Trump Got a Big Sign the Supreme Court Doesn't Have His Back  —  Donald Trump may have handpicked three members of the Supreme Court's conservative majority.  That doesn't mean they are doing him any favors.  —  Former President Donald Trump has tried every legal trick in the book to postpone …

Playbook: The politics that could make or break a border deal  —  With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  WHAT YOUR MEDIA FRIENDS ARE TEXTING ABOUT — The Economist's James Bennet is out with a very buzzy, nearly 17,000-word piece on the culture war roiling …

Why Hunter Biden went public: “I need to call out their lies”  —  After mostly lying low for years, Hunter Biden is publicly hitting back at Republicans — a more aggressive approach he believes will help him and President Biden, according to people familiar with his team's thinking.

Rudy Giuliani now won't testify in defamation trial brought by former Georgia election workers  —  Former Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani will no longer testify in his defamation damages trial over how much he should pay two Georgia election workers millions of dollars in damages …

Is it time for a second look at Kamala Harris?  —  With Biden's polling worse than ever, the Kamala question deserves a serious answer.  —  ∙ Paid  —  Speaking at a fundraiser in Massachusetts last week, Joe Biden reportedly said that “If Trump wasn't running, I'm not sure I'd be running, but we cannot let him win.”

The Republican leading the probe of Hunter Biden has his own shell company and complicated friends  —  Rep. James Comer, a multimillionaire farmer, boasts of being one of the largest landholders near his rural Kentucky hometown, and he has meticulously documented nearly all of his landholdings …

Exclusive: McCarthy eyes AI for new career, can imagine working with Musk … The ornate first-floor room was Rep. Nancy Pelosi's hideaway, before the GOP evicted her to make room for McCarthy after he lost the gavel.  — “AI is where California is going to come back,” he added.

GOP critics decry ‘regulatory harassment’ as FCC denies Elon Musk's Starlink $900M in subsidies  —  Republican critics raged after the Federal Communications Commission rejected nearly $900 million in subsidies for Elon Musk's Starlink internet service - a move they decried as a vindictive play by the Biden administration.

Jan. 6 rioter with ‘Foxmania’ pleads guilty to felony Capitol attack charge  —  “You want war?”  Anthony Alexander Antonio shouted during the Jan. 6 attack.  “We got war. 1776 all over again.”  —  WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 defendant whose attorney said was infected with “Foxmania” …

Pro-China YouTube Network Used A.I. to Malign U.S., Report Finds  —  Content from at least 30 channels in the network drew nearly 120 million views and 730,000 subscribers since last year.  —  In a faintly stilted tone and with slightly awkward grammar, the American-accented voice on YouTube …

Trump fraud-trial judge evacuated from Manhattan courthouse soon after testimony ends  — The Trump fraud trial is nearing its end in a lower Manhattan courthouse.  — More than 10 weeks of testimony wrapped on Wednesday with a verdict expected in a month.

Protest calling for cease-fire in Gaza shuts down SB 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles  —  The CHP says 75 people were arrested.  —  A protest on the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles prompted a shutdown of southbound lanes as demonstrators called for a cease-fire in Gaza.  —  KABC

In Annual News Conference, Putin Says His War Aims Have Not Changed  —  The Russian leader has been taking questions for nearly two hours, albeit in a closely controlled setting.  When asked about Ukraine, he suggested that Western support for the country was drying up.

Social Media Is a Mess.  Government Meddling Would Only Make It Worse.  —  This term, the Supreme Court will reconsider America's laissez-faire approach to regulating the internet, and in doing so it will address vital and new First Amendment questions.  Can states stop social media sites from blocking certain content?