CNN – US Politics

By Kaanita Iyer, Matt Stiles, CNN (CNN) — Within weeks of retaking the White House, President Donald Trump boasted that he had “brought free speech back to America.” But since then, he has tested the limits of the First Amendment time and again, stoking alarm among civil rights experts and his critics. The First Amendment

By Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would be issuing checks to members of the United States military for $1,776 – in honor of the country’s founding – calling the payment the “Warrior Dividend.” “1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call, warrior dividend before Christmas. A

By Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump made a series of false claims during his prime-time address from the White House on Wednesday night, most of which have been debunked before. Here is a fact check of some of his assertions. Inflation and the economy Inflation under Trump: Near the end of the

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — The US military conducted a strike against another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing 4 people, according to US Southern Command. “On Dec. 17, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a

By Ellis Kim, CNN (CNN) — The House on Wednesday voted to pass a bill that could imprison health care providers for providing gender-affirming care for minors. The bill — titled the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” and sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — would make it a class C felony to treat

By Sarah Ferris, Tami Luhby, Ellis Kim, CNN (CNN) — House Republicans on Wednesday approved a narrow package designed to lower health care costs for some Americans in the coming years – marking a win for leadership even as some of their own members complain it falls woefully short of tackling rising prices in 2026.

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, is making another effort at overturning her conviction for child sex trafficking and other crimes, with new court filings Wednesday claiming evidence has emerged showing that she did not receive a fair trial. Maxwell’s latest maneuver faces extremely long odds and

By Pete Muntean, Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — The US government now admits failures by the pilots of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a controller in the Reagan National Airport tower during the January 29 midair collision over the Potomac River that killed 67 people. The new admission is part of court documents filed

By Angélica Franganillo Díaz, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement from enforcing new rules limiting congressional oversight visits, finding that Democratic lawmakers are likely to succeed in their claim that the policy violates federal law governing congressional access to detention facilities. Judge Jia M. Cobb granted

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — A retired Tennessee law enforcement officer was held in jail for more than a month this fall after police arrested him over a Facebook post of a meme related to the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Prosecutors eventually dropped the criminal charge brought against Larry Bushart, but

By Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — On Sunday morning, as investigators rushed to prepare a search warrant for a hotel room in Coventry, Rhode Island, FBI Director Kash Patel broke the news on social media celebrating that a person of interest had been detained in the Brown University mass shooting. Around the same time, Providence

By Alejandra Jaramillo, Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — The White House has installed plaques along President Donald Trump’s “Presidential Walk of Fame,” offering descriptions of his predecessors, often written in the style of his social media posts — including insults, baseless claims and random capitalization. A plaque at the front of the exhibit, which lines

By Jason Morris, CNN (CNN) — A defiant Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testified Wednesday before an investigative Georgia state Senate committee. The committee scrutinized her prosecution of President Donald Trump and multiple codefendants, at one point briefly cutting Willis’ microphone when she testified beyond the question she was asked. “Let me tell you

CNN By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — A bloc of House GOP centrists just made the ultimate hardball play against Speaker Mike Johnson — agreeing to help Democrats effectively seize control of the Republican agenda by forcing a vote on their own bill on the looming Obamacare subsidies cliff. The stunning blow to

By Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — Rep. Sarah McBride on Wednesday criticized congressional Republicans as being “obsessed with trans people” ahead of a vote on bills that would restrict youth access to gender identity care and penalize health workers who provide it. “I actually think they think more about trans people than trans people think

By Morgan Rimmer, CNN (CNN) — The Senate passed the annual defense policy bill, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate voted overwhelmingly, 77-20, to approve the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes nearly $900 billion in funding for military programs, including a 3.8% pay raise

By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — A new trailer previewing Melania Trump’s eponymous documentary offers more questions than answers about the relationship between President Donald Trump and the first lady. “Hi Mr. President. Congratulations,” Melania Trump says brightly, standing with her back to the camera, as she looks out at the Manhattan skyline in a

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — A federal appeals court is letting President Donald Trump continue his deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital. In a unanimous decision issued Wednesday by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, the court indefinitely paused a lower court order that had required Trump to remove thousands of