National Politics

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN Ransomware attacks on schools in the US may increase as children return to school and cybercriminals see more extortion opportunities, federal officials warned on Tuesday as the Los Angeles Unified School District grappled with a significant ransomware attack. A ransomware gang known as Vice Society, which emerged last year, has been

By Kevin Liptak, CNN When President Joe Biden met with senior members of his administration on Tuesday, the 24 officials sitting around the table were identical to the ones Biden gathered 17 months ago for his first Cabinet meeting. There has been zero turnover among the secretaries, administrators and directors that form the official Cabinet,

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN A lawyer for a Russian man accused of money laundering who was extradited to the US last month has lobbied Moscow to include his client in prisoner exchange negotiations with the US government. The “only thing that can save” Alexander Vinnik, who US authorities allege ran a $4 billion cryptocurrency exchange

By Gregory Krieg, CNN Mehmet Oz, the Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, joined with the commonwealth’s retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey on Tuesday to accuse Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate, of either exaggerating his health issues following a stroke in May or, if he is telling the truth, potentially being physically unfit to

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand and Scott Bronstein, CNN A New Mexico judge on Tuesday removed January 6 rioter and Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin from his elected position as a county commissioner for his role in the US Capitol attack. The ruling was the result of a lawsuit seeking Griffin’s removal, which alleged

By Betsy Klein and Jeremy Diamond, CNN President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged his Cabinet secretaries to swiftly implement key pieces of legislation as he seized the opportunity to tout his administration’s recent legislative successes just two months before the midterm elections. Tuesday’s meeting was the first time Biden’s Cabinet had assembled since March and

By Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand and Katie Bo Lillis, CNN Russia is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use on the battlefield in Ukraine, a US official tells CNN. The purchase indicates that the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN An elderly American wrongfully held in Iran for more than six years must undergo urgent surgery “to clear life-threatening blockages in his left internal carotid artery,” his family said Monday. Baquer Namazi, 85, and his son, Siamak Namazi are both considered wrongfully detained by the US State Department, and the elder

By Zachary Cohen and Jason Morris, CNN A Republican county official in Georgia escorted two operatives working with an attorney for former President Donald Trump into the county’s election offices on the same day a voting system there was breached, newly obtained video shows. The breach is now under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of

By Clare Foran, Daniella Diaz and Ted Barrett, CNN Lawmakers are returning to Washington after the August recess for a pre-midterm elections sprint when preventing a government shutdown will be their top legislative item, but positioning before voters go to the polls will be their driving political priority. The political environment has shifted in the

By Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN Texas state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. has voted for anti-abortion legislation more than a dozen times in the last decade. He was one of the state lawmakers who both sponsored and voted for the controversial “Heartbeat Bill,” which criminalized abortion as soon as a fetus’ heartbeat is detected

By Gregory Krieg, CNN Geoff Diehl, a former state lawmaker endorsed by ex-President Donald Trump, will win the Republican nomination for Massachusetts governor, CNN projects, setting up a showdown with Democratic state Attorney General Maura Healey. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s decision not to seek reelection this year upended the Bay State political world, setting off

By Simone Pathe, CNN A lot can change in a couple of months. Democrats now face a midterm environment that looks decidedly brighter than it was in the middle of the summer. There were glimmers of optimism back in July for the party trying to hold on to its narrow Senate majority, in the immediate

By Eric Bradner, Gregory Krieg, Dan Merica, Michael Warren and Jeff Zeleny, CNN The two-month sprint to the midterm elections is set to take place on political terrain that is much less settled than Republicans had hoped it would be, with improving economic news, a raging battle over abortion rights and former President Donald Trump’s

By Mary Kay Mallonee, CNN Leonard Francis, the former military contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who orchestrated the largest corruption scandal in US Navy history, is on the run after escaping house arrest in San Diego by cutting off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet, according to the US Marshals Service. The escape, first reported by