National Politics

By Katelyn Polantz, Zachary Cohen and Evan Perez, CNN Jeffrey Clark, a Donald Trump-appointed environment law chief at the Justice Department at the center of the former President’s efforts to overturn the election, received a high-level intelligence briefing around New Year’s 2021 that did little to stop his efforts to prove foreign interference had cost

By Arlette Saenz and Maegan Vazquez, CNN President Joe Biden announced a new round of ambassador picks on Friday, which includes two top donors to his 2020 presidential campaign. The President nominated Scott Miller, an LGBTQ rights activist and philanthropist, to be the next US ambassador to Switzerland. Miller and his husband Tim Gill have

By Katie Lobosco, CNN The Biden administration is extending the pause on federal student loan payments one last time until January 31. The pandemic relief benefit was set to expire on September 30 after an unprecedented 19-month suspension. The freeze was initially put in place by Congress and then extended by both the Trump and

By Zachary Cohen, CNN The select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection is weighing whether to pursue call logs from the Trump White House on the day of the riot, a move that could present a potentially thorny dilemma for President Joe Biden who would ultimately have to determine whether the records should be covered

By Jim Sciutto, Chief National Security Correspondent I have been embedded with every branch of the US military multiple times — in war zones and on base — but nothing is quite like an inside look at the newly created US Space Force. Space Force “Guardians,” as they’re known, do their work hundreds — even

By Hannah Rabinowitz and Joe Beare, CNN A New Jersey gym owner and former MMA fighter pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting a police officer during the January 6 insurrection, marking the first time a Capitol rioter has been convicted of violence against police. Scott Fairlamb, 44, also pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding.

By Oren Liebermann, CNN The US was monitoring Iranian ship movements in the Middle East as Tehran quietly replaced a spy ship in the Red Sea that was damaged in an April attack, two US officials told CNN amid escalating regional tension with Iran and an ongoing maritime shadow conflict between Israel and Iran. Iran

By Jennifer Hansler and Ellie Kaufman, CNN A US Defense Department expert team concluded that the drone behind the deadly attack on the Mercer Street commercial vessel was produced in Iran, US Central Command said in a statement Friday. The assault on the Mercer Street, which left two crewmembers dead, has ratcheted up tensions in

By Natasha Bertrand and Nicole Gaouette, CNN Biden administration officials are becoming increasingly pessimistic about reviving the Iran nuclear deal as the country’s new hardline president takes office and its nuclear program continues to accelerate, national security and intelligence officials familiar with the negotiations told CNN. The deal’s original signatories known as the P5+1 —

By Ryan Nobles, Zachary Cohen, Whitney Wild and Annie Grayer, CNN For the 535 members of Congress, the haunting memories of the violence and chaos from January 6 don’t go away as they leave Washington, DC. The ongoing threat remains top of mind for many lawmakers ahead of the August recess when Republicans and Democrats

By Manu Raju and Alex Rogers, CNN Sen. Rob Portman, the longtime Washington veteran and savvy deal-cutter, is on the cusp of achieving a major bipartisan achievement that would amount to a capstone of his three decades of public service: The Senate’s passage of a roughly $1 trillion package to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. But

By Lauren del Valle and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s legal team on Friday attacked the state attorney general’s report that found he sexually harassed 11 women, after one of those women, who is a staff member for Cuomo, recently filed a criminal complaint against the embattled Democrat with the Albany Sheriff’s

By Paul P. Murphy, CNN The Lanz family tells CNN that their son Austin Lanz, the man authorities say killed a Pentagon Police officer on Tuesday morning, had “many mental health challenges.” “We are devastated by the loss of our son, Austin, and of officer George Gonzalez,” the family said in a statement provided to

By Kate Sullivan, CNN President Joe Biden on Friday touted the country’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic after the US added 943,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4%, but said more work needs to be done to vaccinate the rest of the country amid the Delta variant surge. “My message