Politics

By MJ Lee and Kevin Liptak, CNN The leading explanation among US intelligence officials is that three objects shot down over North America last weekend were balloons being flown for benign purposes, the White House said Tuesday, the furthest the administration has gone in describing the as-yet-unidentified crafts. The three mystery aerial devices have consumed

By Sydney Kashiwagi, CNN South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem on Monday signed a bill into law that will ban both surgical and non-surgical gender-affirming treatments for transgender minors in the state. HB 1080 outlaws the prescription and administration of puberty-blocking medication in patients under the age of 18, as well as sex hormones and

By Steve Contorno, CNN Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will soon have new authority over Disney’s iconic Florida theme parks, leeway to transport migrants from anywhere in the country and fewer hurdles to put people behind bars for voting errors — all top priorities that have animated conservatives who may decide the next Republican nominee for

By Zachary Cohen and Jeremy Herb, CNN The unidentified flying object shot down in Canadian airspace on Saturday appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it,” according to what sources described as a Pentagon memo sent to lawmakers on Monday and obtained by CNN. The memo offers the first official

By Holmes Lybrand and Devan Cole, CNN The man who allegedly assaulted Rep. Angie Craig in her Washington, DC, apartment last week made his initial appearance in federal court Monday. Kendrid Hamlin was charged last week with assaulting a member of Congress. During a brief public hearing at DC District Court, Hamlin did not enter

By Jeremy Diamond and Nicky Robertson, CNN President Joe Biden fired Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton on Monday following allegations that he misused government resources and was not physically present on the Capitol grounds during the January 6, 2021, insurrection, a White House official said. Biden “terminated” Blanton amid bipartisan calls for his

By Katelyn Polantz, Sara Murray and Jason Morris, CNN A judge in Fulton County, Georgia, will make public some parts of a report from a special grand jury that investigated Donald Trump‘s actions after the 2020 election in the state, but not specific charging recommendations. In his order on Monday, Judge Robert C.I. McBurney said

By Manu Raju and Melanie Zanona, CNN The White House and Senate Democrats have calculated that Speaker Kevin McCarthy won’t have enough votes to raise the national borrowing limit and will end up caving to their demands to avoid a first-ever debt default — with no strings attached or any conditions whatsoever. House Republicans are

By MJ Lee and Kevin Liptak, CNN Three airborne objects in North American airspace were shot from the sky by the American military in the span of three days over the weekend at President Joe Biden‘s direction, an unprecedented series of events that is leading to fresh questions about what exactly is transpiring high in

By Terence Burlij and Simone Pathe, CNN The 2024 Senate map presents a daunting challenge for Democrats. Time will tell if it proves to be insurmountable. The party, which currently holds a narrow 51-49 majority, must defend 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs this cycle. That means Republicans need a net gain of

By Paul LeBlanc, CNN It’s been a busy weekend for US fighter jets. The US military shot down another high altitude object over Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, the Pentagon said. Another unidentified object was shot down over northern Canada on Saturday, marking the third time in a week that US fighter jets have taken

By Stephen Collinson, CNN A deepening national security mystery is threatening a political storm after US fighter jets scrambled three days in a row to shoot down a trio of unidentified aerial objects high over the North American continent. The flurry of attacks on the unknown crafts came a week after the highly public tracking

By Paula Reid and Zachary Cohen, CNN One of Donald Trump’s lawyers said Sunday they have completed their searches for classified material at the former president’s properties and handed over what they found to the Justice Department. Timothy Parlatore, who represents Trump in both the special counsel investigation into the former president’s handling of classified

By Aaron Pellish and Evan Perez, CNN A dual US-Jordanian citizen convicted on sedition charges in Jordan is calling on the US government to demand his return to the United States and launching a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment. Bassem Awadallah, a dual US-Jordanian citizen, was arrested in April 2021 and sentenced to 15

By Oren Liebermann, Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand, Arlette Saenz, Phil Mattingly and Haley Britzky, CNN A US F-16 fighter jet shot down another airborne object over Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon at the direction of President Joe Biden, the Pentagon said. Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the object was not assessed to