National Politics

Six US oil executives who traveled to Venezuela in 2017 and were arrested on corruption charges have been found guilty, according to a person familiar with the case. CITGO employees Tomeu Vadell, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Alirio Jose Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano and Jose Angel Pereira were sentenced to between 8 and 13 years, the

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the State Department would “honor” the Trump administration’s “promise” earlier this week to begin the transition with the incoming Biden administration, weeks after suggesting the President would win a second term. “Those things that are required that the President has directed us to do in compliance with the decision

President Donald Trump said for the first time Thursday he will leave office if the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden but made clear he’s not prepared to concede. “Certainly I will, and you know that,” Trump said when asked by a reporter about leaving the White House if Biden is declared the winner

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that a Supreme Court ruling siding with religious organizations in a dispute over Covid-19 restrictions he put in place was in essence the court “making a statement that it’s a different court.” He also noted that while the current dispute was pending, he had lifted some of the

In a 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court sided with religious organizations in a dispute over Covid-19 restrictions put in place by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo limiting the number of people attending religious services. The case is the latest pitting religious groups against city and state officials seeking to stop the spread of Covid-19,

President-elect Joe Biden and his team will soon have to decide whether to share transcripts of presidential calls with foreign leaders to a broad, security clearance-holding audience, or maintain a lockdown on official transcripts of the calls and other highly sensitive information imposed by the Trump administration over concerns they might be leaked. A person

Several high profile members of the Defense Policy Board were removed on Wednesday by the Trump administration, in yet another purge of longstanding foreign policy experts and national security establishment figures in the final days of the Trump era, according to three defense officials. Members who were suddenly removed include former Secretaries of State Madeleine

The National Rifle Association says in a tax filing that it became aware of a “significant diversion” of its assets in 2019 and previous years, and that its current president has paid back nearly $300,000 plus interest in funds for the expenses, according to the filings. CNN obtained the NRA’s 990 tax return, which is

When President-elect Joe Biden formally introduced members of his national security team on Tuesday, there were significant gaps on stage: proposed leaders for the Pentagon and the CIA. At both agencies, Biden is considering contenders with deep experience in their fields and a track record in Washington — but some of his candidates are also

President Donald Trump’s annual Thanksgiving proclamation calls for Americans to “gather” for the holiday, even though federal public health officials have explicitly warned against it. The final line of the proclamation, issued by the White House press secretary’s office Wednesday evening, reads: “I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to

John Barsa, the acting head of the US Agency for International Development, has tested positive for coronavirus, CNN has learned. “We can confirm that on November 25, Acting Deputy Administrator John Barsa tested positive for COVID-19 after receiving a rapid diagnostic test,” acting USAID spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a congratulatory message to President-elect Joe Biden, more than two weeks after the Democratic candidate was projected the winner of the US presidential election. “Promoting the healthy and stable development of China-US relations is not only in the fundamental interests of both peoples, but also meets the common

It’s been a hard four years for many career government servants. Their expertise was set aside for President Donald Trump’s flashy political appointees, and their fellow professionals were marginalized, derided as “Deep State’ interlopers and even fired. But President-elect Joe Biden’s early picks for top positions are giving hope to career professionals throughout government —

President Donald Trump announced in a tweet Wednesday that he has granted his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, a “full pardon,” wiping away the guilty plea of the intelligence official, lobbyist and conservative fringe darling for lying to the FBI. The pardon, coming as Trump enters his last days as President, bookends his four

A CIA officer was killed in Somalia last weekend, according to a former senior administration official with knowledge of the matter. The officer was wounded in an operation in the country and later died, the source said. The identity of the officer has not been made public but the source said the officer was a

The Justice Department is appealing a court ruling that denied its move to substitute itself for President Donald Trump as the defendant in the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who has accused the President of raping her. The appeal is a sign that the Justice Department is continuing to

President Donald Trump has invited Republican lawmakers from Pennsylvania to the White House on Wednesday night, following a “hearing” the lawmakers hosted in Gettysburg over baseless allegations of voter fraud in this month’s election that Trump called in to. Trump is expected to meet with them in the West Wing, two sources said. The President

After a battle that spanned nearly 20 years and cost a Canadian mining company close to a billion dollars, the US Army Corps of Engineers has decided to deny a permit to blast open Pebble Mine near the salmon-rich headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska. Northern Dynasty Minerals’ plan to create the biggest gold, copper and

A cross-country lobbying campaign for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris‘ Senate seat has pitted factions divided by race, gender and geography against one another and heightened internal tensions within at least one influential caucus on Capitol Hill. Prominent African Americans officials would like California Gov. Gavin Newsom to pick Reps. Karen Bass or Barbara Lee to

President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday urged Americans to recommit to fighting the deadly coronavirus pandemic in a Thanksgiving address ahead of the holiday. “I know the country’s grown weary of the fight. But we need to remember, we’re at war with the virus, not with one another. Not with each other. This is the moment