National Politics

By Aaron Blake, CNN (CNN) — By now in American politics, we’ve become accustomed to high-profile figures pleading the Fifth to avoid answering questions they believe could be used to incriminate them. That includes President Donald Trump doing it more than 400 times in a civil case in 2022. But when it comes to Dr.

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — Federal officials, apparently acting without a warrant, tracked former FBI Director James Comey from North Carolina to Virginia after he posted photos of seashells spelling out “86 47” last year, Comey’s attorneys allege. Newly released federal court filings also outline how President Donald Trump was following the investigation into

By Ellis Kim, Manu Raju, Hannah Rabinowitz, Alison Main, Morgan Rimmer, CNN (CNN) — Senate GOP leaders were forced to postpone a vote to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s attorney general late Wednesday, with a key GOP senator refusing to yield in a weeks-long battle with the administration over its controversial

By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN (CNN) — Preservationists are seeking to stop patches of an iconic Washington building from being painted as soon as on Thursday, warning that the move – billed as a test for President Donald Trump’s larger plan to turn the whole structure white – will cause irreparable damage to the landmark. In

By Adam Cancryn, Sarah Owermohle, CNN (CNN) — Dr. Anthony Fauci spent decades nurturing his reputation as the government’s most recognizable, most accessible and often most voluble authority on the nation’s public health crises. But on Wednesday, under intense scrutiny and the ever-present threat of prosecution, Fauci spent a congressional hearing that spanned well over

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN (CNN) — A record-high 73% of US adults say that President Donald Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds, with just 27% saying he’s had the right priorities. That comes amid increasingly bleak views of the Iran war, stagnating

By Davis Winkie, Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The US military’s weapons stockpiles, including its inventory of crucial air defense missiles, remain severely depleted following a major flare up of the war with Iran in recent weeks, according to three sources familiar with recent Pentagon data and a new report by outside analysts. A substantive

By Rhyannon Bartlett-Imadegawa, Jennifer Agiesta, CNN (CNN) — As funeral honors continue for the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died earlier this month at the age of 71, the national conversation around aging political figures has only intensified. Sen. Mitch McConnell, 84, has been sidelined from Hill votes since a June fall landed him

By Katie Bo Lillis, Kristen Holmes, Ellis Kim, Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US intelligence community who was confirmed in a 51-47 vote on Tuesday night, steps into his new job inheriting a diminished office whose authority and relevance are at a historic low point. The

By Kara Scannell, John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to once again step into his messy legal brawl with magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, appealing an $83.3 million jury verdict for defamation on the grounds that, as president, he is immune from the litigation. The appeal, which

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — A former staffer who had an affair with Gavin Newsom over 20 years ago offered extensive details in an essay published Tuesday by Vanity Fair, taking issue with how the California governor has more recently characterized what happened. Newsom, then the mayor of San Francisco, admitted in 2007 that

By Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju, Alison Main, CNN (CNN) — The fate of Todd Blanche’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s attorney general is up in the air, with a key GOP senator indicating Tuesday he has not yet received the assurances he needs to vote in support. Sen. John Cornyn said around midday Tuesday

By Arit John, CNN (CNN) — A growing number of Democrats are calling for Ken Martin to step down as head of the Democratic National Committee, arguing that the party’s debt and the bungled release of the party’s 2024 election autopsy make him unfit to lead the committee ahead of a crucial midterm. But within

By Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — Even before the US enacted a national shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci pondered whether he might have testified before Congress more than any other official. As the longtime face of the government’s infectious disease response, he was on Capitol Hill roughly 250 times

By Lauren Fox, Morgan Rimmer, Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — Sen. Richard Blumenthal was stunned. It was February 28, 2025, and he was watching on live television as a crucial bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky descended into chaos. Blumenthal knew he needed to call the

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — The stark choice facing Michigan’s Democratic voters in the August 4 Senate primary was on display Monday night, as the two candidates closed their final debate by pitching themselves as best positioned to win a general election that could tip the balance of power in the chamber. Rep. Haley

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN (CNN) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has a message for Sen. Mitch McConnell: Either the state’s senior senator should explain his long absence from the Senate and give details about his health, or resign. Beshear sent a new, blunt letter on Monday to McConnell, the former Senate majority leader who hasn’t

By Holmes Lybrand, Annie Grayer, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Logan Schiciano, CNN (CNN) — Audio clips released by the right-wing Oversight Project on Monday of former-President Joe Biden’s conversations with his biographer, Mark Lewis Zwonitzer, appears to support what former Special Counsel Robert Hur found in his 2024 report: Biden disclosed classified material, was forgetful and

By Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — For three consecutive presidential campaigns, President Donald Trump regularly told the same lie when he spoke in the swing state of Michigan. Before he even entered politics, he claimed, he was named “Man of the Year” in the state. The problem: CNN and other media outlets repeatedly noted that