National Politics

By Betsy Klein and Isabelle D’Antonio, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump has selected billionaire Massad Boulos to serve as his senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs — the second time in as many days the president-elect has chosen a family member for a key post. Though Trump didn’t mention it in his announcement

CNN By Jack Forrest, CNN (CNN) — Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI and an ardent supporter of the president-elect, has vowed to help dismantle the same organization he’s poised to lead. The former public defender is widely viewed as a controversial figure and one whose value to the president-elect largely derives

By Arlette Saenz and Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden will fulfill a two-year promise to visit Africa as he departs Sunday night for Angola, a trip aimed at highlighting US investment in the continent under his watch in the face of China’s deepening inroads in the region. Biden’s three-day visit to oil-rich

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump said he would require countries that are part of BRICS — a China- and Russia-backed group of emerging economies — to commit to not creating new currency or face 100% tariffs during his administration. “The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from

CNN By Holmes Lybrand, Zachary Cohen, Evan Perez and Kristen Holmes, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he intends to nominate Kash Patel to serve as FBI director, in an extraordinary announcement that once in office Trump would move to replace the current director, Christopher Wray, before his term expires. “I am

By Holmes Lybrand, Zachary Cohen, Evan Perez and Kristen Holmes, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate firebrand loyalist Kash Patel to serve as FBI director, an extraordinary move that would put a self-described enemy of the so-called deep state as the head of the nation’s top law enforcement agency — a role

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — The mother of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, sent an email to her son in 2018 that sharply criticized his treatment of women, The New York Times reported Friday. Penelope Hegseth told her son in the email that there are “many” women

By Alejandra Jaramillo and Isabelle D’Antonio, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump has selected his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, to serve as the next US ambassador to France, the president-elect announced Saturday. “I am pleased to nominate Charles Kushner, of New Jersey, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to France. He is a tremendous

By Alayna Treene and Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump had dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday evening at Mar-a-Lago. The meeting came just days after Trump promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada starting on the first day of his administration, specifically calling for a

CNN By Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk had a seat at the family table for Thanksgiving dinner at Mar-a-Lago, joining President-elect Donald Trump, Melania Trump and their 18-year-old son Barron, in the latest indicator of Trump’s growing bond with the world’s richest man. Musk was seated right next to Trump in

By Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk had a seat at the family table for Thanksgiving dinner at Mar-a-Lago, joining President-elect Donald Trump, Melania Trump and their 18-year-old son Barron, in the latest indicator of Trump’s growing bond with the world’s richest man. Musk was seated right next to Trump in a

By Curt Devine, CNN (CNN) — As part of his campaign to reclaim the White House, Donald Trump made clear that in a second term in office, he’d move tens of thousands of federal jobs outside the “Washington swamp” and into “places filled with patriots who love America.” “This,” Trump said in one campaign video,

By Zachary Cohen and Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — At least six Democrats in Congress say they were targeted with a bomb threat over the Thanksgiving holiday. Four Democratic representatives from Connecticut said Thursday they were targeted with bomb threats while home celebrating Thanksgiving with their families. Sen. Chris Murphy’s office said he was also

By Kit Maher, Abel Alvarado, Steve Contorno and Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum denied proposing to US President-elect Donald Trump that Mexico will close its border with the United States as he claimed in a post on Truth Social. “Everyone has their own way of communicating, but I can assure you,

By Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — Ronen and Orna Neutra are gathering this Thanksgiving with friends in Long Island, New York, for a moment of quiet reflection as their son Omer, an Israeli-American citizen, continues to be held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. “For us, it’s no holiday. Our holiday table is empty a second

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy intend to lean on two recent Supreme Court rulings that they argue will make it easier to tear up a multitude of federal regulations. The duo, who President-elect Donald Trump named to lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, point

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A federal appeals court has blocked the Biden administration from removing razor wire put up by Texas officials on the Mexico border. The ruling from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals marks the latest development in a multi-front legal feud over when federal authority supersedes state action in

By Oren Liebermann, Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis and Alex Marquardt, CNN (CNN) — The Pentagon is unlikely to use all of the billions of dollars authorized by Congress to arm Ukraine before President Joe Biden leaves office, according to two US officials and three defense officials. The administration has less than two months left

By Betsy Klein, Steve Contorno and Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump’s team submitted an ethics plan guiding the conduct of its members throughout the transition period that does not appear to include provisions for one key member of the team: the president himself. “There does not appear to be a provision addressing

By Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump’s soon-to-be national security adviser Mike Waltz has been weighing several proposals in recent days for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, including one from Gen. Keith Kellogg who Trump announced Wednesday as his pick to be to be special envoy to the