Politics

By Steve Contorno and Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake is actively lobbying state lawmakers to overturn a 160-year-old law she once supported that bans abortion in almost all cases, a source with knowledge of her efforts told CNN. Lake is pushing for GOP lawmakers in her home state to

By MJ Lee, CNN Washington (CNN) — Iris Weinstein Haggai received confirmation about her parents’ deaths in quick succession. On December 22, she learned that her father, Gadi, had been killed on October 7. Six days later, word came about her mother Judi: She too, was murdered by Hamas on the day of the attacks.

By Jeremy Herb, CNN (CNN) — Three months ago, Donald Trump took the stand before a jury of nine in a New York courtroom without his typical bombast or ranting. The former president’s complaints about the case and his sparring with the judge took place out of the jury’s sight in the E. Jean Carroll

By Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign sent a letter Thursday to the Commission on Presidential Debates asking for this year’s general election debates to take place “much earlier” and calling for more of them to be added to the schedule. “While the Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced three

By Jason Morris and Sara Murray, CNN (CNN) — A state prosecutor will investigate whether Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones violated criminal law in his efforts to help former President Donald Trump subvert the 2020 election results in the state. Peter Skandalakis, director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, has appointed himself to investigate

By Manu Raju, Ted Barrett and Lauren Fox, CNN Sen. John Cornyn is privately pitching his fundraising prowess as his under-the-radar campaign against Sen. John Thune to be the next GOP leader in the chamber quietly takes shape behind the scenes. Cornyn, a former Senate GOP campaign chairman who hails from donor-rich Texas and has

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The top US humanitarian official said Wednesday it is “credible” to assess that famine is already occurring in parts of Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas continues. Although US officials have been sounding the alarm about the imminent risk of famine in the war-torn strip, USAID Administrator

By Jeff Zeleny and Gregory Krieg, CNN Omaha, Nebraska (CNN) — Omaha is a blue dot in a sea of Nebraska red, which is precisely why Donald Trump and his allies are furiously fighting to change the state’s system of awarding electoral votes in presidential elections. Even after the Nebraska Legislature closed the door on

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — If Catholic Charities of San Antonio doesn’t soon get more federal funding aimed at supporting asylum-seekers, it will have to close its Migrant Resource Center during the evening and overnight hours, which could leave busloads of newly arrived immigrants on the streets. The nonprofit received $55 million from the

By Devan Cole and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration on Thursday moved one step closer to enacting a rule requiring people who sell firearms online and at gun shows to conduct background checks on their potential customers. The finalized rule aims to close what gun control advocates call the “gun show loophole”

By Samantha Waldenberg and Michael Williams, CNN Washington (CNN) — The United States’ commitments to the defense of Japan and the Philippines remain “ironclad,” President Joe Biden said on Thursday as he hosted the leaders of those countries amid their separate territorial disputes with China. The comments came as Biden hosted the first ever trilateral

By Fredreka Schouten and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Republican leaders are encouraging their supporters to vote by mail in this year’s consequential presidential election, even as their party pursues lawsuits and legislation that would make it harder for those votes to count. The Republican National Committee and the Mississippi Republican Party are suing the

By Kylie Atwood, CNN (CNN) — European diplomats in Washington are frantically working to set up meetings with allies of former president Donald Trump as they prepare for his potential return to the White House, sources familiar with the effort tell CNN. At face-to-face sit-downs in private DC clubs, hotels, embassies and think tanks around town, diplomats are asking

By Aaron Pellish, CNN (CNN) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign manager said on Wednesday that New York campaign staff member Rita Palma was fired after she told GOP voters in a meeting last week that preventing President Joe Biden’s victory was her “number one priority” and encouraged them to volunteer for former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. “We terminated

By Cindy Von Quednow and Jack Forrest, CNN (CNN) — The 18-year-old accused of pledging allegiance to ISIS and planning attacks against churches in Idaho pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a federal terrorism charge, according to the court docket. Alexander Scott Mercurio pleaded not guilty to attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign

KXLY, KOOTENAI COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF IDAHO, CNN By Cindy Von Quednow and Jack Forrest, CNN (CNN) — The 18-year-old accused of pledging allegiance to ISIS and planning attacks against churches in Idaho pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a federal terrorism charge, according to the court docket. Alexander Scott Mercurio pleaded

CNN By Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, CNN (CNN) — The Republican National Committee last week sent out a scripted call to voters’ phones on behalf of new co-chair Lara Trump saying Democrats committed “massive fraud” in the 2020 election. It’s the latest example of how the RNC under the former president’s daughter-in-law is perpetuating

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden’s former chief of staff said Tuesday that the president is too focused on infrastructure and should instead prioritize Americans’ economic concerns as he seeks another term, Politico reported. “I think the president is out there too much talking about bridges,” Ron Klain said Tuesday evening, Politico

By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — Former President Bill Clinton, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actor Robert De Niro, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are among the distinguished guests arriving at the White House Wednesday evening for an official state dinner with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The glitzy, black-tie dinner is among the