Politics

By Betsy Klein, CNN Washington (CNN) — First lady Melania Trump is returning to the East Wing bolstered by lessons from four years in an unelected job she has privately acknowledged was a whirlwind of responsibilities of which she was largely unaware. This time, she says, will be different. President Donald Trump and his team

By Donald Judd and Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — Employees in any federal diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices will be placed on paid administrative leave “effective immediately,” according to a post from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Slashing jobs in federal DEI positions is one move in a series of actions taken by

CNN By Alejandra Jaramillo, Aaron Pellish and Donald Judd, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had granted a pardon to Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace. Ulbricht, who was accused of creating the shadowy e-commerce site the Justice Department had described as “the most sophisticated

By Jeremy Herb, Lauren Fox and Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — Pete Hegseth’s former sister-in-law gave an affidavit to the Senate Armed Services Committee accusing him of being “abusive” toward his second ex-wife, according to a copy of the affidavit obtained by CNN. The allegations against Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary,

By Alejandra Jaramillo, Aaron Pellish and Donald Judd, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had granted a pardon to Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace. Ulbricht, who was accused of creating the shadowy e-commerce site the Justice Department had described as “the most sophisticated and

By Evan Perez, Zachary Cohen and Katie Bo Lillis, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump is granting temporary, six-month security clearances to incoming White House officials who have not completed the vetting process typically required before being allowed to access highly-classified information, blaming a backlog of background checks that he helped cause. It’s a move

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Evan Perez and Kara Scannell, CNN (CNN) — New leaders at the Justice Department, which has been a center of President Donald Trump’s ire, have moved quickly to reassign at least 20 career officials, effectively sidelining them from senior-level positions where they’ve worked for years, according to multiple sources briefed on the

By Jeremy Herb, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s political retribution tour began this week with firings of his perceived enemies inside the federal government, the targeting of former intelligence and national security officials and a directive to investigate actions by the Biden administration. Trump and his team wasted little

CNN By Jeremy Herb, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s political retribution tour began this week with firings of his perceived enemies inside the federal government, the targeting of former intelligence and national security officials and a directive to investigate actions by the Biden administration. Trump and his team wasted

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN Washington (CNN) — Federal immigration authorities will be permitted to arrest people and carry out enforcement actions in and near places such as churches and schools, marking a departure from long-standing policy to avoid so-called sensitive areas. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman announced the end of two directives in a

By Lauren Fox, CNN Washington (CNN) — Republican senators struggled to defend Donald Trump’s decision to commute and pardon hundreds of January 6 protesters, including those who were charged and convicted of crimes against police officers, just hours after the president entered office Monday. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, who has warned

CNN By Lauren Fox, CNN Washington (CNN) — Republican senators struggled to defend Donald Trump’s decision to commute and pardon hundreds of January 6 protesters, including those who were charged and convicted of crimes against police officers, just hours after the president entered office Monday. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, who has

By Kaitlan Collins, CNN Washington (CNN) — Within hours of taking office, President Donald Trump terminated the Secret Service detail that was assigned to his former national security adviser John Bolton, Bolton confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. Bolton, who left the Trump White House in November 2019, has required ongoing US Secret Service protection because

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN Washington (CNN) — The US-Mexico border is effectively closed off to migrants seeking asylum in the United States within hours of President Donald Trump taking office, an extraordinary departure from previous protocols that has left many concerned migrants in limbo. It’s a rare combination of two policies — one from former

CNN By Devan Cole, Kara Scannell, Priscilla Alvarez and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Two dozen Democratic-led states and cities are challenging President Donald Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship in court, a major constitutional challenge to one of the White House’s signature policies. The lawsuits allege that a Trump executive order signed Monday violates

By Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump has missed his deadline for ending the war in Ukraine. Of course, no one truly believed Trump would be able end the grinding, three-year conflict in 24 hours, as he implausibly promised repeatedly as a candidate. Even his new special envoy to Ukraine has asked for

By Natasha Bertrand, CNN (CNN) — The commandant of the US Coast Guard has been removed from her position over “leadership deficiencies” and “operational failures,” a Department of Homeland Security official confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. In a list of reasons “supporting her immediate removal,” the official cited Adm. Linda Fagan’s “failure to address border