Skip to Content

CNN US Politics

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on January 22 in Washington

Takeaways from former special counsel Jack Smith’s public hearing

By Marshall Cohen, CNN (CNN) — Former special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two now-defunct criminal cases against President Donald Trump, defended the integrity of his investigation during a combative hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill. Making his first public appearance before lawmakers, Smith pushed back against Trump’s claims that he was a crooked prosecutor during

Continue Reading
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook (R) and attorney Abbe Lowell leave the U.S. Supreme Court on January 21 in Washington

Takeaways: Supreme Court signals it will defy Trump to keep Lisa Cook on Federal Reserve

By John Fritze, Devan Cole, Bryan Mena, Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court signaled deep skepticism Wednesday that President Donald Trump had the authority to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve, with several conservative justices joining their liberal colleagues in posing pointed questions of the lawyer defending the president. By the end

Continue Reading
President Donald Trump gestures as he boarded Air Force One hoping to leave Washington for Switzerland on Tuesday in Joint Base Andrews

Electrical issue that grounded Trump’s flight raises questions about aging Air Force One aircraft

By Alexandra Skores, CNN (CNN) — The “electrical issue” aboard Air Force One Tuesday night that forced President Donald Trump’s Europe-bound plane to turn back is raising troubling questions about the age of the decades-old aircraft flying the president. The Air Force has long been working to upgrade the aging fleet, and Trump has been

Continue Reading
President Donald Trump speaks during the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum

Fact check: Trump’s barrage of false claims in Davos about Greenland and NATO

By Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s Wednesday speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland was filled with inaccurate claims – notably including false and misleading statements about NATO and Greenland, the self-governing Danish territory he is pushing for the US to acquire. Trump also repeated numerous long-debunked false claims about foreign

Continue Reading
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at the USA House during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos

Treasury Secretary Bessent says Denmark and its investment in the US are ‘irrelevant’

By Kaanita Iyer, David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday offered some biting words about Denmark, which maintains territorial control over Greenland, after the European country’s pension fund announced it would unwind its investment in US government bonds. Bessent said in response that Denmark and its investment in the United States

Continue Reading
A Social Security Administration office in Washington

DOGE shared Social Security data to unauthorized server, according to court filing

By Tami Luhby, Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — A Department of Government Efficiency employee shared Social Security data without agency officials’ knowledge and in violation of security protocols, the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday. The Social Security Administration is still unable to determine what information was shared through a third-party server that’s

Continue Reading
Michele Tafoya at Fox News Channel Studios in April 2024

Michele Tafoya, a longtime sportscaster, launches a Republican bid for US Senate in Minnesota

By David Wright, CNN (CNN) — Michele Tafoya, a longtime sportscaster and conservative commentator, has officially announced she will run for US Senate in Minnesota, giving the Republican Party a well-known candidate in a state that’s being roiled by the ongoing federal immigration crackdown. In a video announcing her campaign launch on Wednesday morning, Tafoya

Continue Reading
US Rep. Ilhan Omar speaks with reporters after visiting with immigrations officials at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building after in Minneapolis

Exclusive: Justice Department leadership pushed FBI to investigate campaign contributions to Minnesota officials

By Katelyn Polantz, Evan Perez, David Wright, CNN (CNN) — Top Justice Department officials pushed the FBI to investigate political campaigns in Minnesota over whether they illegally benefited from fraud in public service organizations, according to two people familiar with the internal discussions. Some of the Justice Department’s interest, according to one of the sources, comes

Continue Reading
A federal judge on Tuesday ripped into Lindsey Halligan

Lindsey Halligan departs Justice Department hours after Trump-appointed federal judge calls her leadership a ‘charade’

By Devan Cole, Kristen Holmes (CNN) — Lindsey Halligan, President Donald Trump’s handpicked interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, left her position at the Justice Department Tuesday, marking an end to her turbulent tenure bringing cases against the president’s political enemies. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Halligan’s exit in a post on

Continue Reading
Kathy Ruemmler

New court doc asserts former Obama WH counsel advised Jeffrey Epstein during critical reputational and legal battles

By Em Steck, Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — A recently unsealed federal court filing suggests that Kathy Ruemmler, a former White House counsel to President Barack Obama and now the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, acted as a key legal adviser to Jeffrey Epstein during some of his most perilous moments, raising questions about her

Continue Reading
Rep. Julia Letlow attends a discussion on the Parents Bill of Rights Act at the US Capitol in March 2023.

With Trump’s backing, Rep. Julia Letlow launches a primary challenge against Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy

By Arlette Saenz, Sarah Ferris, Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Republican Rep. Julia Letlow has launched a run for US Senate in Louisiana, taking advantage of President Donald Trump’s endorsement to launch a primary battle against incumbent GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, a source familiar with the matter said. Letlow was elected to the House in

Continue Reading
National Guard members stand guard in Brooklyn Center

Recruiter pitches joining the military to Minneapolis high school students to protect their families from ICE

By Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — A military recruiter in Minnesota, pointing to fears over the ongoing ICE operations in Minneapolis, promoted joining the National Guard to high school students highlighting a program that can offer the immediate family of service members some protection against deportation. The email, sent last week with the subject line

Continue Reading
President Donald Trump walks onto the field with Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland

Trump vows executive order to protect Army-Navy game from competing football broadcasts

By Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump said he plans to sign an executive order aimed at preventing any football games from competing with the annual Army-Navy matchup, seeking to preserve what he described as one of the country’s most cherished sporting traditions. The announcement Saturday night signaled an unusually direct effort by

Continue Reading
An army recruiter waits for the next visitor after he gave a tour of a Humvee to  fair goers at the Ocean County Fair in Bayville

Pentagon pauses HIV-positive recruit training while signaling it may soon reinstate a ban on their enlistment

By Haley Britzky, Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — The Pentagon has ordered the military command that processes new recruits to hold off on initial training for people who are HIV-positive and recently joined the military, CNN has learned, saying that a decision on reinstating a Defense Department ban on their enlistment is “expected in the

Continue Reading