Politics

By Steve Contorno, CNN Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democrat Charlie Crist went toe-to-toe on abortion, Hurricane Ian response, the state’s ongoing culture wars and the rising Republican’s future political ambitions in an hour-long debate that produced a handful of notable moments that may just yet fire up Democrats in this state. Down in the

By Eric Bradner, CNN Fifteen days from the midterm elections, new CNN polls in battleground states show that the issue at the front of voters’ minds is the economy and inflation — a reality that could tilt the outcome of key races with Democrats’ narrow House and Senate majorities in the balance. A similar political

By Kara Scannell The Trump Organization tax fraud trial in Manhattan got underway Monday to start a process lawyers hope can result in an impartial jury seated by the end of the week. The judge swore in a panel of 130 prospective jurors Monday morning and by lunch had dismissed nearly half of them over

By Tierney Sneed The Justice Department told an appeals court Monday that the Biden administration should be allowed to carry out its student debt relief program while litigation over the policy plays out. In a new brief filed with the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering a challenge to the program brought

By Holmes Lybrand and Weslan Hansen, CNN Michael Riley, a former US Capitol Police officer charged with obstructing the Justice Department’s probe into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, testified at his trial Monday. During nearly four hours of testimony, Riley told jurors he was “duped” by someone who he was trying

By Sonia Moghe, CNN Former Donald Trump adviser Tom Barrack testified Monday that he was not aware that an Emirati businessman was operating in the United States on behalf of the United Arab Emirates government, as prosecutors allege. Barrack’s attorney Michael Schachter questioned him about meeting Rashid Al Malik, an Emirati who allegedly fled the

By Melanie Zanona and Alex Rogers, CNN The House Democrats’ campaign arm is swooping in to defend its chairman, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who is facing a competitive reelection race in New York’s 17th Congressional District after Republicans spent millions to attack him. With just two weeks left until the midterm elections, the Democratic Congressional

By Maegan Vazquez and Sam Fossum, CNN The White House promised President Joe Biden would be spending more time on the campaign trail ahead of next month’s midterm elections following a speech in which he delivered his “closing argument” to a room full of Democratic staffers in Washington. After being asked by CNN’s Jeremy Diamond

By Paul LeBlanc and Sean Lyngaas, CNN Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday vowed that the US Justice Department “will not permit voters to be intimidated” during November’s midterm elections. “The Justice Department has an obligation to guarantee a free and fair vote by everyone who’s qualified to vote and will not permit voters to

By Daniel Dale, CNN President Joe Biden falsely claimed last week that he got his student debt forgiveness initiative passed by Congress. During an on-camera discussion conducted by progressive organization NowThis News and published online on Sunday, Biden told young activists that they “probably are aware, I just signed a law” that is being challenged

By Kate Bennett, CNN President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden planted a ceremonial elm tree Monday afternoon at the White House South Lawn in honor of Dale Haney, superintendent of the White House grounds, who earlier this month celebrated 50 years working at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. After walking down from the south

By Kevin Liptak, CNN More than two dozen liberal House members are calling on President Joe Biden to shift course in his Ukraine strategy and pursue direct diplomacy with Russia to bring the months-long conflict to an end. In a letter sent to Biden on Monday, the group of 30 Democrats praise Biden’s efforts to

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN The Justice Department announced charges Monday against six Chinese citizens, including five alleged spies, accused of working on behalf of the Chinese government to recruit US citizens as sources and undermine the federal prosecution against a major Chinese company. According to charging documents, the Chinese telecommunications company was facing federal prosecution

By Melissa Holzberg DePalo and Ethan Cohen, CNN Nearly 7.3 million ballots have already been cast across 39 states, according to data from election officials, Edison Research and Catalist. Pre-election voting remains on pace with 2018, the highest midterm voter turnout in recent history, across the states where Catalist has data for both cycles. However,