Politics

By Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — A balloon the US was tracking across the country has now left US airspace and was likely a “hobby balloon,” NORAD said in a statement Saturday. NORAD had initially intercepted the balloon with fighter jets but ultimately continued to track it through ground-based radar systems. “After

By Casey Tolan, Majlie de Puy Kamp and Kyung Lah, CNN (CNN) — A New Orleans street magician who has no fixed address, has never voted and claims to hold a world record in fork bending might seem like an unlikely candidate to be involved in a high-tech political scandal. But on Friday, Paul Carpenter

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — A Wisconsin ethics panel is recommending that local prosecutors pursue criminal charges against one of Donald Trump’s fundraising arms and several other Republican committees that it alleges violated state campaign finance law in an effort to topple a powerful lawmaker who had run afoul of the former president. The Wisconsin Ethics Commission

By Haley Britzky, Sharif Paget and Raja Razek, CNN (CNN) — Two Mississippi National Guardsmen were killed Friday in a military helicopter crash that is under investigation, the Mississippi National Guard said in a news release. The National Guard AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed during a “routine training flight” around 2 p.m. near Booneville, Mississippi, according

By Haley Britzky, Oren Liebermann and Natasha Bertrand, CNN (CNN) — A cargo ship that was struck by a Houthi ballistic missile on Monday has created an 18-mile long oil slick in the Red Sea as it continues to take on water, two US officials said Friday. The M/V Rubymar — a Belize-flagged, UK-registered, Lebanese-owned vessel — was carrying

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom joked Friday that Nikki Haley — the onetime South Carolina governor and the last remaining major rival to Donald Trump in the GOP presidential primary — is a strong surrogate for Democrats. “I think she’s one of our better surrogates,” the Democratic governor said of

By Kara Scannell and Lauren del Valle, CNN (CNN) — A New York judge on Friday formally ordered Donald Trump to pay $454 million, including interest, a move that will give the former president one month to post nearly half a billion dollars to appeal the fraud verdict. Judge Arthur Engoron’s signed judgment was posted to

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge in California said Friday that he believes defense attorneys for Alexander Smirnov may be trying to “facilitate his absconding from the United States.” Smirnov, the former FBI informant indicted for lying about President Joe Biden’s family and their alleged dealings in Ukraine, was released from custody by

By Daniel Strauss and Brian Rokus, CNN (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump said Friday that he supports women having access to in vitro fertilization in response to the Alabama Supreme Court’s IVF ruling and called on Alabama lawmakers to “act quickly to find an immediate solution” to keep the procedure available in the state.

By Daniel Strauss and Kristen Holmes, CNN (CNN) — Even though he hasn’t officially clinched the 2024 Republican nomination for president, Donald Trump has looked to reshape the structure of the national party to better suit his desires for the general election and beyond. The former president has signaled interest to closely syncing the Republican National Committee

By Zachary Cohen, Holmes Lybrand, Nick Valencia and Jason Morris, CNN (CNN) — Lawyers representing the Fulton County district attorney’s office are forcefully pushing back on allegations from former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants that cellphone data suggests the relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her top prosecutor in the Georgia

By Natasha Bertrand and Katie Bo Lillis, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration is struggling to stop the ongoing attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis against ships in the Red Sea and the group is continuing to fortify its weapons stockpile inside Yemen, even though the US has carried out significant strikes on the group in recent weeks, US officials told CNN. “We know

By Jennifer Hansler, Haley Britzky and Donald Judd, CNN (CNN) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday declared that any expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank would be inconsistent with international law – reversing a Trump era position that broke with longstanding US policy. “It’s been longstanding US policy, under Republican and Democratic

By Lauren Fox, Melanie Zanona and Haley Talbot, CNN A number of congressional Republicans running in 2024 are swiftly distancing themselves from a controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling seen as infringing on IVF, the latest obstacle for GOP candidates in the post-Roe era. From House to Senate races, new candidates and incumbents alike are aggressively

By Alison Main, CNN (CNN) — The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips is distancing itself from a consultant who allegedly commissioned a robocall that used artificial intelligence to impersonate President Joe Biden during the New Hampshire primary election. “I’m disgusted that a consultant hired to assist my campaign with ballot access is alleged

By Sam Fossum, Priscilla Alvarez, Kevin Liptak and Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration imposed a fresh slate of sanctions on more than 500 targets on Friday in response to the death of Russian opposition figure and outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny and Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions on the eve of Russia’s two-year war in Ukraine mark the latest move by the administration to

CNN By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant indicted for lying about President Joe Biden’s family and their alleged dealings in Ukraine, has been re-arrested in Nevada. Though prosecutors fought to keep him behind bars, Smirnov was released by Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts in Nevada on Tuesday with several conditions, including GPS

By Aaron Pellish, CNN (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign released this week a new ad attacking former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina GOP primary. But instead of featuring Trump’s voice, it highlighted attacks against Haley levied by Sen. Tim Scott. The ad, which featured Trump’s most prominent surrogate

By Colin McCullough and Shania Shelton, CNN (CNN) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is in Ukraine to reiterate US support for the country and ratchet up pressure on House Republicans back home to pass a foreign aid bill that includes further assistance for Ukraine and Israel. Four other Democratic senators, Jack Reed of Rhode