Key impeachment witness Gordon Sondland sues Mike Pompeo and U.S. for $1.8 million in legal fees  —  President Donald Trump's former ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, is suing former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and the U.S. government for $1.8 million to compensate …

Commerce Department security unit evolved into counterintelligence-like operation, Washington Post examination found  —  An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department's officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation …

Whitmer apologizes after photo shows her at bar violating her own order  —  Lansing — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an apology Sunday after a photo emerged showing her at a restaurant with 12 other people gathered around tables pushed together in violation of her health department's current epidemic order.

E.U. promises swift retaliation after Belarus forces airliner to land and detains dissident  —  RIGA, Latvia — European leaders on Monday were considering a plan to sever Belarus from the rest of the continent's airspace, a day after Belarusian authorities forced a commercial airliner to land …

They tried to overturn the 2020 election.  Now they want to run the next one.  —  Republicans who sought to undercut or overturn President Joe Biden's election win are launching campaigns to become their states' top election officials next year, alarming local officeholders and opponents …

Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate On Covid-19 Origin  —  Report says researchers went to hospital in November 2019, shortly before confirmed outbreak; Adds to calls for probe of whether virus escaped lab  —  WASHINGTON—Three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute …

It's the Media's ‘Mean-Too’ Moment.  Stop Yelling and Go to Human Resources.  —  In public radio, there is either an epidemic of bullying or an epidemic of whining, depending on whom you ask.  —  For 20 years, the WNYC radio show “On The Media” has been the sort of place where the hosts …

The Americanization of the Israeli-Palestinian Debate  —  Rereading Exodus, the schmaltzy 1958 best seller about Israel that became a Hollywood movie starring Paul Newman, I was surprised by something I hadn't noticed as a teenager.  The author, Leon Uris, describes a utopia of brave young pioneers …

BLM activist Sasha Johnson in critical condition after gunshot to the head  —  Shooting in Southwark, London came after numerous death threats, says her Taking the Initiative party  —  The Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson is in a critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound …

What the Tulsa Race Massacre Destroyed  —  THE MARQUEE BLOCK  —  More than 70 businesses operated in mostly one-, two- and three-story red brick buildings clustered along the block.  All but a couple were owned by Black entrepreneurs.  —  In this stretch alone, there were four hotels …

Are U.S. Officials Under Silent Attack?  —  The Havana Syndrome first affected spies and diplomats in Cuba.  Now it has spread to the White House.  —  During the final weeks of the Trump Administration, a senior official on the National Security Council sat at his desk …

If Democracy Is Dying, Why Are Democrats So Complacent?  —  If you've followed recent Democratic messaging, you'll have heard that American democracy is under serious attack by the Republican Party, representing an existential threat to the country.  If you've followed Democratic lawmaking …

45 + 2022 = 0  —  #38: Why the GOP's new Trumpless Tower will collapse  —  Republicans seem to be coalescing around a delusional midterm strategy: The idea that they can get through the 2022 election while more or less ignoring Trump.  Hey, they have all these great issues: Crime!  Immigration!

Top MAGA ally under fire for ‘squishiness’ on Trump  —  During Jane Timken's tenure as Ohio's GOP chair, Donald Trump won the one-time bellwether state by a whopping 8 percentage points.  She put 150,000 miles on her car driving to the state's 88 counties as a surrogate for the president.

The campaign for D.C. statehood just got a big boost  —  One of the most nettlesome objections to extending congressional representation to the residents of Washington, D.C., is that it requires a constitutional amendment.  Many Republicans say this, which is hardly surprising.

Conservatives have a new target: Biden's IRS plan  —  Add another obstacle to the growing list President Joe Biden faces in his negotiations over his massive spending plans: mounting opposition to one of the ways to pay for his proposal — growing the IRS.  —  Conservative groups have launched …

Lame Duck: The End of the Most Gerrymandered District in Ohio  —  Ohio is losing a seat in Congress, but will it keep Jim Jordan?  —  Since the 1930s, Ohio's 4th Congressional District has been under Republican control.  At R+14, it is arguably the safest Republican district in the country.

What if the Unorthodox Arizona Audit Declares Trump Won?  —  Sitting in the press booth at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, several rows above where some two dozen tables of counters were retallying the 2020 presidential votes of the citizens of Maricopa County …

Weightlifting, Gatorade, birthday calls: Inside Biden's day  —  During a speech in Pittsburgh in March, President Biden held up the index card he keeps in his right breast pocket to track the nation's covid deaths, inadvertently revealing a glimpse of his private schedule on the back side.

CBS' ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ Will Return to Live Crowds … Stephen Colbert will break free of his coronavirus-imposed restrictions and return to doing CBS' “Late Show” in front of live audiences starting June 14.  —  Colbert has led 205 episodes of the late-night program without …

Are We Entering a New Political Era?  —  The neoliberal order seems to be collapsing.  A generation of young activists is trying to insure that it's replaced by progressive populism, not by the fascist right.  —  Last June, when most Americans could agree that their country was in crisis …

Biden administration moves toward making the pandemic work-from-home experiment permanent for many federal workers  —  As the Biden administration contemplates how to return the massive federal workforce to the office, government officials are moving to make a pandemic experiment permanent …

Liz Cheney defends GOP's restrictive voting laws, denies link to Trump lie  —  Cheney is trying to put Trump's Big Lie about the election in a silo.

Could Beto be back?  O'Rourke mulling bid for Texas governor  —  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — There's no road trip, no soul searching.  No beard or blogging.  But Beto O'Rourke is making a political life decision again.  —  Three years after becoming Democrats' breakout star out of Texas …

Why Arkansas Is a Test Case for a Post-Trump Republican Party  —  Sarah Huckabee Sanders seems likely to bring the Trump brand to Arkansas politics in a big way.  But the state is a testing ground for different possible futures for the party.  —  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — For decades …

Feet-of-Clay Icons  —  Our most important and cherished institutions—the military, science, and the law—are losing the trust of Middle America.  —  “The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.”