CNN Politics

When lawmakers went looking for someone to blame for their failed immigration negotiations with President Donald Trump, their ire was drawn on an airy annex on the second floor of the West Wing rather than the Oval Office.

The group Common Cause has lodged complaints alleging that a reported hush payment for a porn star to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Donald Trump in 2006, before he was elected President, constitutes a campaign finance violation.

A White House spokesman on Monday labeled the immigration plan presented by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin "amnesty," and slammed the two lawmakers as "dishonest" in their presentation of the plan to President Donald Trump.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told reporters on Monday he has "consistently opposed shutdowns," which later led to a response from his Republican colleague Sen. Susan Collins: "I am rendered speechless."

Former Trump administration appointee Carl Higbie's book is being pulled from the market by its publisher after CNN's KFile unearthed racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-gay remarks Higbie made as a radio host.

President Donald Trump is impatient to return to the immigration negotiating table, despite advice from some aides that he allow lawmakers to strike their own agreement, people who have spoken with him said.

The federal government is on a glide path to reopening Tuesday after Senate Democrats largely joined their Republican colleagues to vote for a proposal that will fund the government through February 8 in exchange for a promise from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to turn to the DACA program in very short order.

One of the founding members of the bipartisan "Gang of Six" on immigration says the group will exist no longer -- replaced by efforts to build a much larger coalition.

President Donald Trump is expected to invite French President Emmanuel Macron to Washington for an official state visit later this year, the first of his presidency, according to two diplomatic sources.

Vice President Mike Pence, speaking from Jerusalem on Monday, dismissed reports stemming from an alleged affair between President Donald Trump and a porn star.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNN Monday that the suggestion President Donald Trump was unhappy with his performance was "obsolete," amid new reporting that Trump has soured on his Cabinet secretary.

The history of government shutdowns -- and the polling on this shutdown in particular -- suggested that Democrats were poised to benefit politically from the shuttering of the federal bureaucracy. 

Special Agent Lisa Kincaid is marking 30 years with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. She proudly served on assignments that took her around the country to run a field office in Florida, an arson task force in the nation's capital, and the ATF's investigative support branch. Looking back over her three decades, Kincaid says there were always signs of sexual harassment within the different divisions she worked at the bureau.

The House Ethics Committee announced on Monday that it is investigating Rep. Pat Meehan, following a new report over the weekend that said the Pennsylvania Republican had used thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to settle a sexual misconduct complaint against him by a former aide.

Top House Republicans are considering publicly releasing some of the underlying intelligence behind a memo spearheaded by Rep. Devin Nunes that alleges FBI abuses of surveillance laws.

At a time of unrelenting political divisiveness, a bipartisan group of senators claimed a rare victory on Monday following the deal to reopen the government.

President Donald Trump's voter fraud commission was dissolved at the beginning of the month, but the controversy surrounding it continues, as a new memo reveals specific requests from the commission to obtain the voting files for Texans with Hispanic last names.

The Russian spy ship, the Viktor Leonov was spotted 100 miles south east of Wilmington, NC in international waters, according to a US military official, just days after the vessel was seen leaving the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain.

The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee are furious at appropriators for inserting a provision into the must-pass spending bill -- at the White House's request -- that they say would strip Congress' authority to direct how the intelligence agencies spend their funds.

President Donald Trump held two meetings with a handful of senators to discuss immigration reform on Monday, as the three-day government shutdown was coming to an end on Capitol Hill.