Many Senate Republicans aren't protecting Trump after Jan. 6 panel's nod to criminal charges  —  Senate Republicans are stepping out of the way of the House Jan. 6 committee's recommendation that the Justice Department prosecute former President Trump for crimes related to the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Congress unveils $1.7 trillion deal to fund government, avert shutdown  —  Lawmakers must act swiftly to approve the measure, known as an omnibus, before a temporary spending agreement lapses at the end of this week  —  Democratic and Republican negotiators early Tuesday unveiled …

Lawmakers put Electoral Count Act, crafted as response to Jan. 6, in omnibus bill  —  A bipartisan bill that would change how members of Congress could object to electoral votes has been included in the omnibus spending bill lawmakers need to approve in the coming days.

POLITICO Playbook: What's next for the talented Mr. Santos?  —  With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  JUST POSTED —A major scoop from Heidi Przybyla, POLITICO's national investigative correspondent: “Longtime judicial activist LEONARD LEO appears to have helped facilitate …

Sam Bankman-Fried's Lawyers Hash Out His Transfer to U.S. After Confusion in Court  —  The FTX founder has agreed to be extradited, with lawyers drafting documents, according to a person familiar with the matter  —  Watch: Sam Bankman-Fried Closer to Extradition After Bahamas Hearing

House Ways and Means Committee to meet on future of Trump's tax returns  —  The House Ways and Means Committee will meet Tuesday to discuss former President Donald Trump's tax returns and weigh whether to release the information to the public, the end to a years-long effort from Democrats …

Postal Service will electrify trucks by 2026 in climate win for Biden  —  Agency plans to spend almost $10 billion for 66,000 electric vehicles and related infrastructure  —  The U.S. Postal Service will buy 66,000 vehicles to build one of the largest electric fleets in the nation …

Abortion roiled the midterms.  Now it will define the presidential race.  —  Donald Trump delivered the Supreme Court majority that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, signed a laundry list of executive actions that chipped away at abortion access and openly embraced the anti-abortion movement …

Big Tech Divided and Conquered to Block Key Bipartisan Bills  —  A passionate and bipartisan legislative effort to rein in the country's largest technology companies collapsed this week, the victim of an epic lobbying campaign by Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta.

Suspense builds at border over future of US asylum rules  —  Suspense mounted at the U.S. border with Mexico on Tuesday about the future of restrictions on asylum-seekers as the Supreme Court issued a temporary order to keep pandemic-era limits on migrants in place.

DOJ snooped on House Intelligence Committee investigators during Russia probe, subpoenas show  —  In an extraordinary intrusion on congressional oversight, the Justice Department used grand jury subpoenas to secretly obtain the personal email and phone data of at least two top House Intelligence …

Cannabis Reform Dead In Congress After Objections From Republicans  —  Lawmakers couldn't even agree to approve a modest bill allowing cannabis businesses access to banking.  —  Congress won't include any cannabis provisions in its year-end spending package, dooming the chances of an overhaul …

12/20/22 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM … THIS DECISION HELPS ROUND OUT JEFFRIES' LEADERSHIP TABLE FOR HIS FIRST STINT ATOP THE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS.  —  DELBENE HAS BEEN IN THE HOUSE FOR A DECADE AND MOST RECENTLY CHAIRED THE NEW DEMOCRAT COALITION, A GROUP OF CENTRIST AND MODERATE DEMOCRATS.

I am a Gen Z Republican and my time in the trenches taught me this about 2024  —  Republicans failed during midterms on issues that Gen Z cares about.  —  New Hampshire congressional candidate Karoline Leavitt: American dream ‘never been more unattainable’

While advising Trump on judges, Conway sold her business to a firm with ties to judicial activist Leonard Leo  —  Longtime judicial activist Leonard Leo appears to have helped facilitate the sale of former White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway's polling company in 2017 …

Judge orders 2-day trial in Kari Lake's lawsuit, but dismisses some claims  —  A judge declined Monday to dismiss Kari Lake's election challenge after oral arguments by attorneys, giving her a chance to try to prove her claims of misconduct by election officials.

Uvalde records reveal chaotic medical response as victims lost blood  —  Previously unreleased video, audio and interviews for the first time show helicopter and ambulance delays after police finally confronted the Robb Elementary shooter  —  UVALDE, Tex. — Bullets had pierced Eva Mireles's chest …

Russian Gas Flows to Europe Unaffected After Pipeline Blast  —  Russian gas flows are continuing via alternative links after an explosion occurred at a pipeline that goes to Ukraine for further supplies to Europe.  —  “Transportation of gas is provided to consumers in full through parallel gas pipelines …

An ‘Imperial Supreme Court’ Asserts Its Power, Alarming Scholars  —  Several new studies document the current court's distinctive insistence on its dominance and the justices' willingness to use procedural shortcuts to achieve it.  —  WASHINGTON — The conventional critique of the Supreme Court …

The Police Lawyer's Trial  —  By the time Karl Ashanti neared his office in the New York City Law Department's headquarters in March 2018, the police were shutting down Park Place.  Ice had fallen from the buildings above, so an officer had cordoned off the area.  Ashanti flashed his work ID and the cop let him through.

Fifth Circuit rejects Biden admin's “nearly unlimited authority” claims, blocks vaccine mandate  —  Joe Biden's executive orders continue to die on the appellate-court vine, especially in the Fifth Circuit.  Late yesterday, a 2-1 decision kept an injunction in place against Biden's order …

Feds Are ‘Begging’ Congress to Stop Trump Donation Scam  —  A notoriously do-nothing organization, the Federal Election Commission, is leaning on another do-nothing organization to do something: Congress.  —  While federal campaign finance regulators aren't known for their aggression …