Newsom picks Laphonza Butler as Feinstein replacement  —  California's governor chose a labor leader turned power player to serve in the Senate, and an adviser told POLITICO there were no preconditions about whether she could run in 2024.  —  California Gov. Gavin Newsom …

Supreme Court declines to consider longshot bid to disqualify Trump from running for president  —  The Supreme Court said Monday that it will not take up a longshot challenge to Donald Trump's eligibility to run for president because of his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Trump arrives at New York court for $250 million fraud trial  — The $250 million civil fraud trial that could see Donald Trump permanently banned from doing business in New York is set to begin.  — Trump arrived at Manhattan Supreme Court to attend the trial.

Matt Gaetz: 'Biden's Favorite Republican'  —  A vote to oust Speaker McCarthy would empower Democrats.  —  Kevin McCarthy chose the only option he had on Saturday to avoid a pointless government shutdown by seeking a bipartisan vote.  He succeeded, but now the GOP Jacobins who blocked …

Supreme Court denies Eastman petition, with rare recusal from Thomas  —  The Supreme Court on Monday denied an effort by lawyer John Eastman to appeal a ruling that found he may have acted criminally with the legal advice he gave former President Trump.  It spurred a rare recusal …

Meet Joe Biden's Newest Campaign Surrogates: The Republicans Who Hate Him  —  A Biden campaign strategy has turned Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley into effective messengers for his reelection campaign  —  A Facebook icon representing an external link to share the article …

First on CNN: Fulton County DA subpoenas Trump ally Kerik to testify, and he wants immunity  —  The Fulton County district attorney's office has issued a subpoena to former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik to testify in the first trial later this month in the case stemming …

North Carolina Republicans create “secret police force”  —  North Carolina's new $300 billion state budget contains a provision that gives extraordinary investigative powers to a partisan oversight committee co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R).

Putin's Next Target: U.S. Support for Ukraine, Officials Say  —  Russian spy agencies and new technologies could be used to push conspiracy theories, U.S. officials say.  —  Russia's strategy to win the war in Ukraine is to outlast the West.  —  But how does Vladimir Putin plan to do that?

Play it again, Sam  —  Inside Bankman-Fried's last year in the crypto game  —  Most of the people who went to work for Sam Bankman-Fried ended up in jobs for which they were not obviously qualified, and Natalie Tien was no exception.  She'd been raised in Taiwan by middle-class parents whose …

Watching Fox News with Gavin Newsom  —  The Scoop  —  Gov. Gavin Newsom says Fox News is “quite literally bullshit and misinformation,” and a “24/7 doom loop” that traffics in fear and anger.  —  Also, he can't stop watching.  And he suggests other Democrats do too.

Four SCOTUS cases to watch this term  —  The 2023-24 term starts today.  Let's break down some cases worth tracking. … The 2023-24 Supreme Court term starts today and we're staring down the barrel of nine months of decisions from a hyper-conservative majority.