National Politics

By Kevin Liptak, CNN President Joe Biden delivered a vehement defense Thursday of his decision to end the war in Afghanistan, insisting no amount of sustained American presence there could resolve the country’s own intractable problems. Instead, Biden argued American resources — lives, money and attention — were better focused elsewhere. Pressed on the likelihood

By Phil Mattingly, CNN Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo won’t hesitate to make the hard ask. She wants to make that clear. There may be, after all, nothing less than the fate of President Joe Biden’s sweeping $4 trillion economic agenda hanging in the balance in the weeks ahead. But in an interview in her office

By Nicole Gaouette and Kylie Atwood, CNN The Biden administration hosted the most senior Saudi official to arrive in Washington since the White House distanced itself earlier this year from the kingdom and its defacto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a visit that may signal yet another recalibration in the fraught relationship. Deputy

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN Rudy Giuliani’s law license has been suspended in Washington, DC, after he temporarily lost his license in New York for pushing election lies and that state court system looks further into his case. The appeals court in DC said Giuliani would be suspended from working as an attorney in the city

By Sara Murray and Dianne Gallagher, CNN Audit fever is catching on as a Republican lawmaker in Pennsylvania announced Wednesday that he is pushing for a so-called forensic audit of the 2020 election. Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano said he plans to launch a “forensic investigation” into the election results and procedures surrounding the 2020

By Christina Carrega, CNN John Jerome White was 19 years old when a Georgia judge sentenced him to life plus 40 years in prison for breaking into a 74-year-old woman’s home and raping her. Exonerated after DNA testing years later, he walked free in a state that does not have laws on the books to

By Ryan Nobles and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN The remaining fencing around the US Capitol that was erected in the wake of the January 6 insurrection will start to come down as early as Friday, the US Capitol Police formally announced Wednesday. In an email obtained by CNN on Wednesday, the US Capitol Police said that

By Rachel Janfaza, CNN Hillary Clinton called out the Republican-led crackdown on voting rights and urged Americans to fight for access to the ballot box in an op-ed published Wednesday. “We are witnessing a concerted attempt to destabilize the democratic process and delegitimize our multi-racial democracy, carried out in full view of the American people.

By Holmes Lybrand and Tara Subramaniam, CNN Violent crime in the United States shot up last year as the pandemic raged. Major cities across the country saw a more than 30% jump in homicides as well as increases in aggravated assaults, according to a January report from the National Commission on Covid-19 and Criminal Justice.

By Kate Sullivan, CNN The Biden administration is sending millions of Covid-19 vaccines to countries in Latin America this week as part of President Joe Biden’s commitment to play a leading role in ending the pandemic across the globe. One million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine will ship to Bolivia on Thursday, one

By Marshall Cohen and Devan Cole, CNN The Justice Department has charged a Pennsylvania man who allegedly attacked an Associated Press photographer and used a stun gun while assaulting police officers during the Capitol insurrection on January 6. Alan Byerly, who is one of many Capitol riot defendants arrested recently in connection with attacks on

By Annie Grayer and Daniella Diaz, CNN Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn announced a reoccurrence of his kidney cancer on Wednesday. The Minnesota lawmaker was first diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer on February 15, 2019, and had been receiving care at Rochester’s Mayo Clinic. “Over the weekend, recent tests conducted at the Mayo Clinic revealed

By Ashley Killough and Paul LeBlanc, CNN A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the negligence of the United States government was mostly responsible for the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent history. US District Judge Xavier Rodriguez for the Western District of Texas

By Pamela Kirkland and Sara Murray, CNN A federal court judge on Wednesday denied a motion to stop the implementation of parts of Georgia’s new voting law, ahead of state legislature runoff elections next week. In the ruling, US District Judge J. P. Boulee declined to block parts of SB202, saying the timing of the

By Chandelis Duster and Catherine Valentine, CNN Then-President Donald Trump allegedly praised Adolf Hitler during a discussion with his White House chief of staff John Kelly in 2018 while on a trip to Paris to commemorate the armistice after World War I, according to excerpts of an upcoming book, obtained by CNN, from Wall Street

By Kristen Holmes and Liz Stark, CNN The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday an additional $50 million in funding to enhance air pollution monitoring and improve air quality in low-income communities and communities of color. The announcement of new funds comes as the agency ramps up its investments in environmental justice initiatives, a core focus