CNN – US Politics

By Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — The Pentagon on Saturday conducted the 21st known strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat, US Southern Command announced Sunday. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Southern Command posted on social media. “Three male narco-terrorists aboard

By Aileen Graef, CNN (CNN) — Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Sunday she will stop using “toxic” rhetoric, marking what would be a dramatic shift in a political brand hallmarked by derogatory comments. The commitment comes amid a rift with Donald Trump that has spilled into public view, with the president attacking the Georgia

By Piper HudspethBlackburn, Aileen Graef, Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Sunday night encouraged House Republicans to vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and move on from what he calls a “Democrat Hoax,” marking a stark reversal from his efforts to discredit the effort. “House Republicans should vote to release the

By Kevin Liptak, Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump is planning to receive Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House on Tuesday with all the trappings of a state visit, sources familiar with the matter said, including a welcome ceremony in the morning and a formal

By Kylie Atwood, CNN (CNN) — US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have spent weeks trading threats to restart nuclear tests, an escalation kicked off by Putin’s boasts about tests of the Poseidon nuclear powered missile in late October. Days later Trump declared that he had ordered the first US nuclear test

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — Sen. John Fetterman is back home from the hospital, the Pennsylvania Democrat announced on social media Saturday, after receiving care at a Pittsburgh hospital for a fall he suffered this week. “20 stitches later and a full recovery, I’m back home with @giselefetterman and the kids,” Fetterman said in

By Sylvie Kirsch, Julia Benbrook, Nick Leimbach, CNN (CNN) — Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are welcoming members of the public back after weeks of closures because of the government shutdown. The Smithsonian Institution, which receives federal funding and comprises the largest museum complex in the world, closed as the shutdown entered its third

By Betsy Klein, Kevin Liptak, Haley Britzky, Kylie Atwood, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump suggested he has made up his mind on a course of action in Venezuela following multiple high-level briefings last week and a mounting US show of force in the region. Officials briefed Trump last week on options for military operations

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — Former first lady Michelle Obama said at a recent event that the US isn’t ready for a woman president, pointing to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ unsuccessful bid for the White House last year. “As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” Obama said in response

By Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump has issued a new pardon to a militia member involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, covering separate Kentucky firearms offenses that were not included in his initial Inauguration Day pardon. In April, the appeals court for the District of Columbia rejected Dan Wilson’s attempt

By Kara Scannell, CNN (CNN) — Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the US attorney’s office in Manhattan, is facing his biggest test yet. Late Friday, after a week of negative headlines, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on X that Clayton will lead a federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to prominent Democrats.

By Edward Wu, CNN (CNN) — A year after President Donald Trump’s re-election, Republicans are already seeing their gains among Latino voters erode, recent election results and polling suggest. Here’s what’s changed and what it could mean for next year’s midterm elections. Economic angst drove Latino voters toward the GOP in 2024 Trump made considerable

By Kylie Atwood, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump has said he believes Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s days are numbered, and that land strikes inside Venezuela are possible. Experts say that the US doesn’t currently have the military assets in place to launch a largescale operation to remove Maduro from power, though Trump has approved

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — As she oversaw President Donald Trump’s emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, case this past week, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson once again proved she isn’t beholden to Supreme Court custom. The least senior justice, who has been the court’s most consistent critic of the second Trump administration, appeared

By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Friday he is officially rescinding his endorsement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and attacked her in personal terms, while the congresswoman countered that Trump was trying to make an example of her to prevent the release of files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The

By Annie Grayer, Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat who represents the US Virgin Islands in Congress as a non-voting delegate, exchanged texts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing, the delegate’s office confirmed to CNN. “During the hearing, Congresswoman Plaskett received texts from staff, constituents and the

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — A divided federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration on Friday in a case over the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act in deportation matters — but it did not fully snuff out a lower court judge’s efforts to punish those who ignored previous orders halting the

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — A day after a federal judge said that portions of a transcript she reviewed from the grand jury proceedings in James Comey’s criminal case were “missing,” the prosecutor who filed the charges against the former FBI director told the court that there are no such gaps in the record.

CNN By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — For years, President Donald Trump has sought to downplay his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who for years moved in the same social circles as Trump in Palm Beach and Manhattan. Trump has alternately called Epstein a “terrific guy” — in 2002 —

By Eric Bradner, Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — In the latest sign of resistance to President Donald Trump’s push to redraw congressional lines, the Republican leader of Indiana’s state Senate on Friday said his chamber won’t meet for a special session to create additional GOP seats. Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said there aren’t