National Politics

By Alejandra Jaramillo, Kevin Liptak and Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump took a victory lap in Las Vegas on Saturday, basking both in his presidential victory in Nevada last year and the rapid-pace action of his first week in office. The advertised theme of Trump’s address to supporters was his pledge to

By Katie Bo Lillis, CNN (CNN) — The CIA now assesses the virus that causes Covid-19 more likely originated from an accidental lab leak in China, rather than occurring naturally, according to a statement from the agency Saturday, just days after Director John Ratcliffe took the reins. The agency has for years said it did

CNN By Kevin Liptak and Jeff Zeleny, CNN Washington (CNN) — It was as if he’d never left. The Oval Office that President Donald Trump begrudgingly departed four years ago was reassembled in almost identical fashion over the course of a few hours Monday, right down to the cream wool rug with the olive branch

CNN By Clare Foran, Morgan Rimmer, Annie Grayer and Shania Shelton, CNN (CNN) — The Senate voted on Saturday morning to confirm Kristi Noem as President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, installing a longtime Trump ally at the helm of an agency poised to play a central role in the president’s promised immigration crackdown. The

CNN By Manu Raju, Alayna Treene, Morgan Rimmer and Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump fired the inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies in a Friday night purge, according to a Trump administration official, paving the way for him to install his own picks for the independent watchdog roles. Agency

By Manu Raju, Alayna Treene, Morgan Rimmer and Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump fired the inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies in a Friday night purge, according to a Trump administration official, paving the way for him to install his own picks for the independent watchdog roles. Agency inspectors

By Clare Foran, Morgan Rimmer, Annie Grayer and Shania Shelton, CNN (CNN) — The Senate voted on Saturday morning to confirm Kristi Noem as President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, installing a longtime Trump ally at the helm of an agency poised to play a central role in the president’s promised immigration crackdown. The vote

By Curt Devine and Daniel A. Medina, CNN (CNN) — Just as former presidents, foreign dignitaries and industry leaders traveled to Washington this week for the presidential inauguration, so too did another group that occupies a unique place in President Donald Trump’s orbit: his company’s international business partners. Several heads of foreign companies that have

By Haley Britzky, Natasha Bertrand and Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that he and President Donald Trump want to “bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense.” “He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser focused on warfighting, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. That’s it,” he said during his

CNN By Andrew Torgan and Daniel Wine, CNN (CNN) — The richest man on the planet has a new enemy: the humble penny. Elon Musk’s fledgling Department of Government Efficiency wants to eliminate the 1 cent coin, which costs more than 3 cents to produce. Advocates say simply rounding up (or down) to the nearest

By Jeremy Herb, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s termination of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s security detail was just one of the ways in which he’s used his first week in office to carry out the political retribution he vowed to unleash if voters returned him to the White House. With actions big and small, Trump

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration on Friday abruptly halted services for refugees in the United States, including Afghans, according to a memo obtained by CNN, stunning agencies that provide critical support to recent arrivals. It’s a sweeping move that prompted a scramble as refugee advocates tried to interpret the order. The

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — Federal agencies have been told to move to terminate “to the maximum extent allowed by law, all federal diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions” within 60 days, according to a US Office of Personnel Management memo dated Friday. Agencies have until January 31

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The State Department has suspended processing passport applications seeking the gender marker of “X” and will only process and issue passports for people identifying as male or female, according to a department spokesperson. The move aligns with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday that says

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The US State Department has frozen nearly all foreign assistance worldwide, effective immediately, days after President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order Monday to put a hold on such aid for 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a cable, seen by CNN, to all US diplomatic

By Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — Several members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right extremist group, cannot enter Washington, DC, or the grounds of the US Capitol without first receiving court permission, a federal judge said Friday, days after President Donald Trump commuted their prison sentences. The brief order from US District Judge Amit Mehta

By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether states may reject religious charter schools from receiving public funding, agreeing to hear arguments in an appeal out of Oklahoma involving the first such school in the nation. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School applied last year to take part

CNN By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN (CNN) — Until hours before California Gov. Gavin Newsom greeted President Donald Trump with a bro-hug on the Los Angeles tarmac Friday, his advisers had spent the week monitoring new White House advance staffers’ social media accounts, hoping for clues for where Trump was going to talk about the wildfire

By Kaitlan Collins, CNN (CNN) — Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon virtually every convicted rioter at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, including those who beat up members of law enforcement. Without mentioning him by name, Kemp condemned Trump’s broad pardons while also taking a swipe at