National Politics

By Ali Zaslav, Ted Barrett and Clare Foran, CNN Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told an audience in Kentucky on Monday that he expects the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections “to be very, very close either way” in the Senate and that he believes democracy in the United States is on solid ground. McConnell

By Tierney Sneed, Evan Perez, Jamie Gangel and Kristen Holmes, CNN The National Archives told former President Donald Trump‘s legal team in May that it was sharing hundreds of pages of classified material it had retrieved in January with the FBI and other entities in the intelligence community so that an assessment could be done

By Michael Warren, CNN Herschel Walker, the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia, criticized the spending provisions in the newly passed health care and climate law, including money allocated for an urban forestry program which he dismissed as unnecessary. “[A] lot of money it’s going to trees. Don’t we have enough trees around here?” Walker said

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN A group of nine bipartisan senators called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to immediately designate an American teacher sentenced to 14 years in Russian prison as “wrongfully detained,” a classification that would allow the US government to undertake active diplomatic efforts to secure his release. In a letter Tuesday, the

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN In Washington, Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler are two powerful committee chairs: Oversight and Judiciary. Back home in New York, they’re two politicians in their mid-70s trying to avoid much attention as they try not to be the one forced to leave Congress. That has led to relationships fully

By Gregory Krieg and Steve Contorno, CNN The tail-end of the August primary season arrives on Tuesday, with elections in New York, Florida and Oklahoma. New York’s long and messy redistricting process pushed its US House and state Senate primaries back nearly two months, setting up a contentious clash between incumbents, charges of voter-shopping against

By Kevin Liptak, CNN It’s a summer White House tradition: As soon as the president is wheels up for the beach or countryside, construction equipment begins rolling toward the building. Summertime renovations timed around a president’s vacation are a regular occurrence in the executive mansion. This year, long-sought upgrades to the basement Situation Room, repaving

By Cheri Mossburg, CNN California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed legislation that aimed to minimize overdose deaths by creating safe drug injection sites in some cities, citing concern over “unintended consequences.” Senate Bill 57 proposed a tri-city pilot program in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland that would legalize drug use in specific

By Fredreka Schouten Donald Trump’s political action committee donated $650,000 to the Smithsonian Institution last month to help underwrite portraits of the former President and former first lady Melania Trump at the National Portrait Gallery, according to Linda St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian. The donation from Trump’s Save America leadership PAC marks the

By MJ Lee and Phil Mattingly, CNN White House officials have been weighing — and leaning toward — the cancellation of up to $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower tied to an income threshold, with an official announcement set for Wednesday, CNN has learned. According to multiple sources familiar with the discussions, the plan

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN The US State Department spokesperson expressed some optimism about the prospects of salvaging the Iran nuclear deal, but stressed that divisions remain between the United States and Iran. “A deal is closer now than it was two weeks ago, but the outcome of these ongoing discussions still remains uncertain as gaps

By Geneva Sands, CNN The phones of several top Trump-era Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were deactivated when they left their positions and the data contained on them likely wiped, a court filing released late last week shows. The revelation came in a public records dispute between ICE and watchdog group American Oversight, which has

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN Court filings have shed further light on the dramatic moment when Proud Boy Joshua Pruitt nearly came face to face with the then-Senate minority leader during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Pruitt pleaded guilty in June to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding. He is