Politics

By Nicole Gaouette, CNN Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the director-general of the World Health Organization Wednesday and underscored US support for further WHO studies into the origins of Covid-19, including research in China, the State Department said. Blinken and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met in Kuwait almost a week after China announced

By Phil Mattingly, CNN White House officials have reached out to key union representatives over the last two days to lay the groundwork for President Joe Biden’s decision to require federal employees to get vaccinated, according to two people familiar with the discussions. It’s a move that represents both the speed with which the White

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter A church in Maine is asking the Supreme Court to block the state from enforcing or reinstating any Covid-related restrictions that the house of worship says would violate its religious liberty rights under the Constitution. The petition highlights the emerging Delta variant, and the church’s fear that

By Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby, CNN President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law Monday, finalizing a key part of his economic agenda. It will deliver $550 billion of new federal investments in America’s infrastructure over five years, touching everything from bridges and roads to the nation’s broadband, water and energy

By Melanie Zanona, CNN Rep. Andrew Clyde, the Georgia Republican who compared scenes from January 6 to a “tourist visit,” has found a way to evade the House’s mask and metal detector fines, according to one of his GOP colleagues. Rep. Thomas Massie, who is suing Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the chamber’s mask penalties, said

By Holmes Lybrand The question of whether rioters were armed on January 6 has been among the most debated issues surrounding the insurrection — with some Republicans claiming the assailants were not armed, despite court documents alleging otherwise. During Tuesday’s House select committee hearing on January 6, we got fresh details and first-hand accounts from

By Evan Perez, CNN Justice Correspondent Attorney General Merrick Garland’s effort to restore public trust in the Justice Department quietly may be turning into one progressive Democrats like, after months of handwringing among some critics on the left that he would block accountability for Trump-era abuses. In a court filing Tuesday, the Justice Department rejected

By Kate Bennett, CNN Jared Kushner — former senior adviser to, and son-in-law of, ex-President Donald Trump — intends to start a Miami-based investment firm called Affinity Partners, a person familiar with Kushner’s plans for the business told CNN. Kushner’s transition to finance means he will not be involved in politics in the foreseeable future,

By Zachary Cohen and Josh Campbell, CNN Still grappling with physical and mental trauma from the January 6 insurrection, several police officers who were on the front lines that day want more support from the nation’s largest police union and are calling on law enforcement groups to publicly denounce those who have lied about the

By Ryan Nobles, Ali Zaslav and Devan Cole, CNN Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced Wednesday that she does not support a $3.5 trillion dollar budget bill Democrats plan to pass along party lines, saying she doesn’t agree with its price tag, on the same day lawmakers hashed out an agreement on a $1

By Annie Grayer, Daniella Diaz and Melanie Zanona, CNN The drama over mask wearing on Capitol Hill is back and in full force. One day after Capitol Attending Physician Dr. Brian Monahan reinstated a mask mandate in the House of Representatives, many House Republicans purposefully defied the rules by appearing on the floor maskless. This

By Kevin Liptak, CNN Want to see President Joe Biden in person? Consider a move to Pennsylvania. That is where the President visited again Wednesday, his sixth visit to the commonwealth of his birth since taking office six months ago. He toured a Mack Trucks facility in the Lehigh Valley, met with local union members

By Marshall Cohen A Virginia police officer who was fired after storming the US Capitol was jailed Wednesday by a federal judge because he ordered a large stockpile of guns and ammunition after his January arrest, and posted online in support of future political violence. Thomas Robertson, a retired Army Reservist who later worked for

By Dan Merica, CNN Virginia’s Terry McAuliffe, in an effort to tie his gubernatorial opponent, Glenn Youngkin, to all things Donald Trump, is now linking the Republican nominee to the former President’s top focus: so-called election integrity. The McAuliffe ad, released Wednesday by the former governor and Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the commonwealth’s off-year election,

By Clare Foran, CNN The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee have reached a deal on a roughly $2 billion Capitol Hill security spending bill in response to the deadly January 6 insurrection. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the committee chair, and Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican member,

By Nicole Gaouette and Kylie Atwood, CNN US and Russian officials had “professional and substantive talks” on strategic stability in Switzerland, the State Department said in a statement Wednesday. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman led a delegation of US officials in a meeting with Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov, the first

By Maegan Vazquez, CNN President Joe Biden met with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Wednesday morning, as part of her larger campaign to ratchet up international pressure on the Lukashenko regime. “I was honored to meet with @Tsihanouskaya at the White House this morning. The United States stands with the people of Belarus in their