Politics

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN State and federal officials, along with voting rights advocates, are sounding the alarm about a growing exodus of local election officials as the November midterms draw closer and workers face continued threats and harassment. In Kentucky, 23 of the state’s 120 county election clerks have opted not to seek reelection this

By Daniella Diaz and Jessica Dean, CNN House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday called on President Joe Biden to apologize for invoking fascism to describe the ideology of former President Donald Trump and his supporters. McCarthy made the remarks during a prebuttal speech ahead of the President’s prime-time address later in the evening. The

By Alex Rogers, CNN National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott pushed back on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for acknowledging last month that “candidate quality” could hurt the party’s ability to take back the chamber. On Thursday, Politico published an interview with Scott saying that he and McConnell have a “strategic disagreement” over the

By Oren Liebermann, Ellie Kaufman and Barbara Starr, CNN Reports of sexual assault in the US military jumped 13% from the previous fiscal year, driven by a sharp increase in reports from the US Army at a time when the service is already struggling to meet recruiting goals. In the Army, reports of sexual assault

By Ella Nilsen, CNN California state lawmakers worked late into Wednesday night to pass an aggressive climate legislation package, including $54 billion in new spending on clean energy and drought resilience measures, and a bill to stop the planned closure of the state’s last nuclear plant. The legislative action comes as California and other Western

By Holmes Lybrand Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina must appear before the Georgia special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge ruled Thursday, but the scope of his testimony will be limited. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the investigation into former President Donald

By Kevin Liptak, Phil Mattingly and Kaitlan Collins, CNN President Joe Biden delivered his sharpest rebuke yet of Republicans and their fealty to his predecessor in an evening speech in Philadelphia on Thursday, alleging they “thrive on chaos” and warning their attempts to undermine democracy could devolve into violence. “They live not in the light

By Barbara Starr, Jennifer Hansler, Katie Bo Lillis and Ellie Kaufman, CNN An 83-year-old American nun from Louisiana who was held hostage by terrorists in Burkina Faso for almost five months was released on Monday. Sister Suellen Tennyson was released from the custody of terrorists to Nigeriens (Niger borders Burkina Faso) then turned over to

By Evan Perez, CNN Justice Correspondent Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his former deputy Patrick Philbin are expected to appear Friday before a grand jury in Washington, DC, that’s investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and the events leading up to it, a person familiar with the matter tells

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN A lawyer with close ties to the right-wing militia group the Oath Keepers has been charged with four counts related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, including conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the electoral college vote that day. Kellye SoRelle, an attorney who volunteered for Lawyers for Trump

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN The Biden administration is pivoting to a long-term strategy to assist Afghans who worked with or on behalf of the US government, according to a senior administration official. Last year, amid the evacuation out of Afghanistan, the administration stood up “Operation Allies Welcome,” a whole-of-government effort to resettle Afghans to the

By Eric Bradner, CNN Sarah Palin’s loss in Alaska’s special election for its lone House seat on Wednesday was in part the result of a flawed candidate facing an electorate she had angered 13 years earlier, in a state with a ranked-choice voting system that gave Republican voters other options. Palin, the Republican former governor

By Daniel Dale, CNN Former President Donald Trump and his representatives have offered up a dizzying flurry of defenses in the wake of the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in early August — and some of their claims are false, uncorroborated or sharply disputed. Here is a look at the facts, as

By Tierney Sneed, CNN After an explosive court brief and picture of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago earlier this week, the Justice Department will argue in court Thursday against a request by former President Donald Trump that a so-called special master be appointed in to review the evidence the FBI seized at his Florida resort last