Intelligence reports on Russian bounty operation first reached White House in early 2019  —  White House officials were first informed in early 2019 of intelligence reports that Russia was offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition military personnel in Afghanistan …

Public's Mood Turns Grim; Trump Trails Biden on Most Personal Traits, Major Issues  —  Just 17% say they are ‘proud’ when thinking about state of the U.S.  —  How we did this  —  With less than five months until the 2020 elections, Americans are deeply unhappy with the state of the nation.

Scoop: Kushner changes top Trump campaign staff  —  Michael Glassner, the man who organizes President Trump's rallies, has been “reassigned,” and Trump's 2016 Arizona chair Jeff DeWit will join the campaign as chief operating officer to oversee the final stretch to election day, three sources familiar with the situation tell Axios.

Republican leaders now say everyone should wear a mask — even as Trump refuses and has mocked some who do  —  The last Republican vice president, Richard B. Cheney, and his Wyoming congresswoman daughter, Liz, say wearing masks is manly.  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) …

GOP Congressman Scott Tipton was defeated by right-wing primary challenger Lauren Boebert in Colorado's 3rd congressional district  —  Foto:  — GOP Rep. Scott Tipton was defeated by primary challenger Lauren Boebert in Colorado's third congressional district.

World Rebukes U.S. Over Iran  —  With Trump's re-election prospects up in the air, a heated U.N. meeting on Iran shows world power's fading fear of confronting U.S.  —  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday sought to reassert America's waning influence on the world stage …

A Dire Warning From COVID-19 Test Providers  —  Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers.  Find the collection here.  —  The United States is once again at risk of outstripping its COVID-19 testing capacity, an ominous development …

Kellyanne Conway's 15-year-old daughter is defiantly posting anti-Trump and pro-Black Lives Matter TikToks ‘to inform people and spread love’  — Claudia Conway, the daughter of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, has grown a TikTok following of more than 31,000 followers while making anti-Trump and pro-Black Lives Matter posts.

Coronavirus' spread in GOP territory, explained in 6 charts  —  Coronavirus first spread in the United States as a mostly coastal and big-city scourge, sparing many rural areas, small towns and even small cities.  Translated into U.S. political geography: The virus hit Democratic areas first.

Facebook to remove anti-government ‘Boogaloo’ groups  —  Facebook announced Tuesday that it is removing groups dedicated to the Boogaloo extremist movement one month after federal officials alleged the anti-government network's adherents used the platform to plan the murder of a federal agent.

Fauci: US ‘going in wrong direction’ in coronavirus outbreak  —  The U.S. is “going in the wrong direction” with the coronavirus surging badly enough that Dr. Anthony Fauci told senators Tuesday some regions are putting the entire country at risk — just as schools and colleges are wrestling with how to safely reopen.

Senate strips provision from intelligence bill requiring campaigns to report foreign election help  —  WaPo: Russian bounties to Taliban fighters believed to result in deaths of US troops  —  (CNN)The Senate will incorporate the annual intelligence policy legislation into the National Defense …

Florida is “not going back” on reopening, governor says  —  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters on Tuesday that the state will not reinstate restrictions or close businesses to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.  —  Why it matters: More than 50% of coronavirus infections …

Hampton Inn worker fired for calling cops on Black guests; Police open ‘internal investigation’  —  A Hampton Inn employee has been fired after calling the police on a Black family using the hotel's swimming pool in Williamston, North Carolina.  —  “Hampton by Hilton has zero tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind.

Trump team's brewing debate: How to message a raging health emergency  —  One group of White House aides wants more attention on the surging virus.  The other wants to leave it to local officials.  Now they're trying to find a middle ground.  —  President Donald Trump.  Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images

Mississippi Furls Its Divisive Flag  —  For many of our citizens it was a symbol not of unity but of oppression.  Decency demanded a change.  —  A flag is a symbol meant to unite a diverse group of people.  The flag of Mississippi—the last state banner to incorporate the Confederate battle emblem—no longer does so.

McConnell warns Democrats not to change filibuster rule  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned Democrats on Tuesday not to mess with the filibuster rule if they win control of the chamber in November.  —  He said eliminating the legislative filibuster by reducing …

Oklahoma voters approve Medicaid expansion as coronavirus cases climb  —  Oklahoma voters on Tuesday narrowly approved a ballot measure to extend Medicaid to tens of thousands of poor adults, making their state the first to expand government-backed health insurance during the pandemic.

Coronavirus Live Updates: U.S. Cases Reach New Record  —  More than 47,000 coronavirus cases were announced across the country and eight states announced single-day highs.  Europe opens its doors — just not to Americans.  —  RIGHT NOW Tuesday was the fourth time in a week that the United States posted a new single-day case record.

Thousands of U.S. judges who broke laws or oaths remained on the bench  —  USA-JUDGES/MISCONDUCT  —  In the past dozen years, state and local judges have repeatedly escaped public accountability for misdeeds that have victimized thousands.  Nine of 10 kept their jobs, a Reuters investigation found …

Adam Savage of ‘Mythbusters’ allegedly raped sister as a kid: lawsuit  —  Former “Mythbusters” co-host Adam Savage allegedly sexually abused his younger sister for years while calling himself the “raping blob” during the late 1970s, the woman says in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Fox News Q2 2020 Ratings: Tucker Carlson Averaged 4.33 Million Viewers at 8 p.m., the Largest Audience in Cable News History  —  Live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen is rolling in, and it appears Fox News Channel will have its most-watched quarter in network history, averaging more viewers than Q1 2020 …

Mueller Memos Part 8: More Revelations About What Witnesses Told Investigators About Trump And Russia  —  BuzzFeed News sued the FBI and the Department of Justice for access to the secret records used by special counsel Robert Mueller.  Today, we are publishing the eighth installment …

Federal government runs out of free face masks; TSA also faces shortage  —  WASHINGTON — An initiative to provide Americans with free face coverings has run out of supplies, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.  The shortfall comes as the nation struggles to contain …

Could Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth's remarkable life story help make her Joe Biden's pick for vice president?  —  Illinois U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth quietly has been writing an autobiography, her personal story of going from selling flowers on a Hawaiian roadside amid poverty and losing …

GOP-endorsed congressional candidate used n-word in racist anti-Black rant on Facebook  —  Mike Cargile also shared numerous bigoted memes on social media … Writer and GOP-backed House candidate Mike Cargile has frequently posted bigoted content on Facebook, including writing a racist rant …

Senate extends small business coronavirus relief program  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats drove a temporary extension of a popular subsidy program for small businesses through the GOP-controlled Senate late Tuesday, an unexpected development that came as spikes in coronavirus cases in many states …

Trump's Twitter feed reads like a local crime blotter as he stokes a culture war  —  The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights  —  President Trump returned from his Virginia golf course Saturday afternoon and turned his Twitter feed into a crime blotter.

DeSantis kills online learning program amid virus resurgence  —  TALLAHASSEE — With a stroke of his veto pen, Gov. Ron DeSantis wiped out the entire $29.4 million budget for a suite of online education services that have become critical to students and faculty during the Covid-19 outbreak.