Politics

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN Reporter, Crime and Justice The first trial for a January 6 US Capitol attack defendant won’t have any members of the public, media or even the wife of the defendant in the courtroom to witness much of the proceedings, a federal judge decided on Monday. Judge Dabney Friedrich decided not to

By Jamie Gangel and Ariane de Vogue, CNN The Biden White House is getting a major endorsement for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson from a prominent conservative. In a statement obtained exclusively by CNN, retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, considered a luminary in conservative legal circles, enthusiastically endorsed Jackson, describing her as

By Nikki Carvajal, Jeremy Diamond, Kevin Liptak and Kate Sullivan, CNN The US is taking immediate action on Monday to prohibit American dollar transactions with the Russian central bank and fully block the Russian direct investment fund, senior administration officials said, an aggressive move that aims at some of Russia’s most powerful means of mitigating

By Jennifer Agiesta and Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN Americans overwhelmingly favor increased economic sanctions against Russia and broadly support further action to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but most oppose direct US military action, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. Eighty-three percent of Americans said they favored increased economic sanctions against Russia in

By Katelyn Polantz and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN The sweeping January 6 investigation is headed into a new phase, with the first trial set to begin on Monday. The stakes are undeniably high. The outcome is likely to influence scores of criminal defendants who face similar charges related to the attack on the US Capitol, and

By Eric Bradner, CNN More than an hour after Beto O’Rourke had wrapped up a town hall meeting at Prairie View A&M University, three female students who had waited in a selfie line were trying to teach the former congressman a TikTok dance. O’Rourke, the favorite for the Democratic nod in Tuesday’s primary to take

By Rachel Janfaza, CNN Texas Gov. Greg Abbott faces seven Republican opponents in the March 1 Republican primary as he seeks a third term leading the Lone Star State. But he has spent most of his campaign attacking the likely Democratic nominee, Beto O’Rourke. Left-leaning policy proposals pushed by O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, during

By Devan Cole, CNN Former US Attorney General Bill Barr thinks former President Donald Trump “has shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers” of a leader, according to excerpts of his forthcoming book obtained by The Washington Post. “We need leaders not only capable of fighting and ‘punching,’ but also persuading and attracting

By Maeve Reston and Nicole Chavez, CNN Photographs by Tamir Kalifa for CNN As shoppers browsed the market stalls at the Pulga Los Portales in the Rio Grande Valley, Armando Acosta and Albino Zuniga caught up over breakfast before opening their lotería stand, where customers often stop to play the traditional Mexican bingo-style game. Over