s personal friendship with Justice Clarence Thomas,” in a letter Monday night obtained by CNN. Crow declined to answer specific questions

By Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — In the early days of his governorship, Ron DeSantis, still largely unknown to even the people who elected him, barnstormed across Florida’s 65,000 square miles, popping up almost daily in a different community to announce new initiatives or unexpected actions. News outlets, opposition Democrats and fellow Republicans unaccustomed to

By Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — Ahead of an expected White House bid in the coming days, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spelled out the possibility to build a “7-2 conservative majority” on the US Supreme Court. The Republican pointed to four justices – three appointed by Republican presidents – who he believed are poised to

By Maegan Vazquez, Donald Judd, Melanie Zanona and Lauren Fox, CNN (CNN) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Republicans during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday that he’s not close to a bipartisan deal with President Joe Biden to avoid a first-ever default on the nation’s debt. “We are nowhere near a deal,” McCarthy told Republicans.

By Lauren del Valle, Kara Scannell and Jeremy Herb, CNN New York (CNN) — A New York judge has set a trial date of March 25, 2024, for the criminal case against former President Donald Trump, potentially setting up a media spectacle in the middle of the Republican presidential primary season. The trial date was

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Mary Kay Mallonee and Josh Campbell, CNN (CNN) — The man accused of crashing a U-Haul truck into a security barrier near the White House Monday night praised Adolf Hitler to investigators after his arrest and said that he aimed to “kill the President” if necessary to overthrow the government and install

By Kaitlan Collins, Paula Reid and Kara Scannell, CNN (CNN) — Federal prosecutors with the special counsel’s office issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization for information regarding business deals in foreign countries, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. One of the sources suggested investigators appear to be focused on former President Donald

By Kate Grise, CNN (CNN) — Sen. Tim Scott announced he’s running for the Republican nomination for president on Monday, setting up a challenge to former President Donald Trump, the current frontrunner. The South Carolina Republican laid out his vision for America and hit President Joe Biden for the state of the country. While much

By Kara Scannell, CNN (CNN) — E. Jean Carroll has asked a judge to amend her initial defamation case against former President Donald Trump to seek additional punitive damages after he repeated his statements at a CNN town hall. The request was made in a letter to the judge seeking clarity on the initial lawsuit

By Paula Reid, Kaitlan Collins, Katelyn Polantz, Kristen Holmes and Sara Murray, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump asked whether he could push back against Justice Department efforts last year to recover any classified documents still in his possession during conversations with his lawyer over compliance with a federal subpoena, according to multiple sources familiar with

By Nicky Robertson, CNN (CNN) — Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware said Monday he will not seek reelection in 2024. “If there’s ever an opportune time to step aside and pass the torch to the next generation, it’s coming, and it will be here on January 3, 2025 at noon,” he said at a

By Kit Maher, Eva McKend and Greg Krieg, CNN (CNN) — South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott on Monday formally entered the Republican presidential primary, promising to take on “the radical left” and bring faith and conservative, business-friendly policies to the White House, as he seeks to upend a contest that has so far been dominated

By Jack Forrest, CNN (CNN) — C. Boyden Gray, the former White House counsel to former President George H.W. Bush and ambassador to the European Union, has died. He was 80. “We are saddened to learn of the passing of Ambassador C. Boyden Gray. From 1981-1993, Mr. Gray served President Bush as his closest and

By Clare Foran, Haley Talbot and DJ Judd, CNN (CNN) — The countdown is on, the stakes are high – and there is no still debt limit deal. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Monday that he had a “productive discussion” with President Joe Biden at the White House, but said a deal has

By Stephen Collinson, CNN Washington (CNN) — America is heading close to the brink of a self-imposed economic disaster with the Republican-led House refusing to pay the country’s debts unless President Joe Biden agrees on cuts to current and future spending and new curbs on social programs. Unless a compromise to raise the government’s borrowing

By Alayna Treene, Eva McKend and Shawna Mizelle, CNN (CNN) — South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, plans to endorse South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, according to two sources familiar with the plans. Scott, who has already filed his candidacy with the Federal Election

By Shawna Mizelle, CNN (CNN) — Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Sunday he doesn’t think Donald Trump would be able to win a general election, pointing to the GOP’s disappointing performance in last year’s midterm elections when several candidates endorsed by the former president went down to defeat. “The president’s kind of high-profile

By Kevin Liptak, Betsy Klein, Sam Fossum, Arlette Saenz, Kristin Wilson and Phil Mattingly, CNN Hiroshima, Japan (CNN) — Staff-level discussions over the debt ceiling and budget between the White House and congressional Republicans will resume Sunday evening after President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke by phone in the afternoon, according to

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN (CNN) — Ron DeSantis is going to run for president talking about his record in Florida. Joe Biden is too. Biden advisers believe they can hold up what the GOP governor calls his “Florida blueprint” as a warning to the country about what would happen if DeSantis or any other Republican

By Kevin Liptak, CNN Hiroshima, Japan (CNN) — Group of Seven talks culminated Sunday with a series of dramatic, in-person appeals from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he pressed leaders gathered in Japan to remain united against Russian aggression. Zelensky’s decision to travel halfway across the world to deliver his entreaties to the world’s major

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN Washington (CNN) — Former Donald Trump attorney Timothy Parlatore, who departed the former president’s legal team earlier this week, said Saturday he left because of infighting among the group. “It had nothing to do with the case itself or the client,” Parlatore told CNN’s Paula Reid on “Newsroom.” “The real reason

By Jake Tapper, Jasmine Wright and Shawna Mizelle, CNN (CNN) — Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said Sunday that the White House is working “extremely hard” on the case of a US Navy officer jailed in Japan but declined to say whether President Joe Biden had brought it up during his trip to the

By Gregory Krieg and Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN (CNN) — North Carolina Republicans jumped out on a limb this week when they passed a controversial new abortion ban. Democrats are now rushing to saw it off. The state GOP legislative supermajority’s decision to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the measure sharpened the stakes for

By Gregory Wallace, CNN (CNN) — While President Joe Biden’s administration publicly hammered airlines for flight delays and cancellations last summer, behind the scenes Federal Aviation Administration officials were well aware that their own agency also bore responsibility for disrupting thousands of flights, according to previously unreported internal FAA records The FAA’s problem, according to

By Jack Forrest (CNN) — A Nebraska bill combining a ban on most abortions after 12 weeks and restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender Nebraskans under 19 is poised to become law after the state’s unicameral legislature voted for its passage Friday. Nebraska’s LB 574, also known as the “Let Them Grow Act” was first

By Kevin Liptak, Betsy Klein and Simone McCarthy, CNN (CNN) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky joined leaders of major democracies on Saturday at a summit in Japan dominated by a push to present a unified front against both Russia and China. The Group of Seven (G7) talks in Hiroshima are seeking common ground on a