Politics

By Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — In a matter of days this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dragged lawmakers to Tallahassee, handed them an aggressively gerrymandered congressional map, strong-armed the Republican-controlled legislature into backing it and tilted the midterm battlefield toward his party. It was a familiar display of the raw political power that DeSantis

By Brad Lendon, CNN (CNN) — A US Navy warship lost power and propulsion for several hours in the Indo-Pacific on Tuesday, a US defense official said, after suffering what a Navy statement called an “engineering casualty” in its electrical system. Such a situation would leave the ship, the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins, and its

By Morgan Rimmer, CNN (CNN) — A Vietnam-era law says Congress must sign off on the Iran war after the conflict hits the 60-day mark. The only problem: Lawmakers can’t agree when that deadline actually hits. And now they’ve left town. Under the War Powers Act of 1973, the president has 60 days to conduct

CNN By Alexandra Banner, CNN King Charles III has wrapped up his whirlwind visit to the US, striking a careful balance between charm and diplomacy. Over the four-day trip, he projected unity and celebrated Britain’s “eternal bond” with America ahead of its 250th anniversary — while occasionally disagreeing with the president and even landing a

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — Prosecutors filed new evidence Thursday including video showing the moments before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that President Donald Trump and administration officials attended at the Washington Hilton hotel in DC on Saturday night. The video shows the alleged attacker, Cole Tomas Allen, walk through a

By Tierney Sneed, Fredreka Schouten, John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — A day after the Supreme Court further gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republican-led states are eying changes to boost the GOP’s gerrymandering effort at the expense of voters of color, while voting rights groups are trying to limit the impact of the ruling on this

By Annie Grayer, MJ Lee, CNN (CNN) — The House Ethics Committee is investigating allegations of sexual harassment against GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The committee was recently contacted by a witness, who described having witnessed improper behavior, the sources said. CNN could not immediately learn the precise

By Daniel Dale, CNN Republicans face political risk from the spike in gasoline prices caused by the war President Donald Trump launched against Iran. Over the last two days, prominent Republicans have made a series of false claims about gas prices. Sen. Tim Scott, chair of Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, falsely claimed Thursday that “gas

CNN By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, Annie Grayer, Lauren Fox, CNN (CNN) — Congress voted to reopen key parts of the Department of Homeland Security — including the Transportation Security Administration — Thursday after weeks of GOP infighting that prolonged a record shutdown of the critical agency. The bill to fund the department, which has

By Gabe Cohen, CNN (CNN) — FEMA has reinstated a group of whistleblowers who signed an open letter to Congress last August warning that the Trump administration’s dismantling of the federal agency was setting the stage for a disaster-response breakdown on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, according to five FEMA officials with knowledge of the

By Annie Grayer, Ellis Kim, Camila DeChalus, CNN (CNN) — A cornerstone of US intelligence gathering used to thwart terror attacks has lapsed after political divisions and President Donald Trump’s new spy chief upended negotiations on Capitol Hill. The government’s key spy powers have expired after Congress failed to approve another short-term extension of Section

By Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled his embattled surgeon general nominee, Dr. Casey Means, amid questions over her vaccine views and announced his third pick for the role in Dr. Nicole Saphier. “Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — The man charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump over the weekend will not fight detention as the case proceeds, his attorneys told a federal judge Thursday. Cole Tomas Allen, who spoke little during Thursday’s hearing, is accused of rushing through a security checkpoint during the White House

By Fredreka Schouten, Arlette Saenz, Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — Louisiana Republicans delayed the May 16 primaries for US House Thursday, one day after the US Supreme Court’s decision invalidating the state’s congressional map and calling it an unconstitutional gerrymander. Early voting was scheduled to begin Saturday and overseas ballots had already gone out. The

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — By the time Maine Gov. Janet Mills launched her Senate campaign in October, Graham Platner was already drawing large crowds and raising impressive amounts of money. The then-77-year-old governor was running for office at a time when many in her party were agitating for generational change. But Mills supporters

By Camila DeChalus, CNN (CNN) — Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey has not voted in Congress in weeks, sparking questions over when he will return to Capitol Hill as he faces a competitive race for reelection back home and Speaker Mike Johnson oversees an extremely narrow House majority in Washington. The congressman

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — For the first election cycle in years, US military and intelligence officials have not yet activated a specialized team dedicated to detecting and thwarting foreign threats to elections, according to comments from those agencies to Congress and CNN, alarming some lawmakers and former officials who have served on the

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — Nearly two months ago, President Donald Trump promised he would make an endorsement “soon” in the Republican primary runoff for US Senate in Texas. That endorsement still has not arrived — and its absence is keeping the race highly competitive. Three people involved in the race said they no

By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Forty-five years before a gunman attempted to storm the Washington Hilton’s ballroom during President Donald Trump’s appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, another would-be assassin stood on the sidewalk and shot President Ronald Reagan in the chest as he exited the same hotel. The location, and the presence

By Sarah Ferris, Annie Grayer, Lauren Fox, CNN (CNN) — Republicans will control Washington for at least six more months, but they’ve already lost control of one-half of Congress. Marred by infighting in his razor-thin majority, Speaker Mike Johnson no longer has a functional majority in the House. GOP leaders are struggling to fulfill the

By Joan Biskupic, CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst (CNN) — The Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday rolling back protections for Black and Latino voters marks another dramatic turn in the long-fought effort by conservative justices to reverse measures vital to overcoming America’s legacy of race discrimination. The decision also marks a defining moment for the court under

By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The $25 billion estimate that a top Pentagon official gave to lawmakers on Wednesday for the total cost to date of the Iran war is a lowball figure that does not include the cost of repairing extensive damage suffered by US bases in the region, three people

By Kara Scannell, Michael Rios, CNN (CNN) — A federal grand jury indicted the governor of Sinaloa and other Mexican state officials with drug trafficking and weapons charges for allegedly working with cartels to bring drugs into the United States in exchange for bribes and favors. Ruben Rocha Moya, the governor of the Mexican state

By Tierney Sneed, Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday kicked yet another leg out from under the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 civil rights law that Chief Justice John Roberts’ court has repeatedly undermined over the years. Wednesday’s opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito with the dissent from the court’s

By Kit Maher, CNN (CNN) — The Artemis II astronauts’ journey to the moon and back landed them at the White House Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon — standing by while President Donald Trump talked UFOs, the Space Force and the Iran war. Sporting blue jackets, NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — Applicants for visas to the United States will now have to affirm that they do not fear persecution in their home countries as the Trump administration seeks to further restrict potential asylum seeks from entering the country. The new rule, outlined in a diplomatic cable to all embassies and

By Holmes Lybrand, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — Days after a gunman charged security at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner in what investigators say was an attempt to kill President Donald Trump with legally-owned firearms, his Justice Department is further rolling back gun control measures. “We’re repealing rules that went beyond what the law allows,”