Meadows: Trump considered yanking Kavanaugh over ‘I like beer’ comments and apologetic tone  —  During Brett Kavanaugh's controversial 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, President Donald Trump “strongly considered” dropping the nominee and instead going with a “stronger candidate,” …

President Biden's pick for a key banking regulator backs out.  —  Saule Omarova, a Cornell Law School professor whom critics painted as a communist after President Biden picked her for a key banking regulator job, is withdrawing from consideration for the post.

Austin Rejects ‘Red Lines’ for Taiwan, Ukraine  —  As crises loom, defense secretary reveals a bit of his diplomacy-first thinking.  —  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who served as a general during several Middle East wars, is used to the military charting the U.S. path in conflict zones.

Chris Cuomo Will Not Receive Severance, CNN President Says  —  Star anchor was fired on Saturday after probe into his involvement in Andrew Cuomo's defense  —  CNN President Jeff Zucker told employees in a meeting Tuesday that the network won't pay anchor Chris Cuomo a severance after firing …

BREAKING: Did McConnell just win the debt-ceiling standoff?  —  It depends on whether the Senate Minority Leader can deliver — and whether anyone sees debt increases as a “win.”  Suffice it to say that Mitch McConnell appeared to get what he needed out of the inevitable.

So you think Kamala Harris has it rough.  Remember Dan Quayle?  —  Kamala Harris can't catch a break.  —  When she's not being ignored — which is much of the time — the vice president is portrayed as inept, impossible to work for or depicted as an anchor weighing down the listing Biden administration.

Exclusive: WSJ taps Biden, Trump pollsters for 2022  —  The Wall Street Journal and its parent company Dow Jones are making big changes to its polling strategy ahead of the midterms, executives tell Axios.  —  Why it matters: The company had partnered with NBC News for the past three decades on polling.

Nathan Bedford Forrest Has Fallen  —  A widely mocked Nashville statue of the early KKK leader was removed Tuesday morning  —  The Confederacy has fallen.  Again.  —  A notorious statue of Confederate general and early KKK leader Nathan Bedford Forrest that has stood beside I-65 …

Yamiche Alcindor Joins NBC News as Washington Correspondent (EXCLUSIVE) … Alcindor, who is expected to start with NBC in March, will cover the Biden administration as well as the impact of federal policies on communities across the country and issues at the intersection of race …

Charlottesville's Robert E. Lee statue will be melted down by city's African American history museum  —  The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that once provoked a deadly weekend of violence in Charlottesville will soon be melted down and turned into a new piece of public artwork …

He Voted to Impeach.  Can He Survive in the GOP?  —  Late at night on the second Tuesday of January, Peter Meijer, a 33-year-old freshman congressman from West Michigan, paced the half-unpacked rooms of his new rental apartment in Washington, D.C., dreading the decision he would soon have to make.

‘I think we need to rethink entirely how we do things,’ says Dana Milbank of the Washington Post  —  Longtime Washington Post political journalist Dana Milbank on Friday accused his colleagues of being “accessories to the murder of democracy.”  —  Milbank wrote in his biweekly opinion column:

Prosecutors say they can make their case against Bannon in a day  —  Federal prosecutors told a judge that they could present their case against Steve Bannon to a jury in a single day, pushing back on the former White House strategist's efforts to delay his criminal trial over his refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena.

In new podcast interview, Kyle Rittenhouse says traveling to Kenosha was ‘not the best idea’  —  About 24 minutes into the podcast “You Are Here” on the right-wing network the Blaze on Monday night, co-host Sydney Watson told her guest, Kyle Rittenhouse, that it was “kind of impressive” that …

Downing Street staff shown joking in leaked recording about Christmas party they later denied  —  Senior Downing Street staff joked about holding a Christmas party in Number 10 just four days after the event is alleged to have taken place last December, a recording leaked to ITV News has revealed.

I am leaving New York City for Florida.  I never thought I would  —  I was raised in Brooklyn, my husband in Queens.  Our three children were born in Manhattan  —  Parents should ‘speak up on behalf of their kids’: Karol Markowicz  —  I always hated the “Goodbye, New York” genre of writing.

Second Senate Democrat to back vote against Biden vaccine mandate  —  Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), a centrist Democrat from a state that voted heavily in favor of former President Trump, is planning to vote for a Republican resolution to nullify President Biden's vaccine mandate for large employers.

Trump's new media company is a $1.6 billion mirage  —  In October, former President Trump announced the creation of a new company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG).  Its signature product is a new social media site, Truth Social.  According to an investor presentation …