Licht's Dispassion Punch  —  Inside CNN, the reverberations from Wednesday's town hall are still being profoundly felt, further testing the long-strained relationship between the network's anchors and journalists on one side and their newly dispassionate boss on the other.

Trump supporters are neither underrecognized nor half the country  —  The morning after the channel's widely pilloried “town hall” with former president Donald Trump, CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht defended the program in a call with staffers.  —  “While we all may have been uncomfortable …

DeSantis Enjoys Huge Haul of Iowa Endorsements Ahead of Visit  —  Ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's trip to Iowa this weekend, 37 state legislatures have come out to endorse him — representing over a third of the combined number of Republican lawmakers in the state's house and senate.

Former Trump prosecutor slams GOP ‘political theater,’ takes the Fifth at deposition  —  Former Trump prosecutor Mark Pomerantz invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during his deposition before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, slamming the GOP-led panel's investigation as “political theater” in his opening statement.

Russian lawyer claims Putin is building settlements for conservatives looking to leave the US for ‘ideological reasons’  —  A Moscow-based immigration lawyer claims that a settlement for conservative American and Canadian immigrants seeking to leave the West “for ideological reasons” is being built in Russia, Vice News reported.

Cat and dog torture videos litter Twitter, adding to concerns about moderation  —  Twitter's search function suggested searches for animal abuse, leading some viewers to the video.  As of Friday afternoon, Twitter appeared to have turned off all suggestions.

GOP senators disavow Trump on debt ceiling, signaling growing rift  —  Senate Republicans are disavowing former President Trump's call to let the federal government default on its debts unless President Biden agrees to “massive” spending cuts, dismissing Trump's suggestion as something far too risky to seriously consider.

Ex-ByteDance Executive Accuses Company of ‘Lawlessness’  —  The former executive sued ByteDance, which owns TikTok, for wrongful termination and accused the company of lifting content from rivals and “supreme access” by the Chinese Communist Party.  —  A former executive at ByteDance …

American Oversight Receives Indication That Durham Investigation Has Closed  —  On Friday, the Department of Justice dropped a key objection to the release of more than 4,500 pages of documents related to the Durham investigation, the Trump-era inquiry into the origins of the FBI's probe of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.

Dan Snyder finalizes $6 billion deal to sell Washington Commanders  —  Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder has entered into an agreement to sell his franchise to a group led by Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris, it was announced Friday.  —  The framework of the deal was first reported last month.

Russia tried to destroy US-made Patriot system in Ukraine, officials say  —  Russia tried to destroy a US-made Patriot air defense system in Ukraine last week with a hypersonic missile, two US officials told CNN.  —  The attack failed, and the Ukrainian military instead intercepted …

Serbia Offers Amnesty for Illegal Firearms, and Thousands Are Collected  —  The unregistered weapons were handed over to the authorities as the government vows to disarm the country after two mass shootings.  —  The Serbian authorities have collected thousands of weapons in a sweeping campaign …

How Ukrainian forces denied Russia victory in Bakhmut by Victory Day  —  KYIV, Ukraine — They started shelling at sunrise.  —  In the dawn haze, under the cover of their own artillery, small groups of Ukrainian soldiers advanced toward a Russian position on the outskirts of the embattled city of Bakhmut.

Group trying to gain official party status warned against misleading voters  —  Maine's secretary of state has sent a cease-and-desist letter to national organization No Labels, expressing concerns that it has confused voters who think they are signing a petition but instead are enrolling in a new party.

Poll: Florida Republicans Strongly Support Donald Trump for 2024 Run  —  2024 election cycle will be here very soon.  —  Amidst massive legal battles involving former U.S. President Donald Trump and jockeying for control of the GOP that puts Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the public light …

U.S. Ally Rebuffs Requests to Block Russian Military Flights  —  Egypt is giving Moscow crucial access to its airspace, allowing a path to transport weapons to Ukraine from Syria  —  Egypt has ignored U.S. requests to close its airspace to Russian military flights, American and Egyptian officials said …

Emma Stone-backed child harassment bill sparks First Amendment, youth incarceration concerns  —  Legislation backed by the Oscar winner would make recording children in public without parents' consent a misdemeanor in New York punishable by up to a year in prison.

The GOP Is the Party of ‘Fuck You’  —  It was once a political party, now it's a nihilistic, corrupt, fake populist scam. … There is an apocryphal belief that among the Indigenous people of the north there are more than 30 words for snow.  Well, I'm from New Jersey and I can tell …

Cops Win $40M Over Racial Discrimination in Massachusetts  —  Abel Cano Jr., one of the Massachusetts officers continually passed over for promotion due to his skin color, said he can't help but wonder how much better his life may have been.  —  After nearly 15 years of litigation …

U.S. can avoid default in July if Treasury can make it through June cash crunch, Congressional Budget Office says  —  WASHINGTON — The Congressional Budget Office on Friday said that tax revenues and emergency measures after June 15 “will probably allow the government to continue financing operations through at least the end of July.”

Yellen Says ‘We Have to Default’ on Something If Congress Fails  —  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the federal government will have to renege on some payments if Congress doesn't raise the debt limit, though no plan on how the department would proceed has yet been presented to President Joe Biden.