CNN Politics

Another Friday the 13th is upon us, and this particular day/date combo is enough to make the superstitious barricade themselves indoors. There was even a full moon!

Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary cleared an important legal hurdle on Friday as the House voted largely along party lines to grant him a special exemption from a key law that had been standing in his way.

President Barack Obama will hold his final news conference Wednesday afternoon in the White House briefing room.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, in unusually revealing comments, told Charlie Rose in an interview broadcast Thursday that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "moves around" and that his "days are numbered."

President-elect Donald Trump's relationship with Russia has never been under closer scrutiny. But this week, for the first time, the views of those who will serve alongside him at the highest level have also come under the spotlight.

CIA director nominee Rep. Mike Pompeo apologized to Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a private meeting Monday for critical comments he made about her in 2014 after she released a controversial Senate intelligence committee report detailing acts of torture by the CIA following 9/11, according to a source familiar with the issue.

Kellyanne Conway on what intel Trump was given:

Marco Rubio is back in the thick of it.

Trump transition officials held a conference call with House Ways & Means Committee staff Thursday to make clear that the President-elect and Ivanka Trump want to push their childcare reform proposal through a broader tax reform package in Congress, a Trump transition source told CNN.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will administer the oath to Vice President-elect Mike Pence next Friday.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Baltimore US Attorney Rod Rosenstein for deputy attorney general, according to people close to the Trump transition.

Paul Ryan could be the key to Donald Trump's success.

President-elect Donald Trump went nose-to-nose Wednesday with a press corps itching to cross-examine him after more than five months at arm's length, while his top nominees faced off with senators during a strategic crush of confirmation hearings.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, said in a radio interview Thursday that "warmongers" like Sen. Marco Rubio are setting the wrong tone by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal."

It's the most coveted legal post in Washington, but few people outside of the Beltway know it even exists.

President Barack Obama is ending the longstanding "wet foot, dry foot" policy that allows Cubans who arrive in the United States without a visa to become permanent residents, two senior US officials told CNN Thursday.

President George W. Bush's twin daughters are offering advice to Malia and Sasha Obama, who are soon to join them in the ranks of former first kids.

President-elect Donald Trump is looking for a surefire conservative for the Supreme Court, and Senate Democrats are vowing to fight his choice.

Democrats are gathering this weekend to begin trying to rebuild their decimated party -- and, perhaps, blow off some steam.

House Speaker Paul Ryan was asked point-blank Thursday by a woman whose parents brought her to the US as an undocumented immigrant at age 11, and who has remained in the country for 21 years since: "Do you think that I should be deported?"