National Politics

By Shania Shelton, CNN (CNN) — Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who is testifying Tuesday in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York, is a key figure in the controversy over a 2016 “hush money” payment allegedly made to Daniels on Trump’s behalf. Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business documents related to the repayment of his

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The United States has repatriated 11 US citizens, including five minors, as well as the sibling of one of those minors, from northeast Syria in what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the “largest single repatriation” of Americans from that region. In a statement Tuesday, Blinken described it as

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge smacked down a series of threats by Alabama’s Republican attorney general to prosecute groups that help women obtain out-of-state abortions, wading into a debate over access to the procedure that has lingered since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. The plaintiffs, including

By Natasha Bertrand and Caitlin Danaher, CNN (CNN) — An American soldier arrested in Russia on suspicion of theft will be detained for two months, a Russian district court said Tuesday. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black will be in detention until July 2, the Pervomaisky District Court of Vladivostok ruled. Black is accused of “committing secret theft of

By Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump’s valet told investigators before the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in 2022 that he randomly chose boxes of documents to return to the National Archives and Trump himself directed that dozens more boxes located at the resort wouldn’t be returned, according to recently unsealed court filings. The filings

By Betsy Klein, CNN Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday issued a call to fight a “ferocious surge” of antisemitism, saying such hate has no place in America as he connected the horrors of the Holocaust to Hamas’ attack on Israel. Biden’s speech was a somber – yet impassioned – moment of reflection

CNN By Ebony Davis, CNN (CNN) — Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan on Monday said he will vote for President Joe Biden in November, arguing former President Donald Trump “has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.” “Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting

By Ebony Davis, CNN (CNN) — Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan on Monday said he will vote for President Joe Biden in November, arguing former President Donald Trump “has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.” “Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting for

CNN Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump is heading into the most perilous phase of his hush money trial aside from the moment when the jury retires to consider its verdict. Former adult film star Stormy Daniels is back on the stand on Thursday to continue what has been at times explicit

By Clare Foran, Kristin Wilson and Haley Talbot, CNN Washington (CNN) — House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to oversee one of the narrowest House majorities in history, leaving little margin for error as he navigates his conference and faces threats to his leadership. Republicans control 217 seats while Democrats control 213 after Democratic Rep. Tim

By Tierney Sneed and Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump’s attorneys have found a new reason to seek to delay the classified documents case: Some of the documents found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago have shifted out of order since FBI agents seized them two years ago. Trump’s attorneys indicated in a filing Monday that the shuffling

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — More parents have had trouble finding child care in recent months, following the expiration of federal pandemic assistance for providers, according to a report released Monday by the National Women’s Law Center. Some 22.2% of parents with children under age 12 reported not having child care in the past

CNN Opinion by W. James Antle III (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump and Judge Juan Merchan are playing a high-stakes game of legal chicken in the ongoing hush money trial, with a renewed threat of incarceration that could roil the presidential race. Fines totaling $10,000 haven’t deterred Trump from repeatedly defying the gag rule in the case, with the former

By Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell, CNN New York (CNN) — Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial dove into the paper trail at the heart of their case on Monday, revealing to jurors exactly how Michael Cohen was repaid by Trump’s trust and personal accounts in 2017 after he paid hush

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN New York (CNN) — Sen. Bob Menendez will be allowed to argue at his federal corruption trial that he thought he was acting for the “good of the public” when helping Egypt and Qatar, while prosecutors will be able to present evidence to the jury that they allege shows the lawmaker

By Betsy Klein and Michael Williams, CNN Washington (CNN) — The White House on Monday had a terse message for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who suggested one of President Joe Biden’s pets should suffer the same fate as the dog she admitted shooting to death. “We learned last week, obviously like all of you,

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Social Security and Medicare will not be able to fully pay benefits in just over a decade if lawmakers don’t act to address the pending shortfalls, according to reports released Monday by the entitlement programs’ trustees. While the trust funds’ finances improved slightly, they remain in dire shape. The

By Natasha Bertrand and Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — An American soldier was detained in Russia last week on suspicion of theft and is currently being held in pre-trial detention, according to two US officials. The soldier’s name is Gordon Black, according to one of the officials. The US Army would not confirm the soldier’s

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — The US State Department on Monday released an ambitious new cybersecurity strategy that seeks to curb Russia and China’s digital influence in the developing world and blunt those countries’ alleged efforts to interfere in elections. With roughly half of the world’s population holding elections in 2024, their vulnerability to

By MJ Lee and Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — The Democratic National Committee is requesting that judges in Michigan and Nevada throw out “dangerous” and “flawed” lawsuits, related to voter rolls and to mail-in ballots, that were launched by the Republican National Committee earlier this year. The DNC is warning that the lawsuits represent former