Politics

By Haley Britzky and Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — China rejected a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a conference in southeast Asia this week, marking the latest turn in a tumultuous relationship between the two countries’ defense leaders. Austin sought to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, at the ASEAN Defense Ministers’

CNN By Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju and Haley Talbot, CNN (CNN) — A House Republican is pushing to ban transgender women from women’s restrooms at the US Capitol, two weeks after history was made with the election of America’s first out transgender person to Congress. South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace on Monday introduced a resolution

By Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — Attorney General Merrick Garland, nearing the end of his tenure leading the Justice Department, told career prosecutors Monday that they are the “backbone” of the Justice Department and urged them to continue to “uphold the rule of law.” In his first public comments since President-elect Donald

By Mary Kay Mallonee, CNN (CNN) — The former Federal Emergency Management Agency employee who was fired earlier this month after being accused of skipping homes of Donald Trump supporters while providing relief in Florida after Hurricane Milton told CNN on Monday night that she was simply following FEMA protocol. “What I’d like for the

CNN By Mary Kay Mallonee, CNN (CNN) — The former Federal Emergency Management Agency employee who was fired earlier this month after being accused of skipping homes of Donald Trump supporters while providing relief in Florida after Hurricane Milton told CNN on Monday night that she was simply following FEMA protocol. “What I’d like for

By Sarah Ferris and Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — Hakeem Jeffries nearly became House speaker. Instead, he’s steering the Democratic Party through an identity crisis and hoping to avoid an ugly intraparty civil war. Even without the gavel, many Democrats across Washington say House Minority Leader Jeffries — a 54-year-old New Yorker with centrist roots

By Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju and Haley Talbot, CNN (CNN) — A House Republican is pushing to ban transgender women from women’s restrooms at the US Capitol, two weeks after history was made with the election of America’s first out transgender person to Congress. South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace on Monday introduced a resolution to

By Tierney Sneed and Paula Reid, CNN (CNN) — Two women testified to the House Ethics Committee that they were paid for “sexual favors” by former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, a lawyer for the two women told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday. Additionally, one of the women testified to

By Kristen Holmes, Annie Grayer, Sarah Ferris and Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump is doubling down on his efforts to ensure former Rep. Matt Gaetz is confirmed as attorney general, calling some senators directly to discuss the Florida Republican and ask for their support, two sources familiar with the outreach told CNN.

By Arit John and Sarah Ferris, CNN (CNN) — Just two weeks after a bruising presidential election, the race to lead the Democratic Party has begun in earnest, with Minnesota Democratic party chair Ken Martin and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley entering the race this week. Martin and O’Malley have kicked off a roughly three-month

By Kate Sullivan and Alexandra Skores, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday he has selected former congressman and recent Fox Business co-host Sean Duffy to serve as the next secretary of the Department of Transportation. Duffy served in the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019, representing Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. He

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — A Russian man has been extradited from South Korea to the US to face charges in connection with a ransomware gang that allegedly extorted more than $16 million from victims around the world, US prosecutors said Monday. 42-year-old Evgenii Ptitsyn is accused of administering the sale, distribution and operation

By Kayla Tausche, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump is casting a wider net for Treasury secretary after jockeying among his top two candidates sent him looking for an alternative solution, according to multiple people familiar with the process. Trump is now considering Kevin Warsh, a former investment banker and former Federal Reserve governor whom

By Betsy Klein, CNN Washington (CNN) — The Biden administration is sending a roughly $100 billion request to Congress to help Americans impacted by a series of major and record-breaking natural disasters in 2023 and 2024, including Hurricanes Helene and Milton, calling on lawmakers to pass the needed relief with “bipartisan and bicameral support.” It

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration on Monday imposed sanctions on Israel’s largest settlement development organization as part of the latest US actions targeting those fomenting instability in the occupied West Bank. The administration has issued a number of rounds of sanctions after President Joe Biden issued an executive order in February

By Kevin Liptak, CNN Rio de Janeiro (CNN) — Donald Trump’s influence is already causing behind-the-scenes drama as Group of 20 talks are getting underway here this week after one of Trump’s top global allies put up resistance to a joint leaders’ statement, a move diplomats interpreted as meant to curry favor with the incoming

By Paula Reid and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Accounts of parties involving drugs, alcohol and young women that were allegedly attended by President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, are in the hands of House ethics investigators under pressure to release its findings on the former Florida congressman. The evidence related to

CNN Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump is refusing to back down over his Cabinet picks in the first clash in an epic battle he will wage against Washington when he takes office next year. The coming days will show whether Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.