National Politics

By CNN staff (CNN) — The Department of Justice early Tuesday released special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Read the report: The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN Washington (CNN) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, will face a Senate panel Tuesday for his confirmation hearing as he is expected to be questioned over allegations ranging from sexual assault to excessive drinking in the workplace. Hegseth has denied all accusations and made several trips

CNN By Tierney Sneed, Marshall Cohen, Holmes Lybrand and Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — Special counsel Jack Smith and his team believed they could have secured a conviction against Donald Trump over his attempt to subvert the 2020 election, according to a report released early Tuesday that details the president-elect’s “criminal efforts to retain power.”

By Kayla Tausche, Alex Marquardt, Jennifer Hansler and Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — With just days left before handing over the keys to the US government, the Biden administration is making a last-ditch effort to seize hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian assets as future negotiating leverage for Ukraine, according to two senior administration

By Daniel Dale, CNN Washington (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump keeps making false claims about Canada. Trump has spoken repeatedly in the past month about somehow turning the independent country to the north into the 51st US state. It is not clear whether Trump’s self-proclaimed “great idea” is mere trolling, a serious desire or an

By Kate Sullivan, Alayna Treene and Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN (CNN) — Country music star Carrie Underwood is slated to perform “America the Beautiful” at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to a copy of the program obtained by CNN and confirmed by a spokesperson for the inaugural committee. “I love our country and am honored to

By Betsy Klein and Kevin Liptak, CNN Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden on Monday defended his foreign policy achievements in office, offering his own first draft of history on how his presidency has affected security at home and US relationships abroad as he prepares to depart a career in public service spanning more than

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Judge Aileen Cannon said Monday she would not block the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. However, Cannon scheduled a court hearing later this week on Attorney General Merrick Garland’s plan to share with some

CNN Editorial Research (CNN) — Here’s a look at the life of former US House speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. Personal Birth date: June 17, 1943 Birth place: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Birth name: Newton Leroy McPherson; adopted at a young age by stepfather Robert Gingrich and took his last name Father: Newton C. McPherson, mechanic

By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has voiced strong opposition to removing the names of Confederate generals from US military bases, repeatedly saying the names should be changed back. Hegseth, a National Guard veteran and longtime Fox News host, has described the renaming efforts as

By Gregory Krieg, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump launched a new round of criticism Sunday targeting Democrats over their efforts to tame the Southern California wildfires, ripping rival liberal leaders as “incompetent” witnesses to “one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country.” Trump’s Truth Social post is the latest in a

By Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Anti-immigrant state officials and federal judges would have new power to dictate immigration enforcement — including whether to detain individual migrants — under a GOP bill that has passed the House and is moving forward in the Senate with bipartisan support. The Laken Riley Act aims to overturn Supreme

By Steve Contorno, Lauren Fox and Ted Barrett, CNN (CNN) — Senate confirmation hearings set to begin this week are likely to reveal a defining trait uniting Donald Trump’s incoming Cabinet, regardless of their diverse political backgrounds and uneven qualifications: an unflinching allegiance to the president-elect. For weeks, Trump’s handpicked nominees have undergone rigorous preparations

By Sarah Ferris and Manu Raju, CNN Rep. Tim Burchett has never voted to increase the US borrowing limit in his life. And that might not change just because Donald Trump is the one to ask for his vote. “I don’t know that I ever will,” Burchett told CNN when asked if he could support

By Dan Berman, Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department effective Friday, according to a court filing. The filing comes amid a legal fight to stop Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing the special counsel’s report of his investigations into then-President Donald Trump’s efforts

By Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has privately told Republican lawmakers to temper their expectations for the incoming administration’s initial deportation operation, citing limited resources, according to multiple sources involved in the conversations. While Trump’s allies have floated measures to detain and deport people residing in the US

By Isabelle Chapman, Casey Tolan and Allison Morrow, CNN (CNN) — In Texas, Florida, and more than a dozen other states, users who try to access the world’s largest pornography website are greeted by a surprising sight: a message on a black screen telling them they’re blocked because of the actions of their state legislature.