McConnell calls Jan. 6 a ‘violent insurrection,’ breaking with RNC  —  McConnell: January 6 was ‘violent insurrection’ after a legitimate election  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell disagreed Tuesday with the Republican National Committee's recent censure of two GOP lawmakers …

EXCLUSIVE FBI probes pre-Capitol riot meeting of far-right groups … The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing a meeting in a downtown DC garage the day before the January 6 Capitol Hill riot between the then-leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, the now-indicted leader …

A Woman Accused Of A $4.5 Billion Cryptocurrency Laundering Scheme Has Moonlighted As A Rapper And Forbes Writer  —  A husband and wife were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5 billion in stolen cryptocurrency.  In an announcement, the Department …

Rep. Cori Bush isn't backing down on “defund the police” slogan  —  Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) says she's not going to stop using the slogan “defund the police” ahead of this fall's midterms — even though some of her colleagues have made that request.  —  Why it matters: Progressives …

Chris Cuomo wants as much as $60 million from CNN amid Jeff Zucker exit  —  Chris Cuomo isn't backing down in his battle with CNN following the ouster of his boss Jeff Zucker — the anchor intends to demand as much as a $60 million settlement, according to sources.

New York joins several other U.S. states in rolling back mask mandates as infections fall.  —  Gov. Kathy Hochul will drop New York's stringent indoor mask mandate on Wednesday, ending a requirement that businesses ask customers for proof of full vaccination or require mask-wearing at all times …

‘Full blown’ pandemic phase of Covid nearly over in US, declares Fauci  —  Biden's top medical adviser says Americans will soon make ‘own decisions’ on dealing with virus  —  The US is heading out of the “full blown” pandemic phase of Covid-19, the president's chief medical adviser said …

The hacked account and suspicious donations behind the Canadian trucker protests  —  The jumble of misinformation, online fundraising groups and amplification from right-wing political figures suggests there's more to these protests than meets the eye.  —  Hundreds of people have been camped …

New York's Cafe Habana removes info about Che and Fidel from website  —  HOME THINGS TO DO FOOD CLUB + BARS MORE  —  A Mexican hangout where the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Che Guevara plotted the Cuban revolution is the inspiration behind a New York City restaurant opening a location soon in downtown Miami.

More Unreleased Stacey Abrams Maskless School Photos  —  Stacey Abrams' recent visit to an elementary school is more cringeworthy than we thought.  —  OutKick has obtained more photos from Abrams' visit to Glennwood Elementary School last week, showing how Abrams spent the entire day maskless while the children remained masked up.

McConnell dismisses Trump criticism, saying it's no threat to his leadership role  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is shrugging off Donald Trump's campaign to oust him as the top Senate Republican, chuckling that he views “Old Crow,” the former president's derisive nickname for him, as a compliment.

GOP lawmaker apologizes to CBC chair for allegedly telling her to ‘kiss my a—’  —  Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) apologized to Congressional Black Caucus chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) after he allegedly told her to “kiss my a—” in response to her request for him to wear a mask before taking a train inside Capitol Hill.

Male economists are freaking out over a NYT profile  —  A handful of prominent male economists, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, are freaking out — mostly on Twitter — about a weekend New York Times profile of economist Stephanie Kelton, known for her work on Modern Monetary Theory, or MMT.

Missouri Supreme Court disciplines St. Louis lawyers who waved guns at BLM protesters  —  The McCloskeys drew national headlines when they confronted a group of mostly Black protesters who had entered their gated community en route to demonstrate in front of the nearby home of a former St. Louis mayor in June 2020.

No Attack on Voting Rights Is Too Racist for This Supreme Court  —  The court's decision to let Alabama's new redistricting map remain in place opens the door to a season of racist gerrymandering.  —  I honestly do not know what kind of attack a state would have to launch against the voting rights …

Why Didn't Vanity Fair Break the Jeffrey Epstein Story?  —  The former editor Graydon Carter and a journalist, Vicky Ward, give conflicting accounts of why the magazine didn't publish sexual-abuse allegations in 2003.  —  “Ghislaine Maxwell is arguably the most hated woman in the world.

Dear White Staffers: It's Time We Listened  —  The Instagram account that shines a light on why working on Capitol Hill can be so disheartening.  —  (SHUTTERSTOCK)  —  Judged by the demographics of the senators and representatives, the 117th Congress may be the most diverse in our nation's history.

Virginia Senate Democrats join GOP on amendment to allow parents to opt out of school mask mandates  —  RICHMOND — Senate Democrats who have been howling over Gov. Glenn Youngkin's executive order making masks optional in K-12 schools got on board with the idea Tuesday …

China bought none of the extra $200 billion of US exports in Trump's trade deal  —  Image credit: Oriental Image via Reuters Connect/Li Xiaofei  —  Yilin Wang provided outstanding data assistance, and Nia Kitchin, Melina Kolb, and Oliver Ward assisted with graphics.

Oregon GOP gubernatorial candidate admits he and wife belonged to swingers group  —  A top candidate in the Republican primary for Oregon governor has admitted that he and his wife had explored a swinging lifestyle before deciding that swapping partners wasn't for them, according to a report.

Europeans Pursue Diplomacy Amid Mixed Signals on Russian Aims in Ukraine  —  President Emmanuel Macron of France said time was needed to solve the crisis, as the Kremlin refuted reports that he and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had made progress toward de-escalation.  —  Here's what you need to know:

In this next phase of the pandemic, beware of the extremes  —  Once again, the United States is at a turning point in the covid-19 pandemic.  As infections fall, local and state officials are lifting mask mandates, and a bipartisan group of governors is calling on President Biden to “move away” …

Feds Arrest Capitol Rioter Who Allegedly Shouted 'Let's Go!'  While Fighting ‘the Commies’  —  FIGHTING THE BAD FIGHT  —  The Justice Department announced the arrest of the latest Capitol rioter Tuesday: Eric Gerwatowski, 31, of New Hyde Park, New York.  He's been charged with civil disorder …

Lived Through This … In his new collection, The Nineties: A Book, the critic Chuck Klosterman works ground up from culture to build a sort of mood-board history of a decade that floats a little out of focus in the national memory: close enough to feel familiar, far away enough to feel weird.