Career prosecutors recommend no charges for Gaetz in sex-trafficking probe  —  Investigators see credibility challenges for two of the main witnesses in the probe of the congressman's past dealings with a 17-year-old  —  Career prosecutors have recommended against charging Rep. Matt Gaetz …

Ukrainians Express Fear and Defiance as Staged Voting Begins … Referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine evoke fear, anger and defiance.  —  Russian soldiers, wearing balaclavas and wielding guns, flanked election workers.  Ukrainians forced to vote while Russian officials or their proxies stood guard.

Exclusive: Trump's secret court fight to stop grand jury from getting information from his inner circle  —  Former President Donald Trump's attorneys are fighting a secret court battle to block a federal grand jury from gathering information from an expanding circle of close Trump aides …

National security risk review of material Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago resumes after appeals court ruling  —  Intelligence officials have resumed their national security risk review of top-secret documents that were seized at former President Donald Trump's Florida estate, according to a spokesperson …

Alarm as Koch bankrolls dozens of election denier candidates  —  Election watchdogs say Koch's about face after pledging change following January 6 is disturbing given the threats to democracy  —  Fossil fuel giant Koch Industries has poured over $1m into backing - directly and indirectly …

Nina Totenberg Had a Beautiful Friendship With RBG.  Her Book About It Is an Embarrassment.  —  Did Nina Totenberg know a secret that could have changed history?  —  The question hovers over Dinners With Ruth, Totenberg's new memoir of her four-decade friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsburg …

GOP Unveils ‘Commitment To America’ Plan With Stock Videos Of Russia, Ukraine  —  “We celebrate the rich heritage of the American story,” a narrator says, over footage of a drilling rig in Russia's Volgograd region.  —  House Republican leaders on Friday unveiled their “Commitment to America” …

Ugly new details about Ron DeSantis's stunt point to a deeper scam  —  Who paid for the migrants to be transported from Texas to Florida?  —  That question emerges from new revelations about Gov. Ron DeSantis's vile stunt, in which he transported two planeloads of migrants from Texas …

The Polls Still Do Not Show A GOP Bounce Back  —  Ever since we launched our election model in late June, it has moved entirely in one direction: toward Democrats.  Pretty much every week, they've either gained ground in our forecast or held steady.  —  This week has been more in the “held steady” category.

No One but Trump Would Be Prosecuted Like This  —  The civil suit had to be partly political.  Trump made it that way.  —  Donald Trump has long believed that he lives by different legal rules than everyone else.  But this week, the law finally caught up with the former president.

Biden promises to codify Roe if two more Democrats are elected to the Senate  — With 46 days to go until November's Election Day, Biden urged supporters at a Democratic National Committee event to consider “what's on the ballot,” listing issues including abortion.

Maine Poll: Mills Leads LePage by 12; Majority of Voters Concerned Over Lobsters on Unsustainable Seafood “Red List”  —  Home Polls Maine Poll: Mills Leads LePage by 12; Majority of Voters Concerned Over Lobsters on Unsustainable Seafood “Red List”  —  The latest Emerson College Polling survey …

FBI misled judge who signed warrant for Beverly Hills seizure of $86 million in cash  —  The wholesale privacy invasion was vast when FBI agents drilled and pried their way into 1,400 safe-deposit boxes at the U.S. Private Vaults store in Beverly Hills.  —  They rummaged through personal belongings …

Breyer warns justices that some opinions could ‘bite you in the back’ in exclusive interview with CNN's Chris Wallace  —  Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is warning his colleagues against “writing too rigidly” in their opinions, saying that such decisions could “bite you in the back” in a world that is constantly changing.

Project Veritas loses jury verdict to Democratic consulting firm  —  A federal jury has found Project Veritas, a conservative group often accused of using deceptive tactics, liable for violating wiretapping laws and misrepresenting itself in an undercover effort to target Democratic political consultants.

U.S. Treasury Issues Iran General License D-2 to Increase Support for Internet Freedom  —  WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued Iran General License (GL) D-2 to increase support for internet freedom in Iran by bringing U.S. sanctions guidance in line with the changes …

House GOP eyes repeal of Dems' drug pricing law  —  Some key House Republicans are calling for the repeal of Democrats' newly-passed drug pricing measure if the GOP flips control of one or both chambers of Congress next year. … - Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the top Republican on the House Ways …

House GOP Rolls Out Agenda With a Fake Lincoln Quote  —  The House Republican conference thought their agenda was quoting Abraham Lincoln.  It was actually quoting a Lehman Brothers ad from the 1980s. … As he rolled out the first official Republican Party congressional platform in years …

McConnell seeks a Jan. 6 mop-up on his terms  —  Mitch McConnell opposed conviction in Donald Trump's second impeachment trial.  He may yet help clean up the mess of Jan. 6.  —  Things are playing out differently in the Senate GOP after only nine House Republicans — all of them retiring from Congress …

Hilary Mantel, Prize-Winning Author of Historical Fiction, Dies at 70  —  The two-time Booker Prize-winning author was known for “Wolf Hall” and two other novels based on the life of Thomas Cromwell.  —  Hilary Mantel, the British author of “Wolf Hall,” “Bring Up the Bodies” and …

In-person voting starts in Minnesota, 3 other early states  —  In-person voting for the midterm elections opened Friday in Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming, kicking off a six-week sprint to Election Day in a landscape that has changed much since the pandemic drove a shift to mail balloting in the 2020 presidential contest.

DeSantis to face trial for suspension of prosecutor who defied abortion ban law  —  Andrew Warren, a Democrat, sued Florida governor for suspension after saying he would not enforce new 15-week abortion law  —  A Florida prosecutor suspended by Ron DeSantis for defying a new 15-week abortion law …