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 …

‘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 …

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.

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”.

'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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

‘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.

David Perdue's ‘Sour Grapes’ Election Fraud Suit Amounts to ‘Speculation, Paranoia and Conjecture,’ Judge Rules in Scorching Dismissal  —  Former senator and current Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue's (R) lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results failed on Thursday …

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.

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 …

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.”

John Durham Goes to Court  —  How his case against Michael Sussmann unravels the Russia collusion hoax.  —  1x  —  Special Counsel John Durham steps into court Monday with the first trial of his probe into Democrats' Russia-collusion hoax.  That's a formality.  Mr. Durham has already won.

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 …

Opinion An inflation conspiracy theory is infecting the Democratic Party  —  A conspiracy theory has been infecting the Democratic Party, its progressive base, even the White House.  It's not quite as self-sabotaging as the horse-dewormer-cures-covid false theory that swept up many Republicans last year …

Judy Woodruff Expected To Step Down As Anchor Of ‘PBS NewsHour,’ With Plans For Amna Nawaz And Geoff Bennett To Succeed Her  —  PBS NewsHour is preparing for a major transition in its broadcast, with plans for Judy Woodruff to step down from the anchor chair and for Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett to succeed her.

Why Ron DeSantis Is the New Republican Party  —  Two weeks ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida appeared with the Fox News host Laura Ingraham for a town hall that lasted the full hour of her prime-time show.  That kind of airtime tends to be reserved only for Donald Trump, but Mr. DeSantis has had a meteoric rise.

Biden pivots to Asia as Ukraine war rages on  —  You're reading an excerpt from the Today's WorldView newsletter.  Sign up to get the rest, including news from around the globe, interesting ideas, and opinions to know sent to your inbox every weekday. … The past couple of months marked a rallying moment for the geopolitical West.

Surging GOP candidate Kathy Barnette has long history of bigoted statements against gays and Muslims  —  (CNN)Surging Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Kathy Barnette has a history of anti-Muslim and anti-gay statements.  In many tweets, Barnette also spread the false conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Missouri Looks to Ban Pharmacists From Disputing Efficacy of Ivermectin  —  BEATING A DEAD HORSE  —  When the Missouri state legislature on Wednesday passed a standard-issue licensure bill for physical therapists, few noticed a clandestine provision on its 32nd page banning pharmacists …

Michael Luttig: Lessons of January 6 & the Ongoing Threat  —  On advising Vice President Pence in January 2020, the vulnerabilities in our constitutional system, and what we must do to ensure election integrity.

How the conservative Christian right is hijacking homeschooling  —  “Public education has become public enemy No. 1,” the actor Kirk Cameron opines in a promotion for “The Homeschool Awakening,” his documentary scheduled to hit theaters in June.  The documentary, funded by the Trinity Broadcasting Network …