Exclusive: Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows subpoenaed by special counsel in Jan. 6 investigation  —  Donald Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows has been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating the former president and his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Haley looks to move past Trump with a style that predates him  —  CHARLESTON, S.C. — There were no red caps or QAnon flags in the crowd when Nikki Haley took the stage today at the Charleston Visitor Center.  —  No vendors had opened their car trunks in the parking lot outside to hawk T-shirts with her face emblazoned on them.

New York Times Writers Call Out the Paper's Anti-Trans Onslaught  —  “This is not quite business as usual anymore,” one of the organizers of an open letter to the NYT told Hell Gate.  —  On Wednesday morning, a group of almost 200 journalists and writers released an open letter addressed …

El Paso police respond to shooting inside Cielo Vista Mall; 1 killed, 3 hurt  —  A person was killed and three others were injured in a shooting Wednesday evening inside Cielo Vista Mall, El Paso police confirmed.  —  “We have one person in custody,” El Paso Police Department spokesman Sgt. Robert Gomez said at a news conference.

Top Republicans plot Santos' ouster as embattled freshman weighs reelection  —  Embattled Rep. George Santos is contemplating a nightmare scenario for House Republicans: Trying to stick it out in Congress, even if he is indicted on criminal charges.  —  After previously signaling to Republicans …

‘32 Nasty:’ Rail Workers Say They Knew the Train That Derailed in East Palestine Was Dangerous  —  A freight train carrying toxic chemicals derailed 50 miles outside Pittsburgh, forced thousands to evacuate, and created a toxic cloud.  Workers knew the train had safety issues.

How a Fog of Questions Over a Spy Balloon and U.F.O.s Fed a Diplomatic Crisis  —  U.S. officials now suspect that the balloon was sent to spy on bases in Guam and Hawaii and that other downed objects were not surveillance machines.  Washington's evolving view reflects U.S. and Chinese difficulties in discerning each other's intentions.

D.C. police lieutenant delivered pre-Jan. 6 tips from Tarrio to Capitol Police, Proud Boy's lawyer says  —  In the weeks before Jan. 6, 2021, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio shared information about his group's planned activities with a D.C. police lieutenant, who then passed it along …

Extraordinarily Confused Congressional Rep. Thinks Social Media Companies Are Secretly Communicating With Gov't Censors... Via Jira  —  I wrote last week about the bizarrely bad House Oversight hearing that was supposed to expose how Twitter, the deep state, and the, um “Biden Crime Family” …

First on CNN: DOJ officially decides not to charge Matt Gaetz in sex-trafficking probe  —  The Justice Department has informed lawyers for at least one witness that it will not bring charges against Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz after a years-long federal sex-trafficking investigation.

AMERICAN VIEWS 2022: Part 2, TRUST MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY  —  OVERVIEW  —  Democracy in America relies on an independent press to inform citizens with accurate information.  Yet today, two forces pose significant challenges to this function: the growing struggle of news organizations …

First on CNN: FBI searched University of Delaware for Biden documents, source says  —  The FBI has conducted two searches at the University of Delaware in connection with the investigation into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Two Democrats want McConnell's 2011 debt-ceiling fix proposal to be adopted  —  Two Democratic senators called on Congress to adopt a proposal that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made in 2011 to address a standoff over raising the debt ceiling, which would grant the president …

Gunman sentenced to life in prison for Buffalo massacre of Black victims  —  Payton Gendron targeted Black people and posted a rambling online statement that included antisemitic rants and far-right conspiracy theories  —  The gunman who killed 10 Black people in a shooting rampage …

How self-ID helped bring down Nicola Sturgeon … In the years when I wrote a lot about sex and gender and politics and law, I made the same observations many times.  One, that politicians weren't talking fully and openly about the implications of self-identified gender, and the policies and practices related to it.

Jon Stewart Shreds JD Vance And Tucker Carlson for ‘Baloney’ Reaction to Ohio Train Disaster: ‘They Play Act This Concern For Working People’  —  Jon Stewart blasted both Tucker Carlson and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance's reaction to the Ohio train derailment— arguing that although both were outraged …

Explosive details of Jeffrey Epstein-related lawsuit against JPMorgan unsealed, revealing ‘Snow White’ messages with former top exec  —  More than 20 of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking victims were paid through JPMorgan accounts, as the megabank's former top executives privately discussed …

Moscow's Military Capabilities Are in Question After Failed Battle for Ukrainian City  —  A disastrous Russian assault on Vuhledar, viewed as an opening move in an expected spring offensive, has renewed doubts about Moscow's ability to sustain a large-scale ground assault.

How the Harry Potter video game became an ethical minefield  —  Hogwarts Legacy is one of the most anticipated video games of all time.  Whether or not you play it is a question of morality.  —  On February 10, Warner Bros. released the video game Hogwarts Legacy, an open-world role-playing game …

Giuliani associate regrets buying into ‘deep state’ conspiracy — and thinks Trump committed crimes bribing Ukraine  —  Lev Parnas, one of the associates of Rudy Giuliani's working on the Ukraine conspiracy has been released from prison on home confinement and he's speaking out about his experience working to help Donald Trump.

Oakland fires police chief for alleged misconduct cover-up  —  1 of 2  —  The Oakland Police Department lost its seventh head of police in as many years Wednesday over the alleged cover-up of an officer's misconduct in a scandal that threatens to extend two decades of federal oversight …

Donald Trump Changes Tune on Mail-in Voting, Ballot Collection  —  After years of attacks on early voting, Trump follows other Republicans in suggesting party should embrace tactic  —  After years of assailing early voting, Donald Trump is having a change of heart.

Let's Stop Pretending Clarence Thomas Can Read the Framers' Minds  —  The majority of our current Supreme Court justices worry that the Second Amendment does not get the respect it deserves.  They claim modern gun control laws wrongly prioritize efforts to curb gun violence over the individual's right …

California's population dropped by 500,000 in two years as exodus continues  —  The California exodus has shown no sign of slowing down as the state's population dropped by more than 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022, with the number of residents leaving surpassing those moving in by nearly 700,000.

Biden's Medicare advantage  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.  With help from Allie Bice.  —  Republicans really wish President JOE BIDEN would stop claiming they're trying to cut Medicare and Social Security.