President Biden on historic Putin summit: ‘I did what I came to do’
By Kevin Liptak and Phil Mattingly President Joe Biden said he had raised human rights and cyberattacks during a summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that provided an early and critical test of his diplomatic skills in the highest-stakes talks of his long career. Both Biden and Putin afterward described the three-hour-long summit as generally positive but without any major breakthroughs. Biden suggested the face-to-face was compulsory in a time of deeply strained ties between the United States and Russia. And he said proof of progress would come later, when the results of his diplomacy bear out. “I did what
Michigan Senate passes 3 voting bills with new restrictions
By Taylor Romine and Rachel Janfaza The Michigan Senate on Wednesday passed three bills that would restrict voting rights in the state as part of a larger Republican-led package intended to overhaul election laws, despite Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s all-but-certain veto of the measures. The state Senate advanced the measures — part of a 39-bill package introduced by state Republicans earlier this year — in 19-16 votes. One bill would require those requesting mail-in ballots to provide driver’s license or state identification numbers. The other two would require ID for in-person voting and allow people to vote only via provisional ballots without it. They now
Hill negotiators on policing legislation stuck on key issue: How to prosecute officers
By Jessica Dean and Manu Raju Bipartisan talks on overhauling America’s policing practices are hung up on a key issue: Whether Congress should include new standards for when officers can be charged with crimes. The issue has dogged the two sides for weeks — and it’s far from clear how the matter will get resolved or if it could doom the effort entirely. But Republicans say the topic should be off the table completely, with the GOP suggesting that Democrats have reinserted the issue back into the talks when they had thought there was an understanding it be set aside. “That
Harris hosts female senators for ‘evening of relationship building’ at vice president’s residence
By Jasmine Wright and Veronica Stracqualursi Vice President Kamala Harris held a private dinner Tuesday night for the female US senators, a show of bipartisanship among a deeply divided Congress. It was the first known time that Harris hosted lawmakers in the vice-presidential residence at the Naval Observatory since moving in April, a process that was delayed due to renovations. CNN previously reported that Harris had invited all 24 female senators — 16 Democrats and eight Republicans. “What a wonderful bipartisan women Senators dinner at our @VP ‘s residence!” Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan tweeted. In photos Stabenow shared, Harris is
Biden to nominate Michael D. Smith as CEO of AmeriCorps
By Kate Sullivan President Joe Biden will nominate Michael D. Smith to serve as the chief executive officer of AmeriCorps, the nation’s main public service program, the White House confirmed Tuesday. Smith currently serves as the executive director of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance — an initiative launched by former President Barack Obama in 2014 to address opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color. Smith is also the director of youth opportunity programs at the Obama Foundation. CNN was first to report Smith would be Biden’s nominee to lead AmeriCorps. Smith will need Senate confirmation to lead the
Pennsylvania House committee advances election overhaul bill with new restrictions
By Dianne Gallagher and Paul LeBlanc Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are the latest to push new state-level voting restrictions, with a key state House committee on Tuesday advancing a major election overhaul bill that the state’s Democratic governor blasted as “extreme.” “Pennsylvania had a free, fair and secure election in November 2020 with record turnout, in which people embraced mail-in voting and the results have been confirmed by two statewide audits,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement Tuesday. “Despite the clear facts, too many Harrisburg Republicans have spent the past year spewing lies and conspiracy theories about elections because they
Lone Star State lawmakers put Texas-sized pressure on Washington Democrats over voting rights
By Dianne Gallagher and Wesley Bruer Nearly two dozen Democratic members of the Texas state Legislature are taking their voting rights fight from Austin to Washington this week. The trip is a “Hail Mary” effort of sorts, to apply some Texas-sized pressure on US lawmakers to support the passage of the For the People Act, a comprehensive federal voting rights bill that would counteract many of the voting restrictions put in place by Republicans at the state level. The cross-country blitz comes just weeks after Texas Democrats, in dramatic fashion, notched a rare victory in killing the Republican-controlled Legislature’s flagship election overhaul bill, Senate
Historic talks between Biden and Putin underway in Geneva
By Kevin Liptak and Phil Mattingly The highest-stakes talks of President Joe Biden’s long career are underway Wednesday in Geneva, where he is joining Russia’s Vladimir Putin for a summit in an encounter set to test his decades of experience on the world stage and lay down an early marker of his diplomatic skills. Biden and Putin arrived at the summit site on the shores of Lake Geneva in their motorcades shortly after 1 p.m. local time on a hot day in this Swiss city that has previously seen major talks between US and Russian leaders. The two presidents stood outside the Villa de la
Georgia’s Fulton County under state investigation for allegedly violating ballot drop box form rules
By Wesley Bruer and Dianne Gallagher Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has opened an investigation into Fulton County for allegedly violating state rules “requiring absentee ballot drop box transfer forms to be filled out,” his office confirmed to CNN on Monday. A source with knowledge of the investigation cautioned to CNN that the probe “does not have any implications about fraudulent or missing ballots in Fulton any more than it meant that in the other smaller, more conservative counties,” saying: “To be clear, we’re investigating a rule violation” in Fulton County. In confirming the probe, the Georgia secretary of state’s
Senate votes to confirm key Biden judicial nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson
By Clare Foran, Ariane de Vogue and Ted Barrett The Senate voted Monday evening to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick to fill a vacancy on a powerful DC-based appellate court and one of the President’s most closely watched judicial nominees. The vote was 53-44. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with Democrats in favor of confirmation. The vote elevates Jackson from the US District Court for the District of Columbia to the influential US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which is seen as a breeding ground