Politics

By Betsy Klein, Michael Conte and David Shortell, CNN Washington (CNN) — The US has reached an agreement to secure the release of six wrongfully detained Americans and four other Americans held in Venezuela, senior US officials announced Wednesday, The deal will also include the extradition of Leonard Francis, the former military contractor known as

By Lauren Fox and Manu Raju, CNN Senators bolted for the holidays Wednesday — and left behind a mountain of problems for Congress to tackle immediately in January as domestic and international crises mount. In the new year, Congress will have to figure out how to fund the government in a matter of days and

By Paula Reid and Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court has become the ultimate force in the 2024 presidential election as the justices face several disputes over the fate of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. The court has been at the center of several election controversies this century, from deciding the winner itself in

By Kevin Liptak and Michael Williams, CNN Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday his predecessor Donald Trump “certainly supported an insurrection” but that it was up to the courts whether that disqualifies him from running for president. The White House and Biden campaign had previously declined to weigh in on the Colorado Supreme

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — The special counsel’s office can access more than 1,600 communications found on Rep. Scott Perry’s cell phone, including some about his interest in assisting former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a new court decision on Tuesday. The development comes months after special counsel Jack Smith’s

By Ella Nilsen, CNN The Biden administration will open up Wednesday around 73 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for auction to the oil and gas industry, the second massive lease sale this year and its last one scheduled until 2025. A common occurrence under both the Trump and Obama administrations, these auctions have

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s contentious new law have reignited Republican efforts to make border security the focus of the 2024 election – elevating the fight over immigration policy to new heights. The renewed focus on immigration comes at a politically sensitive moment for President Joe Biden, who is negotiating a

By MJ Lee and Kevin Liptak, CNN Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden has privately flashed impatience to his senior advisers as his White House struggles to change public opinion on his economic record ahead of the 2024 election, expressing deep frustration that he can’t show off physical construction of many projects that his signature legislative accomplishments will fund. The president is

By Curt Devine, Audrey Ash, Allison Gordon, Daniel Strauss and Jason Carroll, CNN (CNN) — The Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference often lures a who’s who of GOP power players to Michigan. Wealthy donors shake hands with presidential candidates, who give rousing speeches to packed audiences in hopes of winning the conference’s straw poll. The event is typically

By Morgan Rimmer and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama on Tuesday backed down for a second time this month, allowing the Senate to unanimously confirm 11 remaining top military nominees by voice vote after months of delaying hundreds of confirmations. The move comes weeks after the former football

By Morgan Rimmer, Kristin Wilson and Jack Forrest, CNN (CNN) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a joint statement Tuesday acknowledging that senators will not reach a deal on immigration this week, pushing negotiations over the larger national security package with aid for Ukraine and Israel to early next

By Marshall Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The Colorado Supreme Court made history Tuesday with an unprecedented, freeze-in-your-tracks ruling that former President Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run in 2024 because the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding public office covers his conduct on January 6, 2021. But importantly, in their 4-3 decision, the Colorado justices paused

CNN By Marshall Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The Colorado Supreme Court made history Tuesday with an unprecedented, freeze-in-your-tracks ruling that former President Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run in 2024 because the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding public office covers his conduct on January 6, 2021. But importantly, in their 4-3 decision, the Colorado justices

By Nicole Chavez, CNN (CNN) — A federal appeals court has revived a case brought by four cisgender women in Connecticut over a state policy that allows transgender athletes to participate in sports based on their gender identity. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday the case should return to the district court for consideration. In the 48-page ruling, the court said

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump said Tuesday at a rally in Waterloo, Iowa, that undocumented migrants are “destroying the blood of our country” — the latest anti-immigrant comments from the former president in the sprint to the Iowa caucuses — and pushed back on recent criticism that his rhetoric has echoed Adolf Hitler,

CNN By Kate Sullivan, Jeff Zeleny, Kristen Holmes and Alayna Treene, CNN Waterloo, Iowa (CNN) — As Donald Trump returned to Iowa on Tuesday for the fourth time in less than a month, his campaign is intently focused on turning out supporters who have never attended the state’s caucuses in hopes of building a decisive