National Politics

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration on Friday formally designated Iran as a state sponsor of wrongful detention, the latest move to ratchet up pressure and penalize Iran for its history of imprisoning US citizens. It is the first such designation under an executive order signed last September meant to deter countries

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — Authorities say they now know who kidnapped and strangled 7-year-old Morgan Violi nearly 30 years ago. Prosecutors say Robert Scott Froberg admitted to taking the girl in July 1996 during a prison escape. They say he snatched her near a Bowling Green, Kentucky, apartment building, drove her in a

By Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris recorded a robocall encouraging voters to support Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary for Senate in Texas, a source familiar with the matter said. “This is Kamala Harris, and I’m calling to encourage you to please go vote for my friend Jasmine Crockett

By Haley Britzky, Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — When President Donald Trump visited Fort Bragg, North Carolina, earlier this month, the commander of the elite Army Delta Force responsible for carrying out the operation to seize Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro made clear there was one man in particular who deserved the highest military honor: Chief

By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — Members of Congress are raising questions after a photograph they say shows Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick alongside Jeffrey Epstein on the late sex offender’s private island was briefly removed from the Justice Department’s website. The image had been hosted in the department’s online repository of Epstein-related files uploaded in

By Jennifer Hansler, Natasha Bertrand, Kylie Atwood, Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — In his first comments about Saturday’s US military strikes against Iran, President Donald Trump claimed in a video posted to social media that Iran has been building missiles that “could soon reach the American homeland.” It’s an argument he also made in his

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Transportation Security Administration workers will receive only a portion of their next paycheck, which they are set to receive as soon as Friday, according to a union official. The reduced pay comes as the partial government shutdown ends its second week with no resolution in sight. The impasse could

By Kevin Liptak, CNN CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (CNN) — When President Donald Trump arrived at the deepwater port here Friday to talk about his energy agenda, the three Republicans locked in a bitter battle for Texas’ Senate seat might have hoped for a surprise: an endorsement. It never came. Trump, who has declined to back

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN (CNN) — The line Joe Biden used to put into nearly every big speech — “I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future” — is a long way from what he says in private now. These days, multiple people who’ve spoken to him over the last year say, Biden often punctuates

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst (CNN) — The extraordinary number of dueling opinions in the Supreme Court’s tariff case, laying bare divisions among the justices, also became the basis for a punch line. At the courtroom lectern this week in a dispute between an energy-pipeline company and the state of Michigan, lawyer John

By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — As GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Ted Cruz prepared to board the same flight from Houston to Washington in recent months, the two famously brash Republicans had a tense exchange that now looms large over Crenshaw’s battle for political survival. Crenshaw accused Cruz of

CNN By Alexandra Banner, CNN Nearly 8,000 images from around the world were submitted for the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026 competition. In the end, an Australian photographer claimed the top prize for capturing a tender moment of elephant seal pups nuzzling in a rockpool. Here’s what else you need to know to get

By Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton deployed his daughter to vouch for him Thursday after a scathing attack ad released by Sen. John Cornyn in their increasingly contentious Republican Senate primary race. Paxton’s campaign released a video from his daughter Mattie Hayworth in which she says: “My dad is a

By Morgan Rimmer, Lauren Fox, Ted Barrett, Ellis Kim, CNN (CNN) — Despite President Donald Trump demanding that Majority Leader John Thune find some way to pass a voter ID bill in the Senate, Republicans in the chamber maintain they do not have the support to change Senate rules to bypass the filibuster. The predicament

By Gabe Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is releasing more than $5 billion in long-delayed disaster aid to states – but not to several Democratic-led states where President Donald Trump has clashed with governors, according to four sources familiar with the plan. States rely on these funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency

By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge on Thursday rejected the nation’s top historic preservation group’s attempt to block to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, but also suggested a possible roadmap for the group to revive the challenge. The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration in December over