Recording of Trump Phone Call to Georgia Lead Investigator Reveals New Details  —  Then-president says ‘Something bad happened’ and presses for investigation into Fulton County votes  —  ATLANTA—Then-President Donald Trump urged the chief investigator of the Georgia Secretary of State's office …

Female aide said Cuomo aggressively groped her at the governor's mansion  —  Cuomo issues denial but describes details of woman's account as ‘gut-wrenching’  —  ALBANY — A female aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo alleges he aggressively groped her in a sexually charged manner after she had been summoned …

Veteran charged in Capitol riot once served in Marine One squadron, officials say  —  A Marine Corps veteran charged in the Capitol riot once served as a crew chief for the presidential helicopter squadron, a highly restrictive unit that requires a top-secret security clearance, officials said Wednesday.

Rep. David Cicilline Says He'll Propose Rule to Stop Marjorie Taylor Greene's Delay Tactics  —  Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's repeated efforts to delay work in the House of Representatives has drawn bipartisan ire and may result in a new rule change.

At border, record number of migrant youths wait in adult detention cells for longer than legally allowed  —  The magnitude of the crisis facing President Biden at the U.S.-Mexico border came into clearer focus Wednesday as the new administration was holding record numbers of unaccompanied migrant teens …

Collins-Schumer rift shocks Senate  —  While Washington undergoes a much-needed spring thaw, Chuck Schumer and Susan Collins' relationship is frostier than ever.  —  More than four months after Collins handily dispatched Schumer's efforts to deny her a fifth term, the moderate Maine Republican …

What Really Happened at ‘Reply All’?  —  A podcast was applauded for its reporting on embedded racism in the workplace.  It didn't make it to the third episode.  —  The first episode of “The Test Kitchen” was widely praised by podcast listeners who couldn't wait for the next installment.

BREAKING: Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri acquitted after trial on charges from George Floyd protest in May 2020  —  Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri was acquitted Wednesday in a trial stemming from her arrest covering the George Floyd protests in May 2020.

Real-World Evidence Confirms High Effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and Profound Public Health Impact of Vaccination One Year After Pandemic Declared  — Dramatically lower COVID-19 disease incidence rates observed in individuals fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine …

Beauty Brand Ulta Pulls Teen Vogue Ads Over New Editor-in-Chief's Old Racist Tweets  —  The ad campaign, worth seven figures, is on pause following internal concerns over new top editor Alexi McCammond's past tweets. … A major advertiser for Teen Vogue has paused its campaign …

Biden is leading a quiet revolution  —  Opinion by  —  “Our economic package is a closely knit, carefully constructed plan to restore America's economic strength and put our nation back on the road to prosperity,” the president declared in a speech from the Oval Office.  “Each part of this package is vital.”

Why So Many Politicians Are Such A—holes  —  Politicians have devoted their professional lives to the art of public persuasion.  Reputation is everything.  Success hinges on getting as many people as possible to view their ideas and their life stories as sympathetically as possible.

Biden seeks to chart a path out of the pandemic in prime-time address  —  (CNN)President Joe Biden can report in his first prime-time address Thursday that a vaccination drive now reaching 2 million people daily has brought America far closer to exiting the pandemic than when he took office 50 days ago.

Oklahoma House passes bill to protect drivers who hit protesters  —  In a rare, early-morning vote, Republican lawmakers in the Oklahoma House approved legislation to grant immunity to drivers who hit protesters.  —  On a party-line vote Wednesday, the House passed a bill that grants civil …

Keep Calm & Defend Work  —  #36 — Five (5) quick points on the new Biden Dole  —  Five brief points (Axios-style!) now that Congress has passed the Covid relief bill containing a $100 billion-a-year dole-like “child allowance” plan.  —  1. Two themes of commentary are a) What a big deal this is …

Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen to meet again with Manhattan DA in Trump probe  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, said he would go in for a seventh interview on Wednesday with the Manhattan district attorney's office pursuing a criminal investigation into the former U.S. president.

Jayapal asks for investigations into three GOP members for their role in instigating the Capitol Insurrection  —  GOP lawmaker accused of giving ‘reconnaissance’ tour prior to Capitol riot  —  (CNN)Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington has sent letters to the House Committee on Ethics …

Criticizing Public Figures, Including Influential Journalists, is Not Harassment or Abuse  —  As social media empowers uncredentialed people to be heard, society's most powerful actors seek to cast themselves as victims and delegitimize all critiques.  —  1 hr ago

The COVID-Denying ‘Party of Life’ Finds a New Way to Kill Roe  —  Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson admits that the new anti-abortion law isn't even written to be passed.  It's written so the new super-Trumpy Supreme Court can shoot Roe down with it.  —  BEAST INSIDE

Senate confirms Michael Regan to lead EPA  —  The 44-year-old North Carolina regulator, the first Black man to head the agency, has vowed to fight climate change and environmental injustice.  —  The Senate confirmed Michael Regan on Wednesday as the next Environmental Protection Agency administrator …

Police groups endorse Biden's pick for civil rights chief  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of the largest law enforcement groups in the U.S. are throwing their support behind President Joe Biden's nominee to run the Justice Department's civil rights division.  —  The support for Kristen Clarke …

BuzzFeed Is in Talks to Go Public Via 890 5th Avenue SPAC  —  BuzzFeed Inc. is in talks to go public through a merger with 890 5th Avenue Partners Inc., a special purpose acquisition company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.  —  Once public, the company may use its currency …

Whistleblowers Allege Improper Hiring At Justice Department During Trump's Last Days  —  Two whistleblowers assert that a Justice Department official improperly injected politics into the hiring process during his waning days in the Trump administration, according to a new filing obtained by NPR.

The Daily Beast's Lawyers Eviscerate Dan Bongino Over His Refusal to Accept That He Lost a Defamation Case and Has to Pay Up  —  The Daily Beast's lawyers were merciless in a response to Dan Bongino's recent objection to a federal court's award of attorney's fees in his failed defamation case against the online publication.

4 former presidents unite for COVID vaccine ad campaign  —  All living former presidents except Donald Trump have banded together for two national ad campaigns released Thursday that are designed to drive trust in COVID-19 vaccines.  —  Driving the news: One video from the “It's Up To You” …

Xavier Becerra's Culture War  —  His record shows he'll use health care as a polarizing weapon.  —  By The Editorial Board  —  The Senate Finance Committee split 14-14 last week on Xavier Becerra's nomination to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Parler Blocked on Apple's App Store After Capitol Riot Review  — Apple's recent review found ‘Nazi symbols’ on the Parler site  — Parler eliminates seven workers, most of whom were contractors  —  Parler, the controversial conservative social media app, was denied re-entry …

Trump endorses widow of Rep.-elect Luke Letlow in Louisiana House race  —  Former President Trump on Wednesday endorsed the widow of Rep.-elect Luke Letlow (R-La.), who died in December after being hospitalized with COVID-19, less than two weeks before a special election decides who wins the seat.

This Is What the Beginning of a Climate-Labor Alliance Looks Like  —  Tuesday night, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act passed the House by 225-205 votes.  If it passes the Senate and becomes law, it will peel back over half a century of anti-union policies, including core provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947.

Democrats Flip Orange County Supervisor Seat Held by GOP for 120 Years  —  Katrina Foley is also the first female Democrat ever to sit on the five-member Orange County Board of Supervisors.  —  SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) — Democrats picked up a second seat on the five-member Orange County Board …

What Can Biden's Plan Do for Poverty?  Look to Bangladesh.  —  As that nation turns 50, its surprising success offers lessons about investing in the most marginalized.  —  One of the great moral stains on the United States is that the richest and most powerful country in history has accepted staggering levels of child poverty.

A tough-on-China GOP is split on whether to boycott the China Olympics  —  President Joe Biden is under growing pressure from hawkish Republicans to use the 2022 Winter Olympics to punish the Chinese government over its human rights abuses.  —  But even within the GOP, there's disagreement over how far to push.

The GOP and Conservative Media Now Resemble the Communists of My Youth  —  It was a long time coming.  —  When, in the early 1990s, I first arrived in Washington, D.C. as a student from the newly free Czechoslovakia, the Republican party was a beacon of hope.  It steadfastly advocated for liberty, both political and economic.