Politics

By Oren Liebermann, Haley Britzky, Michael Conte and Nectar Gan, CNN The US is tracking a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon over the continental United States, defense officials said on Thursday, a discovery that risks adding further strain to tense US-China relations. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the US government has been tracking

By Tierney Sneed, CNN A federal law that prohibits people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a conservative-leaning appeals court ruled Thursday. The ruling is the latest significant decision dismantling a gun restriction in the wake of the Supreme Court’s expansion of Second Amendment rights last year in the New

By Oren Liebermann and Kevin Liptak, CNN The US is expected to announce a new Ukraine security package worth approximately $2.2 billion that includes longer-range missiles for the first time, according to multiple US officials. The package, which is expected to be announced in the coming days, will include a commitment to provide Ukraine with

By Haley Britzky, CNN A bipartisan group of senators urged President Joe Biden to delay the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey until Turkey agrees to allow Sweden and Finland to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The letter comes at a time when Sweden and Finland are waiting for Turkey to approve

By Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler, CNN Members of Congress are urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pressure China to do more to curb the flow of fentanyl and synthetic opioids into the United States on his visit to the country which is expected to take place in the next few days. On Wednesday,

By Lauren del Valle, CNN A man in northern New York pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday over sending threatening voicemails to Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last March. Joseph Morelli pleaded guilty to three counts of interstate threatening communications in federal court in Syracuse, New York, according to court records. Morelli, who plainly

By Shawna Mizelle, CNN Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will deliver the Republican response to President Joe Biden‘s upcoming State of the Union address, according to an announcement from GOP congressional leaders. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Thursday that Sanders will give the Republican address to the nation

By Jamie Gangel and Evan Perez, CNN The FBI is expected to search former Vice President Mike Pence’s house in Indiana and office in Washington for additional classified materials soon, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. Pence’s representatives have been in talks with the Justice Department over the searches and have expressed that they

By Haley Britzky, CNN The US has transferred a Guantanamo Bay detainee who was convicted of terrorism offenses in 2012 to Belize, the Pentagon announced on Thursday. Majid Khan, a Pakistani citizen and US resident, who went to high school in Baltimore, was captured in 2003 and was held for more than three years at

By Shania Shelton, CNN Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she will support Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff’s bid for US Senate in California if the state’s longtime senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, decides not to run for reelection next year. “If she decides not to run, I will be supporting House Intelligence Committee Chair

By Daniel Dale, CNN Former President Donald Trump, who is now running for president again, made an inaccurate claim on Wednesday about his successor’s response to the Russian war in Ukraine. Trump said in an online video that President Joe Biden is “now doing what he said 10 months ago would lead to World War

By Shawna Mizelle Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said Thursday that he sees Mitch McConnell’s decision to pull him off the Senate Commerce Committee as retribution for challenging the Kentucky senator’s position as leader of the GOP conference. “He completely opposed me putting out a plan,” Scott said to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, referencing his

By Phil Mattingly, Betsy Klein and Maegan Vazquez, CNN President Joe Biden announced Thursday that his National Economic Council Director Brian Deese plans to step down from his role, a long-awaited confirmation of an expected departure. Biden’s statement did not provide any details on a successor or timing of Deese’s departure, but praised his top

By Betsy Klein and Lauren Fox, CNN President Joe Biden offered an olive branch to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday as he gave an interfaith and bipartisan address to the National Prayer Breakfast, remarks on Capitol Hill that come amid pressing issues including the debt limit, a national conversation on justice and policing and