Politics

By Lauren Dezenski, CNN With Congress on recess, all eyes were on President Joe Biden in Washington this week. Biden defended the US troop departure from Afghanistan and sought to boost Covid-19 vaccination efforts at home and abroad. Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes negotiations continued over the bipartisan infrastructure package. Monday America’s partisan fireworks will be hard for

By Geneva Sands, CNN Homeland Security official John Cohen will take over leadership of the department’s intelligence branch, an office that is still trying to find its footing after a series of controversies during the Trump administration. In a letter to the DHS workforce, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Friday that Cohen will serve

By Jeff Zeleny and Rachel Janfaza, CNN President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul after he refused to submit his resignation as the President had requested, a White House official told CNN. Biden had asked for the top two officials at the Social Security Administration to submit their resignations, the White

By Hannah Rabinowitz and Marshall Cohen, CNN The Justice Department released new police body camera footage Friday showing one of the most disturbing assaults during the Capitol insurrection — where three officers waded into the crowd to save a pro-Trump rioter who was trampled, only to be stripped of their protective gear, dragged down a

By Kate Sullivan, CNN White House officials have begun laying out the contents of President Joe Biden’s sweeping plan to expand the social safety net for its allies inside and outside of Congress as they get ready to move on Capitol Hill without Republican support. A memo obtained by CNN shows top Biden officials sketching

By Natasha Bertrand The Biden administration scored a key diplomatic victory Friday after Russia agreed to keep a crucial border crossing open in Syria for another year, allowing the United Nations to continue delivering crucial humanitarian aid to millions of Syrians who have been displaced by the decade-long civil war. Friday’s vote at the U.N.

By Daniel Dale He keeps saying it. It’s still wrong. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday about his new lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, former President Donald Trump argued that it is “unconstitutional” for social media companies to prevent specific people from posting or to block specific kinds of statements. The op-ed

By Dan Merica and Michael Warren, CNN Glenn Youngkin is doing everything he can to run as a Republican outsider in Virginia’s gubernatorial election. But former President Donald Trump is muddling that strategy. This problem for Youngkin was highlighted on Friday when the former President — who handily lost Virginia in both 2016 and 2020

By Kaitlan Collins and Rachel Janfaza, CNN President Joe Biden is set to announce he’s selecting Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as his ambassador to India, pending Senate confirmation, according to a White House official. Garcetti’s selection, which has long been anticipated, is one of four picks in the latest round of ambassadors coming from

By Betsy Klein, CNN President Joe Biden is set to give an anticipated major speech on voting rights Tuesday in Philadelphia, the White House announced Friday. Biden, the White House said, will deliver “remarks on actions to protect the sacred, constitutional right to vote.” It remains unclear how much his administration can accomplish in protecting

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN Four state attorneys general are examining the fundraising practices of the main online platforms used by the Republican and Democratic parties. The inquiries by the attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Minnesota probe the use of pre-checked donation boxes to lock in contributions to candidates and committees on a

By Christina Carrega, CNN The Federal Bureau of Prisons has agreed to make five recommended changes to their religious services program after the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General found “significant deficiencies” that include high-risk inmates like those convicted on terrorism charges were leading services. “We found that a significant shortage in the number of

By Maegan Vazquez, CNN President Joe Biden urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action to disrupt criminal ransomware groups in Russia on a call Friday morning — their first publicized discussion since a summit in Geneva last month — but the Kremlin says American agencies have not made any formal appeals in the last

By Betsy Klein and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN The United States is sending officials to Haiti at the request of that country’s government in the aftermath of the assassination of the nation’s President earlier this week, and Haiti has asked for several hundred US troops as well. “The US remains engaged,” White House press secretary Jen

By Ella Nilsen, CNN While some major climate provisions have been stripped out of a bipartisan infrastructure deal between the White House and a group of moderate senators, President Joe Biden’s vow to replace all of the nation’s lead pipes lines is a no-brainer, one of the president’s top environmental officials told CNN. If money

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a new policy that states women known to be pregnant or nursing should not be detained, arrested or taken into custody unless release is prohibited, according to newly-released guidance. The move is a shift away from the Trump administration, when immigration officers were directed to

By Ryan Nobles, Annie Grayer and Lauren Fox, CNN More than six months after the deadly Capitol insurrection, the final temporary security structure is coming down, but there are still plenty of concerns about how the campus will be protected going forward and if Capitol Police will have the resources they need to bolster security

By Marshall Cohen, CNN The Justice Department said this week that former President Donald Trump’s delusional claims that he’ll be reinstated to the White House could fuel more political violence from his supporters. Trump and some of his allies on the right-wing fringe have pushed the ridiculous theory that he could be reinstated as president