Embattled Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is denied a meeting with Trump  —  (CNN)Rep. Matt Gaetz, who's facing a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations, was recently denied a meeting with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate as the ex-President and his allies continue to distance themselves from the Florida congressman.

Why We're Freaking Out About Substack  —  A company that makes it easy to charge for newsletters has captivated an anxious industry because it embodies larger forces and contradictions.  —  Danny Lavery had just agreed to a two-year, $430,000 contract with the newsletter platform Substack …

More than a hundred corporate executives hold call to discuss halting donations and investments to fight controversial voting bills  —  More than 100 chief executives and corporate leaders gathered online Saturday to discuss taking new action to combat the controversial state voting bills …

Blackout Hits Iran Nuclear Site in What Appears to Be Israeli Sabotage  —  The power failure comes at a delicate time, with talks underway in Vienna to restore the 2015 nuclear deal.  —  The Natanz nuclear facility in Iran mysteriously lost power on Sunday in what Iranian officials called …

Minnesota Officer Shoots Driver, and Protesters Clash With Police  —  A young Black man died after an officer shot him during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, near where Derek Chauvin is on trial in the death of George Floyd  —  BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — A 20-year-old Black man died …

‘White Lives Matter’ rallies flop as hardly anyone shows up  —  In semi-private, encrypted chats, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists planned rallies in dozens of cities on Sunday to promote their racist movements and spread their ideologies to larger audiences.

‘Like the Tiger King Got Elected Tax Collector’: Inside the Case That Ensnared Matt Gaetz  —  Joel Greenberg, a onetime local official in Florida, is accused of an array of crimes, including bribery, stalking and corruption.  —  LAKE MARY, Fla. — Long before the F.B.I. began to scrutinize …

Biden administration plans to name former senior NSA officials to White House cyber position and head of CISA  —  The Biden administration plans on Monday to name a former senior National Security Agency official as the first national cyber director and another former NSA official to head …

Chamber of Commerce getting squeezed on all sides  —  The business lobby hoped to build new alliances when it endorsed more than two dozen Democrats in last year's election.  Instead, it's getting the cold shoulder from everyone.  —  For a lesson in the perils of trying to play both sides …

Jack Ma's Ant Group Bows to Beijing With Company Overhaul  —  People's Bank of China said Ant representatives were summoned to a meeting Monday  —  Ant Group Co., the financial-technology giant controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, will apply to become a financial holding company overseen …

Hawley hauls in $3M after attempt to block election results  —  The Missouri senator collected more than 10 times what some of his colleagues have raised at a similar point in their terms.  —  Sen. Josh Hawley drew widespread attention for leading the Jan. 6 effort to block the acceptance of the Electoral College results.

Polls show majority of Republicans mistakenly think the 2020 election wasn't legitimate  —  (CNN)Poll of the week: A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that 55% of Republicans falsely believe Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election was the result of illegal voting or rigging.

Virginia governor calls for investigation into police pepper-spraying of Black Army officer  —  Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Sunday he is directing Virginia State Police to investigate a traffic stop during which two police officers held an Army second lieutenant at gunpoint in the southeast part of the state.

I Thought My Job Was To Report On Technology In India.  Instead, I Got A Front-Row Seat To The Decline Of My Democracy.  —  I love writing about tech.  But covering how a Hindu nationalist government is using it to destroy a secular democracy isn't what I signed up for.  —  Copy

Welcome to Galaxy Brain  —  Why I'm leaving (The) New York (Times).  —  Hello!  Hi!  I have a new job — you're looking at it.  Welcome to Galaxy Brain, my humble internet outpost.  I am terribly excited.  Before I arrived here, I spent a few great years as a writer at large for the New York Times Opinion section.

POLITICO Playbook: GOP donors privately pan Trump's ‘horrible’ RNC speech  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  A slew of well-heeled Republican National Committee donors descended on Palm Beach this weekend, excited to be schmoozed, eager for access to DONALD TRUMP and other potential 2024 nominees …

Facing GOP opposition, Biden seeks to redefine bipartisanship  —  To hear President Biden and his team tell it, a successful bipartisan bill need not attract a single Republican vote.  —  Biden pushed his $1.9 trillion covid relief bill through the Senate with the support of all 50 Democrats …

Scoop: Trump campaign boosted by unsuspecting state GOPs  —  Federal regulators are probing financial reporting discrepancies stemming from an effort to funnel $75 million through state Republican parties to the national GOP effort to reelect Donald Trump, Axios has learned.

The Biden White House media doctrine: Less can be more  —  The president does little press.  His Cabinet does a fair bit.  Underlying it all is one overarching idea: Do things that feel natural.  —  Three months in, Joe Biden's White House has settled on a firm press strategy: First, do no self-harm.

Biden pollster urges blunt tax talk  —  The top pollster for Joe Biden's presidential campaign is advising the White House to do something that often makes Democrats nervous: Talk loudly and proudly about raising taxes on the rich.  —  Why it matters: John Anzalone tells Axios his extensive polling …

Never Trump conservatives are complicit with Team Biden's moral outrages and norm-breaking  —  Remember Never Trump?  —  For four years, an influential clique of think tankers, Republican operatives and talking heads claimed that any conservative who supported Donald Trump was complicit with a uniquely malevolent presidency.

Online Schools Are Here to Stay, Even After the Pandemic  —  Some families have come to prefer stand-alone virtual schools and districts are rushing to accommodate them — though questions about remote learning persist.  —  Rory Levin, a sixth grader in Bloomington, Minn., used to hate going to school.

Biden set to accept fewest refugees of any modern president, including Trump, report says  —  Since his days on the campaign trail, President Biden has tried to cast himself as diametrically opposed to former president Donald Trump when it comes to welcoming refugees into the United States.

Why big-spending Biden can shrug off GOP warnings of inflation  —  If persistently rising inflation is coming to the U.S., history suggests it won't happen until after Biden is out of office.  —  President Joe Biden, accompanied by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, speaks as he gets …