Politics

By Lauren Fox, CNN In the spring of 2019, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota was busy putting the finishing touches on a bill that sought to expand mental health care access for kids in schools. But she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being less than honest about just how personal the issue of

By Oren Liebermann, Natasha Bertrand and Jim Sciutto, CNN US European Command released footage of the Tuesday encounter between a US surveillance drone and the Russian fighter jets as it played out over the Black Sea. The newly declassified video depicts critical moments in the mid-air encounter, which the Pentagon said lasted between 30 and

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst When the Supreme Court reversed federal abortion rights last June, Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion stressed that “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh went further, separately emphasizing that the controversy would now

By Steve Contorno, CNN A super PAC closely aligned with former President Donald Trump is demanding Florida ethics investigators probe whether Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ recent political activity is violating state law. In a 15-page letter to the Florida Commission on Ethics, Make America Great Again Inc. accuses DeSantis of operating a “shadow presidential campaign” and

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN An Ohio man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for pretending to be a Ghanaian prince and swindling more than a dozen victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Daryl Robert Harrison, who went by Prince Daryl R. Attipoe and Prophet Daryl R. Attipoe, conned at least 14

By Fredreka Schouten and Mark Morales, CNN Federal and state investigators are probing Republican Rep. George Santos‘ role in the sale of a $19 million yacht involving two of his wealthy donors, according to a law enforcement official. The law enforcement interest in the sale, first reported by The New York Times, underscores the far

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz on Wednesday said the US does not have “operational control” of the southern border, contradicting a stance previously taken by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Mayorkas has previously maintained in testimony before lawmakers that the department has operational control of the border, though

By Nicki Brown, CNN Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney to ex-President Donald Trump, testified Wednesday afternoon in front of a New York grand jury as part of an investigation into hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. “This isn’t a question of vindication. It’s not a question, as I stated before,

By Ella Nilsen, CNN The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday it had finalized its so-called good-neighbor rule, which aims to cut down on harmful smog and nitrogen oxide pollution from coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities. The agency will require 23 states that are currently not meeting the requirements to adhere to the rule, which

By Shawna Mizelle, CNN An interstate investigation is underway for a one-time chief of staff to former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan after he failed to appear in court on Monday, the US Marshals Service said. Roy C. McGrath, 53, who served as the top aide to Hogan, a Republican, for a few months during the

By Haley Britzky, Natasha Bertrand, Oren Liebermann and Kylie Atwood, CNN Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed on Wednesday that US aircraft will continue to “fly and to operate wherever international law allows,” one day after Russian aircraft hit a US drone over the Black Sea, forcing it to be brought down in international waters. “This

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN Russian military-linked hackers targeted — and in some cases successfully infiltrated — the networks of European military, energy and transportation organizations in an apparent spying campaign that went undetected for months as the war in Ukraine raged, Microsoft told its customers in a report obtained by CNN. The report demonstrates how,

By Ella Nilsen, CNN Environmental and indigenous groups have filed two separate lawsuits challenging the Willow Project on Alaska’s North Slope after the Biden administration approved the oil drilling venture on Monday. ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project is slated to drill oil in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government. The area where

By Fredreka Schouten and Kristen Holmes, CNN After years of claiming mail-in voting is rife with fraud, some Republicans — including former President Donald Trump — are working to reverse course ahead of next year’s consequential presidential and congressional elections. Trump, now waging his third White House bid, told attendees at the Conservative Political Action

By Tierney Sneed, CNN A federal judge in Texas will consider at a high-stakes hearing on Wednesday whether he should block the US government’s approval of the drug used for medication abortions. The case, brought by anti-abortion doctors and medical associations, is arguably the most significant legal dispute concerning abortion since the Supreme Court ended

By Devan Cole, CNN The federal judge overseeing a high-profile challenge to the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of certain drugs used to terminate a pregnancy is a deeply conservative jurist with a proclivity for siding with plaintiffs looking to roll back reproductive and LGBTQ rights or block key Biden administration policies. US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk,

By Jack Forrest, CNN Several key Republican senators on Tuesday pushed back against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent comments that US support for Ukraine is not a “vital” national interest, exposing a key intraparty fault line ahead of the 2024 election. “To say this doesn’t matter is to say that war crimes don’t matter,” South

By Oren Liebermann, Jennifer Hansler, Haley Britzky and Natasha Bertrand, CNN A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to the US military. The Reaper drone and two Russian Su-27 aircraft were flying over international

By Betsy Klein, CNN President Joe Biden will host Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at the White House Friday, resuming a longstanding St. Patrick’s Day tradition, the White House announced Tuesday. Biden and Varadkar will participate in a bilateral meeting and a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, and Varadkar and his partner Matthew Barrett will also attend

By Oren Liebermann, CNN A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to the US military. The Reaper drone and two Russian Su-27 aircraft were flying over international waters over the Black Sea on Tuesday

By Fredreka Schouten and Manu Raju, CNN Scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos filed paperwork Tuesday with federal regulators formally declaring his 2024 candidacy. The formal declaration does not mean that the embattled congressman has to pursue reelection. The Long Island Republican’s action follows a demand last month from the Federal Election Commission that he declare his

By Jennifer Agiesta and Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN Republicans hold a dour outlook on the country and prioritize finding a 2024 nominee who shares their views on major issues over one with a strong chance to defeat President Joe Biden, according to a new CNN poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents conducted by SSRS. The survey

By Maegan Vazquez, CNN The White House on Tuesday is highlighting new efforts to lower Americans’ everyday costs, just as the latest Consumer Price Index — a key marker for inflation — showed signs that the temperature is dropping. The new steps, the result of funding through legislative efforts signed into law by President Joe

By Mary Kay Mallonee, CNN Former US Rep. Patricia Schroeder of Colorado, a longtime Democratic congresswoman who championed women’s rights, has died. She was 82. Schroeder died Monday night in a hospital in Celebration, Florida, surrounded by her family, her daughter, Jamie Cornish, confirmed to CNN. The cause was complications from a stroke, Cornish said.

By Donald Judd, CNN Former President Jimmy Carter, who remains in hospice care, has asked Joe Biden to deliver his eulogy following his death, the president said Monday. “He asked me to do his eulogy — excuse me, I shouldn’t say that,” Biden told supporters during remarks at a fundraiser in Rancho Santa Fe, California,

By Jack Forrest, CNN A former Eric Garcetti aide, who has accused the former Los Angeles mayor of ignoring allegations of sexual harassment during his time in office, said Monday that he is “unfit” to become US ambassador to India amid his embattled nomination. “He is unfit to become an ambassador or really to hold

By Jasmine Wright, CNN Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Africa later this month, her office announced Monday, becoming the most senior Biden administration official to visit the continent. Her trip comes as the administration seeks to bolster its relationships with African countries, as competitors like Russia and China have made inroads in the

By Zachary Cohen, Alayna Treene, Sara Murray and Annie Grayer, CNN House Oversight Chairman James Comer has quietly subpoenaed Bank of America asking for records relating to three of Hunter Biden’s business associates, the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, disclosed in a letter sent to Comer on Sunday. The subpoena was broad and called

By Kate Sullivan and Kristen Holmes, CNN Former President Donald Trump will travel to Iowa on Monday for the first time since announcing his third White House bid as Manhattan prosecutors near a decision on whether to charge him over his alleged role in a hush money scheme and cover-up. His visit to the crucial

By Samantha Beech, CNN New York City prosecutors probing former President Donald Trump’s alleged role in a hush money scheme and cover-up are focused “on the evidence and the law,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said this weekend. Speaking on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” Bragg did not go into detail about what he called the “active investigation”

By Andrew Millman, CNN Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said Sunday he is “running distinctively on my vision for this country” and not his biography or business credentials when asked why he believes he can win the party’s nomination as a political outsider and relatively unknown figure to most Americans. “We’re in the

By Jennifer Hansler, Adam Pourahmadi and Allegra Goodwin, CNN Biden administration officials on Sunday sharply denied Iranian claims that a prisoner swap deal had been reached. “Statements from Iranian officials that a deal regarding the exchange of prisoners has been reached are another especially cruel lie that only adds to the suffering of their families,”

By Alayna Treene, CNN As Donald Trump‘s onetime campaign manager and a New Hampshire resident, Corey Lewandowski has been by the former president’s side for many of his trips to the Granite State. But when Trump traveled to the state in late January, Lewandowski declined an invitation to appear at the event, a source with

By Jasmine Wright and Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN Elizabeth Warren has called twice to apologize. Over a month later, Kamala Harris hasn’t called back. In a local Boston radio interview in late January, Warren was enthusiastic about President Joe Biden running for reelection but, asked if Biden should keep Harris as his running mate, she said,

By Kaitlan Collins and Aaron Pellish, CNN Former Vice President Mike Pence made his most blistering comments yet about former President Donald Trump’s role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol during remarks Saturday evening at the annual Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, DC. Pence began his remarks at the dinner, which traditionally

By Eddie Sun, CNN Arizona’s top education official launched a hotline this week for state residents to report K-12 class curriculum and lessons that they deem “inappropriate,” the Arizona Department of Education said in a press release. Championed by state Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Horne, the “Empower Hotline” allows residents to voice their concerns

By Jamie Gangel, Gregory Krieg and Elizabeth Stuart, CNN Carlton Huffman, the Republican strategist who has accused conservative leader Matt Schlapp of sexual assault is now being accused of sexual assault by two women, according to court documents filed in Raleigh, North Carolina. The two women, aged 19 and 22, allege that Huffman, 39, performed