FBI resisted opening probe into Trump's role in Jan. 6 for more than a year  —  In the DOJ's investigation of Jan. 6, key Justice officials also quashed an early plan for a task force focused on people in Trump's orbit  —  Hours after he was sworn in as attorney general …

Barr Says Documents Case Against Trump Is ‘Entirely of His Own Making’  —  The former attorney general, who has become a vocal critic of Donald Trump, was one of two people who served in the former president's cabinet to question his judgment on Sunday.  —  Reporting from Washington

Why Robert Kennedy Jr.'s 2024 Bid Is a Headache for Biden  —  The unexpected polling strength of an anti-vaccine activist with a celebrated Democratic lineage points to the president's weaknesses, which his team is aiming to shore up.  —  Reporting from Washington

Blinken and Xi pledge to stabilize the deteriorating ties between the US and China  —  The United States and China have pledged to stabilize their badly deteriorated ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Chinese military scientist Zhou Yusen ‘thrown to his death’ at Wuhan lab for leaking COVID lab information  —  A Chinese military scientist who was reportedly thrown to his death from the roof of a Wuhan institute is at the centre of mounting evidence that the COVID pandemic resulted from a lab leak.

G.O.P. Targets Researchers Who Study Disinformation Ahead of 2024 Election  —  A legal campaign against universities and think tanks seeks to undermine the fight against false claims about elections, vaccines and other hot political topics.  —  On Capitol Hill and in the courts …

U.S. ‘Deeply Troubled’ by Israeli Settlement Plans That Violate Commitment to Biden  —  The U.S. opposes the move, as has been its ‘longstanding policy’ for actions it considers ‘obstacles to peace’  —  WASHINGTON — The United States on Sunday said it was “deeply troubled” …

Some Top Republicans Embrace Early Voting, Reversing After Years of Claiming Fraud  —  Former President Donald J. Trump has said that until Republicans gain power and can change the law, they have “no choice” but to support voting by mail.  —  After years of deriding early and mail-in voting …

Russia Sought to Kill Defector in Florida  —  A failed plot to assassinate a C.I.A. spy in 2020 in part led to expulsions of the agency's chief in Moscow and his Russian counterpart in Washington.  —  As President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has pursued enemies abroad …

2024's hidden prize: The upper hand in tax ‘Armageddon’  —  If either party can claim a full sweep of next year's elections, it would claim the power to unilaterally shape the code for millions of Americans.  —  If either party can claim both the White House and Congress in next fall's elections …

‘Flat-out lying’: Legal analyst fact-checks Mike Pence claiming no BLM protesters were arrested  —  Former Vice President Mike Pence faced off against an angry crowd of Donald Trump's supporters who built a gallows on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol and chanted “Hang Mike Pence.”

The GOP field discovers there are only side acts in the Trump show  —  When Trump's challengers did make a splash last week, it only came in response to Trump.  —  The problem for Donald Trump's rivals with the wall-to-wall media coverage of his indictment isn't just that Trump is once again drawing …

Rishi Sunak mocks trans women in leaked video footage  —  British prime minister Rishi Sunak has been secretly filmed mocking trans people in footage shared exclusively with PinkNews.  —  Sunak was caught on video joking about “women having penises” and making fun of Lib Dem leader Ed Davey for supporting trans rights.

Juneteenth holiday horror: Four people are shot dead and at least 42 others injured so far this weekend as gun violence erupts across the nation - from Illinois to Missouri  — At least 20 people were shot, one fatally, during a Juneteenth celebration early Sunday morning in Willowbrook, Illinois