Justice Department, FBI debate not charging some of the Capitol rioters  —  Federal law enforcement officials are privately debating whether they should decline to charge some of the individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol this month — a politically loaded proposition but one alert …

Navalny Protests: Live Updates as Mass Rallies Sweep Across Russia  —  The poisoning and arrest of Aleksei A. Navalny set off nationwide protests, beginning in the Far East, where people braved temperatures of minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  Thousands gathered in central Moscow …

Kevin McCarthy: ‘Everybody Across This Country’ Is To Blame For Capitol Attack  —  Donald Trump is responsible for the Jan. 6 riot, but so are you, according to the House Republican leader.  —  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) attracted attention last week when he said in a floor speech …

Why McConnell Dumped Trump  —  After the Capitol assault—and after losing his perch as Majority Leader—the senator finally denounced the outgoing President.  Was it a moral reckoning or yet another act of political self-interest?  —  On the afternoon of January 6th …

Trump and Justice Dept. Lawyer Said to Have Plotted to Oust Acting Attorney General  —  Trying to find another avenue to push his baseless election claims, Donald Trump considered installing a loyalist.  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's top leaders listened in stunned silence this month …

Capitol rioter charged with threatening to ‘assassinate’ Rep. Ocasio-Cortez  —  (CNN)The Justice Department revealed new charges against a Texas man who allegedly participated in the Capitol attack and posted online death threats against Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a US Capitol Police officer.

Republicans Have Decided Not to Rethink Anything  —  For a few days, the Republican party appeared to be undergoing a crisis of confidence, if not an outright crack-up.  First, Donald Trump lost an election, then tried to negate the outcome throughout a series of threats and increasingly absurd lawsuits …

Sen. Tom Cotton campaigned on his “experience as an Army Ranger” — but he didn't have any  —  Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has accrued a resume tailor-made for a Republican politician: He leapt from a small-town Arkansas cattle farm to Harvard University and then Harvard Law School …

Rolling Stone seeks ‘thought leaders’ willing to pay $2,000 to write for them  —  Emails from ‘best-known entertainment media outlet’ invite ‘Culture Council’ to pay for chance to publish on website  —  Rolling Stone magazine is offering “thought leaders” the chance to write for its website …

Imperiling quick $1,400 checks, moderate Republicans push back on Biden's economic plan  —  WASHINGTON — Key moderate Republicans in the Senate dismissed quick action on President Joe Biden's top priority of a $1.9 trillion economic package, indicating that the $1,400 stimulus payments he requested could take months, or never arrive.

How Alvin the Beagle Helped Usher in a Democratic Senate  —  Senator Raphael Warnock was sworn in this week as Georgia's first Black senator, and he arrived with a canny canine assist.  —  The dog had a lot of work to do.  —  He was co-starring in a political ad that had to showcase the candidate's good-natured warmth.

An old arrest can follow you forever online.  Some newspapers want to fix that.  —  The Boston Globe has joined a handful of newsrooms around the country doing something once unthinkable: changing old articles because they are ruining a person's life.  —  The newspaper on Friday launched …

Giuliani concedes that an associate did ask for $20,000 a day to help Trump post-election.  —  Rudolph W. Giuliani, former President Donald J. Trump's personal lawyer, conceded on Friday night that an associate had sent an email to campaign officials asking that Mr. Giuliani be paid $20,000 …

Biden under pressure to deliver more COVID-19 shots  —  President Biden is facing pressure to aim even higher with his administration's vaccine distribution goals, with experts noting his early push to deliver 100 million shots in 100 days does not differ dramatically from the current pace.

Inside the Deadly Capitol Shooting  —  With a mob approaching, a police lieutenant fatally shot a woman trying to vault through a window near the House Chamber.  —  WASHINGTON — During the four-and-a-half-hour attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, one of the moments when the mob came closest …

In Cape May County, questions over a local chapter of the Oath Keepers  —  CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. — The question posed at the Cape May County commissioners meeting Jan. 12 over Zoom by a lone member of the public took Commissioner Gerald Thornton by surprise.

U.S. largely weathered Christmas coronavirus surge, but experts warn the threat could intensify  —  Hospitalizations and cases are stabilizing, but at ‘dangerously hot’ levels  —  The United States appears to have avoided the worst-case coronavirus scenarios that officials feared …

Texas Supreme Court Silently Denies Alex Jones All Forms of Relief: Sandy Hook Families and Others Can Now Sue Conspiracy Theorist and InfoWars into the Ground  —  An empire built on conjecture, conspiracy and a series of fake homeopathic cures for various ailments stands to be sued into oblivion …

Universities face pressure to vet ex-Trump officials before hiring them  —  There is a long tradition of political appointees moving into academia — former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice returned to Stanford University as a professor, ex-CIA director Robert Gates was a dean and then president …

MyPillow Guy among the Trump acolytes picking up the torch  —  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When Mike Lindell, better known to TV viewers as the MyPillow Guy, went to the White House last week to try to persuade President Donald Trump to keep pushing bogus theories about the election, he came away disappointed.

A Trump Holdout in Atlanta  —  L. Lin Wood, a Georgia defamation attorney who cried when Nixon resigned, still believes that the former President won the election, and he wants Mike Pence to be charged with treason.  —  Two weeks before Joe Biden's Inauguration, L. Lin Wood answered his telephone.

Microsoft President Brad Smith explains how political contributions really work  — Brad Smith, Microsoft's president, said the company needs the Microsoft Political Action Committee.  — The company is looking at whether to stop giving money to politicians who opposed the vote …

Kenosha killing suspect Kyle Rittenhouse's bond terms changed after bar visit … A Wisconsin judge has modified the release conditions for Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen charged with killing two men amid protests in Kenosha last year, after prosecutors alleged he drank beers and was “serenaded” …