Politics

By Kara Scannell, Lauren del Valle and Jack Forrest, CNN The Manhattan grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump‘s alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to an adult film star adjourned Monday without taking a vote on whether to indict Trump, a source familiar with the proceeding told CNN. The grand jury

By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN Jury selection in the federal trial of former Fugees rapper Pras Michel began Monday, kicking off what is expected to be a weekslong trial that could feature testimony from high-ranking politicians, famous actors and business moguls. The Grammy-winning artist is accused of making 2012 campaign donations to groups

By Kevin Liptak, Jeremy Diamond and Phil Mattingly, CNN A week after President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge him to find a compromise on his planned judicial reforms, events on the ground in Israel continue to generate deep concern inside the White House — particularly as Biden

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter The US Supreme Court left in place the conviction of attorney Steven Donziger — a long-time foe of Chevron Corp. — who sought to challenge the appointment of private attorneys to prosecute criminal contempt of court. In the 1990s, Donziger represented thousands of farmers and indigenous people

By Devan Cole, CNN The US Supreme Court on Monday declined a request from voters in Kansas to review a state court decision they say allows for racial gerrymandering of congressional districts there. In a controversial decision last year, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld a Republican-drawn map that had been blocked by a lower court

By Katie Lobosco, CNN President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program faces a new threat from Senate Republicans even before the US Supreme Court rules on whether it can be implemented. Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Joni Ernst of Iowa and John Cornyn of Texas, along with 36 other GOP senators, introduced a resolution

By Arlette Saenz, CNN The White House is elevating a key spokesperson from the National Security Council to serve in a senior communications role for the office of the chief of staff, CNN has learned. Saloni Sharma, previously a deputy spokesperson for the National Security Council and experienced Capitol Hill and presidential campaign aide, is

By Andrew Millman and Kaanita Iyer, CNN Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California announced Sunday that he won’t enter the competitive Democratic primary to fill retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s senate seat in the Golden State, electing to endorse Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee instead. “I have concluded that despite a lot of enthusiasm from Bernie [Sanders’]

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN Americans have heard the story before: A lurid tale of a presidential candidate accused of arranging hush-money payments to conceal an alleged affair. But if former President Donald Trump is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in connection with a pre-election payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, the case of another

By Haley Britzky, CNN For US troops, the training is nothing new: Applying tourniquets, clearing someone’s airway, recognizing signs of traumatic brain injuries. But to the Ukrainian troops receiving it, the training is literally a matter of life or death on the battlefield in the war against Russia. US troops have been providing critical medical

By Kevin Liptak and Jasmine Wright, CNN President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration is withdrawing his name from nomination due to “an onslaught of unfounded Republican attacks” on the nominee’s service and experience, a White House official told CNN. Phillip Washington’s nomination was first announced by the White House last year,

By Tara Subramaniam and Daniel Dale, CNN Former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Saturday with a rally speech in Waco, Texas, that was littered with false claims — many of which he has made before. Trump also delivered unsubstantiated attacks on the integrity of the criminal investigations into

By Alayna Treene, CNN The chairmen of three House committees sent a letter Saturday to the Manhattan district attorney leading the probe into Donald Trump, doubling down on their efforts to intervene in the hush money investigation ahead of possible criminal charges against the former president. The letter from the chairmen of the House Judiciary,

By Nikki Carvajal, Priscilla Alvarez and Alayna Treene, CNN President Joe Biden on Saturday notified Congress of his decision to authorize an airstrike in Syria this week against what the US said were Iranian-affiliated facilities. The US airstrike came after a suspected Iranian drone struck a facility housing US personnel in the country, killing an

By Alayna Treene and Morgan Rimmer, CNN Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday that he has been released from an inpatient physical therapy facility after he fell earlier this month and was treated for a concussion and rib fracture. “I want to sincerely thank everyone for all the kind wishes. I’m happy to say

By Sydney Kashiwagi, CNN Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a bill this week that prohibits transgender students in the state from using public school bathrooms that do not align with their gender assigned at birth. Senate Bill 1100, which takes effect July 1, requires public schools to provide separate male and female bathrooms, locker

By Eric Bradner and Kate Sullivan, CNN Former President Donald Trump baselessly railed against what he called “prosecutorial misconduct” at a campaign rally Saturday night in Texas, denying any wrongdoing amid investigations in New York, Georgia and Washington. Without evidence, Trump repeatedly described the probes as politically motivated efforts to hamper his 2024 presidential bid

By Gregory Krieg, CNN As former President Donald Trump heads to Texas on Saturday for his first major campaign rally, the handbrake remains on for most of his potential 2024 rivals. Trump will appear in Waco just a week after he predicted his own arrest in connection with a hush money case from 2016. In

By Jasmine Wright, CNN When Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two in Ghana on Sunday, she’ll become the first Black woman US vice president to visit Africa, marking another chapter in her barrier-breaking role. As the vice president sets out on her first trip to the continent since her childhood, the weight of this

By Kaanita Iyer and Paradise Afshar, CNN Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday vetoed a Republican-led bill that would prohibit transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care, such as surgical procedures or the use of certain hormones, bucking a growing trend of states restricting access to the treatments. Republican state lawmakers passed the bill last

By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN Over the past year, Texas woman Jen Loh has been in touch with several Proud Boys now on trial for seditious conspiracy, talking with the members of the far-right group and their defense counsel about the case and suggesting possible witnesses and attorneys who could help. All the

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN The FBI has arrested the alleged founder of a popular cybercriminal forum that touted data stolen in a hack affecting members of Congress and thousands of other people and taken the website down, the Justice Department said Friday. The website — known as BreachForums — trafficked in the stolen data of

By Jasmine Wright, CNN Stephanie Young, a veteran Democratic aide, has been tapped to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ new senior adviser to focus on messaging and outreach. Young’s role is a new position for the vice president’s office, meant to take a birds-eye approach to manage Harris’ overall communications platform and political engagement but

By Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Prosecutors in Brazil have agreed to a deal with Rep. George Santos in a case in which he is accused of defrauding a Rio de Janeiro area clerk of $1,300 over clothes and shoes in 2008, documents obtained by CNN show. A petition from Santos’ attorney requesting a deal says

By Katelyn Polantz, Sara Murray and Kaitlan Collins, CNN Evan Corcoran, Donald Trump’s primary defense attorney, appeared Friday before a federal grand jury in Washington, where he was expected to answer questions in the classified documents probe that the former president unsuccessfully fought to hold back. His appearance before the grand jury has the potential

By Jeremy Diamond, CNN As he gears up for a likely reelection campaign, President Joe Biden on Tuesday will kick off a three-week tour to highlight the impact of his signature legislative accomplishments as the impacts of those laws begin to be felt around the country, according to a White House official. The “Invest in

By Sara Murray, CNN Timothy Parlatore, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, said Thursday that he testified before a grand jury investigating classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago for several hours in December 2022 about additional searches for classified documents at Trump properties. “I chose to go in there because I felt that it was

By Michael Callahan, Oren Liebermann, Natasha Bertrand and Haley Britzky, CNN President Joe Biden emphasized Friday afternoon that the US will “forcefully protect our people,” a day after approving retaliatory airstrikes in response to a drone attack by an Iranian-backed group in Syria that left one American dead and more injured. But it seemed the

By Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, CNN Former President Donald Trump’s defense attorney repeatedly speculated as a legal pundit that Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels likely happened and that the $130,000 payment made to Daniels days before the 2016 election could be seen as an in-kind campaign contribution, contradicting his recent legal and public

By Jeremy Herb, Kara Scannell and Paula Reid, CNN The Manhattan grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump is not concluding this week, with questions swirling over how close the grand jury is to bringing an indictment — or if it actually will at all. While there’s been radio silence from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin

By Tami Luhby, CNN North Carolina is set to become the 40th state to expand Medicaid to low-income adults after the GOP-led state legislature dropped its long-standing opposition to the Obamacare provision. The expansion bill, which also includes benefits to the state’s hospitals, received final legislative approval on Thursday. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who

By Maxime Tamsett, Pamela Kirkland and Jack Forrest, CNN Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill Thursday to ban certain gender-affirming care for minors, joining a growing number of GOP-led states looking to restrict the treatments across the country. Senate Bill 140 will bar licensed medical professionals in Georgia from providing patients under the

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN Republican Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul gave Secretary of State Antony Blinken a deadline of Monday afternoon to turn over a key document related to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan or face a subpoena for the file. The demand for the dissent cable sent by US diplomats

By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN A 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman who barged into then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison after a federal judge ridiculed the idea she was “a little girl.” Riley Williams was convicted in November of several

By Clare Foran and Kristin Wilson, CNN The House of Representatives on Thursday failed to override President Joe Biden’s veto of a measure to overturn a controversial investment rule in a victory for the White House. Biden issued the first veto of his presidency Monday on a resolution to overturn a retirement investment rule that

By Sam Fossum and Phil Mattingly, CNN President Joe Biden will make a long-awaited trip to America’s northern neighbor Thursday evening, a 24-hour whirlwind visit where he will press to elevate a concerted effort to repair a bilateral relationship as the two nations confront growing geopolitical challenges. Despite the brief nature of the trip, White

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst Within days of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memorial service in late September 2020, boxes of her files and other office possessions were moved down to a dark, windowless theater on the Supreme Court‘s ground floor, where – before the ongoing pandemic – tourists could watch a film about court operations. Grieving aides to

By Andy Rose and Jack Forrest, CNN Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law Wednesday a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, joining a growing cadre of red states looking to restrict access to the treatments for trans youth in America. SF 538 bans health care professionals from giving medical treatment “for the purpose

By Jeremy Diamond, CNN The White House will disband its coronavirus response team after the Covid-19 public health emergency ends in May, a current and former official said. The team, led most recently by Dr. Ashish Jha, has begun to dwindle in recent months as the administration has started to shift its response to the

By Manu Raju and Lauren Fox, CNN An upbeat Kevin McCarthy left the White House seven weeks ago with a rosy view about the prospects of raising the national debt limit. “We walked away saying we would continue the discussion,” the House speaker said after an hourlong meeting with President Joe Biden. The discussion, in

By Steve Contorno, CNN The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis this month quietly proposed extending Florida’s controversial prohibition on classroom instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity to all grades. The Florida Department of Education approved the proposed rule on March 9 and it was published in the Florida Administrative Register for review on

By Kylie Atwood, CNN The US State Department will no longer issue assignment restrictions as a condition of granting security clearance, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced to the department’s workforce on Wednesday in a memo obtained by CNN. The change comes after an intensive review of the practice, which was perceived as discriminatory by

By Katie Lobosco, CNN Riding the so-called “parental rights” movement, more Republican-led states are changing the way they fund K-12 education, making it easier for families to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private schools. All families in Iowa, Utah, Arkansas and Florida — regardless of their income — will soon be eligible

By Maegan Vazquez, CNN President Joe Biden‘s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration is in jeopardy after a Democratic-led Senate committee abruptly delayed a crucial vote Wednesday on his nomination amid opposition from Republicans and uncertainty over Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s position. Phillip Washington’s nomination was first announced by Biden eight months ago and has

By Tami Luhby, CNN At some point later this year, the US will not be able to pay all of its obligations on time and in full unless Congress acts to address the debt ceiling. While talks between House Republicans and the White House remain stalled, some GOP lawmakers are looking at prioritizing certain payments

By MJ Lee and Phil Mattingly, CNN All eyes are trained on the Federal Reserve as it prepares to announce another potential interest rate hike Wednesday afternoon — exactly 10 days after the Biden administration stepped in with dramatic emergency actions to contain the fallout from two bank failures. Biden White House officials will be