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 …

Gore pressed Biden to stick with climate plans as liberals fear White House is softening its agenda  —  The president and former vice president had a private phone call amid concerns the White House might strip climate measures from the infrastructure deal.  —  A number of Democrats …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

Heart inflammation after second COVID-19 vaccine dose more common than expected in young adults, CDC says  —  A higher-than-expected number of young people 16 to 24 have experienced heart inflammation after receiving their second dose of an mRNA vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

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” …

OPB's First Look newsletter  —  Lawmakers are making arrangements for a rare evening floor session to take up a potentially historic vote.  —  Nearly half a year after an Oregon lawmaker allowed a crowd of far right protesters to enter the capitol building, new evidence emerged showing …

Senate confirms Zahid Quraishi as first Muslim American federal judge in US history  —  (CNN)The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Zahid Quraishi to be a US District Judge for the District of New Jersey, making him the first Muslim American federal judge in US history.

For Biden, Trump Is an Easy Act to Follow in Europe  —  But no amount of rallying the allies is going to make it easy to meet with Vladimir Putin.  —  Joe Biden has waited a lifetime for this trip.  As his White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, joked, before Biden departed on his first European tour …

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 …

Biden and G-7 leaders will endorse a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15%  — President Joe Biden and G-7 leaders will jointly endorse a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% on Friday, according to a White House fact sheet.  — They will also announce an agreement …

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 …

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

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 …

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 …

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 …

Jason Miller to head tech startup that could become Trump platform  —  Longtime senior Donald Trump adviser Jason Miller is taking over as chief executive officer of a tech startup company that could be used by the former president.  —  Miller's company is currently developing a social media platform …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …