Politics

By Devan Cole, Tierney Sneed, Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to allow him to build a ballroom at the White House, citing previous threats to Trump’s life, national security needs and architectural values.The emergency request filed Friday comes after lower courts repeatedly ruled that Trump needed approval

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — After years of battling fellow Republicans and helping lead the culture wars in Texas, Ken Paxton is campaigning on tax deductions, appearing with state lawmakers who once voted to impeach him, and openly appealing to the Washington establishment for financial help.It’s all part of Paxton’s efforts to unify his

By Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — Confusion has ensued after the Justice Department decided to, at least for now, not challenge a federal court ruling that struck down federal registration requirements for firearm suppressors, short-barreled rifles and other weapons.The August 5 ruling from the US District Court in the Northern District of Texas is being

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge gave a chilling warning to Justice Department lawyers fighting the further releases of documents tied to Jeffrey Epstein: If they don’t comply with court orders, contempt proceedings could ruin their futures.Judge Emmet Sullivan of the DC District Court has demanded answers from the Justice Department as

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is enlisting private companies to conduct cyberattacks on foreign cybercriminals in a major policy shift that experts say could come with legal risk for the companies.The move gives vetted companies a prominent role in hacking operations that have historically been the dominion of US law enforcement,

By Kit Maher, Holmes Lybrand, Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — A woman has been arrested and charged for vandalizing the World War II memorial in Washington, DC.Melissa L. Farris made her first appearance on the felony charges in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday.The Justice Department wants to keep Farris detained as she awaits

By Kevin Liptak, Alayna Treene, Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — By the time President Donald Trump walked onstage at the end of last month’s NATO summit in Turkey, the plan to spirit him out of the country was already in motion.Earlier that day, American officials had come to the president with alarming information. The Iranians

By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s handpicked board of the Kennedy Center has voted a second time to close the performing arts institution for a two-year renovation, according to two people who were briefed on the decision.The board on Thursday also voted to add an inscription below the Kennedy Center’s sign, saying

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — In his inaugural address to the Justice Department workforce on Thursday, Attorney General Todd Blanche pledged to make the department “more faithful to its highest ideals than when I found it.”Blanche’s speech, delivered in the great hall of the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, was meant to

By Brian Todd, Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — A month after House Republicans failed to pass a veterans health bill, lawmakers are meeting behind closed doors to try to get the legislation back on track. But there’s one key person they haven’t invited to the table: Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.Collins and his team at

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration abruptly declined to renew a contract for a cybersecurity firm it hired to examine voting equipment in Puerto Rico after the company didn’t echo administration officials’ false claims of voter fraud, the firm’s executives said in their first extensive public remarks on the episode.After hearing that

By Pamela Brown, Ross Adkin, CNN (CNN) — A sailor went overboard earlier this month off of the USS Abraham Lincoln, three US officials told CNN, amid reports of worsening mental health for crew members on the ship during an extended deployment for the Iran war.The sailor was rescued within an hour, according to one

KFMB, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, UNITED STATES NAVY, CNN By Pamela Brown, Ross Adkin, CNN (CNN) — A sailor went overboard earlier this month off of the USS Abraham Lincoln, three US officials told CNN, amid reports of worsening mental health for crew members on the ship during an extended deployment for the Iran

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN (CNN) — Rep. Max Miller, the embattled Ohio congressman who is facing an uphill battle to keep his seat following abuse allegations, was sued by his ex-wife on behalf of their 2-year-old daughter Wednesday over the accidental release of a nude image of the child.The civil rights lawsuit, filed by

By Eric Bradner, Jeff Zeleny, CNN (CNN) — One month after he suspended his campaign, David Crowley’s victory in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday marked an astonishing turn around.When the Milwaukee County executive re-entered the race 10 days after he exited it, democratic socialist state lawmaker Francesca Hong’s momentum seemed near insurmountable.But on

By Betsy Klein, Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her role at the end of August, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.The imminent departure of one of the president’s closest allies inside the White House marks a major shakeup for the president’s press operation, with less than three months

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — A former employee of the Southern Poverty Law Center has been arrested in California on charges that she oversaw secret payments to informants inside of White supremacist groups, one of whom she was allegedly living with and had a romantic relationship with at the time.The woman, Heidi

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN (CNN) — A Washington, DC, judge has ordered the Kennedy Center to pay a jazz artist’s legal fees after the performing arts institution sued him for canceling his performance over the addition of President Donald Trump’s name to the venue.On Monday, Judge Tanya M. Jones Bosier awarded performer Chuck Redd —

By Kevin Liptak, CNN Close personal aides joined President Donald Trump aboard a smaller aircraft flying out of Turkey last month after he snuck out of a larger plane, according to a person familiar with the arrangements, while several Cabinet members remained on the legacy Air Force One that flew without him.The aides with Trump

By Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — The leader of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, Sen. Tim Scott, said in a Sunday interview on CNN that people should believe something Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed supposedly said about himself. But Scott took El-Sayed’s quote out of context. So did an attack ad released last week by the

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — The State Department is asking US embassies in the Middle East to create plans to continue operating with a small number of staff on the ground, sources told CNN, as the war with Iran shows no signs of resolution.Additionally, personnel who have been displaced from their posts in the

By Aaron Blake, Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — The Democratic establishment roared back Tuesday in Wisconsin, as the party coalesced at the last minute behind the last moderate standing against democratic socialist Francesca Hong in the primary for governor.Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley — who dropped out of the race last month, only to jump

By Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration on Tuesday finalized a rule that will bar Medicaid from covering gender identity healthcare for children enrolled in the government’s low-income insurance program.The new policy prohibits states from using federal Medicaid funds to pay for any gender identity care for enrollees under 18, marking the administration’s

By Allison Gordon, CNN (CNN) — Dan Cohen sat across the table from a former classmate who had spent years antagonizing him when they were growing up together and playing baseball.The classmate had something he wanted to get off his chest.“He was newly sober and just apologizing for just being mean to me,” Cohen recalled