National Politics

By Donald Judd and Barbara Starr, CNN President Joe Biden announced the authorization of an additional direct deployment of 1,000 troops to Afghanistan in a statement Saturday. Biden said he authorized the deployment “to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN Troy Price, the former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party during the chaotic 2020 Iowa caucuses, is the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s new executive director, the party announced Friday. Price’s hiring comes as New Hampshire, where first-term Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan is expected to face a tough reelection battle in 2022,

By Priscilla Alvarez and Tierney Sneed, CNN A federal judge in Texas has ordered the Biden administration to revive a Trump-era border policy that required migrants to stay in Mexico until their US immigration court date. Shortly after President Joe Biden took office, he ended the policy known as “remain in Mexico” that resulted in

By Ella Nilsen and Natasha Bertrand, CNN In a summer of deadly and life-altering extreme weather, the Biden administration and Democrats are walking a tightrope, with a razor-thin majority in Congress, to enact policies that will reroute the US economy away from fossil fuels and show the world that the US will lead on climate

By Katie Lobosco, CNN Like many parents, Paul Martino never paid his school board much attention before the coronavirus pandemic. But last summer, when his kids’ district in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, suddenly reversed course and went virtual, Martino decided it was time to get involved. The venture capitalist gave $10,000 to a political action committee

By Tami Luhby, CNN Time is running out to sign up for Obamacare coverage for 2021. The special enrollment period that allows the uninsured to pick Affordable Care Act policies ends Sunday for the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov, and for several state-based marketplaces. Some other states that run their own exchanges, such as California, have longer

By Kate Bennett, CNN Since leaving Washington last January, there have been only a handful of things that have drawn former first lady Melania Trump out of her social media silence: holidays, the anniversary of Be Best, thanks for birthday wishes. But nothing has caught her attention, or her ire, like the criticism last week

By Geneva Sands, CNN Online extremist rhetoric is strikingly similar to the buildup to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, with increasing calls for violence linked to conspiracy theories and false narratives, Homeland Security Intelligence chief John Cohen said in an interview with CNN. There have been online comments such as “the system

By Betsy Klein, CNN President Joe Biden is facing multiple August crises with Afghanistan on the verge of collapse, Covid-19 patients overwhelming hospitals in some states, persistent inflation concerns, an uncertain path forward for his sweeping infrastructure agenda and surging attempted border crossings. It’s a far cry from the celebrations of July, where the White

By Alex Marquardt, CNN The Biden administration is working to finalize an agreement with Qatar to temporarily house thousands of Afghans who worked with the United States and their families and are fleeing their country as the security situation deteriorates, according to a source familiar with the ongoing discussions. The source said it could be

By Liz Stark, CNN The US Department of Education sent letters Friday to the Republican governors of Texas and Florida, as well as Florida school administrators, amid an escalating battle between the White House and state officials over school mask guidance as the Delta variant surges. In the new letters to Govs. Ron DeSantis of

By Lauren Dezenski, CNN This week, more public and private entities rolled out Covid-19 vaccine mandates as the Delta variant continued its spread. Meanwhile, the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated as more cities fell to the Taliban amid the US departure.  Monday ‘Final warning’: Lawmakers, Biden administration sound alarm over UN climate report and urge swift

By Tami Luhby, CNN The August child tax credit payment is in the mail — or headed directly to your bank account. The Internal Revenue Service has sent more than $15 billion to the parents of roughly 61 million children, the agency said Friday. The second monthly installment of the beefed-up credit — up to

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN James Hormel, the first out gay person to serve as a US ambassador and a San Francisco philanthropist, has died at the age of 88. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday announced Hormel’s passing. Hormel served as US ambassador to Luxembourg from 1999 to 2000, weathering homophobic attacks and fierce opposition

By Gregory Krieg and Lauren del Valle, CNN New York state lawmakers will halt the impeachment investigation against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned this week and will leave office on August 25, state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced on Friday afternoon. In a statement, Heastie said Cuomo’s resignation effectively eliminated the central question

By Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood, CNN The US Embassy in Kabul is instructing personnel to destroy sensitive materials as well as items “which could be misused in propaganda efforts,” according to a management notice sent Friday to embassy staff, seen by CNN and described by another source familiar. The notice about “Emergency Destruction Services”

By Liz Stark and Tami Luhby, CNN The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s funeral assistance program has distributed more than $1 billion to those who have lost loved ones to Covid-19 since the application process began in mid-April, the agency announced Friday. Matthew Redding, deputy director of FEMA’s Individual Assistance division, noted the “very somber milestone”