National Politics

By Annie Grayer and Pamela Brown, CNN Washington (CNN) — As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy make sweeping promises to cut $2 trillion dollars of federal spending, senior House Republicans have raised concerns with GOP leadership that efforts to cut wasteful federal spending will put the party on a collision course. Senior House Republicans, including

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — An FBI informant accused of lying about the Biden family has cut a plea deal with special counsel David Weiss, the prosecutor who led the criminal probe into Hunter Biden. Alexander Smirnov is set to plead guilty to four charges, including tax evasion and obstructing justice by providing false

By Kristen Holmes, Manu Raju, Jeremy Herb, Lauren Fox and Jeff Zeleny, CNN (CNN) — Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota is the kind of Republican who has been willing to clash with Donald Trump in the past and could be seen as wavering on some of the president-elect’s more controversial choices for his Cabinet.

By Gregory Krieg and Gloria Pazmino, CNN (CNN) — The victor of a cutthroat primary for mayor in 2021, New York City’s Eric Adams rushed to embrace national political stardom. He declared himself the “face of the new Democratic Party” and, after an early invitation to the White House from President Joe Biden, dropped a

By Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, CNN (CNN) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has repeatedly criticized policies allowing gay people to serve openly in the US military, calling them part of a “Marxist” agenda to prioritize social justice over combat readiness. In his 2024 book “The War on Warriors”

By MJ Lee, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is commuting the sentences of some 1,500 individuals and pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes – marking a broad use of the presidential clemency power just weeks from the end of Biden’s administration. White House officials are billing Thursday’s move as

By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — First lady Jill Biden is looking to a post-White House future building on work she began while in office to shine a light on women’s health, a chronically underfunded and under-researched space – and one impacting half the population. At a White House event Wednesday, geneticist Dr. Marlena Fejzo

By Arit John, CNN (CNN) — Republicans in the North Carolina House pushed through a measure restricting the powers of the incoming governor and other Democrats, overriding outgoing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. The bill passed with 72 members voting for the override and 46 against. Three House Republicans who opposed the measure last month

By Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis and Nechirvan Mando, CNN (CNN) — The US’ key anti-ISIS partners in Syria said on Wednesday that the ISIS detention facilities they guard are coming under attack and that they have been forced to halt anti-ISIS operations, complicating the US military’s efforts to prevent the terror group from reconstituting

By John Fritze and Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — William J. Hennessy Jr., a veteran sketch artist who gave Americans striking views from inside courtrooms during some of the nation’s most important legal dramas, died on Monday. From the Supreme Court to high-profile criminal trials to the Senate chamber during President Donald Trump’s impeachment in

By Samantha Waldenberg and Betsy Klein, CNN Washington (CNN) — One of President Joe Biden’s former top communications advisers ravaged the president’s messaging rollout strategy around his decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, lambasting the situation as “exceptionally poor timing” in a major public rebuke of her former boss. “In the middle of a

CNN By Evan Perez and Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — FBI Director Chris Wray will resign at the end of the Biden administration, the agency said Wednesday, as it became clear he would be forced out by President-elect Donald Trump. Trump, who originally nominated Wray after firing the previous FBI director, previously announced he will

By Evan Perez and Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — FBI Director Chris Wray will resign at the end of the Biden administration, the agency said Wednesday, as it became clear he would be forced out by President-elect Donald Trump. Trump, who originally nominated Wray after firing the previous FBI director, previously announced he will nominate

By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN (CNN) — Most Americans expect President-elect Donald Trump to do a good job upon his return to the White House next month (54%) and a majority approves of how he’s handling the presidential transition so far (55%), according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS. Trump won the presidency last

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN Los Angeles (CNN) — Diplomatic and depressed as they have been in public, a small group of Democratic governors are deep into behind-the-scenes preparations and deliberations over how to balance the politics of pushing back on what they are expecting from President-elect Donald Trump’s next turn in the White House. Since

By Annie Grayer, Clare Foran and Haley Talbot, CNN Washington (CNN) — The House voted on Wednesday to pass a critical defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a ban against gender-affirming care for some transgender children that further inflamed the politics around the must-pass piece of legislation. The legislation,

By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden is facing mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and allies to extend protections to immigrants in the United States amid party fears over President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations. Behind the scenes, senior Biden administration officials are wrestling with what, if anything, more can be

By Paula Reid, Devan Cole, Katelyn Polantz and Casey Gannon, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump’s Justice Department is preparing to go on the anti-“woke” offensive against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have been a cause célèbre of the right, two sources familiar with the incoming administration’s plans told CNN. Trump’s pick to lead