Judge Kicks Reporters Out of Courtroom to Talk to Trump and AG  —  Justice Arthur F. Engoron also issued a gag order against Trump earlier in the day after the former president attacked one of his law clerks on social media.  —  A turbulent second day at Donald Trump's bank fraud trial …

Republicans must expel Matt Gaetz  —  Newt Gingrich, a Republican from Georgia, was speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999.  —  Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is an anti-Republican who has become actively destructive to the conservative movement.  —  Drama has filled the halls of Congress for 234 years.

McHenry ordered Pelosi to leave her Capitol hideaway office by Wednesday  —  The former speaker blasted the move as a “sharp departure from tradition.”

Fulton prosecutors float plea deals to Trump defendants  —  First guilty plea in RICO case came Friday  —  Fulton County prosecutors are floating plea deals to a number of defendants in the election interference case involving former President Donald Trump, according to people with knowledge of the proposals.

Payday Lenders Get Their Asses Handed To Them During Anti-CFPB Supreme Court Arguments  —  The case to dismantle the CFPB ran into a hammer from the three liberal justices and marked skepticism from at least two of the conservatives.  —  LOADING  —  The case seeking to eviscerate …

Leonard Leo says he will not cooperate with D.C. Attorney General tax probe  —  A liberal group targeted by a similar tax probe said it would comply.  —  Judicial activist Leonard Leo is not cooperating with an investigation by Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb …

Drugmakers agree to negotiate drug prices with government, White House says  —  The manufacturers of 10 prescription drugs — including Eliquis, Xarelto and Januvia — will take part in the negotiations.  —  Major drug companies including Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb …

Trump is no ghost of the past — he's haunting Ukraine's present  —  The war effort risks being held hostage in Washington by a raging partisan budget battle provoked by the former president.  —  Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe.  —  Europe and Ukraine got a nasty foretaste …

How red-state politics are shaving years off American lives  —  ASHTABULA, Ohio — Mike Czup unspooled the hose to wash his hearse.  It was time to pick up the body of yet another neighbor who had died in the prime of life.  —  Since he started working at 15 in the funeral business, Czup has seen plenty of tragedies.

Once a secret, the temporary House speaker is Rep. Patrick McHenry  — Following Kevin McCarthy's ouster, it was revealed that Rep. Patrick McHenry will temporarily lead the House.  — Under House rules, McCarthy previously turned over a list of potential temporary successors that would lead the chamber.

McCarthy will not run for speaker again after being removed  —  Listen To Our Podcast  —  Every weekday, NPR's best political reporters are there to explain the big news coming out of Washington and the campaign trail.  They don't just tell you what happened.  They tell you why it matters.

Kari Lake jumps into the Arizona Senate race  —  The prominent election denier and Trump ally, who is still appealing her loss in court, is trying to win the Senate seat held by Kyrsten Sinema.  —  Republican Kari Lake, who lost the race for Arizona governor last year to Democrat Katie Hobbs, filed the papers to run for Senate Monday.