Report Cites New Details of Trump Pressure on Justice Dept. Over Election  —  A Senate panel fleshed out how Donald Trump pursued his plan to install a loyalist as acting attorney general to pursue unfounded reports of fraud.  —  WASHINGTON — Even by the standards of President Donald J. Trump …

U.S. Troops Have Been Deployed in Taiwan for at Least a Year  —  Small presence of Americans secretly training local forces marks concern over China's yearslong military buildup and recent moves  —  WASHINGTON—A U.S. special-operations unit and a contingent of Marines have been secretly operating …

POLITICO Playbook: Why McConnell backed down  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  HUNTER BIDEN showcased his art to about 200 people at Milk Studios in Hollywood, Calif., The Daily Mail's Josh Boswell reports.  Guests included “World Champion boxer SUGAR RAY LEONARD ... Los Angeles Mayor ERIC GARCETTI” …

Trump tells 4 former aides to defy Jan. 6 committee's subpoena  —  Former President Donald Trump is directing a group of his former aides to ignore a subpoena from the House committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and signaling he will go to court to block their testimony to the investigators.

Scoop: Sanders' Sinema spat  —  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) withheld support for a joint statement condemning last weekend's protests against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) because it also wouldn't include a rebuke of her political views, Axios has learned.  —  Why it matters …

The foul-mouthed farmer sticking his neck out for Democrats' agenda  —  When Jon Tester returned from a White House meeting last month, Amy Klobuchar congratulated him for his “nice quote” about the debt ceiling.  —  As Klobuchar read back Tester's expletive-infused words, he recalled protesting: “'Come on.

Pfizer Asks F.D.A. to Authorize Its Covid-19 Vaccine for Children 5 to 11  —  The agency has promised to move quickly on the request and has tentatively scheduled a meeting at the end of the month to consider it.  —  WASHINGTON — Pfizer and BioNTech said on Thursday morning …

Federal Judge Pauses Strict Texas Law Banning Most Abortions  —  A sharply worded ruling sided with the Justice Department, which sued to block the measure last month after the Supreme Court declined to intervene.  —  WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday granted the Justice Department's request …

How AT&T fuels right-wing extremists  —  One America News (OAN), a right-wing propaganda network that promotes unhinged conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, COVID, and other topics, relies almost exclusively on funding from AT&T. Court records first obtained by Reuters reveal that AT&T is responsible for 90% of OAN's revenue.

“I Sleep Well at Night”: Suzanne Scott on Running Fox News  —  Twenty-five years after its founding, a sit-down with the CEO of America's most watched and most polarizing network, whose employees laud her for cleaning up a toxic workplace even as critics assail the channel for spreading misinformation and undermining democracy.

Americans' Trust in Media Dips to Second Lowest on Record  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' trust in the media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly has edged down four percentage points since last year to 36%, making this year's reading the second lowest in Gallup's trend.

We need to talk about your gas stove, your health and climate change  —  Americans love their gas stoves.  It's a romance fueled by a decades-old “cooking with gas” campaign from utilities that includes vintage advertisements, a cringeworthy 1980s rap video and, more recently, social media personalities.

Patient, Donor Denied Kidney Transplant Surgery Over Being Unvaccinated  —  AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - A Colorado woman with stage 5 renal failure was months away from getting a new kidney.  Now, she and her donor are looking for another hospital after learning UCHealth's new policy.

Anyone Seen Tether's Billions?  —  A wild search for the U.S. dollars supposedly backing the stablecoin at the center of the global cryptocurrency trade—and in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators and prosecutors.  —  In July, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen summoned the chair of the Federal Reserve …

The Liberal Activist Who Targets Republicans With a MAGA Masquerade  —  Pretending to be like-minded, Lauren Windsor has generated headlines by coaxing conservatives like Tommy Tuberville and Glenn Youngkin into making revealing statements about their views.  —  Mike Pence told her, “I love your heart.”

Virginia's elections will be the most telling political test yet of stringent Covid policies  —  Charlottesville, Virginia (CNN)The off-year elections in Virginia this November will serve as possibly the most revealing test of whether strict coronavirus policies, like vaccine mandates and mask requirements …

Former officials Nuñez, Boxer and Villaraigosa lead exodus from powerful lobbying firm  —  Former prominent Democratic elected officials Fabian Nuñez, Barbara Boxer and Antonio Villaraigosa led the mass resignations from one of the state's most powerful lobbying firms, Mercury Public Affairs.

Welcome to Slack Tide  —  Konnichiwa.  Or as my English-speaking readers prefer, “hello.”  I'm Matt Labash, and welcome to Slack Tide, my brand spanking-new Substack.  Just saying those words makes me feel like a honking cliché.  Not the Matt Labash part.  There aren't many of us.

America Is Running Out of Everything  —  Is it just me, or does it feel like America is running out of everything?  —  I visited CVS last week to pick up some at-home COVID-19 tests.  They'd been sold out for a week, an employee told me.  So I asked about paper towels.  “We're out of those too,” he said.

Durham Probes Pentagon Computer Contractors in Anti-Trump Conspiracy  —  Above, ‘Tech Executive-1’ alludes to leaving his job last month amid John Durham's Russia probe.  —  Cybersecurity experts who held lucrative Pentagon and homeland security contracts and high-level security clearances …