National Politics

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN The chief judge in DC’s federal court questioned the Justice Department’s decision to offer misdemeanor plea deals to nonviolent US Capitol rioters, saying at a hearing Thursday that the relatively light punishment might not be enough to deter similar attacks in the future. “Does the government have any concern … of

By CNN The Senate voted 67-32 on Wednesday to begin debate on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, advancing a critical part of President Joe Biden’s agenda in Congress, though the legislative text itself is still being written by negotiators. While the bill is still being finalized, CNN on Thursday obtained a 57-page summary

By Nicole Gaouette and Michael Callahan, CNN US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that negotiations with Tehran over the Iran nuclear deal “cannot and will not go on indefinitely.” “We are committed to diplomacy, but this process cannot go on indefinitely,” Blinken said at a press conference in Kuwait. Referring to the deal

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter Nearly 230 Republican members of Congress told the Supreme Court on Thursday that it should overturn Roe v. Wade and release its “vise grip on abortion politics.” The new brief is the latest filing in a dispute that will be heard next term and represents the most

By Michael Warren, Dan Merica and Nicole Gaouette, CNN Democrats in South Florida, beleaguered by a tough 2020 election in the state, have been privately and publicly urging their party leaders to embrace the protests against Cuba’s communist regime that are roiling the island nation. Their reasoning is as much personal — these Democrats believe

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN Immigrant advocacy organizations that quietly agreed to work with the Biden administration to identify vulnerable migrants in Mexico amid border restrictions are pulling out of that effort, frustrated with the lack of clarity over when a Trump-era policy will be reversed. It’s the latest indication of tensions bubbling up between the

By Priscilla Alvarez and Paul LeBlanc, CNN The Biden administration is outlining its “hard-nosed approach” for tackling root causes of migration in Central America, but nearly two months after Vice President Kamala Harris made a trip to the region, its plan is short on new details. Senior administration officials on Wednesday broadly outlined the pillars

By Kristen Holmes, Jen Christensen, Jeff Zeleny and Tara Subramaniam, CNN The US Food and Drug Administration insists it is working as quickly as possible to review applications for full approval of the Covid-19 vaccines as the number of cases continues to rise and vaccination rates decline across the country. Though the FDA has yet

By Kevin Liptak, CNN President Joe Biden, who for months used techniques like public service announcements to persuade Americans to get vaccinated, feels he has struck a “brick wall” in convincing holdouts to get shots, according to people familiar with his thinking. In private meetings with top aides, Biden has raised one question repeatedly: “What’s

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN Democratic donors donated $289 million through the online fundraising platform ActBlue during the second quarter of this year, in what the group touts as a sign of early grassroots energy ahead of next year’s hotly contested midterm elections. In all, Democratic grassroots contributors have donated more than $602 million through ActBlue

By Paul LeBlanc, CNN A US Capitol Police officer who was the target of racist slurs during the January 6 insurrection rebuked questions about his credibility from conservative critics Wednesday evening, stating, “I can’t put a Band-Aid on my emotions.” Harry Dunn — one of the four officers who testified Tuesday before the House select

By Paul LeBlanc, CNN Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of just two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, said Wednesday that “a lot” of GOP lawmakers have privately conveyed support to him, as he stressed that “nobody actually believes” the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. “There’s a lot

By Ali Zaslav and Devan Cole, CNN When the Senate voted Wednesday to open debate on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package, more than a dozen Republicans sided with Democrats to advance the legislation. The proposal, which came after weeks of negotiations between a bipartisan group of lawmakers and the White House, includes $73 billion

By Alex Rogers, Ali Zaslav, Phil Mattingly and Lauren Fox, CNN The Senate voted Wednesday to begin debate on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill after weeks of negotiating, advancing a critical part of President Joe Biden’s agenda in Congress. The vote was 67-32. Over half of the bill — $550 billion — is new

By Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb, CNN Investigators on the House’s January 6 select committee, vowing a deep dive into the attack on the US Capitol, may soon be confronted with a grim reality: A battle over subpoena requests and the prospect they could end up in protracted legal fights. Both Democrats and Republicans on

By Nicole Gaouette, CNN Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the director-general of the World Health Organization Wednesday and underscored US support for further WHO studies into the origins of Covid-19, including research in China, the State Department said. Blinken and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met in Kuwait almost a week after China announced

By Phil Mattingly, CNN White House officials have reached out to key union representatives over the last two days to lay the groundwork for President Joe Biden’s decision to require federal employees to get vaccinated, according to two people familiar with the discussions. It’s a move that represents both the speed with which the White

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter A church in Maine is asking the Supreme Court to block the state from enforcing or reinstating any Covid-related restrictions that the house of worship says would violate its religious liberty rights under the Constitution. The petition highlights the emerging Delta variant, and the church’s fear that