National Politics

The US Department of Defense is planning to withdraw most support for CIA counter-terror missions by the beginning of next year, in a move expected to have a broad effect on the scope of the intelligence agency’s paramilitary operations, a senior defense official and former senior administration official with direct knowledge of the move told

President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday tapped Denis McDonough to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, adding the longtime chief of staff to former President Barack Obama to his new Cabinet. As VA secretary, McDonough would be inheriting one of the most challenging agencies in the government, so Biden was looking “for a seasoned hand, who

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has fought in the courts for President Donald Trump’s causes before, has emerged as one of the final defenders of the President’s baseless claims of voter fraud in hopes of overturning the election. Paxton on Tuesday brought a lawsuit to the Supreme Court against battleground states Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday that he has met with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team and pledged a smooth transition, a rare recognition of the coming transfer of power from a top member of President Donald Trump’s administration. At a time when the coronavirus pandemic is surging across the nation, Azar

President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Susan Rice to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council, a surprising move that gives the longtime national security veteran major influence over Biden’s “build back better” agenda that is expected to focus on racial injustice, immigration, health care and combating the coronavirus pandemic. Rice, 56, is a veteran foreign

Douglas Emhoff, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ husband, will become a member of Georgetown Law Faculty in January, the law school announced Thursday. Emhoff will serve as a Distinguished Visitor from Practice, teaching related coursework starting with “Entertainment Law Disputes” in the upcoming spring semester, according to a release from the school. That will be a

President-elect Joe Biden will travel to Georgia next Tuesday to headline a rally in support of the Democratic candidates in the state’s US Senate runoff election, the Biden campaign announced Thursday. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are challenging incumbent GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in a pair of races that will determine control

The Trump administration has finalized a regulation that would place more limits on migrants seeking refuge in the United States, the latest in a series of rules that make it exceedingly difficult to claim asylum in the US and serving as yet another example of the challenges an incoming Biden administration will face in undoing

Democrats want Pete Buttigieg to get a post in President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration. But an actual spot for someone seen as a rising star in the party has proved more elusive. Where the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and 2020 Democratic primary candidate could land in a Biden administration has been cause for informed

A growing number of Senate Republicans are ready to publicly acknowledge what’s been widely known for weeks but what they’ve refused to say: Joe Biden won the presidency and will be sworn in on January 20. What they’re less certain about: What President Donald Trump will do after the Electoral College votes on Monday and

The United States is suffering a devastating rise in cases and deaths from the coronavirus and hopes for a return to a more familiar life are pinned on vaccines. US regulators are on the cusp of authorizing a Covid-19 vaccine — possibly as soon as this week. A US Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory

With eight days to go until another spending deadline, the prospects of Congress agreeing to, writing and voting on a massive stimulus proposal before Christmas are slim. A bipartisan group of negotiators is still stuck on how to craft liability protections. Republican leaders are signaling their conference can never support the state and local aid

After going quiet in the months before the election, federal authorities are now actively investigating the business dealings of Hunter Biden, a person with knowledge of the probe said. His father, President-elect Joe Biden, is not implicated. Now that the election is over, the investigation is entering a new phase. Federal prosecutors in Delaware, working

Rep. Eric Swalwell told CNN Wednesday that he was “shocked” when the FBI informed him several years ago that he was targeted by a suspected Chinese intelligence operative as part of a broader effort to establish ties with US politicians, reiterating that he immediately cooperated with federal investigators who were looking into the individual in

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have now certified their presidential results, according to CNN’s tally, as the Electoral College process moves forward with the meeting of electors on Monday. West Virginia became the final state to certify its presidential election results Wednesday, formally declaring that President Donald Trump is entitled to the

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to inch closer to an agreement on a federal coronavirus relief package, but it does not currently include cash payments like the ones sent to more than 160 million Americans earlier in the year. Rather, the proposed deal focuses on unemployment benefits, aid for small businesses and other