How Mike Johnson Is Taming Trump and His Party — Against All Odds  —  At a crucial juncture, the speaker went from pandering to Trump to managing him and from challenging the Democrats to working with them.  —  There are no atheists in foxholes and few isolationists in high office.

FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes  —  FTC's final rule will generate over 8,500 new businesses each year, raise worker wages, lower health care costs, and boost innovation  —  Today, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule to promote competition by banning noncompetes nationwide …

Live Updates: Prosecutors Say Trump's Attacks Are Threat to Trial  —  Prosecutors in Donald J. Trump's criminal trial want him held in contempt for attacking witnesses and others close to the case, which centers on a hush-money payment to a porn star.  Testimony is set to resume later Tuesday morning.

Kari Lake says ‘unfortunately’ Arizona isn't enforcing 1864 abortion ban, flipping again  —  The Senate candidate supported the 19th-century ban in 2022, came out against it this month, and now appears to be backing it again in a new interview.  —  Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake …

No one buys books  —  In 2022, Penguin Random House wanted to buy Simon & Schuster.  The two publishing houses made up 37 percent and 11 percent of the market share, according to the filing, and combined they would have condensed the Big Five publishing houses into the Big Four.

National Enquirer made up the story about Ted Cruz's father and Lee Harvey Oswald, former publisher says  —  The Texas senator told NBC News that he's “not interested in revisiting ancient history.”  —  David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified at Donald Trump's trial Tuesday …

Pro-Palestinian protests sweep US college campuses following mass arrests at Columbia  —  Biden says he condemns ‘the anti-Semitic protests’ on college campuses  —  Columbia canceled in-person classes, dozens of protesters were arrested at New York University and Yale …

Biden rule grants overtime pay to 4 million US workers  —  The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a rule extending mandatory overtime pay to an estimated 4 million salaried workers, going even further than an Obama-era rule that was struck down in court.

Appeals court greenlights release of secret Trump battles to block aides from testifying  —  The ruling came in response to a POLITICO petition to access records related to the Jan. 6 investigation.  —  Details of prosecutors' battles to obtain testimony from high-level White House aides …

Tennessee passes bill to let teachers carry guns, a year after mass shooting  —  One year after six were killed at Nashville's Covenant School, Tennessee remains the arena of one of the fiercest debates over gun policy nationwide  —  The Tennessee legislature passed a bill Tuesday …

You don't want immigrants?  Then tell grandma she can never retire.  —  Don't want more immigrants in this country?  Then tell grandma she can never retire.  —  As I've noted before, immigrants are driving the U.S. economic boom.  That is: The United States has escaped recession …

Senate poised to pass bill that could ban TikTok  —  The Senate is poised to pass a bill as part of a broader foreign aid package that could lead to a ban on the social media app TikTok.  —  The Senate voted 80-19 to limit debate on the package, which includes a provision …

Inside the Off-the-Record Calls Held by Anti-Trump Legal Pundits  —  Some of the country's most prominent legal commentators are holding off-the-record sessions to hash out the latest twists and turns in Donald Trump's legal saga.  —  As the Jan. 6 committee was working on its bombshell investigation …

No Soft Power Shake-Ups for Now  —  Germany is No. 1 in leadership approval ratings; Russia is unpopular  —  This article is the first in a series detailing the results from the latest Rating World Leaders report, which analyzes trends in approval ratings of the leadership of the U.S., Germany, Russia and China in over 130 countries.

House GOP conservatives galvanize against Tony Gonzales … Hardline House GOP conservatives tell us they're feeling a renewed sense of motivation to go after Gonzales after he called out Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) on CNN this weekend.

George Santos drops independent House bid  —  Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) announced Tuesday that he was suspending his independent House bid, just over a month after entering the race.  —  “I have [met] with leaders and with constituents and I have made the decision to hang it up here and stop [pursuing] this race, THIS YEAR!”

Minnesota state senator arrested on burglary charge  —  A Minnesota state senator has been charged with first-degree burglary after being arrested in the city of Detroit Lakes early Monday morning.  —  Democratic state Sen. Nicole Mitchell, 49, was arrested at a residence after police responded …

Watchdog asks for investigations of crisis pregnancy centers' practices in five states  —  A watchdog group filed complaints with five state attorneys general on Tuesday, alleging that two of the country's largest crisis pregnancy center organizations are deceiving patients about their privacy rights.

How Republicans castrated themselves … - Letting any member call a vote on removing the speaker. … - Surrendering authority of the Rules Committee, which sets the terms for how legislation will be handled during votes.

Hackers Broke Into Change Healthcare's Systems Days Before Cyberattack  —  UnitedHealth Group paid ransom to hackers, person familiar with the cyber investigation says  —  's Change Healthcare unit were in the company's networks for more than a week before they launched a ransomware strike …