The acting head of the US Capitol Police told congressional members during a closed-door briefing Tuesday that the “department failed to meet its own high standards” on January 6 when a crowd of pro-Trump rioters overran the Capitol building. Acting US Capitol police chief Yogananda Pittman called the insurrection a “terrorist attack” and offered her
Continue Reading President Joe Biden is set to order a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with his plans. The move is expected to be the most prominent in a series of climate actions the President will take on Wednesday, including elevating the climate crisis as
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A cold war is underway within the Republican Party as its members begin to navigate how former President Donald Trump and his legacy fit into the GOP’s future. Some in congressional leadership have signaled their desire to move the party beyond Trump by impeaching and convicting him. Allies of the former President, on the other
Continue Reading President Joe Biden is expected to reopen enrollment on the federal Affordable Care Act exchanges on Thursday as part of a series of executive actions related to health care, taking a step to help uninsured Americans that his predecessor rejected. It will be Biden’s first move toward delivering on his campaign promise to bolster the
Continue Reading The Senate will vote on whether to confirm Antony Blinken as the new US secretary of state Tuesday. Blinken, a longtime aide to President Joe Biden, received largely bipartisan support in his Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote Monday, with only three Republicans voting against. If confirmed, the new top US diplomat faces the challenges of
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Federal prosecutors have charged a man in connection to the riot and insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, after a Washington, DC, airport police officer helped identify him. In an affidavit filed in federal court, a special agent with the US Capitol Police says the man, John Lolos, was identified by a Metropolitan Washington
Continue Reading President Joe Biden recited a flurry of figures in a Friday speech in which he urged Congress to pass the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package he calls the American Rescue Plan. We fact-checked many of the statistical claims Biden made in the speech — and found Biden was highly factual, though there are some nuances
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Monday that he will allow the 50-50 Senate to officially organize so Democrats can take control of key committees in the chamber after a weeklong battle with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over the rights of the minority to stall legislation. The breakthrough came as GOP leaders were eagerly
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C.J. Diegel scrolled down the Arizona Secretary of State’s website until he saw the box for “no party affiliation.” He clicked it, ending his lifelong registration as an Arizona Republican, in just seconds. Diegel had hoped that his state party, after seeing the US Capitol insurrection earlier this month, would reverse course away from Donald
Continue Reading One of the few US senators who led the effort to object to the electoral college results on January 6, Josh Hawley is now claiming that he was never trying to overturn the 2020 election. After being asked Friday by CNN’s Manu Raju about the rioters who believed the electoral vote could be changed —
Continue Reading The Department of Homeland Security, largely hollowed out over the last four years, is moving with urgency to staff agencies with people who had front row seats to the hardline immigration limits rolled out under former President Donald Trump, in order to rescind them. The department — the third largest in the US government —
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President Joe Biden on Monday offered his most extensive comments since taking office on former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, telling CNN, “I think it has to happen.” Biden made the comment during a brief one-on-one interview with CNN in the halls of the West Wing. He acknowledged the effect it could have on his
Continue Reading It hasn’t even been a week since Chuck Schumer assumed his long-sought goal of becoming Senate majority leader. But he’s already been in a staring contest with Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, over the future of the institution. He faces outright opposition from Republicans over President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, including a $1.9 trillion
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Chief Justice John Roberts has long been a student of history, but this is one part of history — presiding at the second trial of Donald Trump — he can do without. Roberts apparently believes the Constitution offers him a reprieve from another ordeal with Trump, a man who challenged judicial integrity, declared he could
Continue Reading Despite the vocal pledges from some companies to take bold action following the deadly January 6 siege on the US Capitol, many of America’s corporate giants are instead taking a wait-and-see approach about their future political giving, a new CNN analysis shows. And even when the companies vowed to suspend campaign contributions, most declined to
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Former President Donald Trump is still working to assemble a full legal team for his Senate impeachment trial, people familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday, even as he has begun to craft a defense strategy with Butch Bowers, the South Carolina lawyer who has agreed to represent him in the historic proceedings. Bowers
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said Monday evening he was extremely worried by former President Donald Trump’s dangerous April suggestion that ingesting disinfectant could possibly be used to treat Covid-19. “I just said, ‘Oh my goodness gracious.’ I could just see what’s going to happen,” Fauci told CNN’s Erin Burnett on
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders, President Donald Trump’s former press secretary, announced Monday that she is running for governor of Arkansas. “With the radical left now in charge of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense. In fact, your governor must be on the front line,” Sanders said in a nearly eight-minute video posted on
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday became the first of what could be a wave of Republicans from former President Donald Trump’s inner circle to chart a political future, launching her bid for Arkansas governor. The move positions Arkansas as a test of how engaged Trump, who publicly encouraged Sanders to run for governor, will be
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President Joe Biden on Monday reinstated the Covid-19 travel restrictions on non-US citizens who have been in Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and much of Europe. Biden also extended the restrictions to travelers who have recently been to South Africa. The step, which was first reported by Reuters, came just one week after President Donald
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