Exclusive: Classified Justice Department opinion authorizes strikes on secret list of cartels, sources say | CNN Politics The Trump administration has produced a classified legal opinion that justifies lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers, according to multiple peop...

Important story from @natashabertrand.bsky.social & @zcohencnn.bsky.social, a reminder of the power of the OLC. www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/p...

US releasing survivors of Caribbean drug boat strike to their home countries | CNN Politics The US is releasing the two survivors of Thursday’s military strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia, President Donald Trump said Saturday.

Also important: it is clear this ongoing military campaign by the U.S. impacts countries beyond Venezuela.

See this: www.cnn.com/2025/10/18/p...

Trump and Maduro are amassing military forces as tensions build in the Caribbean | CNN Politics As President Donald Trump weighs military action inside Venezuela, building up forces in the Caribbean and flying B-52 bombers off the country’s coast this week, Nicolás Maduro is responding in kind, ...

For anyone who may be wondering ‘wtf is going on between the U.S. & Venezuela?’

Read this: www.cnn.com/2025/10/18/p...

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” — Thomas Jefferson.

‘How are you going to do that?’ Pentagon scrambles to make Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system a reality | CNN Politics US military officials are scrambling to develop a “Golden Dome” defense system that can protect the country from long-range missile strikes and have been told by the White House that no expense will b...

Trump's 'Golden Dome': The president insists America needs a missile defense system like Israel's Iron Dome. The Pentagon is scrambling to make it happen: cnn.it/4iQqMa4

Pentagon tasked with providing ‘military options’ to ensure US access to Panama canal, memo says | CNN Politics military options” to ensure unfettered American access to the Panama Canal, one of several new directives outlined in what amounts to a major overhaul of US strategic priorities, according to a new me...

Trump admin has asked DoD officials for “credible military options” to ensure unfettered US access to Panama Canal, 1 of several new directives outlined in what amounts to a major overhaul of strategic priorities, per new memo reviewed by us. w/ @orencnn.bsky.social

www.cnn.com/2025/03/13/p...

Trump and Zelensky’s fiery exchange underlines US pivot to Russia | CNN To seasoned diplomatic observers, US President Donald Trump’s furious dressing down of Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office was a planned political mugging, a trap set by the Trump administration to ...

Moscow – which reacted with glee to the White House slanging match – is now anticipating that talks aimed at rebuilding the US-Russia relationship will continue, even accelerate, in the weeks ahead. | Analysis cnn.it/4imGnhb

The document adds that foreign intelligence officers were being directed to look for potential sources on LinkedIn, TikTok, RedNote and Reddit.

A document produced by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said the intel community assessed with “high confidence” that foreign adversaries were trying to recruit federal employees & “capitalize” on the Trump administration’s plans for mass layoff.

US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say | CNN Politics Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security, targeting those who have b...

NEWS: US intel shows foreign adversaries -- including Russia & China -- are attempting to recruit federal employees fired by the Trump administration or feel they could be soon, four sources tell me & my colleagues.

www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/p...

Members of DOE general counsel & chief information offices “said this is a bad idea” b/c Farritor hadn’t had a standard background investigation needed to access department’s system, one of the people told CNN.

“He’s not cleared to be in DOE, on our systems. None of those things have been done.”

ICYMI: A 23-year-old representative from Elon Musk’s DOGE was granted access to the Energy Department’s IT system on by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, sources told CNN.

This despite objections from people in the agency, which largely controls access to info about the US nuclear weapons stockpile.

How Patel’s personal battles with intelligence officials have shaped his view of the FBI | CNN Politics Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, has for years battled US intelligence agencies over the handling of some of the government’s most sensitive national security secrets.

NEW: How mutual distrust between Trump's FBI director pick & intel officials came to a head in 2020 when CIA referred Kash Patel to DOJ for criminal investigation.

Previously unreported details on that referral & more: www.cnn.com/2025/01/28/p...

How Patel’s personal battles with intelligence officials have shaped his view of the FBI | CNN Politics Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, has for years battled US intelligence agencies over the handling of some of the government’s most sensitive national security secrets.

Patel was never charged criminally, & no indication national security prosecutors who reviewed the referral at DOJ took action to escalate case beyond an initial investigation: www.cnn.com/2025/01/28/p...

How Patel’s personal battles with intelligence officials have shaped his view of the FBI | CNN Politics Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, has for years battled US intelligence agencies over the handling of some of the government’s most sensitive national security secrets.

NEW: How mutual distrust between Trump's FBI director pick & intel officials came to a head in 2020 when CIA referred Kash Patel to DOJ for criminal investigation.

Previously unreported details on that referral & more: www.cnn.com/2025/01/28/p...

Musk and Ramaswamy defend foreign worker visas, sparking MAGA backlash | CNN Politics Social media posts by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy arguing in favor of expanding the visa program for highly skilled workers have set off a debate among supporters of President-elect Donald Trump ove...

Social media posts by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy arguing in favor of expanding the visa program for highly skilled workers have set off a debate among supporters of President-elect Donald Trump over how the program should fit into the incoming administration’s aggressive immigration agenda.

‘Someone who sees enemies everywhere’: How Kash Patel’s time as a government lawyer fueled his disdain for Washington elites | CNN Politics Years before he was Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel was a midlevel Justice Department lawyer who once drew the ire of a Texas judge who described Patel as being precisely the kind of f...

‘Someone who sees enemies everywhere’: How Kash Patel’s years as a government lawyer fueled his disdain for Washington elites
www.cnn.com/2024/12/09/p...

Here’s what an FBI background check for Trump’s Cabinet picks could unveil – or not | CNN Politics While President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is beginning the process to undergo an FBI background check, the intensive process may not provide the answ...

While President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is beginning the process to undergo an FBI background check, the intensive process may not provide the answers that either Democrats or Republicans are seeking.

Pretty interesting to watch in real time how much Elon Musk is putting his finger on the scale as far as Twitter/X is concerned.

Trump press secretary pick removed post praising Pence on January 6, then ran for Congress as an election denier | CNN Politics Karoline Leavitt, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming White House press secretary, deleted two social media posts she shared after the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol — including a retweet...

NEW on CNN: We uncovered that Trump's incoming-White House press secretary purged tweets from her timeline praising Pence for certifying the election on January 6 and praising Capitol police .

Just a year later she ran for Congress denying the 2020 election results.

www.cnn.com/2024/12/02/p...

Trump announces he intends to replace current FBI director with loyalist Kash Patel | CNN Politics President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he intends to nominate Kash Patel to serve as the next director of the FBI.

President-elect Donald Trump announces he intends to replace current FBI director with loyalist Kash Patel

Trump allies lobby him to fire FBI director early and install loyalist Kash Patel | CNN Politics Donald Trump is weighing a push from right-wing allies to nominate Kash Patel to lead the FBI, one of the clearest indications Trump plans to stick by his vow to fire Director Christopher Wray before ...

“Even among Trump loyalists, Patel is widely viewed as a controversial figure and relentless self-promoter whose value largely derives from a shared disdain for the so-called deep state.”

www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/p...

Trump allies lobby him to fire FBI director early and install loyalist Kash Patel | CNN Politics Donald Trump is weighing a push from right-wing allies to nominate Kash Patel to lead the FBI, one of the clearest indications Trump plans to stick by his vow to fire Director Christopher Wray before ...

Breaking: Trump says he will tap Kash Patel to serve as the next FBI Director.

The President-elect will still have to fire the current FBI Director, Chris Wray, who he previously appointed & is still serving out a 10-year term.

Previous reporting: www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/p...

Trump nominates Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, for ambassador to France | CNN Politics Donald Trump has selected his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, to serve as the next US ambassador to France, the president-elect announced Saturday.

Donald Trump has selected his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, to serve as the next US ambassador to France, the president-elect announced Saturday.

I defer any questions about the Georgia Supreme Court’s ability to intervene, proactively, at this stage to @anthonymkreis.bsky.social.

Also, a recent DOJ indictment linked Benny Johnson to Russian operation that involved covertly paying US influencers to peddle misinformation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised Trump as an “intelligent & experienced” politician capable of finding “solutions,” as tensions between Moscow and the West ramp up over the war in Ukraine.

Putin also castigated Biden for creating “additional difficulties” for incoming admin ...

US to sanction Maduro-aligned officials, to put pressure on Venezuela’s president to accept election results | CNN Politics The United States announced new individual sanctions Wednesday on more than 20 officials aligned with Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, to put pressure on Maduro to accept the result...

The US announced new individual sanctions on more than 20 officials aligned with Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, to put pressure on Maduro to accept the results of Venezuela’s July presidential election, senior administration officials said in a briefing with reporters.

Trump’s national security adviser pick is weighing proposals to end the Russia-Ukraine war | CNN Politics President-elect Donald Trump’s soon-to-be national security adviser Mike Waltz has been weighing several proposals in recent days for ending the war between Russia and in Ukraine, including one from G...

New: Trump’s soon-to-be national security adviser Mike Waltz has been weighing several proposals in recent days for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, per sources.

Includes one via Gen. Kellogg who Trump announced as pick for special envoy to Ukraine & Russia. www.cnn.com/2024/11/27/p...