Musk Says His Twitter Takeover Is ‘On Hold,’ Then Says He's ‘Still Committed’  —  Mr. Musk said he wanted to confirm Twitter's findings that spam and fake accounts make up less than 5 percent of its users.  —  Elon Musk escalated the drama surrounding his $44 billion bid to purchase Twitter on Friday …

'He's Not OK': The Entirely Predictable Unraveling of Madison Cawthorn  —  HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — In August of 2015, 16 months after the accident that nearly killed him and left him unable to walk, Madison Cawthorn exchanged text messages with the friend who had fallen asleep at the wheel and careened into a concrete wall.

I Invented Gilead.  The Supreme Court Is Making It Real.  —  In the early years of the 1980s, I was fooling around with a novel that explored a future in which the United States had become disunited.  Part of it had turned into a theocratic dictatorship based on 17th-century New England Puritan religious tenets and jurisprudence.

Electability Argument Falling Flat in 2022  —  For the last six years, the one thing that has kept the Democratic Party unified and motivated is Donald Trump.  Fear and loathing got Democrats to turn out in the 2018 midterms, and kept those voters engaged in 2020.

Erdogan says Turkey not supportive of Finland, Sweden joining NATO  —  President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday it was not possible for NATO-member Turkey to support plans by Sweden and Finland to join the pact, saying the Nordic countries were “home to many terrorist organisations”.

White House prepares to ration vaccines as Covid funding impasse looms  —  A painful and foreboding reality is setting in for the White House as it enters a potentially dangerous stretch of the Covid fight: It may soon need to run its sprawling pandemic response on a shoestring budget.

‘He absolutely betrayed me’: Steve Schmidt tells all about John McCain  —  This week on Playbook Deep Dive, we sat down over Zoom with Steve Schmidt, the architect of the late Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential run, to hear what amounts to an untold chapter of that exhaustively chronicled campaign.

Alito reluctant to discuss state of Supreme Court after Roe leak  —  In his first public address since the explosive leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion he wrote that would overturn Roe v. Wade, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. breezed through a detailed examination of statutory textualism …

Georgia county under scrutiny after claim of post-election breach  —  Effort by county official to investigate 2020 contest underscores growing threat to election security, experts say  —  A former elections supervisor in rural Coffee County, Ga., has told The Washington Post that she opened …

Scoop: New Trump venture  —  Donald Trump has found a new way to milk his ex-presidency — and test another — hitting the lucrative motivational speaking circuit with more fervor than any other active U.S. politician in history. … - It's privately run — and, according to organizers, it's driving huge audience interest.

Pence to headline Georgia rally for Kemp in new break with Trump  —  Former Vice President Mike Pence will headline a get-out-the-vote rally with Gov. Brian Kemp on the eve of Georgia's May 24 primary, marking a new split with Donald Trump as each maneuver for a possible 2024 White House run.

Chart: US solar installations could fall 50% or more under new tariffs  —  If the Commerce Department imposes trade sanctions sought by Auxin, the solar industry could be set back years and lose tens of thousands of jobs. … The actions of a tiny equipment supplier are leading to tens …

POLITICO Playbook: SCOOP: Behind the McCarthy subpoena  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  PENCE TO HOLD RALLY FOR TRUMP FOE — Georgia Gov. BRIAN KEMP may be one of former President DONALD TRUMP's biggest GOP targets in this year's primaries.  But that's not stopping former VP MIKE PENCE from openly embracing him.

House of Representatives to give staff free Peloton memberships, costing taxpayers  —  The House of Representatives is planning to announce they will give staffers in Washington, D.C., and in district offices, free Peloton memberships using taxpayer dollars each month amid skyrocketing inflation.

Detention of WNBA's Griner in Moscow extended for 1 month  —  MOSCOW (AP) — The lawyer for WNBA star Brittney Griner said Friday her pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended by one month.  —  Alexander Boykov told The Associated Press he believed the relatively short extension …

‘They were furious’: the Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine  —  Troops are saying ‘no’ to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at war  —  When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment …

Opinion J.D. Vance, migrant babies and the unhinged GOP enemy hunt  —  Just when you thought our politics couldn't get any dumber, this week brought two new GOP attacks that spectacularly defied expectations.  The Biden administration, we were told, is redirecting scarce infant formula …

US intelligence community launches review following Ukraine and Afghanistan intel failings  —  Washington (CNN)The US intelligence community is carrying out a sweeping internal review of how it assesses the fighting power of foreign militaries amid mounting pressure from key lawmakers …

“Traditional” Catholics and white nationalist “groypers” forge a new far-right youth movement  —  Activist arm of right-wing Catholic outlet Church Militant is increasingly entwined with racist “groyper” movement … The activist wing of Church Militant is called the Resistance network.

Israeli Police Launch Stun Grenades at Palestinian Journalist's Funeral Procession  —  In an interim report from the Israeli military's probe says investigators are still unable to determine who killed Shireen Abu Akleh  —  The funeral procession of slain Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh …

Cryptocurrencies Melt Down in a ‘Perfect Storm’ of Fear and Panic  —  A steep sell-off that gained momentum this week starkly illustrated the risks of the experimental and unregulated digital currencies.  — Give this article- - - Read in app  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The price of Bitcoin plunged to its lowest point since 2020.

The Biden Administration is Shipping Pallets of Baby Formula to the Border  —  American parents across the country are terrified as the supply of baby formula dries up.  —  According to Republican Congresswoman Kat Cammack, illegal immigrants currently in federal detention centers have plenty of baby formula.

Norm Macdonald Shot Secret Final Netflix Stand-Up Special Before Passing  —  In a comedy first, the late actor-comedian self-shot a final hour of new stand-up to be released in the event of his death: “The material's fantastic. ...  I hope people appreciate that he did this.”