CNN Politics

As Americans watched chaotic and often heartbreaking scenes of desperation around the airport in Kabul this week, President Joe Biden on Friday vowed to do everything in his power to bring Americans home safely from Afghanistan as that nation descends into chaos under Taliban control.

An unusual security breach of an election system in a rural Colorado county has set off a criminal investigation and prompted state authorities to sideline a Republican election official in a fresh display of how debunked claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election continue to resonate across the country.

Former President Donald Trump will rally the faithful in Alabama on Saturday, a boon to Rep. Mo Brooks, his favored Senate candidate, who is behind in the money race there and struggling to attract some Republicans unnerved by his brand of slash-and-burn politics.

Former President Donald Trump still towers over the GOP, and he's set to appear Saturday at an Alabama rally. And ambitious Republicans eyeing future White House bids are increasingly emulating his brand of confrontational, fact-challenged politics on Covid. 

US national security officials are working to account for more than 20 years worth of weapons provided to the Afghan military as images of Taliban fighters brandishing American-made rifles and riding in abandoned Humvees are raising concerns about what else was left behind.

The Republican-backed effort to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is now in its final phase as ballots arrive in the mailboxes of every registered California voter for the September 14 special election.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito put a brief hold on a lower court decision requiring the revival of a Trump-era policy that forced migrants to stay in Mexico until their US immigration court dates.

This week, US health officials announced plans to offer booster Covid-19 shots to all qualifying adults starting on September 20. If the FDA authorizes them and the CDC recommends them, the shots will be available eight months after a person received their second dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

The blame game over rising cases of Covid-19 continues along largely partisan lines, with Democrats attacking GOP governors who have banned measures like mask mandates and vaccine passports, and Republicans blaming the Biden administration's border policy for the uptick in cases.

A California judge ruled Friday that the costly and controversial 2020 ballot measure exempting firms like Uber and Lyft from having to classify their gig workers in the state as employees rather than as independent contractors is unconstitutional.

The Justice Department targeted more than 300 protesters by charging them with federal crimes for their roles during the civil unrest last summer after the murder of George Floyd, according to a new report from The Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of Black advocacy groups.

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on Friday about the ongoing US military evacuations of American citizens and vulnerable Afghans as chaos ensues at and around Kabul's international airport.

CNN's Jake Tapper speaks with US veterans about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover.

Defending the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said at the White House on Friday: "Look, let's put this thing in perspective. What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point, with al Qaeda gone? We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan as well as -- as well as -- getting Osama bin Laden. And we did."

The US military used helicopters to evacuate a group of Americans from a hotel near Kabul's airport, according to a Pentagon spokesman who provided new details about the mission that was first revealed by President Joe Biden in his speech on Friday.

On Capitol Hill, congressional offices have transformed their constituent services into a desperate attempt to get vulnerable Afghans and US citizens into the Kabul airport.

Chaotic scenes played out around Kabul airport again on Friday as thousands desperate to leave Afghanistan sought to reach evacuation flights.

A federal appeals court on Friday said that it would not block the Biden administration's latest eviction moratorium.

A North Carolina man who was taken into custody after allegedly threatening to detonate a bomb near the US Capitol on Thursday is expected in court Friday for his initial appearance, the Justice Department said.

The US military cargo plane whose hold filled with Afghans evacuating their country captured in a now famous photo flew more than 800 people on board, far more than originally confirmed by the US Air Force, according to the crew who flew the mission.