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 …

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.

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 …

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 record $5 million fine against Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman for election robocalls  —  The agency's investigation said the pair made robocalls without people's consent before the 2020 presidential election  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The Federal Communications Commission has proposed …

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.

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 …

‘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 …

House advances $3.5T budget, ending stalemate between Pelosi and centrists  —  The House passed a $3.5 trillion budget framework Tuesday, capping off several days of furious negotiating and ending a weekslong stalemate between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a band of Democratic centrists who threatened …

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.

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 …

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.

Afghanistan's Falling Man: The 17-Year-Old Soccer Star Who Plunged From a U.S. Military Jet  —  Zaki Anwari saw no future as the Taliban streamed into Kabul.  Viral images of his death horrified the world.  —  Hundreds of Afghans swarmed the runway of Hamid Karzai International Airport attempting …

Interview With Kathy Hochul: Sensing a ‘Weight of Responsibility’  —  Ms. Hochul sat down with The New York Times for her first one-on-one interview after becoming New York's first female governor.  —  ALBANY, N.Y. — Governor Kathy C. Hochul, the first woman in history to lead New York …

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.

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 …

Biden receives inconclusive intelligence report on covid origins  —  The report falls short of concluding whether the coronavirus jumped from animal to human, or might have accidentally escaped from a lab in China  —  President Biden on Tuesday received a classified report from the intelligence community …

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 …

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.

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.