Secret Service official at center of Jan. 6 committee probe retires  —  Tony Ornato, the senior Secret Service official who served as a top aide in Donald Trump's White House and faced scrutiny from the Jan. 6 select committee earlier this summer, announced his retirement Monday.

Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters scrubbed language on campaign website saying the 2020 election was stolen from Trump  —  Arizona Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters removed language from his website following his primary win that included the false claim that the 2020 election …

Trump Bragged He Had ‘Intelligence’ on Macron's Sex Life … For Trump, that has been a subject of intense — and tawdry — interest for years.  —  Specifically, Trump has bragged to some of his closest associates — both during and after his time in the White House …

FBI special agent who opened Trump investigation reportedly escorted out of Bureau  —  Former Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Thibault was reportedly escorted out of the Bureau on Friday, amid whistleblower allegations that he showed political bias in his handling of politically sensitive investigations.

Who student debt relief helps (and it's not who you think)  —  Despite what critics may say, student loan debtors who stand to benefit most from the relief plan announced last week aren't exactly latte-sipping elites. … Second, a significant percentage of student loan debtors didn't get a four-year degree.

Ron DeSantis' First Voter Fraud Bust Is Quickly Imploding  —  The governor's own administration greenlighted the defendants' voter registration applications.  Now it has arrested them for voting.  —  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a spectacle out of the round of arrests …

Biden to give prime-time speech on ‘soul of the nation’ as voters prepare to cast midterm ballots  —  President Joe Biden plans to deliver a prime-time speech this week on how America's “rights and freedoms are still under attack,” returning to the core message of his 2020 campaign as Americans …

Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents already examined by FBI, Justice Dept. tells judge  —  A “filter team” has “completed its review” of material possibly covered by attorney-client privilege, the court filing says.  —  FBI agents have already finished their review of possibly privileged documents seized …

Lakewood cut down Town Square trees to deter homeless  —  LAKEWOOD - The township cut down all of the shade trees that once lined Town Square in a controversial move designed to prevent homeless people from spending time there.  —  Mayor Ray Coles said the decision was made after a recommendation …

It's Open Season on Jews in New York City  —  Of the hundreds of hate crimes committed against Jews in the city since 2018, many of them documented on camera, only a single perpetrator has served even one day in prison  —  The attack that sent 31-year-old Yossi Hershkop to the hospital …

Joe Biden picks Hunter laptop denier for presidential intelligence board  —  President Joe Biden's latest pick for his Intelligence Advisory Board is an MSNBC pundit who was among dozens of former intelligence officials to sign a letter in 2020 claiming, without evidence …

3 dead, including suspected shooter, in Oregon grocery store attack  —  Gunman opens fire in Oregon grocery store, killing two  —  Three people, including the suspected shooter, are dead following an attack Sunday night at a grocery store in Bend, Oregon, police said.

Lindsey Graham's vile ‘riots’ threat gives away Trump's game  —  “If there's a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham on Fox News, there will be “riots in the streets.”  —  The South Carolina Republican's quote has been relentlessly skewered …

The Mystery of the Missing Republican Ad Money  —  One Republican has been raking in the donations and siphoning dollars away from GOP candidates.  It's just that this (former) guy isn't on a ballot this time around.  —  Hey y'all: Welcome to Morning Shots.  It's Tim in for Charlie today.

Iran sends first shipment of drones to Russia for use in Ukraine  —  Russian cargo planes left Tehran 10 days ago with UAVs, some of which have already malfunctioned, U.S. and allied officials say  —  Russian cargo planes have quietly picked up the first of scores of Iranian-made combat drones …

Flooding exacerbates Jackson's water crisis, raises calls for state intervention  —  Pearl River flooding is exacerbating Jackson's drinking water crisis, bringing warnings of a system-wide outage, causing some businesses and schools to close Monday and prompting some leaders to call for the state to take action.

Proud Boy sentenced to 4.5 years in prison in Jan. 6 case, still says election was stolen  —  WASHINGTON — A former D.C. bartender and Proud Boy who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 55 months in federal prison on Monday.  —  Joshua Pruitt, 40, pleaded guilty in June …

Clashes erupt after Iraqi Shiite cleric resigns, 10 dead  —  An influential Shiite cleric announced Monday that he would resign from Iraqi politics, prompting hundreds of his angry followers to storm the government palace and sparking clashes with security forces and between rival militias.

Greenland ice sheet set to raise sea levels by nearly a foot, study finds  —  New research suggests the massive ice sheet is already set to lose more than 3 percent of its mass, even if the world stopped emitting greenhouse gases today  —  Human-driven climate change has set …

NBC's ‘Meet the Press’ Shakeup Puts Chuck Todd in Jeopardy … This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week's edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media.  Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.

My Post-Graduation Plan?  I'm Immigrating to Israel.  —  For me and other young Jews, the future is no longer in America.  What we experienced on campus has a lot to do with it. … It's Back to School Week at Common Sense.  If you appreciate our coverage of higher ed, please become a subscriber today.

A Catholic Podcasting Star Says Theocracy Is Not the Way  —  There are things that, at first blush, might appear marginal but are in truth major.  Since it was introduced by the Catholic priest Mike Schmitz, who goes by Father Mike, in January 2021, the little-heralded “The Bible in a Year …

Republican Paranoia Could Cost the Party in November  —  The terror that mainstream conservative Republican politicians have felt over the threat of being called insufficiently conservative — of being tagged as Republicans in Name Only — has made governing difficult for them since the 1990s.

The Texas Tribune and other newsrooms sue to force Uvalde officials to release shooting records  —  The Tribune and other news organizations also previously filed suit against the Department of Public Safety over its refusal to release records related to the school shooting.  —  Copy link

Ukraine War Is Depleting U.S. Ammunition Stockpiles, Sparking Pentagon Concern  —  The level of one type of combat rounds in storage is ‘uncomfortably low,’ says a defense official  —  Why Crimea Is a Focal Point in the Ukraine War  —  Created with sketchtool.