CIA Director William Burns held secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar  —  CIA Director William J. Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul on Monday with the Taliban's de facto leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban …

Breaking: Herschel Walker is running for U.S. Senate in Georgia  —  Former University of Georgia football star Herschel Walker — at the urging of former President Donald Trump —launched a campaign Tuesday for the U.S. Senate, bringing both his celebrity and his untested political background …

Two Congress members make unauthorized trip to Kabul amid evacuation efforts  —  Two members of Congress made an unauthorized whirlwind trip to Kabul early Tuesday, leaving less than 24 hours later on a flight used for evacuating U.S. citizens, allies and vulnerable Afghans.

Spike Lee's New Documentary Gives a Notorious 9/11 Conspiracy Theorist His Biggest Platform Ever  —  On Monday, the New York Times reported that Spike Lee devotes a significant amount of time in his new four-part HBO documentary series, NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½, to the group Architects & Engineers …

FCC proposes fining conspiracists $5.1M for voter suppression robocalls  —  The FCC is proposing to fine conservative conspiracists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman more than $5.1 million for allegedly coordinating more than 1,000 unlawful robocalls aimed at swaying last year's presidential election …

Exclusive: Americans' harsh judgment on Afghanistan costs Biden's approval, down to 41%  —  Susan Page Matthew Brown Mabinty QuarshieUSA TODAY … Was the longest war worth it?  —  After two decades of combat, Americans by more than 2-1 say the war in Afghanistan, launched in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, wasn't worth it.

‘The Blob’ turns on Jake  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.  With Allie Bice and Louis Nelson  —  JAKE SULLIVAN is a D.C. golden boy — or at least he was.  —  The 44-year-old national security adviser …

Gottheimer's Suicide Squad Hurt Their Party But Gained Nothing Democrats have five weeks to get their act together.  —  Until 11 days ago, the Democratic Party had a unified strategy to advance President Biden's legislative agenda.  The plan was to pass two bills: a bipartisan infrastructure deal favored …

Eric Adams ran errands for a prostitute named Micki as a teen, report says  —  Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams has frequently told the story of his arrest and beating by NYPD cops in Queens when he was a teenager.  —  But for the first time, he's revealed the backstory to the encounter …

Pa. redistricting commission to count people in prison at their old home, not in their cell  —  When drawing state legislative lines, Pennsylvania will count tens of thousands of people locked up in state prisons not in their cell, but at their previous home address before they were incarcerated.

Reuters photographer was killed after being left behind in Afghan retreat, general says  —  Danish Siddiqui was with soldiers on the front line of an Afghan Special Forces clash with the Taliban.  New reporting, and his last photographs, cast light on his final hours, on the collapse of the Afghan military …

Governor Kate Brown Announces Statewide Outdoor Mask Requirements  —  With COVID-19 rapidly spreading, masks help stop spread of the Delta variant  —  Salem, OR—Governor Kate Brown today announced new statewide outdoor mask requirements to help stop the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Fauci: Early use of monoclonal antibodies can cut risk of hospitalization, death up to 85%  —  COVID-19 sufferers can reduce their risk of hospitalization and death by up to 85 percent if they receive monoclonal antibody treatments in the early stages of their illness, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.

VP Harris' overseas flight delayed due to “anomalous health incident” in Hanoi  —  Vice President Kamala Harris' Tuesday flight from Singapore to Vietnam was delayed roughly three hours due to a “recent possibly anomalous health incident” in Hanoi, per a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam.

Performative Antiracism at the University of Wisconsin  —  The University of Wisconsin has apparently done Black people a favor.  It lifted away a rock.  —  It was a big one, 42 tons, and at least some Black students thought of it as a symbol of bigotry.  Because, you see, 96 years ago …

Maryland's Kimberly Klacik sues conservative commentator Candace Owens for defamation, asks for $20 million in damages  —  Kimberly Klacik, a former Republican congressional candidate in Maryland, is suing conservative commentator Candace Owens for $20 million in damages over an Instagram video Owens …

6 In 10 Floridians Support Requiring Masks In Schools, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; 61% Say Recent Rise In COVID-19 Cases In Florida Was Preventable  — mail_outline  —  As Florida deals with a surge in COVID-19 cases and a battle intensifies over an executive order issued …

Supreme Court says Biden administration must comply with ruling to restart ‘Remain in Mexico’ program for asylum seekers  —  The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Biden administration must comply with a lower court's ruling to reinstate President Donald Trump's policy that required …

NEW POLL: Veterans strongly support withdrawal from Afghanistan; Republicans out of step with rest of America on Afghan refugees  —  WASHINGTON, DC - A new poll commissioned by VoteVets shows that American veterans overwhelmingly support President Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, along with all Americans.

Sponsor drops Schwarzenegger over rant about anti-maskers  —  A bodybuilding sponsor has dropped actor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a spokesperson over his recent rant against anti-maskers, USA Today reported.  —  A spokesperson for the sports supplement company REDCON1 told The Hill that they chose …

House passes John Lewis voting rights bill that's set to stall in Senate  —  The House on Tuesday passed voting rights legislation named for the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a party-line vote that underscores the bill's nearly impassable upward climb in the Senate.

Afghan exit is a low moment for journalism  —  It was either me or Jimmy Carter who promised that “I will never lie to you” but I did in July when I pledged no more breaks in 2021 for The Will Bunch Newsletter.  Actually, I discovered I had one extra week of vacation, for which I'm currently packing my swim trunks.