CNN – US Politics

By John Harwood, Phil Mattingly and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN CIA Director William J. Burns met face-to-face with the top Taliban leader in Kabul on Monday, according to two US officials, as the US continues airlifting American citizens and its Afghan allies out of Afghanistan by a looming August 31 deadline. The Biden administration has been

By Clare Foran, Kristin Wilson, Daniella Diaz and Annie Grayer, CNN The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a budget framework that will pave the way for Democrats to spend up to $3.5 trillion on a sweeping economic package to expand the social safety net that President Joe Biden has made a signature agenda item.

By Gregory Krieg, CNN Kathy Hochul was sworn in as New York’s first female governor shortly after the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, replacing her disgraced predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, who resigned amid multiple scandals, including a report from the state attorney general that found he sexually harassed 11 women. A Buffalo native, Hochul served as

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN Americans continue to support the decision to leave Afghanistan, a set of new polls released Sunday finds, but largely think the withdrawal was mishandled. And the public gives President Joe Biden relatively poor marks for the withdrawal, possibly exacerbating the slip in approval ratings he already faced this summer. In a

By Paul LeBlanc and Jennifer Hansler, CNN The Biden administration’s pledge to assist Afghans who worked for, and on behalf of, the US government and military has raised questions about what the processing, screening and vetting protocol looks for applicants looking to relocate to the US amid the evacuation scramble. While the Afghan Special Immigrant

By Kevin Liptak, CNN President Joe Biden has said repeatedly over the past four months — as recently as last week — that he refuses to hand off the war in Afghanistan to a fifth US president. Implicit in that statement is the belief the war shouldn’t have been passed to him, nearly 20 years

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN A preliminary ruling by a three-judge panel in North Carolina is clearing the way for roughly 56,000 of the state’s residents who have been convicted of felonies — but who aren’t currently serving prison time — to register to vote, civil rights groups said. The action comes out of a lawsuit

By Eric Bradner and Stephanie Becker, CNN The report detailing the findings of contractors who conducted Arizona’s sham “audit” of last year’s election results — which had been expected Monday — will be late because three of the five members of the auditing team have tested positive for coronavirus, the state’s Republican Senate leader says.

By Jason Hoffman, CNN President Joe Biden honored the WNBA champion Seattle Storm at the White House Monday, praising the team for its actions both on and off the court — especially work the team has done on social justice issues. “What makes this team remarkable is they don’t just win games, they change lives.

By Nicole Gaouette, Barbara Starr, Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood, CNN The US military is advising President Joe Biden that he must decide by Tuesday whether to extend the evacuation in Afghanistan beyond August 31, according to a defense official directly familiar with the discussions, though Biden has yet to make a decision. Military advisers

By Zachary Cohen, Ryan Nobles, Annie Grayer and Whitney Wild, CNN The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot is poised to send notices to various telecommunications companies requesting that they preserve the phone records of several people, including members of Congress, multiple sources tell CNN. Preserving communications records is the first step

By Evan Perez, Geneva Sands and Natasha Bertrand, CNN The rapid Taliban victory in Afghanistan has provided a boost to extremist groups and terror networks and hastened an intelligence vacuum that US officials are now scrambling to fill. For months, US intelligence agencies had been preparing for what would inevitably be a reduced intelligence gathering

By Erica Orden, CNN Igor Fruman, a Rudy Giuliani associate charged in a campaign finance case, is scheduled to plead guilty during an appearance in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, according to a court filing. Fruman and another Giuliani associate, Lev Parnas, were originally charged in October 2019 in a case alleging they funneled foreign

By Gregory Krieg, CNN New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched a series of attacks on his political rivals and questioned the motives of state Attorney General Letitia James, the Democrat who oversaw an investigation that found he sexually harassed 11 women, in his farewell address on Monday, less than 12 hours before he leaves office.