National Politics

By Oren Liebermann and Devan Cole, CNN The Air Force commander who helped oversee the final withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan detailed the historic experience on Thursday, explaining how forces spent a mere three hours swiftly loading up several military planes during the last mission of America’s longest war. Lt. Col. Alex Pelbath, the

By Oren Liebermann and Paul LeBlanc, CNN An infant who become unresponsive on a flight carrying Afghan evacuees has died after landing in Philadelphia, the Department of Defense confirmed Thursday. The baby was traveling from Ramstein Air base in Germany on a C-17 when the crew was notified that “an infant was unresponsive,” Pentagon spokesman

By Marshall Cohen and Paul LeBlanc, CNN US Capitol riot defendant and so-called “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley, who went viral for wearing a horned bearskin outfit during the attack, is set to plead guilty on Friday, according to court records. Chansley has been charged with six federal crimes in connection with the January 6 insurrection,

By Casey Tolan, Curt Devine and Isabelle Chapman, CNN A Texas woman told police in 2002 that Georgia US Senate candidate Herschel Walker had threatened and stalked her, according to a police report obtained by CNN. The woman, a friend of Walker’s ex-wife, told police that the football star had been following her, and had

By Alex Marquardt, CNN The US Director of National Intelligence has made an extraordinary intervention in a federal court case brought against a top former Saudi intelligence official, invoking the rarely used state secrets privilege to stop classified information from coming out that could cause “exceptionally grave” harm to US national security. The declaration by

By Ryan Nobles, Annie Grayer, Zachary Cohen and Whitney Wild, CNN House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is among a group of GOP lawmakers whose phone records are of interest to the select committee investigating the deadly January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, CNN has learned. The committee asked a group of telecommunication companies to preserve

By Annie Grayer, Ella Nilsen and Daniella Diaz, CNN As remnants of Hurricane Ida create dangerous flash floods and tornadoes across the Northeast after leaving much of the South devastated, a key committee in the US House of Representatives is marking up its portion of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package that includes future funding for

By Manu Raju and Daniella Diaz, CNN Sen. Joe Manchin, the most pivotal Democratic swing vote in the Senate, threw a major wrench in his party’s carefully crafted plans to pass a massive $3.5 trillion bill by month’s end, demanding they take a “strategic pause” before considering a sweeping bill to implement much of President

By Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, CNN Larry Elder, a radio talk show host and the top Republican candidate in California’s recall election, disclosed in 2011 episodes of his radio show that he had twice been accused of sexual harassment and forcefully denied the allegations. In one instance, Elder recounted that, while he worked in

By Joan Biskupic, CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer The Supreme Court’s dramatic 5-4 action leaving a Texas abortion ban in place at midnight Wednesday establishes that the Roberts Court no longer is Roberts’ Court. Chief Justice John Roberts dissented with three liberal justices in what could be regarded as the least considered but

By Clare Foran, CNN Democrats are reeling over a strict Texas law that went into effect this week that bars abortions after six weeks, but divisions within their party in Washington — and broad Republican opposition to abortion rights — all but ensure Democrats won’t have the votes to enact new legislation to protect abortion

By Chandelis Duster and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN Virginia is moving ahead with its plans to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from its capital city following a pair of rulings Thursday from the state’s Supreme Court. The court is allowing the state to begin the “complex” multi-day process of taking down the

By Marshall Cohen The QAnon supporter who chased Officer Eugene Goodman near the Senate chamber during the US Capitol insurrection was sent back to jail Thursday, in part because he violated the rules of his release by going online to access conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. The unusual turn of events means Doug Jensen

By Kate Sullivan, CNN President Joe Biden said Thursday he plans to press Congress to take further action on his infrastructure proposals that he says will better prepare the nation for future natural disasters and the effects of climate change. Speaking hours after remnants of Hurricane Ida caused dangerous flash floods and tornadoes across the