Politics

By Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Joe Kent to a top counterterrorism role, overcoming opposition from Democrats who described the retired Army Green Beret as a conspiracy theorist who has associated with White nationalists and other far-right extremists. Kent will lead the National Counterterrorism Center, which is tasked with analyzing

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — A group of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday pressed for answers from the heads of two private US-based companies whose personnel have worked at the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and who the lawmakers say have been accused of deadly violence against civilians seeking aid in the starving enclave. In a

By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — A senior Trump administration official stated Thursday that President Donald Trump is not currently considering clemency for Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell after the president has repeatedly left the door open on the matter in recent weeks. “No leniency is being given or discussed. That’s just false. The President

By Eva McKend, CNN (CNN) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris will release a book in September about her historic campaign for president. “What the world saw on the campaign trail was only a part of the story,” Harris wrote in a social media post about the book’s release. The book — called “107 Days”

By Gloria Pazmino, CNN New York (CNN) — Zohran Mamdani spent the last hours of his wedding celebration in Uganda huddled remotely with his team after learning of New York’s deadliest mass shooting of the last 25 years. He returned this week to the biggest political test he’s faced since pulling off a stunning victory

By Eva McKend, CNN Virginia Beach, VA (CNN) — At a Filipino restaurant tucked into a strip mall in southeast Virginia, Winsome Earle-Sears stood this week before a crowd of longtime friends and supporters and talked about her background as an immigrant, Marine and Christian conservative. “In no other country is my story even possible,”

By Alayna Treene, Kyle Feldscher, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump was joined by professional athletes on Thursday as he signed an executive order that will expand on his council on sports, fitness and nutrition, including by reviving the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools. The event, which featured golfer Bryson DeChambeau, Kansas City Chiefs

By Sunlen Serfaty, Nayeli Jaramillo-Plata, CNN Washington (CNN) — Andrea Murzello has a doctorate in pharmacy and a stable job at a nonprofit. But she says she can’t afford to grow her family — not under the Trump administration’s latest student loan policy shift. She’s one of nearly 8 million borrowers who will see their

By Kevin Liptak, Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump hasn’t found his recent phone calls with war-entangled leaders encouraging. “Very disappointed,” Trump said of his last conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose war in Ukraine is only escalating, despite Trump’s efforts to end it. “It was sort of disappointing,” Trump said Friday

CNN By Lauren Fox, Katelyn Polantz, Sarah Ferris, CNN (CNN) — Senate Democrats are using an arcane procedural tool to try to force the Department of Justice to release additional files from the Jeffrey Epstein case – the latest gambit to keep the issue front-and-center as lawmakers prepare for their month-long August recess. In a

By Kylie Atwood, Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is targeting Iran’s oil sales by sanctioning a vast shipping empire that is run by the son of a top political adviser to the country’s Supreme Leader, ramping up pressure on Iran following the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last month. “Today, Treasury

By Betsy Klein and Ethan Schenker, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration has reached a multimillion-dollar agreement with Brown University to restore federal funding – its second major deal with an elite university after last week’s $221 million settlement with Columbia University. In return for Brown agreeing to several measures aimed at dismantling certain diversity,

By Nicky Robertson, CNN (CNN) — Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley voted with Democrats Wednesday to advance his bill to ban US lawmakers from stock trading, over the opposition of other Republicans on the panel and drawing the ire of President Donald Trump. The question of whether lawmakers should be allowed to trade stocks has

By Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump is quietly discussing plans to host the 2026 G20 summit, a forum of the world’s largest economies, at his Doral golf club in the Miami area, a White House official told CNN. The idea has been discussed for weeks, the official said. CNN previously spotted an

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday likened the Trump accounts created by Republicans’ massive new domestic policy law to “a backdoor for privatizing Social Security.” Democrats are already launching political attacks. Bessent was discussing the Trump accounts at a Breitbart policy panel. The federal government will contribute $1,000 into

By Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — A former top advisor to Joe Biden forcefully pushed back on the GOP-led House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the former president’s cognitive decline and possible efforts to cover it up, calling the probe an “unprecedented effort” to intimidate the prior administration. In a statement delivered to the committee as

By Angelica Franganillo Diaz (CNN) — Twelve Democratic members of Congress have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawfully obstructing their efforts to visit federal immigration detention centers. The complaint, filed Wednesday in Washington, DC, argues that a new Department of Homeland Security policy that requires seven days’ notice and limits

CNN By Edward-Isaac Dovere, Eva McKend, David Wright, CNN (CNN) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that she would not run for governor of California in 2026, ending questions about her interest in the role but raising new ones about the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee’s plans for the future. “For now, my leadership