National Politics

By Ella Nilsen and René Marsh, CNN For the first time ever, US scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain, a source familiar with the project confirmed to CNN. The US Department of Energy is expected

By Clare Foran, Ted Barrett and MJ Lee, CNN The House and Senate are expected to pass a short-term extension to avert a government shutdown at the end of the week, which would give negotiators more time to try to secure a broader full-year funding deal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that

By Ella Nilsen, CNN The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office will announce Monday that it is issuing a $2.5 billion loan to help start three lithium battery manufacturing hubs in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. The DOE loan programs office will loan the money to Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture of General Motors

By Maeve Reston, CNN A few days before Karen Bass was sworn in on Sunday as the first female mayor of Los Angeles, term-limited Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti was making his farewell tour through South Los Angeles. He donned a hard hat to survey construction at a massive affordable housing site, checked in on formerly

Sam Fossum and Jack Forrest, CNN President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Sunday to discuss Russia’s invasion and recent US efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses. Zelensky thanked Biden for an additional $275 million in security assistance, which the Pentagon announced Friday, as well as for the wider and “unprecedented” US

By Oren Liebermann and Barbara Starr, CNN The US killed two ISIS officials in a helicopter raid early Sunday morning in eastern Syria, US Central Command said in a statement. The raid was a unilateral US operation with “extensive planning,” CENTCOM said, and the initial assessment was that no civilians were killed or injured. One

By Paul LeBlanc and Daniella Diaz, CNN Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Sunday that “political aspirations” drove Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s exit from the Democratic Party, as he vowed to take a “hard look” at supporting a potential Democratic challenge to her in Arizona. “She has her reasons. I happen to suspect that it’s probably

By Tami Luhby, CNN Buoyed by the steep drop in child poverty last year, a group of Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocates are pushing hard to restore at least part of the enhanced child tax credit that stabilized many families’ finances in 2021. Though its prospects are slim, the coalition’s priority is making the credit

By Shawna Mizelle, CNN Los Angeles city council member Kevin de León is facing renewed scrutiny after a video surfaced online Friday night of him engaged in a physical altercation with a community activist during a holiday event. A 35-second video of the incident posted to Twitter by two local community organizations and also obtained

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN The strong turnout in Georgia’s runoff election that cemented Democrats’ control of the US Senate is sparking fresh debate about the impact of the state’s controversial 2021 election law and could trigger a new round of election rule changes next year in the Republican-led state legislature. Voters showed up in droves

By Brian Rokus and Sonnet Swire, CNN Defeated Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has filed suit in Arizona Superior Court challenging the certification of the state’s election. Lake, who has also amplified former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, makes numerous claims in the 70-page suit, including that printer failures at some

By Sonnet Swire, CNN The congressman-elect set to become the first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress said Thursday his rental application for an apartment in Washington, DC, was denied because of his “really bad” credit. “Just applied to an apartment in DC where I told the guy that my credit was really

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the life of Mike Pompeo, former US secretary of state and director of the CIA. Personal Birth date: December 30, 1963 Birth place: Orange, California Birth name: Michael Richard Pompeo Father: Wayne Pompeo, machinist Mother: Dorothy (Mercer) Pompeo Marriages: Susan (Mostrous) Pompeo (date unavailable publicly-present); Leslie (Libert) Pompeo

By Natasha Bertrand, Kylie Atwood, Sean Lyngaas and Jennifer Hansler, CNN Russia refused to release Paul Whelan alongside Brittney Griner unless a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy organization currently in German custody was also released as part of any prisoner swap, US officials told CNN, even as the US offered up the names of