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Trump is using the power of government to punish opponents. They’re struggling to respond

By Jeremy Herb, Fredreka Schouten, Annie Grayer and Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump is using the power of the federal government to intimidate or neuter potential sources of opposition to him: The legal establishment, academia and prominent cultural institutions, the media, the judiciary, the Democratic Party, Congress and independent government oversight. The

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Musk flexes influence as Wisconsin Supreme Court race smashes spending records

By David Wright and Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN (CNN) — Campaign spending has smashed records in Wisconsin’s high-stakes Supreme Court race, as megadonors from both parties are directing millions to the closely watched election that’s set to decide ideological control of the battleground state’s high court. And tech billionaire Elon Musk is flexing his growing

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Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in one of the most significant rulings yet against its efforts to dramatically shrink the federal government. The new preliminary injunction “maintains the agency’s existence until this case has been resolved on

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Trump targets ‘improper ideology’ at the Smithsonian in latest effort to reshape the arts and history

By Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump is extending his efforts to influence American cultural and artistic institutions to the Smithsonian Institution – a sprawling organization that encompasses the National Zoo and a collection of museums that anchor tourism in the nation’s capital. In an executive order signed Thursday night, Trump put Vice

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McConnell warns of ‘embarrassing naivete’ in Trump admin’s dealings with Putin while sharply criticizing Ukraine policy

By Morgan Rimmer and Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — Former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell sharply criticized the Trump administration’s Ukraine policy and pivot toward isolationism Thursday night, accusing President Donald Trump’s advisers of showing “their embarrassing naivete” in dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. McConnell, a staunch supporter of Ukraine who delivered remarks while

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Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn Boasberg’s ruling blocking him from using the Alien Enemies Act for deportations

By John Fritze and Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to wade into the fraught legal battle over enforcing the Alien Enemies Act, the wartime authority he used to rapidly deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang. The emergency appeal, which asks the justices to overturn

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Officials say texts sent by Waltz, Ratcliffe in Signal chat may have damaged US’ ongoing ability to gather intel on Houthis

By Katie Bo Lillis and Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — Current and former US officials have told CNN they believe two texts sent by national security adviser Mike Waltz and CIA Director John Ratcliffe in the now-infamous group chat involving senior US officials discussing battle plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, may have done

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Military spouse federal employees were told to return to office, until CNN asked the Trump administration

By Hadas Gold and Brianna Keilar, CNN (CNN) — Some military spouses who work in the federal government were notified by their respective agencies this week their remote work exceptions were being rescinded, despite them being granted just days or weeks earlier, several military spouses told CNN. The guidance from the Office of Personnel Management,

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Trump signs executive order ending collective bargaining rights for many federal workers

By Kaanita Iyer and Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump took his most consequential action against federal employee unions yet late Thursday, signing an executive order aimed at ending collective bargaining for government employees whose work include national security aspects. The expansive order applies to workers across many federal agencies, including the departments

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Trump targets another large DC law firm where Robert Mueller used to work with executive order

By Katelyn Polantz and Clay Voytek, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing agencies to suspend the security clearances and access to federal buildings of lawyers for the law firm Wilmer Hale, the former firm to one time-special counsel Robert Mueller. The order also directs agencies to “refrain from hiring

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JD Vance accuses Denmark of neglecting Greenland, makes highest-profile case for US control of the island

By Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak and Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — Vice President JD Vance on Friday made the highest-profile case to date for American control of Greenland during a controversial visit to the semiautonomous island, which its residents had resisted and its leaders said was unwelcome. “We want to have good relationships with everybody,”

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AP photographer testifies on White House’s ban: ‘We’re basically dead in the water on major news stories’

By Devan Cole and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A veteran AP photographer and top White House correspondent testified Thursday that the news organization has struggled to compete in its coverage of the Trump presidency since White House’s decision to limit its access to presidential events, the Oval Office and Air Force One. Evan Vucci,

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Trump admin has terminated majority of its funding for key Syrian humanitarian organization

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration has terminated a majority of its funding for a key Syrian civil and humanitarian organization, the White Helmets, according to internal documents and the organization. The funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for the White Helmets’ firefighting, search and rescue, and community resilience

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Alleged top MS-13 member arrested in Virginia was ‘leader for the East Coast,’ AG Bondi says

By Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — Federal law enforcement officers captured an alleged “major leader” of the MS-13 gang Thursday morning, President Donald Trump said on social media. “Just captured a major leader of MS13,” he wrote. The alleged 24-year-old gang member, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday in Prince

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‘Something stinks’: Elon Musk, congressional Republicans target Democrats’ main fundraising machine

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — ActBlue, a fundraising juggernaut for liberal candidates and causes, is facing stepped-up scrutiny and criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill and allies of President Donald Trump – as the GOP flexes its new power in Washington and targets one of the key pillars of the Democratic Party’s financial infrastructure.

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Judge rips DOJ for attempting to remove her from case challenging Trump’s executive order on law firm

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge sharply rejected a Trump administration request that she recuse herself from a case challenging an executive order targeting Democratic-tied law firm Perkins Coie, accusing the Justice Department of attacking the messenger because it could not attack the message. “When the U.S. Department of Justice engages in

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Supreme Court may uphold programs aimed at bringing internet to rural, poor neighborhoods

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court appeared sympathetic Wednesday to a series of programs geared toward expanding high-speed internet in rural and poor communities, despite a challenge from a conservative group claiming funding for that effort violates separation of powers principles. After nearly three hours of argument, several of the court’s conservatives

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Sources say the details shared by Hegseth in Signal chat were classified as Atlantic publishes additional messages

CNN By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Betsy Klein and Shania Shelton, CNN Washington (CNN) — The information Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed in the Signal chat of top Trump national security officials was highly classified at the time he wrote it, especially because the operation had not even started yet, according to a US defense

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‘We’re not preparing’: As Trump officials vow to eliminate FEMA, the agency is already in turmoil

By Gabe Cohen, CNN (CNN) — As Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vows to “eliminate FEMA,” the agency is in turmoil, with disaster assistance, grant money, and hiring largely stalled, threatening its ability to respond to major disasters, multiple FEMA officials tell CNN. Top officials from FEMA and Department of Homeland Security met Tuesday, CNN

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Sources say the details shared by Hegseth in Signal chat were classified as Atlantic publishes additional messages

By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Betsy Klein and Shania Shelton, CNN Washington (CNN) — The information Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed in the Signal chat of top Trump national security officials was highly classified at the time he wrote it, especially because the operation had not even started yet, according to a US defense official

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DOJ considers abandoning the defense of federal restrictions on gun silencers

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — The Justice Department is evaluating whether to defend the federal government’s restrictions on gun silencers that have been in place since the 1930s as part of President Donald Trump’s order to reconsider positions that could limit gun rights. Silencers, also called suppressors, are tube-shaped devices that, when screwed into

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‘Nobody is above the law’: Trump officials who criticized Clinton’s emails now under scrutiny for leaked war plans

CNN By Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — Several top Trump administration officials are facing scrutiny for sending detailed operational plans and other likely highly classified information about US military strikes on Yemen to a group chat on a messaging app that inadvertently included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg. The mistake

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Trump executive order boosts proof of citizenship requirements for voting in federal elections

By Tierney Sneed and Ethan Cohen, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday seeking to boost proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, which critics say could disenfranchise poor and older voters who don’t have easy access to citizenship documents like passports or birth certificates. Republican state lawmakers have long sought

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Trump executive order boosts proof of citizenship requirements for voting in federal elections

CNN, POOL, FOX, MSNBC By Tierney Sneed and Ethan Cohen, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday seeking to boost proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, which critics say could disenfranchise poor and older voters who don’t have easy access to citizenship documents like passports or birth certificates. Republican state

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Trump’s pick to lead Social Security promises quick customer service fixes amid agency meltdown

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the troubled Social Security Administration told senators Tuesday that he would swiftly improve the agency’s customer service and slash its payment error rate, all while protecting Americans’ personal information. The bold promises, including a pledge to dramatically cut telephone answer wait times, come

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Trump administration highlights drug cartels as major national security threat but omits climate change

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — The US intelligence community’s annual threat assessment led with the threat from drug cartels for apparently the first time in the report’s nearly 20-year history, according to Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton and a CNN review of previous assessments, highlighting a top agenda item for President Donald Trump. The

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Top intel officials shift responsibility on to Hegseth for sending potentially classified info to Yemen strike group chat

By Zachary Cohen and Katie Bo Lillis, CNN (CNN) — Several of President Donald Trump’s top national security officials, at times with assistance from a top Senate Republican, shifted responsibility to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for sending potentially classified information that appeared in a group chat about US military strikes in Yemen that a

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‘Nobody is above the law’: Trump officials who criticized Clinton’s emails now under scrutiny for leaked war plans

By Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — Several top Trump administration officials are facing scrutiny for sending detailed operational plans and other likely highly classified information about US military strikes on Yemen to a group chat on a messaging app that inadvertently included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg. The mistake amounts

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Trump administration invoking state secrets privilege over deportation flight information sought by federal judge

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — Top Justice Department officials told a federal judge on Monday that the Trump administration is invoking the state secrets privilege to avoid giving him information about deportation flights from earlier this month that are at the center of a legal dispute over whether the government flouted his judicial commands.

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US Postal Service head DeJoy resigns

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — Louis DeJoy resigned from his role as head of the US Postal Service on Monday, leaving the independent government agency at a time when it faces calls for privatization and scrutiny from the Trump administration. In a statement released by USPS, DeJoy said while the 250-year old-service had

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Trump’s national security adviser added a journalist to text chat on highly sensitive Yemen strike plans

By Katie Bo Lillis, Kaitlan Collins, Jeff Zeleny, Evan Perez, Oren Liebermann, Jamie Gangel, Kit Maher and Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — US officials reacted with shock— and in many cases, horror — to revelations in The Atlantic that top members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet sent detailed operational plans and other likely highly classified

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Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block ruling reinstating thousands of fired probationary federal employees

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to put on hold a federal judge’s ruling reinstating thousands of probationary federal employees who were fired as part of the government’s efforts to quickly downsize its workforce. The emergency appeal is the administration’s latest attempt to get the nation’s

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‘This is not your grandmother’s Easter Egg Roll’: White House seeks corporate sponsorships for Easter event

CNN By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — The White House, through an outside event production company called Harbinger, is soliciting corporate sponsors for this year’s Easter Egg Roll, which is prompting major concerns from ethics experts and shock from former White House officials from both parties. The sponsorship offers range from $75,000 to $200,000, with

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‘This is not your grandmother’s Easter Egg Roll’: White House seeks corporate sponsorships for Easter event

By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — The White House, through an outside event production company called Harbinger, is soliciting corporate sponsors for this year’s Easter Egg Roll, which is prompting major concerns from ethics experts and shock from former White House officials from both parties. The sponsorship offers range from $75,000 to $200,000, with the

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Trump wants a ‘Golden Dome’ capable of defending the entire US: ‘Strategically, it doesn’t make any sense’

By Zachary Cohen and Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — US military officials are scrambling to develop a “Golden Dome” defense system that can protect the country from long-range missile strikes and have been told by the White House that no expense will be spared in order to fulfill one of President Donald Trump’s top Pentagon

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