Hunting Leaks, Trump Officials Focused on Democrats in Congress  —  The Justice Department seized records from Apple for metadata of House Intelligence Committee members, their aides and family members.  —  WASHINGTON — As the Justice Department investigated who was behind leaks …

Feds obtain another conspiracy indictment in Jan. 6 riot  —  Federal prosecutors have obtained a conspiracy indictment against six men allegedly affiliated with a “California Patriots” group for plotting to obstruct the electoral vote count on Jan. 6.  —  The indictment, returned by a grand jury …

Leading biologist dampens his ‘smoking gun’ Covid lab leak theory  —  Nobel laureate David Baltimore says he overstated case, and the origins of the virus are still unknown  —  A Nobel prize-winning US biologist, who has been widely quoted describing a “smoking gun” to support the thesis …

Jeffrey Toobin is back at CNN eight months after exposing himself on Zoom  —  New York (CNN Business)Jeffrey Toobin returned to CNN as the network's chief legal analyst on Thursday, eight months after he exposed himself during a Zoom call with colleagues at The New Yorker.

Half of the pandemic's unemployment money may have been stolen  —  Criminals may have stolen as much as half of the unemployment benefits the U.S. has been pumping out over the past year, some experts say.  —  Why it matters: Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion …

‘Time is running out’: Democrats split over Biden's relentless focus on infrastructure  —  President Biden's relentless focus on passing an infrastructure bill is increasingly dividing his party, as many Democrats fear that the drawn-out negotiations could derail the rest of Biden's agenda …

Senate Democrats confirm first Muslim American federal judge  —  Senate Democrats led the confirmation on Thursday of the first Muslim American judge to sit on a federal district court.  —  Judge Zahid Quraishi, whom President Joe Biden nominated in March for the U.S. District Court …

America's Image Abroad Rebounds With Transition From Trump to Biden  —  But many raise concerns about health of U.S. political system  —  This analysis focuses on public opinion of the United States in 16 advanced economies in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas will build a border wall, but doesn't yet give details on cost or location  —  The governor suggested more details would be released next week.  His announcement Thursday of several initiatives is the latest in an ongoing conflict between Abbott, a Republican …

Pelosi, leaders seek to squelch Omar controversy with rare joint statement  —  With a rare joint statement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her entire leadership team on Thursday sought to quell a growing controversy over Rep. Ilhan Omar's remarks equating war crimes committed by the U.S …

These businesses found a way around the worker shortage: Raising wages to $15 an hour or more  —  The owners of Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor had hit a wall.  —  For months, the 98-year-old confectionary in Pittsburgh couldn't find applicants for the open positions it needed to fill ahead of warmer weather and …

Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will boost Tehran's ability to surveil military targets, officials say  —  Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will give Tehran an unprecedented ability to track potential military targets across …

CDC says heart inflammation cases were higher than expected in 16- to 24-year-olds after second Covid vaccine shot, but still rare  — The number of cases of a heart inflammation condition in 16- to 24-year-olds was higher than expected after they received their second dose of Pfizer's or Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines, the CDC said.

A New Giuliani Tape Shows a Key Witness Didn't Testify Accurately in the First Trump Impeachment  —  Kurt Volker said he didn't know Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden.  New audio indicates he did.  —  Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise …

Epstein Kept Dossiers on His Victims to Blackmail Them  —  A ballerina says that Epstein and his associates kept files on underage girls to scare them into silence.  —  A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's sex ring claims that a financial advisory firm linked to the deceased trafficker “coaxed” …

On the Sliming of Susan Hennessey  —  I have made a point of staying quiet as the Trumpist right has gone after Lawfare's former executive editor, Susan Hennessey, following her appointment to a position in the Justice Department's National Security Division.

Was Trump right about hydroxychloroquine all along?  New study shows drug touted by former president can increase COVID survival rates by 200%  — A study on 255 patients was done by St Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey  — The resulting report, out May 31, found hydroxychloroquine to be effective

N.Y. lawmakers advance bill that could strip Trump name from state park  —  ALBANY — The state Senate approved a bill Thursday that could lead to New York removing former President Donald Trump's name from a Hudson Valley state park.  —  Lawmakers have sought to strip Trump's name …

The “Lab-leak” inquiry at the State Department:  —  An Open Letter by former Assistant Secretary Christopher Ford  —  In both journalism and policymaking — if not always in politics, or in the sordid world of score-settling by unemployed, second-rate apparatchiks — facts matter, and intellectual integrity matters.

Shelby sides against Trump in Alabama Senate race  —  Republican Richard Shelby is backing his former chief of staff Katie Boyd Britt in the race to succeed him in the Senate, siding against former President Donald Trump's favored candidate, Rep. Mo Brooks.  —  “She's like family.

S.F. supervisor Aaron Peskin says he's entering ‘alcohol treatment’ after complaints  —  San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin said Thursday he is entering treatment for alcohol use, a day after The Chronicle asked Peskin about his berating of a department head in a public meeting this week and other complaints about his behavior.

Koch-and-switch  —  About seven months ago, billionaire businessman Charles Koch's smiling face was in the pages of the Wall Street Journal.  The 85-year-old Koch had spent decades funding a vast network of far-right causes, including the Tea Party, the movement which laid the groundwork for Donald Trump's ascension to the presidency.

Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman will throw ceremonial first pitch at Nats Park  —  U.S. Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, who has been hailed as a hero for protecting lawmakers and facing down a wave of rioters who breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, will throw out the ceremonial …

Election Denial and $16 Spritzers: Welcome to Florida's Trump Coast  —  Since he left Washington in turmoil in January, Donald Trump has spent the bulk of his brief, contentious post-presidency holed up in what Karl Rove calls his “Fortress of Solitude”—Mar‑a‑ Lago, his private club in Palm Beach.

Norfolk Elects Prosecutor Who Says Crime Is a “Symptom of Structural Racism”  —  Virginia's primaries on Tuesday saw Ramin Fatehi clinch the Democratic nomination for Commonwealth Attorney in Norfolk, the site of a major showdown over reform in 2019.  He is unchallenged in November.

A ‘potential resolution’ to Hannah Jones tenure controversy may not heal damage done at UNC  —  “Ninety percent of Black and non-white faculty right now, they are probably looking at their other options.  That may be a conservative estimate.”  —  Attorneys for UNC-Chapel Hill will meet …

US unemployment claims fall to 376,000, sixth straight drop  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the sixth straight week as the U.S. economy, held back for months by the coronavirus pandemic, reopens rapidly.