“President Trump said Friday that he doesn’t blame Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) for blocking the nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general because he’s doing it as retaliation for Trump supporting his opponent,” NewsNation reports. Said Trump: “This is being done by a senator, and I don’t really blame him to be honest with you. […]

“The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Friday that it has settled a case involving former Rep. George Santos, who was facing an insider trading investigation by the Justice Department for betting on his own attendance to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this year,” NOTUS reports. “Santos has agreed to pay a […]

“Lawyers for President Trump said on Friday they would appeal a recent order from a judge casting doubt on the legitimacy of a $1.8 billion fund and extraordinary personal tax protections that emerged from a deal to drop his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service,” the New York Times reports. “The notice of appeal, filed […]

“Higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve this week would have put the central bank in a better position to tackle elevated inflation, the three officials who voted against the latest policy decision said on Friday,” the New York Times reports.

Washington Post: “The finances of America’s technology stalwarts now look very different. To develop and deliver what the companies say is revolutionary artificial intelligence, they’re feeding every available dollar into the cash-incinerating maw of AI machines. Tech superstars that once had oodles of cash left over at the end of each year are now flipping […]

“President Trump on Friday said he plans to resume heavy military strikes against Iran to force the regime to come to the negotiating table, vowing to hit the country ‘very hard’ and predicting that the hard-line regime would eventually ‘peter out.'” the Wall Street Journal reports.

New York Times: “Companies across America are seizing on what may be the most favorable regulatory environment for businesses in years to complete deals that might have been unlikely under previous presidencies. The rush is on to get them done before President Trump’s term runs out.”

Mother Jones: “Next Tuesday’s contest in Michigan between Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens holds a dubious distinction: No Democratic congressional primary in history has ever attracted so much super PAC cash. The overwhelming majority of the outside money has gone toward ensuring that Stevens, a moderate, pro-Israel Democrat, defeats El-Sayed, a Bernie Sanders-endorsed champion […]

The Atlantic: “When President Trump plucked Pete Hegseth from Fox News to be his secretary of defense, Pentagon officials scrambled to get with their new boss’s pugnacious program: Lethality and battlefield swagger were in; ‘wokeness’ and operational restraint were out.” “Hegseth’s subsequent purge at the Defense Department included the dramatic downsizing of staff dedicated to […]

“Major Democratic donors are getting really anxious about 2028,” Politico reports. “The Democratic National Committee has a massive cash deficit heading into November, and Chair Ken Martin is facing a growing onslaught of criticism for failing to build up reserves in the crucial years ahead of the presidential race. But the issue goes beyond his […]

“An increasing number of adults are slogging through jobs they don’t like solely because they don’t want to lose their health insurance,” Stat reports. “This phenomenon — known as ‘job lock’ — has existed in the U.S. workforce for decades. The worry of losing health benefits inhibits the ability for people, especially those with more […]

“A new independent poll shows progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed leading by double digits in Michigan’s heated Democratic Senate primary, as Democrats stare down the possibility that the party won’t unify behind him in the general,” Semafor reports. Said Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI): “I will not stand beside someone who has allowed distinctly anti-American sentiment to […]

Jonathan Chait: “Legal filings submitted by James Comey this week argue that the Trump administration has subjected the former FBI director to a vindictive and meritless prosecution.” “What stands out is how little effort the president put into pretending this is not the case.”

Democrats have settled on a convenient timetable for judging DNC Chair Ken Martin: after the midterm elections. The logic is understandable. Party leaders believe the political environment is moving in their direction, and they see little upside in launching an internal fight over the chairman while control of Congress is at stake. Join now to […]

“House Democrats are opening an inquiry into a plan by President Donald Trump’s media company to offer faster access to posts on its social media platform to Wall Street firms in exchange for a fee,” Bloomberg reports.

“Senate Republicans are close to cutting a deal with their Democratic counterparts to avoid a government shutdown and rein in a proposed rule from the White House budget office that would give Trump appointees more power to withhold congressional appropriations,” NewsNation reports. “GOP lawmakers are desperate to avoid another shutdown before the election, but any […]

“Republicans in Congress have quietly blocked a proposal to expand military health coverage of in vitro fertilization treatment for service members and their families, heeding the calls of anti-abortion groups to limit access to a fertility option that President Trump vowed to make more widely available,” the New York Times reports. “The move is a […]

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“Data centers are very good for towns, because they create so many jobs and bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses and stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn’t seen much in the last 30 years and put a data center there, there are gonna be a […]

CNN: “As pressure mounts from fellow Republicans to wind the war down, it actually appears to be expanding, with new fronts opening up and virtually every country in the region now drawn in. Efforts at diplomacy are halting at best; a senior U.S. official said resuming direct diplomacy with Iran does not appear imminent.” “Despite […]

“Spain was scrambling Friday to contain a sudden border crisis after tens of thousands of people rushed into its North African territory, with dozens killed and political shock waves spreading across Europe,” NBC News reports. “The dramatic events were ‘a violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty,’ Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on a hurried visit to […]

The Atlantic: “For 2,500 years, military commanders have heeded the injunction of Sun Tzu, the great Chinese military strategist: Know your enemy. Yet the Trump administration’s greatest mistake in the Iran war may be its persistent failure to understand Tehran’s priorities and motivations—and how much punishment the regime is willing to absorb to prevail.”

“Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is warning that President Trump’s threat to withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination to serve as attorney general and resubmit it in 2027 to circumvent GOP critics could backfire because control of the Senate could flip in November,” The Hill reports. Said Kennedy: “This place could […]

Former Clinton strategist Doug Sosnik predicts a blue-wave election for Democrats in a new memo, pointing to the party’s consistent overperformance in special elections, President Trump’s record-low approval ratings, growing economic frustration and a Republican Party that appears vulnerable when Trump himself is not on the ballot. And Sonik looks ahead: “In the two biggest […]

“Just three minutes and 46 seconds after NBA insider Shams Charania posted the sports-world-shaking news that LeBron James inked a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, Josh Shapiro’s X account lit up with an intricately crafted proclamation declaring LeBron James Day in the city,” Politico reports. “How could the Pennsylvania governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate […]

“President Trump has said he has not decided whether he will allow Ukraine to produce Patriot surface-to-air interceptor missiles, casting doubt on whether Washington will agree to one of Kyiv’s top priorities,” the Financial Times reports. Said Trump: “It’s a very extraordinary weapon, and we have to be a little bit careful of who we […]

“Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned that the U.S. is ‘locked into an unwinnable war’ with Iran, arguing the conflict risks becoming another prolonged military engagement with no clear end,” The Hill reports. Said Panetta: “That’s the kind of legacy, frankly, that in the 21st century the United States continues to make. Whether it was […]

“Bill Pulte may be out of a job, but he hasn’t walked out the door,” The Hill reports. “The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jay Clayton to be the new director of national intelligence, replacing Pulte in a role President Trump said he would only be in temporarily.” “But the White House has bucked the practice […]

“President Donald Trump will convene a cabinet meeting later today at his ⁠Camp David retreat as he grapples with how to resolve his war against Iran,” The Guardian reports. Associated Press: Trump is holding Friday’s Cabinet meeting at Camp David.

“President Donald Trump said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche ‘should be immediately approved’ as his permanent pick for for the role and defended a controversial $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization fund’ that’s at the crux of why the nomination has not yet moved forward,” CNN reports.