Cuomo aide admits they hid nursing home data so feds wouldn't find out  —  Governor Cuomo's top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state's nursing-home death toll from COVID-19 — telling them “we froze” out of fear the true numbers would “be used against us” …

POLITICO Playbook: Could McConnell surprise us all?  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  BREAKING OVERNIGHT — LINCOLN PROJECT MELTDOWN: Late Thursday night, the Lincoln Project published what appeared to be the private Twitter messages of its recently departed co-founder JENNIFER HORN …

“We Lost the Line”: Trump Is on the Brink of Yet Another Senate Acquittal  —  Republican senators ran for their lives, but they will not run from the former President.  —  A few hours into the presentation of the House managers' case against Donald Trump, for inciting the mob that stormed …

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.

Two officers who helped fight the Capitol mob died of 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,” …

Mounting evidence suggests Trump knew of danger to Pence when he attacked him as lacking ‘courage’ amid Capitol siege  —  Mounting evidence emerging as former president Donald Trump's impeachment trial unfolds in the Senate this week indicates Trump may have been personally informed …

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.

Trump Was Sicker Than Acknowledged With Covid-19  —  When hospitalized with the coronavirus in October, his blood oxygen levels had plunged and officials feared he was on the verge of being placed on a ventilator.  —  WASHINGTON — President Donald J. Trump was sicker with Covid-19 in October …

Read the column the New York Times didn't want you to read  —  Last weekend, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote a piece criticizing the rationale behind the forced ouster of Times reporter Donald J. McNeil, but it was never published.  Stephens told colleagues the column was killed by publisher A.G. Sulzberger.

Nation's oldest juvenile lifer, Joe Ligon, leaves Pa. prison after 68 years  —  Leaving the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County on Thursday morning, his white hair peeking out below a prison-issue hat, Joe Ligon was accompanied by a dozen large file boxes.

Biden administration to move Friday to rescind Medicaid work requirements  —  The Biden administration is planning Friday to wipe out one of the core health policies of the Trump era, taking actions that will immediately rescind permission for states to compel poor residents to work in exchange for receiving Medicaid benefits.

Lawsuit: Texas AG Ken Paxton swapped political favors for home remodel, job for alleged ‘mistress’  —  The new allegations offer up the most detailed theory to date about why Paxton helped Austin real estate developer Nate Paul even as his top aides balked at his behavior.

It works: 0 deaths, only 4 severe cases among 523,000 fully vaccinated Israelis  —  HMO data a week after 2nd dose shows 93% effectiveness, ‘unequivocally’ proving vaccine's success and leaving ‘no doubt’ it's saved many Israeli lives, says Maccabi official  — 1,652 shares

The Chamber embraces Biden.  And Republicans are livid.  —  Washington's most powerful trade group is having a political identity crisis.  —  Over the past month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has taken a series of steps that have enraged its traditional Republican allies.

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.

EXCLUSIVE: Embattled QAnon congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘openly cheated’ on her husband of 25 years with a polyamorous tantric sex guru and then moved on to another affair with the manager at her gym  — Marjorie Taylor Greene had affairs with tantric sex guru Craig Ivey …

Former FBI official, a Navy veteran, is ‘key figure’ in Jan. 6 riot, prosecutors allege  —  A former U.S. Navy intelligence officer and FBI official from Virginia has emerged as a key figure in the federal investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, as U.S. prosecutors alleged Thursday …

Hawley and Blunt deepen Missouri's embarrassment by refusing to see Trump's guilt  —  The Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump should be an opportunity for Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley to redeem themselves for blindly supporting a man whose conduct was indefensible.

Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo: How to Turn Your Red State Blue  —  It may take 10 years.  Do it anyway.  —  Ms. Abrams was the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia in 2018.  Ms. Groh-Wargo was her campaign manager.  They opened Fair Fight Action in late 2018.  — Feb. 11, 2021

Will Senate Republicans allow their louts to rule the party?  —  The first of this century's national traumas is denoted by two numbers: 9/11.  One purpose of, and a sufficient justification for, the second impeachment of the 45th president was to inscribe this century's second trauma in the nation's memory as: 1/6.

Biden Trims Ambitions on School Reopening Pledge  —  As the White House struggles to flesh out President Biden's promise to reopen schools within 100 days, aides have found themselves steadily lowering expectations.  —  WASHINGTON — President Biden appeared to give many educators and parents …