CNN – US Politics

By Annie Grayer, Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared Wednesday that the path to a Democratic majority goes through Trump country, with his party seriously battling for seats that the president won by double digits two years ago.But with limited resources, there’s still friction over whether to play it safe,

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — Ken Paxton has publicly said he would “love to have” John Cornyn’s support after their bruising Republican primary runoff in the Texas Senate race. But privately, Paxton has grown frustrated with the outgoing senator’s distance from his campaign.“He’s clearly not helping. He wants me to lose,” the Texas attorney

CNN By Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — The Pentagon said Thursday it will livestream the military’s first firing squad execution in decades, allowing the public to watch as the man who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood is put to death. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in an interview this

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — The federal budget deficit rose to nearly $2 trillion for the past fiscal year, spurred in part by ballooning interest payments and tariff refunds, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.The gap between the revenue the federal government collects and the amount it spends widened by $218 billion, or 12%,

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — Operatives in Iran used OpenAI models and fake personas to help plant news articles critical of the US war against Iran in multiple US media outlets, OpenAI said on Thursday.About a dozen outlets around the world ran roughly 100 articles by seven fake journalists, OpenAI said in a blog

By Tierney Sneed and Jeremy Herb, CNN (CNN) — Over the course of an hour-plus hearing Thursday, US District Judge Timothy Kelly signaled skepticism about the Trump administration’s arguments for allowing President Donald Trump to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.Kelly, who was appointed to the bench in Trump’s first term,

By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN The Kennedy Center plans to name a longtime talent manager who worked with several prominent rock stars from the 1980s and ‘90s to take over artistic programming at Washington’s premier performing arts center and start lining up shows and acts for when it reopens.Rick Canny, who has been working as an

By Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — James Talarico has been absent from the campaign trail over the past 12 days as the Texas Senate race enters a critical stretch, prompting Republicans to open a new line of attack on the Democratic nominee.At a campaign rally in San Antonio Wednesday, Texas attorney general and GOP Senate

By Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — Across the country, Republican groups are running deceptive ads attacking Democratic Senate candidates on the subject of gender surgery for children.CNN reviewed ads that have aired in competitive races in Ohio, Texas, Iowa and South Carolina. They use a variety of false or misleading tactics.In Ohio, two Republican ads

By Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has no plans to strike Iran before the midterm election.“We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd,” Trump declared on Truth Social, adding that

By Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — Vice President JD Vance said Thursday he took issue with anyone seeking financial gain in exchange for access to Trump administration officials after a report claimed Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece, sought funds and offered access to top administration officials ahead of her confirmation.“Obviously I don’t love

By Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is suspending Microsoft and some other companies from seeking permanent residency for foreign workers hired through the H-1B visa program, accusing them of taking advantage of the process so that they could replace American citizens with cheaper labor from abroad.Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee in the increasingly competitive race for Senate in South Carolina, is pushing back in a new TV ad after President Donald Trump disparaged her with an anti-transgender slur.In the 30-second spot, Andrews speaks to the camera, wearing a white lab coat with a stethoscope

By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN (CNN) — Widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the country has opened up a prime Senate pickup opportunity for Democrats in Ohio and made for a razor-thin contest in Iowa, according to new CNN polls conducted by SSRS.President Donald Trump carried both states by double digits in 2024, and Republicans currently

By Priscilla Alvarez, Michael Williams, CNN (CNN) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership told agents nationwide on Tuesday to increase immigration arrests by 1,000 more people daily, returning to a previous goal of 3,000 daily arrests, according to two sources familiar with the verbal directive.It’s the latest sign of ongoing pressure on agents as the

CNN By Betsy Klein, CNN San Antonio (CNN) — President Donald Trump made his third trip to Texas in less than a month Wednesday, attacking Democrats and warning about illegal immigration as he stumped for a Senate candidate who’s privately questioned his political capital and whom the president has publicly insulted in personal terms. Such

CNN By Betsy Klein, CNN San Antonio (CNN) — President Donald Trump made his third trip to Texas in less than a month Wednesday, attacking Democrats and warning about illegal immigration as he stumped for a Senate candidate who’s privately questioned his political capital and whom the president has publicly insulted in personal terms. Such

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump’s shadow looms over every contest in November’s midterm elections — but on an Iowa debate stage Wednesday night, the president’s name was rarely mentioned.The two candidates battling for Iowa’s Senate seat, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek, kept their sometimes sharp disagreements on

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Many older Americans are finding it even harder to keep up with the ever-rising cost of living these days.If this is true for you, tell us more about it in the form below:The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — Former President Barack Obama is set to hit the campaign trail for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed later this month, years after El-Sayed criticized Obama’s presidency at times as a failure, saying it left the country no “better off.”In comments reviewed by CNN’s KFile from Obama’s 2012 reelection

By Evan Perez, Hannah Rabinowitz, Kara Scannell, Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — Prosecutors in New York brought new charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Thursday over the alleged torture of Americans and others who were held in Venezuelan government custody in recent years.They each face an additional charge

By Betsy Klein, CNN San Antonio (CNN) — President Donald Trump made his third trip to Texas in less than a month Wednesday, attacking Democrats and warning about illegal immigration as he stumped for a Senate candidate who’s privately questioned his political capital and whom the president has publicly insulted in personal terms.Such is the

By Alayna Treene, Kristen Holmes, Dana Bash, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday distanced himself from two of his top political advisers — less than 30 days before the midterm elections — writing that if their outside work presents a conflict, “I will terminate them, immediately!”Trump’s warning came after The New York Times

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan, is breaking with President Donald Trump over his tariffs on Canada in a new advertisement.“Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war — now,” Rogers says in the 30-second spot. “As

By Gabe Cohen, Jeremy Herb, Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security’s sweeping election-fraud operation has drawn on tens of millions of records, scrutinized dozens of nonprofit voter-registration groups and considered deploying undercover agents to investigate organizations suspected of helping noncitizens register to vote, according to newly obtained internal documents.The 166 pages

By Jeremy Herb, Gabe Cohen, CNN (CNN) — If someone tries to firebomb a ballot drop box again in Clark County, Washington, election officials will know about it immediately.That’s because after about 500 ballots were damaged in 2024 by an assailant who set fire to drop boxes with an explosive device containing thermite, the county

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — GOP Sen. Susan Collins and her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, sparred over President Donald Trump and abortion rights in their first debate Tuesday night in Maine’s all-important Senate race with control of the chamber at stake.Appearing in Portland, the state’s largest city, the two had a spirited — but

By Adam Cancryn, Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, Sarah Owermohle, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is struggling to get clear answers about the death of a Russian laboratory worker at an institute dedicated to studying the plague and has formally escalated its request for information from the country, amid days of stonewalling from Russian officials

By Associated Press (CNN) — A former senior CIA official pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Virginia to a charge that he abused his position and government funds to enrich himself by acquiring Florida real estate and hundreds of gold bars worth over $40 million, according to court records.David J. Rush fabricated a “highly classified” government