Behind the Curtain: Speaker Johnson's secret muse … - In our column on Johnson's historic road-to-Kyiv conversion, we told you how the speaker defied the loudest, most threatening GOP personalities, dug deep into government intelligence, and shifted his position on the most vital foreign policy legislation in years.

Playbook: The Trump verdict lands on the Hill  —  With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  WAPO SHOCKER — SALLY BUZBEE is out as the Washington Post's executive editor after a three-year run, to be immediately replaced by former WSJ editor in chief MATT MURRAY and …

All the arguments against Trump's convictions, debunked  —  Donald Trump, the former president and current Republican nominee, is now a convicted felon.  In the aftermath of the verdict, Trump predictably complained that the trial was “rigged.”  This was not particularly surprising.

Multiple Trump Witnesses Have Received Significant Financial Benefits From His Businesses, Campaign  —  Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages …

Russia co-opts far-right politicians in Europe with cash, officials say  —  A Kremlin-backed media outlet — the Prague-based Voice of Europe — funneled hundreds of thousands of euros to far-right politicians, officials say.  —  PRAGUE — When an associate of one of Russian President …

Texas professors sue to fail students who seek abortions  —  Men are using abortion bans to control and abuse women in their lives for “consensual sexual intercourse”  —  A pair of Texas professors figured out that their female students have sex and, boy, they do not like it.

Fact check: Trump falsely claims he didn't call to lock up Hillary Clinton  —  Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed in a new interview that he didn't make a “lock her up” call for the imprisonment of his Democratic opponent of the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton.

Claudia Sheinbaum claims sweeping mandate to become Mexico's first female president  —  Claudia Sheinbaum, a Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist, will become Mexico's first female president after winning a landslide election victory and promising to continue the work of her mentor and outgoing leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

What Europe Fears … In early april, a crowd of diplomats and dignitaries gathered in the Flemish countryside to toast the most powerful military alliance in the history of the world, and convince themselves it wasn't about to collapse.  —  They arrived in a convoy of town cars that snaked …

Half of Americans think Trump's guilty verdict was correct, should end campaign: POLL  —  47% say they think the charges against Trump were politically motivated.  —  Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump walks to speak to the press after he was convicted …

Hunter Biden's gun trial starts today.  Here's what to know.  —  The president's son is accused of illegally possessing a gun as a drug user in 2018.  —  WILMINGTON, Delaware — As Hunter Biden walks into court Monday to go on trial, he'll pass a familiar sight: a large photo of his father, sporting a reassuring grin.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee diagnosed with pancreatic cancer  —  Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has been diagnosed with pancreatic ca cancer, the 74-year-old longtime Texas Democrat announced Sunday night.