New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters  —  Washington (CNN)In an expletive-laced phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump said the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did.

“I Will Destroy You”: Biden Aide Threatened a Politico Reporter Pursuing a Story on His Relationship  —  Deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo lashed out at journalist Tara Palmeri, spurring conversations between Politico's brass and the White House—and raising questions about behavior tolerated in the Biden administration.

Scoop: Lincoln Project co-founder resigns  —  Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt is resigning from the group's board amid a series of scandals that has rocked the high-dollar anti-Trump super PAC, Axios has learned.  —  Why it matters: Schmidt, a veteran Republican operative …

Senate GOP gripped by conviction vote intrigue  —  Six GOP senators voted this week to move forward with President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.  But Republicans believe several more of them may be considering conviction.  —  As the Trump defense made its argument on Friday …

Nikki Haley's Choice  —  The 2024 hopeful can't decide who she wants to be—the leader of the post-Trump GOP or a “friend” to the president who tried to sabotage democracy.

Democrats have one big weapon left against Trump.  Will they use it?  —  Evidence is mounting that Donald Trump knew Mike Pence was in grave danger from the mob rampaging into the Capitol when the then-president sent out a tweet blasting his vice president.

Firing Actors for Being Conservative Is Another Hollywood Blacklist  —  In the 1950s, Hollywood studios — under pressure from the right — promised they would not “knowingly employ a communist.”  This blacklist eventually became notorious, especially in Hollywood, which came to lionize its victims in several films.

New Allegations of Cover-Up by Cuomo Over Nursing Home Virus Toll  —  In a leaked conversation, the governor's top aide admitted that data was withheld on nursing homes, where more than 10,000 New Yorkers have died during the pandemic.  —  ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his top aides …

Postmaster general's new plan for USPS is said to include slower mail and higher prices  —  A key provision of the postmaster general's strategy includes banning air travel for all first-class mail at a time when delivery rates are at historic lows.  —  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy …

The most influential Democrat you never hear from  —  Kyrsten Sinema doesn't often make big policy pronouncements.  But when she does, Democrats had better listen.  —  Take the $15 hourly minimum wage that Democratic leaders want to add to a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

“I Don't Trust the People Above Me”: Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol Insurrection  —  Interviews with 19 current and former officers show how failures of leadership and communication put hundreds of Capitol cops at risk and allowed rioters to get dangerously close to members of Congress.

Take whatever COVID vaccine you can get.  All of them stop death and hospitalization.  —  Waiting for a more effective vaccine is actually the worst thing you can do to lower your risk of getting severely ill and dying of COVID-19.  —  Almost every day, we get the same questions from family …

Melania Trump disengaged from her husband's second impeachment trial and bitter over Jill Biden's publicity  —  (CNN)While former President Donald Trump watches his second impeachment trial unfold, Melania Trump spends most of her time post-White House relaxing at the spa and staying out of the fray.

Two officers who helped fight the Capitol mob died by suicide.  Many more are hurting.  —  Engulfed in the crush of rioters storming the Capitol, D.C. police officer Jeffrey Smith sent his wife a text that spoke to the futility and fears of his mission.  —  “London has fallen,” …

Waters Announces Robinhood, Citadel, Melvin Capital, Reddit CEOs and Keith Gill to Testify at Committee Hearing  —  Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced the following witnesses for the February 18 full Committee virtual hearing entitled: “Game Stopped?

6-Month Delay In Census Redistricting Data Could Throw Elections Into Chaos  —  The 2020 census data needed for the redrawing of voting districts around the country are extremely delayed and now expected by Sept. 30.  —  A senior Democratic aide who was briefed by the Census Bureau on Friday …

Donald Trump's version of an insanity defense: His critics are insane  —  In the summer of 2015, two months after Donald Trump announced he was running for president, a blogger named Esther Goldberg read a Washington Post column by the conservative commentator George F. Will that accused Trump of being phony, vulgar and unprincipled.