News & Politics
Sub Category
Vice President Mike Pence's four years of faithful service to his boss, President Donald Trump, will culminate this week in a ceremonial act he's under increasing pressure to thwart.
"The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors," Trump declared falsely on Tuesday, lending credence to an erroneous theory that Pence can overturn the results of the election during Wednesday's tally of Electoral College votes and again pressuring his top lieutenant to act outside constitutional bounds.
His message came the morning after Trump riled up a crowd of supporters in Georgia using Pence's upcoming engagement on the Senate floor.
"I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you," Trump said Monday night during a political rally in Georgia, where his public arm-twisting was met with cheers. "Of course, if he doesn't come through, I won't like him as much."
It was a direct message to a vice president whose defining political characteristic remains his unyielding fealty to Trump. How Pence proceeds on Wednesday when he presides over the certification of the Electoral College tally could determine his future relationship with the man he has served loyally, even in moments of political peril.
Over the past several weeks, Trump has become intensely interested in Pence's ceremonial role during the certification of the Electoral College. He has raised the matter repeatedly with his vice president and has been "confused" as to why Pence can't overturn the results of the election on January 6, sources told CNN.
#Trump #CNN #News
Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky are looking to America and other countries for additional support. CNN breaks down the global response and what it could mean in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
#CNN #News
Russia Invades Ukraine: Live Updates
https://www.cnn.com/europe/liv....e-news/ukraine-russi
Sunny, a nurse in Arkansas, shares the hate and struggle she has experienced throughout the coronavirus pandemic. CNN's Elle Reeve has more on the mindset of some around Covid-19 in Western Arkansas.
#CNN #News
The official portraits of former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were removed from the Grand Foyer of the White House within the last week, aides told CNN, and replaced by those of two Republican presidents who served more than a century ago.
White House tradition calls for portraits of the most recent American presidents to be given the most prominent placement, in the entrance of the executive mansion, visible to guests during official events.
That was the case through at least July 8, when President Donald Trump welcomed Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The two stood in the Cross Hall of the White House and made remarks, with the portraits of Clinton and Bush essentially looking on as they had been throughout Trump's first term.
But in the days after after that, the Clinton and Bush portraits were moved into the Old Family Dining Room, a small, rarely used room that is not seen by most visitors.
That places the paintings well outside of Trump's vantage point in the White House. In their previous location, the pictures would have been seen daily as Trump descends the staircase from his third floor private residence or when he hosts events on the state floor of the White House. Now, they hang in a space used mainly for storing unused tablecloths and furniture.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
#cnn #news
A Trump ally's notes visible as he visited the West Wing revealed a suggestion to replace the current CIA director with the current acting chief of staff at the Pentagon.
#CNN #News
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang loves to play basketball while on the campaign trail. Chris Cillizza met up with him in New Hampshire for a quick game of P-O-T-U-S. Here's how it went down.
To check out their full conversation, watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/Odx_RtQo8_0.
#CNN #Cillizza #AndrewYang
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:
Inside Andrew Yang's Outsider Campaign
https://bit.ly/3630Cee
Joe Rogan Experience #1245 - Andrew Yang
https://bit.ly/373hiDU
Andrew Yang: The U.S. government is 24 years behind on tech
https://bit.ly/30wzGCr
Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang targets automation at rain-drenched NYC rally
https://abcn.ws/2svgjNA
Who Is Andrew Yang, the Internet’s Favorite Candidate?
https://nyti.ms/2R0ya8I
Andrew Yang misses January's Democratic debate but he's resonating, especially with men
https://nbcnews.to/2uW0K2q
Andrew Yang won the internet, but can he win a 2020 caucus?
https://dpo.st/2uVWiAJ
Is Andrew Yang 2020's Unlikeliest Feminist Truth Teller?
https://bit.ly/2QYya8Y
About me:
I was named "best dressed" in 7th grade. That, along with being CNN's editor at large and author of the daily "Point" newsletter are my proudest achievements. Look for me here every Tuesday and Thursday to find out what’s really going down in politics.
CREDITS
Writer: Chris Cillizza
The Point team: Leigh Munsil and Allison Gordon
Editor: Steven Sevilla
Producer: Arielle Sacks
Follow Chris on
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cillizzac/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cillizzacnn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.cillizza/
Subscribe to The Point newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/cnn/dvgb325pfm
Department of Homeland Security whistleblower Brian Murphy says appointees during the Trump administration covered up intelligence about Russian interference, White supremacy, and the Southern border because the topics made the former president look bad.
#CNN #News
CNN's Briana Keilar presses Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes, the lead sponsor of a controversial voting bill, about why the bill is needed when Republican state officials declared the state's election was "smooth and secure."
#BriannaKeilar #CNN #Newsroom
CNN's John Avlon reacts to the Republican National Committee punishing Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for participating in the January 6 committee investigation. #CNN #News
CNN's SE Cupp shares her thoughts on the Republican infighting as well as GOP lawmakers' defense of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) after Gosar posted a photoshopped anime video to social media showing him appearing to kill Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and attacking President Joe Biden. Gosar later took down the video after facing criticism but did not apologize.
#CNN #News
After delays due to Covid-19 outbreaks, Super Nintendo World is finally open -- but with restrictions. CNN's Selina Wang takes a tour of the highly-anticipated park based on Nintendo's Games.
#CNN #News CNNi
New York federal prosecutors investigating Rudy Giuliani have seized material from a wider array of individuals than previously disclosed, according to an unsealed court document. This video and headline have been updated to reflect that it was not the prosecutors who made the faulty court filing.
#CNN #News
Former first lady Melania Trump is selling the white hat she wore for the first state visit of the Trump administration in 2018. CNN's Kate Bennett reports. #CNN #News
A House oversight committee report reveals that the Trump administration made deliberate efforts to undermine the nation's Covid-19 response. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty and John King join New Day to discuss. #CNN #News
National security analyst Asha Rangappa joins New Day to discuss a new report issued by the January 6 select committee about Mark Meadows' communications around the Capitol insurrection. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Whitney Wild and Jeffrey Toobin report. #CNN #News
The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is now in possession of White House records that provide new details about a phone call Donald Trump made to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan on January 6, 2021 -- as the investigation drills down on the former President's communications that day and questions have long swirled around calls between him and lawmakers. CNN’s Ryan Nobles reports. #CNN #News
Netflix dominates the streaming world right now. But with a lot more competition on the horizon, that dominance might soon come into question.
Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump who once held one of the legal profession's most prestigious jobs, was suspended Thursday from practicing law in New York state by an appellate court that found he made "demonstrably false and misleading statements" about the 2020 election.
In a ruling released following disciplinary proceedings, the court concluded that "there is uncontroverted evidence" that Giuliani, the former Manhattan US attorney, "communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump's failed effort at reelection in 2020."
Giuliani's "conduct immediately threatens the public interest and warrants interim suspension from the practice of law," the court wrote.
The suspension of his law license marks a precipitous fall for the former New York City mayor, once considered an accomplished and formidable force in legal circles. In recent years, however, Giuliani's reputation has suffered as he has come under criminal investigation by the office he used to lead, the Manhattan US Attorney's office, for possible illegal lobbying. He has denied wrongdoing.
#RudyGiuliani #InsidePolitics #PaulaReid
CNN's John Avlon examines President Trump's inaugural promises to the American people over his four years as commander in chief.
#JohnAvlon #CNN #News
Mysterious drone-like objects have been flying over Colorado and Nebraska in recent weeks, but authorities can't figure out who is responsible for the aircraft.
===
Key lawmaker warns at UFO hearing: 'Unidentified aerial phenomena are a potential national security threat'
By Clare Foran, CNN
Key lawmakers warned at a House hearing on Tuesday that unidentified aerial phenomena -- popularly known as UFOs -- must be investigated and taken seriously as a potential threat to national security.
The event marked the first congressional public hearing on UFOs in decades, a high-profile moment for a controversial topic that has long been relegated to the fringes of public policy.
For many lawmakers and intelligence and military personnel working on unexplained aerial phenomena, the bigger concern with the episodes is not that alien life is visiting Earth, but rather that a foreign adversary like Russia or China might be fielding some kind of next-generation technology in American airspace that the United States doesn't know about.
Democratic Rep. André Carson of Indiana, the chairman of the panel holding the hearing, warned in his opening remarks, "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena are a potential national security threat. And they need to be treated that way."
He went on to say, "For too long, the stigma associated with UAPs has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis. Pilots avoided reporting, or were laughed at when they did. DOD officials relegated the issue to the back room, or swept it under the rug entirely, fearful of a skeptical national security community."
"Today, we know better. UAPs are unexplained, it's true. But they are real. They need to be investigated. And any threats they pose need to be mitigated," he said.
Read more at: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/17..../politics/house-ufo-
Right-wing lawyer Sidney Powell is claiming in a new court filing that reasonable people wouldn't have believed her assertions of fraud as fact after the 2020 presidential election.
#CNN #News
CNN's Brianna Keilar rolls the tape on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for his role in perpetuating election fraud claims, saying he's now trying to cleanse himself of the "stain of those actions."
#BriannaKeilar #CNN #News
Rep. Jim Jordan forwarded a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5, outlining a legal theory that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to stand in the way of the certification of the 2020 election. CNN’s Paula Reid, Jim Sciutto, Erica Hill and John King report. #CNN #News
A criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia is set to intensify this week, as a grand jury convenes, offering the local district attorney her first shot at seeking subpoenas for records and interviews.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis made her investigative intentions clear with a round of letters to Georgia state officials in February, asking them to preserve documents relevant to election interference as she investigated potential state crimes including the solicitation of election fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering.
According to the letters, none of the Georgia officials are targets of the investigation.
"What I was doing, as a courtesy to people that I respect very much, is simply putting them on notice that when a grand jury convened, which would be in March, that they could expect to receive subpoenas," Willis told MSNBC in February.
Two grand juries are set to convene in Fulton County on Thursday, opening a path for Willis' next phase in her probe. A person familiar with the investigation said they are likely to rely heavily on subpoenas rather than voluntary requests for records and interviews, in part to establish a clear court record of their pursuit of evidence.
In the meantime, some officials in Georgia have already hired personal attorneys amid the fallout from Trump's efforts to upend the election results.
While Willis' investigation launched from the now-infamous call in which Trump pushed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" him enough votes to win the state, it's expected to stretch well beyond that single call.
"There may be nothing there," said a person familiar with the investigation, "or it may be more extensive that we thought."
#CNN #NewDay #SaraMurray
When security guard Richard Jewell became a suspect in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Olympics, sports broadcaster Bob Costas was one of the few to defend him. And Costas says Jewell didn't forget.
Brian Todd reports on the tearful confession of an American student detained in North Korea.
Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector and close confidant of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), admitted to a federal judge that he knowingly solicited and paid a minor for sex. #CNN #News
CNN's Erica Hill speaks to special agent Roy Dotson of the US Secret Service, who has been tapped to lead an investigation into the billions of dollars of Covid-19-related fraud #CNN #News
France has seized a yacht owned by Russian oligarch Igor Sechin, the French finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
#CNN #News
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) forwarded a text message to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on January 5, outlining a legal theory that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to stand in the way of the certification of the 2020 election. CNN's Anderson Cooper discusses. #CNN #News
President-elect Joe Biden has decided to nominate Judge Merrick Garland as attorney general, people familiar with the matter tell CNN, a long-awaited decision that moved toward completion Wednesday as it became apparent that Democrats were on the brink of winning control of the Senate.
The announcement of the attorney general, along with other senior leaders of the Justice Department, is expected to be made as soon as Thursday as Biden moves closer to filling the remaining seats in his Cabinet before assuming power on January 20.
While Garland has been a top contender for weeks, concerns about the vacancy his selection would create on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia raised alarm bells among Biden and many advisers who believed Senate Republicans would block any nomination to that seat. But with Democrats poised to control the Senate after two Georgia runoff races, those concerns were allayed.
"Judge Garland will be viewed in a whole new light now," a top Biden ally tells CNN.
Politico first reported the pick.
#Biden #CNN #News
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) used a trunk full of rice to question oil executives about the amount of unused oil permits on federal land. Executives from ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron, Shell Oil, the American Petroleum Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce, testified in front of Congress for the first time about their role in climate disinformation. #CNN #News
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) endorsed the primary opponent of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) because of her participation on the January 6 select committee.
#CNN #News
Mary Quintanilla, a Facebook user with over 3,000 friends, says she's been in "Facebook jail" over a dozen times. Despite the temporary restrictions, Quintanilla continues to share and post misinformation. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan sits down with Quintanilla and the two go through her Facebook feed together.
===
Nearly 80% of Americans have been exposed to Covid misinfo, and many don't know what to believe, survey says
By Brian Stelter and Virginia Langmaid, CNN Business
New York (CNN Business)The information landscape about Covid-19 is bewildering, with factual and fictional claims competing for attention. And most American adults have heard at least a couple of the fictions, according to new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Kaiser, which is widely respected for its top-notch work on this subject, tested eight false statements about Covid. Nearly 80% of Americans surveyed said they had heard of at least one of the falsehoods and either believed it or are unsure whether it is true.
"Most commonly," the report's authors wrote, "six in ten adults have heard that the government is exaggerating the number of Covid-19 deaths by counting deaths due to other factors as coronavirus deaths and either believe this to be true (38%) or aren't sure if it's true or false (22%)."
One-third of respondents "believe or are unsure whether deaths due to the Covid-19 vaccine are being intentionally hidden by the government (35%)," the authors wrote, "and about three in ten each believe or are unsure whether Covid-19 vaccines have been shown to cause infertility (31%) or whether Ivermectin is a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19 (28%)."
The researchers also found that "between a fifth and a quarter of the public believe or are unsure whether the vaccines can give you COVID-19 (25%), contain a microchip (24%), or can change your DNA (21%)."
Read more at: https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/09..../media/kaiser-covid-
===
Bill Gates tells Anderson what surprised him about Covid misinformation
https://www.cnn.com/videos/hea....lth/2022/05/14/bill-
CNN's John King is joined by national security reporters David Sanger and Vivian Salama to discuss the implications of President Joe Biden's recent comments on Russian President Vladimir Putin. #CNN #News
Dr. Deborah Birx, former President Donald Trump's coronavirus task for coordinator, is making the rounds on television revealing the dysfunction in the Trump White House. CNN's Brianna Keilar rolls the tape on some of the times Birx could have spoken out about Trump but did not.
#briannakeilar #cnn #news
House Democrats are currently planning to introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump as soon as Monday, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
That could set up a vote in the House early to the middle of next week. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has not explicitly said when this will go to the floor.
This would be the second time the House has unveiled articles of impeachment against President Trump.
In December 2019, the House impeached Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate acquitted him on both charges last February.
#Trump #CNN #News
The Biden administration is preparing for an influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border when the Covid-era border restriction known as Title 42 expires later this week. Officials in El Paso, Texas say they are already running out of space to house asylum seekers. In today’s episode, we hear from migrants on both sides of the border and look at how the policy shift could be felt in other cities across the country.
Guest: Rosa Flores, CNN Correspondent
To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy (https://cnn.com/privacy)
CNN's Tom Foreman looks back at how Ted Cruz has evolved from hating Donald Trump to becoming one of his more fervent advocates. #CNN #News
CNN's John Berman reacts to comments made by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) comparing mask mandates to the treatment of the Jews during the Holocaust.
===
Marjorie Taylor Greene compares House mask mandates to the Holocaust
By Ryan Nobles, CNN
(CNN) Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, during an interview on a conservative podcast this week, compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to continue to require members of the House to wear masks on the chamber floor to steps the Nazis took to control the Jewish population during the Holocaust.
Greene, in a conversation with the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody Real America's Voice TV show "The Water Cooler," attacked Pelosi and accused her of being a hypocrite for asking GOP members to prove they have all been vaccinated before allowing members to be in the House chamber without a mask.
"You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany," Greene said. "And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about."
Jewish groups were quick to condemn Greene's remarks.
"You can never compare health-related restrictions with yellow stars gas chambers and other Nazi atrocities. Such comparisons demean the Holocaust and contaminate American political speech," the American Jewish Congress said in a tweet in response to Greene's comments. "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene must immediately retract and apologize."
Read more at: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/21..../politics/marjorie-t
===
Marjorie Taylor Greene apologizes for 'offensive' Holocaust comparison after visiting Holocaust museum
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/14..../politics/marjorie-t
When a baby girl died of injuries doctors said were consistent with being shaken, her nanny faced a murder charge. Things took a turn when a small but vocal group of defense witnesses said the science behind shaken baby syndrome had been debunked - something mainstream medical organizations say isn't true. CNN's Sanjay Gupta reports. #cnn #news
CNN's Brianna Keilar reports on accusations that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) mischaracterized his military service by claiming he was a US Army Ranger when he is ranger-qualified but never served in the US Army Ranger unit.
#BriannaKeilar #CNN #News
Mike Detmer, a Republican candidate running for Michigan state Senate, was caught on camera at a meet and greet telling voters that people should be ready to "show up armed" to protect Republican ballot observers "if we can't change the tide." #CNN #News
The select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol issued its first round of subpoenas Thursday, targeting close aides and allies of former President Donald Trump.
The subpoenas come as the select committee seeks to investigate efforts the Trump White House took to potentially overturn the 2020 presidential election and how the spread of misinformation fueled the anger and violence that led to the Capitol insurrection.
The four subpoenas are going to former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, former adviser Steve Bannon and Kash Patel, a former chief of staff to then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller who had also served as an aide to Republican Rep. Devin Nunes.
Bannon appeared to admit on his podcast to talking with former President Trump about "killing" Biden's presidency "in the crib" in the days before the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
#NewDay #PaulaReid #CNN
Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin joins the coalition to fight against ISIS. CNN's Elise Labott reports.
Susan Bennett reveals to the world that she's the voice behind Siri.
The climate change is raising a question for millions of Americans: Is anywhere safe from the climate crisis? Some say Duluth, Minnesota, is the new "climate refuge."
==
Seeking your climate refuge? Consider this
Opinion by Jamie Beck Alexander
(CNN)It was the trees that my family loved most about California: the coast redwoods, Monterey cypress and giant sequoias that have stood watch and borne witness to the passage of time for a million years. And it was the trees, now parched and burning in a world radically altered by the accelerating buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, that drove us away.
California's forests are some of the most awe-inspiring places on earth -- as much for their grandeur as for the carbon dioxide that they absorb from the atmosphere and store away in their trunks and roots. But the past few years have seen the most horrific wildfire seasons on record in California. 2018's Camp Fire killed 86 people and burned so many buildings that the metal particles released into the air caused lead levels to spike to 15 times higher than normal in the Bay Area, according to a report from California Air Resources Board. Last year broke records when more than 4 million acres burned, and this year, according to data from Cal Fire, is so far on track to be even worse. This is all fueled by an ongoing drought emergency in 41 of the state's 58 counties, worse than any experienced in recorded history. Water has run out in rural towns in the Central Valley.
Read more at:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/20..../opinions/climate-ch
CNN's Pamela Brown takes on GOP lawmakers who voted 'no' for the bipartisan infrastructure bill despite their states' need for infrastructure improvements.
#CNN #News
States, politicians, media companies, journalists and women are some of the many targets of Donald Trump's past lawsuits that date as back to 1973. CNN's Randi Kaye delves into the litigious history of the former President. #CNN #News
Richard Quest explores the tricky world of airline ticketing and the shortcuts available for cheaper fares.
