CNN – US Politics

By Katelyn Polantz, Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge said Wednesday that White House staff must preserve their official records, including communications that they send via non-official text message services, pushing back on attempts to free President Donald Trump from record-keeping obligations that were set by Congress. The 54-page opinion from Judge John

By Ellis Kim, Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — One Republican congressman says he is exploring ways to end the Trump Justice Department’s move to establish a tax-payer fueled “anti-weaponization” fund, a move likely to draw the ire of President Donald Trump. Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick told reporters he “100%” wants to prevent the nearly

By Davis Winkie, CNN (CNN) — A US military-owned surveillance blimp operated by Customs and Border Protection contractors near Laredo, Texas, broke free from its tether on Monday evening and later crashed in Mexico. The blimp did not carry a crew when in the air, and no ground personnel were injured in the incident. The

By Marshall Cohen, Holmes Lybrand, Donie O’Sullivan, CNN (CNN) — Supporters of President Donald Trump who tried to overturn the 2020 election are among those eager to potentially cash in from the $1.8 billion compensation fund for people the Trump administration believes were victims of government “weaponization and lawfare.” In interviews with CNN, convicted US

By Casey Gannon, Paula Reid, Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — A former managing assistant US attorney in the Southern District of Florida has been charged with emailing herself the most sought-after, confidential Justice Department records in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of President Donald Trump, masquerading them as dessert recipes. Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, faces

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — Law enforcement officers who protected the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to block implementation of a newly created $1.8 billion fund for allies of President Donald Trump who say they were unfairly investigated by previous administrations. The lawsuit brought in federal court

By Michael Williams, Jeanne Sahadi, CNN (CNN) — Barney Frank, the barrier-breaking former Massachusetts congressman who helped draft reforms that sought to rein in an unruly financial industry in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, has died. He was 86. His sister Doris Breay confirmed his death to CNN, saying, “he was a

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — A retired Tennessee law enforcement officer who was held in jail for more than a month after police arrested him over a Facebook post of a meme related to the assassination of Charlie Kirk has settled a “unlawful incarceration” lawsuit for $835,000. Under the deal announced Wednesday, Larry Bushart,

By Arit John, CNN (CNN) — In 2019, Paige Cognetti launched her campaign for mayor of Scranton, where the incumbent had resigned from office before pleading guilty to federal corruption charges. Wary of the county Democratic Party’s closed nominating process, she ran as an independent. That fall, she found herself in a courtroom with her

By Evan Perez, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — The Justice Department’s criminal charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro is a prosecution more than 30 years in the works, with federal prosecutors in Miami first drafting an indictment against him in the 1990s. After three decades, criminal charges that were announced Wednesday at an event

CNN By Eric Bradner, Arit John, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s retribution campaign steamrolled another Republican rival on Tuesday, with a Trump-backed challenger ousting one of the president’s leading intra-party antagonists, Rep. Thomas Massie, in a Kentucky primary. Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein’s win over Massie continued a May political payback tour that has

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will win the Democratic primary for Georgia governor in her quest to become nation’s first Black woman elected governor. If she wins in November, Lance Bottoms also would become the first woman and African American to serve as Georgia’s chief executive. Bottoms, who

By Jeff Zeleny, CNN Hebron, Kentucky (CNN) — For the next seven months, Rep. Thomas Massie will hold something that even President Donald Trump can’t take away: His seat in Congress. The question is what comes next. As Massie becomes the latest Republican added to Trump’s growing list of revenge and retribution, his concession speech

By Arit John, CNN (CNN) — House Democratic leaders condemned efforts Tuesday by a newly registered political action committee to boost a Democratic congressional candidate who made antisemitic comments ahead of a runoff election next week. Leaders in both parties have denounced recent remarks by Maureen Galindo, a sex therapist who won first place in

By Eric Bradner, Arit John, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s retribution campaign steamrolled another Republican rival on Tuesday, with a Trump-backed challenger ousting one of the president’s leading intra-party antagonists, Rep. Thomas Massie, in a Kentucky primary. Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein’s win over Massie continued a May political payback tour that has seen

By Kevin Liptak, Jennifer Hansler, Zachary Cohen, Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — In President Donald Trump’s telling, he was an hour away from ordering new strikes on Iran when he abruptly announced on social media Monday that he would allow more time for diplomacy. “They’re loaded to the brim,” he said Tuesday of his armada

By Patrick Svitek, Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — It seemed like the end of the road for Ken Paxton. The Texas attorney general had underperformed expectations in the state’s March 3 Republican primary for Senate, narrowly trailing long-endangered incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. Trump was on the verge of endorsing Cornyn, promising to make

CNN By Tierney Sneed and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — The Internal Revenue Service can’t bring claims against President Donald Trump, his family or businesses for past tax issues, according to additional terms added Tuesday to the settlement the Justice Department reached with Trump to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. The additional

By Tierney Sneed and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — The Internal Revenue Service can’t bring claims against President Donald Trump, his family or businesses for past tax issues, according to additional terms added Tuesday to the settlement the Justice Department reached with Trump to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. The additional terms,

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Tierney Sneed, Holmes Lybrand, Devan Cole, Paula Reid, CNN (CNN) — Todd Blanche vociferously defended the Justice Department’s newly established anti-weaponization fund as not limited to President Donald Trump’s allies in the acting attorney general’s first appearance before Congress since assuming his position. Though the arrangement is “unusual,” Blanche conceded Tuesday, anyone