By Sunlen Serfaty, Devan Cole, Dugald McConnell, CNN (CNN) — Workers with boots dyed an “American Flag Blue” have painted over about two-thirds of the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, covering the dull gray with bright azure following a directive by President Donald Trump to expedite the pace of the project. Trump earlier this month
Continue ReadingBy Alayna Treene, Paula Reid, CNN (CNN) — Trump administration officials are considering establishing a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who feel they have been unfairly investigated under previous administrations, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. The idea was floated as part of ongoing talks between President Donald Trump’s lawyers and
Continue Reading
By Alayna Treene, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump met with top members of his national security team over the weekend to discuss the path forward on the Iran war and is expected to meet again with the team early this week, a source familiar with the meeting told CNN. A day after the weekend
Continue Reading
By Manu Raju, Alison Main, CNN (CNN) — Sherrod Brown stood in front of dozens of supporters at a suburban watering hole, talking glowingly about his final day in the US Senate in 2024. Then he caught himself. “Well, I thought it was my last night,” said Brown, eliciting applause in the room. “There are
Continue ReadingBy Steve Contorno, Kristen Holmes, CNN (CNN) — James Blair has six months to defend Republican power in Congress — but first he needed to send a message to his party. Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff, spent weeks plotting to crush a group of Republican lawmakers in Indiana who defied the president’s
Continue Reading
By Aleena Fayaz, CNN (CNN) — An all-day prayer event on the National Mall on Sunday — backed by the White House through a mix of taxpayer funds and private donations — marked the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration blurring separation of church and state. The event, dubbed “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of
Continue Reading
By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy wanted his reelection campaign to be about the “present and the future.” President Donald Trump had other plans. Five years after Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment, the senator lost his primary for reelection to a Trump-endorsed challenger – and a
Continue ReadingBy Lauren Fox, Sarah Ferris, Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) — The push to secure federal dollars for President Donald Trump’s ballroom security just got more difficult on Capitol Hill. Senate Democrats said Saturday the provision that funds Trump’s ballroom in the GOP’s latest budget bill has been deemed out of order by the Senate parliamentarian,
Continue Reading
By Jennifer Hansler, CNN (CNN) — Amid ongoing foreign policy crises around the globe and as the Trump administration struggles to reach a deal to end the war with Iran, the State Department last week finalized the firings of nearly 250 foreign service officers in a brief, impersonal email. “Your reduction in force separation will
Continue Reading
By Eric Bradner, CNN (CNN) — Spencer Pratt might be a candidate uniquely suited for the moment: An elder millennial with everywhere-all-the-time social media instincts, bluntly spelling out Los Angeles’ challenges with homelessness, crime and mismanagement and laying blame at the feet of its entrenched Democratic establishment. The 42-year-old former reality television star’s willingness to
Continue Reading
By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, has lost his bid for a third term in a remarkable defeat, after two primary challengers — including one backed by President Donald Trump — finished ahead of him in Saturday’s primary and headed to a runoff for his seat. Rep. Julia Letlow,
Continue ReadingBy René Marsh, Audrey Ash, CNN (CNN) — A long-abandoned proposal at the Department of Homeland Security – one so ambitious the agency had never gone through with it before – was revived under the leadership of then-Secretary Kristi Noem. Officials spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to buy the department its own fleet
Continue Reading
By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — The USS Gerald R. Ford, America’s largest and newest aircraft carrier, returned to port in Virginia on Saturday after nearly a year at sea that included participating in the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Iran war, a shipboard fire and repeated plumbing issues. It goes down
Continue ReadingBy Alayna Treene, Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — As Donald Trump grew increasingly frustrated with diplomatic efforts to end the war with Iran, administration officials were closely watching whether the president’s trip to China — a nation with close ties to Tehran — would yield a significant breakthrough. But Trump landed stateside Friday with seemingly
Continue Reading
By John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Friday tossed out an emergency request from Virginia officials to reinstate a congressional map that would have benefited Democrats in this year’s midterm election, a widely expected decision that represented the court’s latest foray into a nationwide redistricting war. The decision thwarts Democratic plans to
Continue Reading
By Edward-Isaac Dovere, Marshall Cohen, CNN (CNN) — Tina Peters, the Republican former election clerk imprisoned for crimes related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, will receive clemency from Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and soon be released from custody, Polis exclusively told CNN. The decision followed a statement in Peters’ clemency application, obtained
Continue ReadingBy Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN (CNN) — It was two years ago when a pregnant teenager first reached out to a Tennessee couple on Instagram who had desperately been trying to adopt a baby for nearly a decade. Their relationship would eventually devolve from designing a nursery over the phone to threats of murder and a
Continue Reading
By Hannah Rabinowitz, Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — The US Justice Department is working to secure criminal charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro, according to sources familiar with the matter. The scope of the investigation is unclear. But federal prosecutors have examined a number of possible charges, including some related to the Cuban military’s
Continue Reading
By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — US officials suspect Iranian hackers are behind a series of breaches of systems that monitor the amount of fuel in storage tanks serving gas stations in multiple states, according to multiple sources briefed on the activity. The hackers responsible have exploited automatic tank gauge (ATG) systems that were sitting
Continue Reading
By Lauren Fox, Ellis Kim, CNN (CNN) — When Rep. Emilia Sykes met with Democratic leaders about the pervasiveness of sexual harassment on Capitol Hill, she made one thing very clear to Hakeem Jeffries: this could not just be a women’s issue. “This could all be eliminated and we wouldn’t even be here if these
Continue Reading