Matt Gaetz's Wingman Paid Dozens of Young Women—and a 17-Year-Old  —  VEN-UH-OH … Venmo payment records reveal a vast network of young women received money from Rep. Matt Gaetz's associate, the accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg.  —  As new details emerge about Rep. Matt Gaetz's role …

Officer arrested, charged with second-degree manslaughter in killing of Daunte Wright  —  The charge carries maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.  —  TEXT SIZE  —  MORE  —  Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly A. Potter was arrested late Wednesday morning at the offices …

Department of Justice Closes Investigation into the Death of Ashli Babbitt  —  WASHINGTON - The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice will not pursue criminal charges against the U.S. Capitol Police officer involved …

‘The Pentagon is not making these decisions’: How Biden's team overrode the brass on Afghanistan  —  The military spent more than a decade urging three different American presidents to stay in Afghanistan.  With President Joe Biden's decision this week to withdraw all U.S. forces by Sept. 11, they finally lost the battle.

Biden Receives High Marks On Pandemic, Low Score On Mexican Border Situation, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Infrastructure Plan Is More Popular If Corporate Taxes Fund It  —  As President Joe Biden approaches his 100th day in office, he receives a positive 48 - 42 percent job approval rating …

The C.E.O.s Who Didn't Sign a Big Defense of Voting Rights  —  Hundreds of leaders and companies signed a letter opposing strict limits.  They did not.  —  A big show of corporate solidarity  —  Amazon, BlackRock, Google, Warren Buffett and hundreds of other companies and executives …

Moderna working to combine flu and coronavirus vaccines  —  Moderna said it's working on combining the flu vaccine with its COVID-19 vaccine.  —  Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC's Squawk Box that the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company is developing a vaccine that will protect …

Shades of 2016: Republicans Stay Silent on Trump, Hoping He Fades Away  —  Just like when Donald J. Trump was a candidate in 2016, rival Republicans are trying to avoid becoming the target of his attacks or directly confronting him, while hoping someone else will.

Cruz challenges Biden DOJ pick's contention that she opposes defunding police  —  Kristen Clarke insisted she opposes defunding police, despite a 2020 op-ed with a headline calling for it  —  Cruz challenges Biden DOJ Kristen Clarke pick over her position on defunding police

House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court … Congressional Democrats plan to unveil legislation expanding the size of the Supreme Court on Thursday, according to three congressional sources familiar with the closely held measure.

Bad news for journalists: The public doesn't share our values.  But there's hope.  —  Ask almost any group of journalists to name the core values of their profession, and they'll probably deliver a list like this:  —  Oversight.  We're the watchdogs keeping an eye on government officials and other powerful people and institutions.

Andrew Yang's mayoral campaign is being run by a lobbying firm  —  Andrew Yang's two campaign managers, his press secretary, his policy director and multiple senior advisers don't actually work for his New York City mayoral campaign.  They're employed by Tusk Strategies …

Mitt Romney And Kyrsten Sinema Team Up On Bipartisan Proposal To Increase Minimum Wage  —  Senate Democrats have had little success finding agreement among themselves on how much to increase the federal minimum wage.  —  Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) …

Mike Gibbons used Russian and Ukrainian stock footage to illustrate the ‘American dream’ in his Senate announcement video  —  CLEVELAND, Ohio - Despite describing the United States as the “greatest country in the history of the world” in his announcement that he would run for U.S. Senate …

Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady will retire from Congress at the end of his term  —  The Montgomery County Republican has served in Congress for more than two decades.  —  Copy link  —  WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, announced Wednesday morning that this will be his last term serving in the U.S. House.

Welcome to the New Progressive Era  —  Washington in the first days of the Biden administration is a place for double takes: A president associated with the politics of austerity is spending money with focused gusto, a crisis isn't going to waste, and Senator Bernie Sanders is happy.

Andrew Cuomo Impeachment Hotline Gets Over 100 Messages  —  Investigators sort through calls and emails as the governor faces harassment and other allegations  —  ALBANY, N.Y.—More than 100 messages have come through a hotline set up two weeks ago by investigators working on the impeachment probe …

Anti-Vax Activists Are Quietly Bending State Politics To Their Will  —  At least five states are considering bills based on language written by a fringe group.  Across the U.S., legislators are promoting bad science and COVID denial.  —  Anna Merlan  —  South Carolina State Representative Bill Chumley was feeling vindicated.

North Atlantic Council Ministerial Statement on Afghanistan  —  In 2001, Allies invoked Article 5 of the Washington Treaty for the only time in NATO's history and went to Afghanistan together with clear objectives: to confront al-Qaeda and those who attacked the United States on September 11 …

Tucker Carlson's toxic ‘replacement’ rhetoric gets picked up in the House  —  From the moment Fox News's Tucker Carlson explicitly advocated the idea that immigrants are “replacing” real Americans — a rhetorical construct popular among self-proclaimed white nationalists — the danger was obvious.

One in Five Still Shun Vaccine  —  Biden gets high marks for Covid response  —  West Long Branch, NJ - About 1 in 5 American adults remain unwilling to get the Covid vaccine, even as more people are getting the shot.  The Monmouth ("Mon-muth") University Poll also finds that President Joe Biden continues …

‘Crucial moment’ in Xinjiang cotton fallout pushes China to launch own body  —  Switzerland-based Better Cotton Initiative, launched to promote good practice in cotton industry, has been pressured over handling of Xinjiang labour claims Plans for Weilai Cotton, or future cotton …

Mr. President, your misinformation on Georgia's voting law is dangerous  —  Gabriel Sterling is the chief operation officer and chief financial officer in the office of the Georgia Secretary of State.  —  “Someone is going to get hurt.”  I made that prediction four months ago regarding misinformation about the 2020 election.

Statement of Prof. William A. Jacobson Opposing Cornell Faculty Senate Proposed Critical Race Mandates  —  “these Proposals both individually and collectively impose an ideological orthodoxy and adherence to a Critical Race Theory (CRT) view of the world, in violation of the educational purpose …

White House to name Erika Moritsugu to Asian American liaison position  —  The Biden administration is expected Thursday to announce Erika Moritsugu to a senior-level Asian American liaison position, according to sources familiar with the decision making.  —  The White House committed …

The strange death of the Democrats  —  The party will decline because it has a demographic problem  —  The Democratic party is dying.  That may be hard to believe since Democrats control both houses of Congress and won the last presidential election with a record 81 million votes.

'A mask shouldn't have a political party,' says GOP leader who thinks he caught COVID-19 at Republican meeting  —  KALAMAZOO, MI — Jason Watts said days after attending a Republican Party district meeting at a restaurant in Portage, he heard that several others at the meeting contracted COVID-19 and started feeling symptoms himself.

Trump didn't bring White working-class voters to the Republican Party.  The data suggest he kept them away.  —  White working-class voters had been moving to the Republican Party for years.  Trump stopped the trend.  —  Republican leaders have been hailing a class realignment of the parties.