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 …

Riggleman: White House switchboard called a Capitol rioter on January 6  —  Former senior technical adviser for the January 6 Committee, Denver Riggleman, said the White House switchboard connected a phone call to a Capitol rioter on January 6, 2021.  —  “You get a real ‘a-ha’ moment …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Elijah McClain's death caused by ketamine injection, amended autopsy report says  —  AURORA, Colo. — An amended autopsy report released Friday revealed Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after a confrontation with police officers, died because he was injected with ketamine by paramedics after being forcibly restrained.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Mississippi Man Burned Cross in Front Yard to Intimidate Black Family, Feds Say  —  OLD SCHOOL RACISM  —  A man in Mississippi has been charged with a federal hate crime for allegedly taunting a Black family by burning a cross in his front yard.  In December 2020, Axel C. Cox …

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 …

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 …

Republican Tudor Dixon makes light of plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at campaign stops  —  Tudor Dixon, the Republican challenging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, made light of the 2020 kidnapping plot against Whitmer on Friday, telling a crowd that the Democratic governor …

Putin's Draft Draws Resistance in Russia's Far-Flung Regions  —  Villagers, activists and some elected officials asked why the conscription drive seemed to be hitting poor, remote areas hardest, while pro-war hawks criticized it as chaotic.  —  President Vladimir V. Putin's surprise draft …

Jury deliberates fate of QAnon believer who thought he was storming the White House during the Capitol riot  —  WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Friday began deliberating the fate of a QAnon believer who chased down U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman on Jan. 6, 2021.

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.

Georgia to replace voting machines in Coffee County after alleged security breach  —  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Friday that he intends to replace some election equipment in a south Georgia county where forensics experts working last year for pro-Trump attorney …

Arizona judge rules that state can enforce near-total abortion ban  —  The only exemption is if the woman's life is in jeopardy.  An appeal of the ruling is likely.  —  PHOENIX — Arizona can enforce a near-total ban on abortions that has been blocked for nearly 50 years, a judge ruled Friday …

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 …

Election Deniers in Senate Races Shift to Appeal to Voters in Middle  —  As post-primary pivots go, Don Bolduc's overnight transformation from “Stop the Steal” evangelist to ratify-the-results convert could land him in a political hall of fame.  It was an about-face so sudden and jarring …

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.