Joan Didion, ‘New Journalist’ Who Explored Culture and Chaos, Dies at 87  —  She established a distinctive voice in American fiction before turning to political reporting and screenplay writing.  But it was California, her native state, that provided her with her richest material.

Trump asks Supreme Court to withhold records from House Jan. 6 committee  —  Lawyers for former president Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block release of his White House records to a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump Pushes Back on Candace Owens Undermining Vaccine: 'People Aren't Dying When They Take the Vaccine'  —  Former President Donald Trump pushed back on Candace Jones during a recent interview when the conservative commentator appeared to be undermining the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines to hurt President Joe Biden politically.

POLITICO Playbook: Biden's testing mess  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  The novel coronavirus is raging through Washington, D.C., which on Wednesday registered the highest per-capita rate of daily new cases in the country.  —  At the White House, both President JOE BIDEN and VP KAMALA HARRIS …

Kamala Harris's Allies Express Concern: Is She an Afterthought?  —  The vice president's allies are increasingly concerned that President Biden relied on her to win but does not need her to govern.  —  WASHINGTON — The president needed the senator from West Virginia on his side …

Will Donald Trump Get Away With Inciting an Insurrection?  —  Mr. Tribe taught constitutional law at Harvard for 50 years.  Merrick Garland was one of his students.  Mr. Ayer oversaw criminal prosecutions and investigations as Ronald Reagan's U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California.

CNN Exclusive: US intel and satellite images show Saudi Arabia is now building its own ballistic missiles with help of China  —  Washington (CNN)US intelligence agencies have assessed that Saudi Arabia is now actively manufacturing its own ballistic missiles with the help of China …

The problem with performative centrism  —  In basically every major institution in America, there are powerful figures who I doubt voted for Donald Trump but nonetheless play down the radicalism of the Republican Party, belittle those who speak honestly about it or otherwise act in ways that make it harder to combat that radicalism.

Five arrested in connection with carjacking of House Democrat  —  Five suspects were arrested on Wednesday in connection with “an armed carjacking incident” earlier in the day involving Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), authorities said.  —  Delaware State Police also announced that they had located …

Illinois State Senator Carjacked in Suburban Broadview  —  Illinois State Sen. Kimberly Lightford and her husband were the victims of a carjacking in a Chicago suburb Tuesday evening, authorities said.  —  The Broadview Police Department said three masked people driving a Durango SUV hijacked …

Axios-Ipsos poll: Lack of trust puts the unvaccinated at risk  —  Unvaccinated Americans' already low trust in the federal government plummeted over the course of 2021, exacerbating the challenges in getting the pandemic under control, according to a year's worth of data from the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Trump's Defeat a Year Ago Was Dunkirk, Not D-Day  —  As 2021 ends, the forces of democracy remain beleaguered and the forces of sanity on the defensive.  —  Where do we stand, as year 2021 of the common era and year one of the Biden presidency comes to an end?  —  We're much better off than we might have been.

The clear and present danger of Trump's enduring ‘Big Lie’  —  It's been nearly a year since the United States suffered an unprecedented attack on constitutional democracy.  —  When a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the goal was to overturn the results …

Trump's newest business partner: A Chinese firm with a history of SEC investigations  —  Shanghai-based Arc Capital, an investment firm that has been the target of probes by securities regulators, is at the center of the deal to take Trump's media venture public.

Jared Kushner investment firm Affinity raises $3 billion in committed funding  —  Jared Kushner's global investment firm, Affinity Partners, has raised more than $3 billion in committed funding from international investors, a person familiar with the fund-raising effort told Reuters on Thursday.

Kim Potter, ex-Minnesota officer, found guilty of manslaughter in death of Daunte Wright  —  Watch live: Jury reaches outcome in death of Daunte Wright  —  A Minneapolis jury on Thursday convicted former police officer Kim Potter on all charges she faced for fatally shooting Black motorist Daunte Wright earlier this year.

Complete and Total Trump Campaign!  —  The former president's obsession with the 2020 election may lead to GOP losses in the next two.  —  President Trump has formally endorsed 85 Republican candidates so far this year, probably far more than any other president so soon after leaving office.

Trump Fraud Inquiry Won't Be Resolved When Vance's Term Ends Next Week  —  After leading a three-year investigation into the former president, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., will hand it to his successor.  —  The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., has run out of time.

Biden backs exception to filibuster for voting rights bills  —  President Biden says he supports creating an exception to the legislative filibuster in the Senate in order to pass voting rights legislation over Republican opposition.  —  Biden told ABC News' David Muir in a portion …

Macron's wife plans to sue over false claims she is transgender  —  French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigitte, plans to take legal action after a bizarre disinformation campaign was launched against her falsely claiming she was born a man.  —  The rumors appeared to have originated …