Politics

By Jennifer Hansler and Christian Sierra, CNN US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday the State Department is facing an “unprecedented demand” for passports, and has increased staffing and resources to deal with it. Blinken said the current wait time for a regular passport is “about ten to thirteen weeks, and for an expedited

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN Republican Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul gave Secretary of State Antony Blinken a deadline of Monday afternoon to turn over a key document related to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan or face a subpoena for the file. The demand for the dissent cable sent by US diplomats

By Maxime Tamsett, Pamela Kirkland and Jack Forrest, CNN Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill Thursday to ban certain gender-affirming care for minors, joining a growing number of GOP-led states looking to restrict the treatments across the country. Senate Bill 140 will bar licensed medical professionals in Georgia from providing patients under the

By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN A 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman who barged into then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison after a federal judge ridiculed the idea she was “a little girl.” Riley Williams was convicted in November of several

By Dan Berman, CNN The judge handling the civil lawsuit of E. Jean Carroll against Donald Trump says jurors’ personal information will be kept confidential and other security measures will be taken to protect them, citing the former president’s history of attacking the legal system. Judge Lewis Kaplan noted Trump’s most recent comments surrounding the

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN US cybersecurity officials are unveiling a new program to warn critical American companies that their systems are vulnerable to ransomware attacks before the hackers can successfully strike. The new federal program — details of which were shared exclusively with CNN — is needed because “the pace and the impact of (ransomware)

By Annie Grayer and Tierney Sneed, CNN The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused House Republicans of launching an “an unprecedent inquiry into a pending local prosecution,” while defending the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged hush money payments to an adult film actress during the 2016 campaign. In a new letter

By Clare Foran and Kristin Wilson, CNN The House of Representatives on Thursday failed to override President Joe Biden’s veto of a measure to overturn a controversial investment rule in a victory for the White House. Biden issued the first veto of his presidency Monday on a resolution to overturn a retirement investment rule that

By Sam Fossum and Phil Mattingly, CNN President Joe Biden will make a long-awaited trip to America’s northern neighbor Thursday evening, a 24-hour whirlwind visit where he will press to elevate a concerted effort to repair a bilateral relationship as the two nations confront growing geopolitical challenges. Despite the brief nature of the trip, White

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst Within days of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memorial service in late September 2020, boxes of her files and other office possessions were moved down to a dark, windowless theater on the Supreme Court‘s ground floor, where – before the ongoing pandemic – tourists could watch a film about court operations. Grieving aides to

By Jeremy Diamond, CNN The White House will disband its coronavirus response team after the Covid-19 public health emergency ends in May, a current and former official said. The team, led most recently by Dr. Ashish Jha, has begun to dwindle in recent months as the administration has started to shift its response to the

By Manu Raju and Lauren Fox, CNN An upbeat Kevin McCarthy left the White House seven weeks ago with a rosy view about the prospects of raising the national debt limit. “We walked away saying we would continue the discussion,” the House speaker said after an hourlong meeting with President Joe Biden. The discussion, in