National Politics

By Ellis Kim, CNN (CNN) — The national political furor around the Jeffrey Epstein case files has escalated in recent days, even as President Donald Trump has sought to dismiss the calls for more transparency as a “Democrat hoax.” On Capitol Hill, the effort to pry loose more records from the Justice Department’s Epstein case

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst (CNN) — As she launched her media tour to promote a new memoir on Thursday night, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected the notion that the country could be on the brink of a constitutional crisis. “I think the Constitution is alive and well,” Barrett told journalist

By Kylie Atwood, CNN (CNN) — The United States and Ecuador are in the final stages of establishing an agreement that would allow the US to send asylum seekers to the country, a senior State Department official said on Thursday. “It is not 100% finished,” the official said, adding that the so-called safe third country

By Rashard Rose, CNN (CNN) — Two Venezuelan military aircraft flew near a US Navy vessel in international waters on Thursday, in a move the US Department of Defense called “highly provocative.” “Today, two Maduro regime military aircraft flew near a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters. This highly provocative move was designed to interfere

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN Tampa, Florida (CNN) — As the federal government continues its crackdown on illegal immigration, the Justice Department announced Thursday that it would surge resources to the US-Canada border to combat an uptick in human smuggling operations in the north. The surge will include sending agents from the joint DOJ and Department

By Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — Joe Biden recently underwent Mohs surgery, a procedure used to remove skin cancer lesions, a spokesperson for Biden said Thursday, just a few months after the former president, 82, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The spokesperson did not detail when the surgery took place, but the news came as

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday against Boston’s Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu over the city’s so-called sanctuary policy, which limits cooperation with federal immigration efforts. The lawsuit, which also targets the city’s police department and its commissioner, alleges that Boston’s policy is illegal because “cities cannot obstruct the

By Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tumultuous tenure atop the US Health and Human Services Department is starting to wear on some prominent Republicans. But so far, President Donald Trump is not one of them. He said at a White House event Thursday that he didn’t watch the hearing, but added:

By Kristen Holmes, Gloria Pazmino, Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is putting up a fight, at least for now, denying that he is planning to exit the race for mayor to take a job in the Trump administration even as conversations are said to be continuing about possible roles

By Samantha Waldenberg, Haley Britzky, Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to rebrand the Pentagon as the “Department of War,” telling reporters in the Oval Office it was a more “appropriate” name given the state of the world. “I think it’s a much more appropriate name, especially in

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow him to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission in an emergency appeal that could further erode the autonomy of independent federal agencies. At the center of the latest legal battle over Trump’s ability to control

By John Fritze, CNN Memphis (CNN) — Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared eager Thursday to squelch growing tension within the federal judiciary, praising a meeting of judges for their work on the “front lines of American justice” and defending the high court’s opaque emergency decisions as a product of compromise. “Keep doing what you’re doing,” Kavanaugh

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — The Republican-controlled Missouri legislature began redrawing its congressional map Thursday to target one Democratic-held seat in the US House, responding to demands by President Donald Trump and his allies to help the GOP eke out more seats in next year’s midterm elections. Lawmakers in the Missouri House are holding

By Alayna Treene, Joseph Ataman, CNN (CNN) — US President Donald Trump told a meeting of world leaders Thursday that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil and put economic pressure on China to try to bring about an end to the war in Ukraine, a White House official told CNN, as the administration seemed to

By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — First lady Melania Trump made rare public remarks on Thursday, calling on private and public sector leaders to prepare children for the growth of artificial intelligence, at a Thursday event at the White House. “The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” Trump said as she

By Evan Perez, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — In the wake of the Minneapolis Catholic church shooting, senior Justice Department officials are weighing proposals to limit transgender people’s right to possess firearms, according to two officials familiar with the internal discussions. The talks, described as preliminary in nature, appear to build on an idea that

By Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, CNN (CNN) — The US State Department is designating two Ecuadorian criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in the country’s capital, Quito, on Thursday, where he made the case that it could now carry out lethal operations against those gangs with the help of

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — The FBI’s search of former Donald Trump national security adviser John Bolton’s home last month was part of a criminal investigation into the unauthorized removal and retention of classified records and the improper gathering, transmitting or losing of national defense information, according to paperwork the Justice Department made public

By Gabe Cohen, CNN (CNN) — Washington, DC, officials are suing the Trump administration, accusing the president of violating the Constitution and federal law by sending thousands of National Guard troops into the city without consent from local leaders. The lawsuit, filed Thursday by DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, claims the troops – many from

By Molly Reinmann, Annette Choi, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s administration has taken aim at a series of elite colleges and universities during his second term, marking a key effort to exert control over higher education — and one that has required targeted schools to respond accordingly. While the schools targeted with canceled federal