Val Demings to run for Senate against Rubio  —  ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Rep. Val Demings is planning to run for the U.S. Senate, rather than governor, providing Democrats with a big-name candidate to take on Republican Sen. Marco Rubio next year.  —  For months, Demings mulled …

Andrew Giuliani announces 2022 bid for New York governor  —  Andrew Giuliani has dreams of turning next year's gubernatorial race into another “Fight of the Century.”  —  The son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will announce Tuesday that he's officially running for the Republican primary …

McCarthy comes out against bipartisan deal on Jan. 6 commission  —  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will oppose a bipartisan deal announced last week that would form a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, his office announced Tuesday.

Hamas's Fortuitous Opening … Hamas began 2021 preparing for elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council.  Today, it is engaged in a military standoff with Israel.  The movement has approached both with unexpected gusto, but which of the two approaches best represents its soul?  —  Both do.

Elena Kagan Has Had Enough of Brett Kavanaugh's Judicial “Scorekeeping”  —  Last year, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Ramos v. Louisiana, prohibiting nonunanimous convictions of criminal defendants.  Under the Constitution, the court declared, a split jury verdict is “no verdict at all.”

Trump Justice Dept. Tried to Use Grand Jury to Identify Nunes Critic on Twitter  —  An unsealed court filing shows that the social media company fought the subpoena, which the Biden administration is said to have withdrawn.  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department under President Trump secretly obtained …

The misguided identity politics of the anti-Trump Republicans  —  Opinion by  —  It's good that Republicans such as former president George W. Bush, Sen. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) have made clear that they oppose former president Donald Trump because of his anti-democratic and racist behavior.

‘Our democracy is imperiled’: Maricopa County officials decry 2020 recount as a sham and call on Arizona Republicans to end the process  —  The Republican-dominated Maricopa County board of supervisors Monday denounced an ongoing audit of the 2020 vote as a “sham” and a “con,” …

The freshmen in Congress who have missed the most votes  —  The top five are all House Republicans.

EXCLUSIVE: Documents reveal how Trump is spending taxpayer money on his post-presidential offices — from printer toner to Stephen Miller's salary  — New documents show the inner workings of ex-president Donald Trump's team.  — Former White House aides Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino are still getting government salaries.

David Larimer, versatile Washington Post editor, dies at 47  —  David Larimer, a Washington Post editor who helped shape the paper's coverage of college athletics, conflict overseas and the coronavirus pandemic, died May 15 at a hospital in Washington.  He was 47.

AT&T's Hollywood Ending Erased Billions in Value  —  Telecom giant is giving up its dreams of marrying content and distribution—one of the biggest about-faces in corporate deal history  —  Three years ago, AT&T Inc. executives were in a federal courthouse fighting the Justice Department …

In Biden White House, the Celebrity Staff Is a Thing of the Past  —  President Biden is undoing a longstanding Washington tradition in which staff members enjoy their own refracted fame.  —  WASHINGTON — Mike Donilon is one of the most trusted presidential advisers in the Biden White House …

More places in the US lift mask mandates.  One local leader says the honor system is already not working  —  (CNN)Several days since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated Americans can — for the most part — ditch their masks, more places are announcing changes …

DOJ signals scrutiny of popular fundraising gimmick  —  A little-noticed line in a recent criminal filing suggests federal prosecutors consider a popular political fundraising tactic to be legally questionable.  —  Why it matters: Fundraisers often boast of “5x” or other contribution matches to coax small-dollar donations.

Black Lives Matter activists said a man tried to hit them with his car.  The suspect turned out to be a judge.  —  A North Carolina court of appeals judge was summoned by a criminal court Friday after being accused of nearly hitting Black Lives Matter protesters at a demonstration in downtown Fayetteville on May 7.

Point of Order: George P. Bush supports Donald Trump in 2024, teases primary challenge to Ken Paxton  —  In the latest episode of our podcast about the Texas Legislature, Evan Smith talks to Land Commissioner George P. Bush about the state of the state and the issues in play as the 2021 session winds down …

The Inside Story of Joe Biden's Most Fateful Decision  —  Joe Biden was in his living room at the Naval Observatory on Election Night 2016.  He hadn't been watching the presidential results.  Hillary Clinton was going to win, obviously, so the vice president was more focused on monitoring …

Censorship, Surveillance and Profits: A Hard Bargain for Apple in China  —  Apple built the world's most valuable business on top of China.  Now it has to answer to the Chinese government.  —  GUIYANG, China — On the outskirts of this city in a poor, mountainous province in southwestern China …

Republicans eye new House majority through redistricting  —  Republican state legislators see this year's decennial redistricting process as a prime opportunity to gain House seats in next year's midterms — with some believing those gains alone can help the GOP take back the majority.

Kansas Chamber cuts ties with U.S. Chamber of Commerce over Sharice Davids endorsement  —  The Kansas Chamber of Commerce has cut ties with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after the national business group endorsed Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids last year.  —  The U.S. Chamber's decision …

Violence in Israel Is the Price of Biden's Weakness  —  In the Middle East, he has replaced strength with weakness, moral clarity with confusion, and loyalty with betrayal.  —  The Trump-Pence administration opened the door to a future of peace in the Middle East founded on our strong and unwavering commitment to the state of Israel.

Fact check: Crenshaw tries to whitewash Republican brief supporting lawsuit that sought to overturn election  —  ‘Seditious’: See Tapper's reaction to GOP election lawsuit  —  Washington (CNN)Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw tried Sunday to downplay his December decision to sign on to a legal brief …

How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love the Lab-Leak Theory*  —  In early spring 2020, I reported an article for The New York Times on which I put the tentative headline: “New Coronavirus Is ‘Clearly Not a Lab Leak,’ Scientists Say.”  —  It never ran.  —  For two reasons.