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 …

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.

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.

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 …

8 years later, Trump haunted by rhetoric about candidates, crimes  —  By the reasoning Donald Trump pushed in 2016, his candidacy creates “an unprecedented constitutional crisis,” and he has “no right to be running.”  —  Eight years later, some find it easy to forget some of the more ridiculous elements …

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.

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.

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 …

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi concedes defeat in surprise primary upset by Jenniffer González  —  Puerto Rico congressional representative Jenniffer González defeated Gov. Pedro Pierluisi in a surprise upset during a primary election held Sunday by their pro-statehood party.

The Week Ahead  —  On Sunday morning, Trump told Fox and Friends, “I didn't say ‘lock her up,’”  —  Aaron Rupert was quick to dig up old campaign footage of Trump in Georgia doing exactly that.  —  Trump's full interview on Fox appears to have been heavily edited, leaving many wondering what was going on.