Lawmakers return to Washington, DC, with presidential politics looming large
CNN
When the House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing on Friday to highlight the impact border security issues have on local communities, the latest installment of an ongoing series, Vice President Kamala Harris was underlying their line of attack for the first time.
When the House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing on Friday to highlight the impact border security issues have on local communities, the latest installment of an ongoing series, Vice President Kamala Harris was underlying their line of attack for the first time. Four months ago, when the panel held a similar field hearing in North Dakota, the vice president was not mentioned by name once. The shift, both in branding and messaging from the “Biden Border Crisis” to the “Biden-Harris Border Crisis” underscores how House Republicans are pivoting to specifically target Harris after the summer of Democratic reckoning over President Joe Biden resulted in Harris becoming the Democrats’ presidential nominee with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. As Congress embarks on a three-week sprint before its next recess, both parties return to Washington, DC, for a final messaging push dictated by the dynamics of the presidential race in an entirely new political landscape, while trying to balance the critical September 30 government funding deadline. Republicans have turned their operation – initially designed to target Biden – on its head to now go after Harris, and Democrats are positioning themselves to frame the GOP attacks as a last-ditch effort while planning some offensive moves of their own. Members of the Trump campaign advised the House GOP conference during a private call on Friday about what her biggest perceived weaknesses are and to keep their attack of Harris on the border and the state of the economy, a source on the call told CNN. Calls between Republican lawmakers and Trump campaign officials are expected to be a regular occurrence in the coming weeks, sources told CNN, as backchannel coordination ahead of the November election intensifies.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.
Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.