I Compared the New January 6 Texts to Mark Meadows' Book.  It's Damning.  —  Fight disinformation.  Get a daily recap of the facts that matter.  Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.  —  Mark Meadows, call your publisher.  —  It seems that Donald Trump's final White House chief …

Trump Fraud Inquiry's Focus: Did He Mislead His Own Accountants?  —  The investigation, by the Manhattan district attorney, is zeroing in on information the former president and his company shared about the value of his assets.  —  As prosecutors in Manhattan weigh whether to charge Donald J. Trump …

Cornell University goes on high alert after finding evidence of the Omicron variant on campus.  —  Cornell University canceled a ceremony for December graduates, closed libraries and took other restrictive measures on Tuesday after the school's coronavirus testing lab found evidence …

Far too little vote fraud to tip election to Trump, AP finds  —  ATLANTA (AP) — An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump has found fewer than 475 — a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election.

The military-intelligence veterans who helped lead Trump's campaign of disinformation  —  After Donald Trump lost the White House, ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and three other current and former U.S. Army officers challenged the vote's legitimacy and pushed baseless conspiracy claims.

Biden set to surpass Trump in first-year judicial nominees; a window into a major Democratic push  —  (CNN)President Joe Biden will soon announce his latest wave of nine judicial nominees, according to a White House official, capping a year where the selections — and an effort to establish …

Eric Adams picks Keechant Sewell as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD  —  Mayor-elect Eric Adams has tapped Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD — a stunning, close-to-home pick from a field of seasoned top women cops across …

That Dana Milbank column is even dumber than you think  —  Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank is as lousy a statistician as he is a political commentator.  —  Milbank claims journalists have been harder on President Joe Biden in the first year of his presidency than they were on former President Donald Trump in his last.

Five Republican governors seek vaccine exemptions, escalating a fight with the Pentagon.  —  Governors from five states have written a joint letter to Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, asking that their National Guard troops be exempted from a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate …

U.S. Retail Sales Rose Modestly in November  —  Sales rose 0.3% in the month  —  Retail sales rose a modest 0.3% in November from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, suggesting consumers are challenged to keep up with rising prices.

This block used to be for first-time homebuyers.  Then global investors bought in.  —  LA VERGNE, TENN. — The homes on Tammy Sue Lane aren't fancy.  Modest in size and clad in vinyl siding, the houses were priced below $200,000 when most were built about 15 years ago …

EXCLUSIVE U.S. lawmakers call for sanctions against Israel's NSO, spyware firms  —  A group of U.S. lawmakers is asking the Treasury Department and State Department to sanction Israeli spyware firm NSO Group and three other foreign surveillance companies they say helped authoritarian governments commit human rights abuses.

Republicans Who Assailed Biden's Stimulus Bill Are Embracing the Money  —  Republican governors who criticized the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill as wasteful are championing state projects funded by the money.  —  WASHINGTON — At her annual budget address this month, Gov. Kristi Noem …

Hillary 2024?  Given the competition, she may be the Dems' best hope  —  There may be a rematch coming in the 2024 race for the White House.  But we're not talking (God help us) Biden-Trump II.  —  Instead, 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is an interesting prospect to consider …

POLITICO Playbook: A junkie's guide to the 2022 midterms  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  BREAKING OVERNIGHT — The House voted 222-208 to hold MARK MEADOWS in contempt of Congress and make a criminal referral to the Department of Justice.  Just two Republicans — ADAM KINZINGER (Ill.) and LIZ CHENEY …

Lafayette City Judge Michelle Odinet responds to use of racial slurs in home video following burglary  —  LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet confirmed with News 10 that over the weekend she and her family were victims of an armed burglary at their home in the upscale area of Bendel Gardens.

Judge scraps Trump lawsuit to shield tax returns from Congress  —  A federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump's bid to block congressional Democrats from obtaining his tax returns.  —  Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee to federal district court in Washington …

Biden admin, House GOP scrutinize Ilhan Omar's Islamophobia bill  —  The Biden administration has outlined several issues it has with Omar's bill  —  Rep. Boebert: Rep Omar wants public humiliation, not a public apology  —  Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is pushing a controversial Islamophobia bill …

North Korea Executes People for Watching K-Pop, Rights Group Says  —  At least seven people have been put to death in the past decade for watching or distributing K-pop videos, as the North cracks down on what its leader calls a “vicious cancer.”  —  SEOUL — North Korea has publicly executed …

Phil Waldron, backer of Jan. 6 PowerPoint, is invited to speak to Louisiana voting panel  —  A retired Army colonel who worked with then-President Donald Trump's outside legal team to claim that the 2020 election results were rigged was an invited speaker Tuesday at a state commission charged with shaping Louisiana's voting system.

Google tells employees they'll lose pay and will eventually be fired if they don't follow vaccination rules  — In a memo circulated by leadership, Google told employees that they must comply with vaccine policies or they face losing pay and then losing their job.

Remarks by President Biden at a Holiday Celebration for the Democratic National Committee  —  Washington, D.C.  —  7:17 P.M. EST  —  THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody.  (Applause.)  Well, good evening.  —  Thank you, Kamala, for that introduction and for your partnership — and it is a partnership.

Scoop: Biden and Manchin deadlocked on length of BBB programs  —  President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are locked in a disagreement over how long programs in the Build Back Better agenda should be funded, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

The AP Interview: UN nuke chief says view of Iran blurred  —  ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned Tuesday that the restrictions faced by his inspectors in Iran threaten to give the world only a “very blurred image” …

Feds scramble to assess security flaw that threatens ‘hundreds of millions’ of devices  —  “Hundreds of millions” of internet-connected devices are vulnerable to hackers because of a newly discovered security flaw in a widely used piece of computer code, a federal official said Tuesday …

Gableman touts Kleefisch's run for governor, asks for support in keeping his election review going  —  MADISON — Michael Gableman talked up his review of the 2020 election at a Republican event over the weekend, telling the crowd he wouldn't back down from Democrats and tipping his hand about his preferences in GOP primaries.

Biden Nominee Saule Omarova Speaks Out About The Campaign To Smear Her As ‘Soviet’  —  Omarova says Wall Street backed the successful campaign to brand her a communist.  —  Saule Omarova left her confirmation hearing feeling calm.  —  She didn't think she'd been “savaged,” as some writers would later put it.