Driver arrested and Nazi flag seized after truck crashes into security barriers near the White House  —  The driver of the U-Haul truck faces multiple charges after the Monday night incident, which the Secret Service said may have been intentional.  —  A driver was arrested and a Nazi flag …

GOP extortion has backed Biden into a corner.  He still has a way out.  —  As America hurtles toward default on its debts and the subsequent economic cataclysm, it's looking as if President Biden is running out of options.  He still has a way out — remaining prepared to invoke the 14th Amendment …

Florida school bans poem read at Biden inauguration after objection of just one parent  —  The poem that was read by poet Amanda Gorman at President Joe Biden's inauguration has been banned from elementary schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida after the objections of just one parent.

Sex Abuse in Catholic Church: Over 1,900 Minors Abused in Illinois, State Says  —  A new report by the attorney general of Illinois covering decades names more than 450 credibly accused sexual abusers, including priests and lay religious brothers.  —  The Latest

Here's How Bad CNN's Post-Trump Town Hall Ratings Have Been  —  This reporting is featured in this week's edition of Confider, The Daily Beast's media newsletter.  Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.  —  More than a week after CNN's disastrous town hall …

7 news outlets reimagining political journalism in smart ways  —  Political journalism is in crisis.  Over the past few months, BuzzFeed News, FiveThirtyEight, Vice and a number of other outlets that specialize in political news have substantially cut staffing and coverage.

Do Americans really want “unbiased” news?  —  CNN and the Messenger both say they're chasing the middle.  Uh-oh.  —  Item 1: Last week, the Messenger, a news operation run by the team that built and sold the Hill, launched to plenty of jeers from critics, while inside the company …

The looming existential crisis for cable news  —  The number of cable subscribers, dropping for years, just took a record-breaking plunge.  Sooner or later, it will hurt news channels' bottom line.  —  After a week of promotion and controversy, CNN staged a live town hall telecast …

Reality is an endlessly useful political opponent  —  Kari Lake lost the Arizona gubernatorial election by about 17,000 of the votes cast by Nov. 8, 2022.  —  She lost the election in the mind of the public when it was called by the Associated Press on Nov. 14.  She lost officially when the election was certified on Dec. 5.

Billionaire Harlan Crow, Benefactor to Justice Thomas, Rebuffs Senate on Ethics Probe  —  Harlan Crow, the Texas billionaire and GOP megadonor with close ties to Clarence Thomas, refused to answer questions from a Senate committee about his years of gifts to the Supreme Court justice.

As funds run short, Treasury asks agencies if payments can be made later  —  Senior Biden aides are rummaging through the nation's books, looking for new ways to conserve cash while Washington battles over the debt ceiling  —  The Treasury Department has asked federal agencies whether …

DeSantis envisions shaping ‘7-2 conservative majority’ on Supreme Court  —  The Florida governor suggested that Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, John G. Roberts Jr. and Sonia Sotomayor could all retire over the next two presidential terms  —  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis previewed …

Trump Organization finishes last in brand reputation survey for second straight year  —  The Trump Organization, the company led by former President Trump and his family, finished last in an Axios Harris survey of brand reputations for the second year in a row.

Special Counsel Is Wrapping Up Trump Mar-a-Lago Probe  —  Some Trump associates anticipate an indictment—and raising funds off it  —  WASHINGTON—Special counsel Jack Smith has all but finished obtaining testimony and other evidence in his criminal investigation into whether former President …

AG Merrick Garland Needs to Get Out of the Business of Defending Trump  —  E. Jean Carroll wants to add Trump's latest insults to a pending defamation case.  The attorney general still allows the federal government to help Trump's defense. … E. Jean Carroll's latest legal move …

UT-Austin tried to hire a game theorist for its new free-enterprise think tank.  He turned down the job because of fights over tenure.  —  Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to eliminate tenure, but his attempts have impacted the institute he helped create.  —  It was going to take Keith Schnakenberg …

Charlie Kirk's ‘Turning Point’ Pivots to Christian Nationalism  —  The organization founded to promote the free market sure is spending a lot of time promoting attacks on the separation of church and state … Its mission, as recorded with the IRS since 2012, is to enlighten students about …

House GOP auctions off McCarthy's used chapstick as debt talks intensify  —  The fundraiser, which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) won with a $100,000 bid, is set to benefit Republicans' campaign arm.  —  House Republicans are bidding for steep spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

How Vivek Ramaswamy helped make Martin Shkreli the ‘pharma bro’  —  Ramaswamy's hedge fund firm invested with the since-infamous Shkreli.  Later, he would say he was “pathologically incapable of telling the truth.”  —  Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican presidential candidate who made a fortune in biotech …

A Black professor has long said what the IRS now admits: The tax system is biased  —  Dorothy Brown's book “The Whiteness of Wealth” laid the groundwork for the IRS' recent admission that Black people are disproportionately audited.  —  The Internal Revenue Service is increasingly acknowledging …

Black Lives Matter Hemorrhaged Cash in 2022, Tax Documents Show … Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation ran an $8.5 million deficit and saw the value of its investment accounts plummet by nearly $10 million in the most recent tax year, financial disclosures show.

Russian Court Extends Evan Gershkovich's Pretrial Detention by Three Months  —  WSJ reporter was detained on March 29 while on a reporting trip in the Urals  —  A Russian court extended until at least Aug. 30 the pretrial detention of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter deemed …

Biden campaign spends big to close digital deficit  —  In its first month, President Biden's re-election campaign has already tripled what Donald Trump's team has spent in online ads in 2023, an attempt to jump-start small donations and lessen Trump's digital advantage.

Scoop: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin reconsiders 2024 bid  —  Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is reconsidering a bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, after earlier taking himself out of the race as polls made former President Trump look increasingly formidable, top Republican sources tell Axios.

Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges  —  An analysis of book challenges from across the nation shows the majority were filed by just 11 people  —  Books about LGBTQ people are fast becoming the main target of a historic wave of school book challenges …

Republican John Kennedy: southern plain-talk or Foghorn Leghorn shtick?  —  The Louisiana senator, once a Democrat, trots out folksy, at times racist lines in an exaggerated accent - but is it a put-on?  —  enator John Neely Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, offended Mexicans across the world …

Former Rep. Suozzi looks to reclaim old House seat, now held by George Santos  —  While a special election seems increasingly likely at this stage, the race remains highly unpredictable — and it could become even more convoluted should Santos leave office sooner than later

The Busing of Migrants Has Worked  —  The ire of Democratic mayors and governors would be best directed at the author of this mess, President Biden.  —  B  —  uild the wall" hasn't been a sentiment often heard in South Side Chicago.  —  But someone held a sign calling for the barrier …

Moody's: U.S. downgrade, default unlikely as X-Date approaches  —  Editor's note: Morning Money is a free version of POLITICO Pro Financial Services morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 5:15 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools …