Trump says Dems ‘disparaged’ COVID-19 vaccine while he was president: ‘Now they wonder why’ some are hesitant  —  Trump criticizes Biden's new COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employers  —  Joe Biden's Massive Vaccine Mandates  —  EXCLUSIVE: Former President Donald Trump blamed Democrats …

USCP Officers Arrest California Man with Bayonet & Machete  —  This morning the United States Capitol Police arrested a California man who had multiple knives in his truck near the Democratic National Committee headquarters.  —  “This is good police work plain and simple,” said Chief Tom Manger.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett argues Supreme Court isn't ‘a bunch of partisan hacks’  —  LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In the wake of a controversial decision on abortion rights, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett told a crowd of more than 100 here that she doesn't believe the highest court in the land is politically driven.

Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All.  Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That's Exempt.  —  A program known as XCheck has given millions of celebrities, politicians and other high-profile users special treatment, a privilege many abuse  —  Mark Zuckerberg has publicly said Facebook Inc. allows …

POLITICO Playbook: Grisham dishes on Melania  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  THE WEEK AHEAD: JOE BIDEN campaigns with GAVIN NEWSOM in Long Beach, Calif., tonight before voters there decide Tuesday whether Newsom should be recalled (polls show him up by double digits) ... Secretary …

Homeland Security chief of staff abruptly resigns  —  Karen Olick, chief of staff to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, announced on Monday that she will be leaving for a new, undisclosed opportunity.  —  Jennifer Higgins, the current associate director of Refugee …

GOP ‘Moderate’ Blasted Capitol Riots — and Cozied Up to a Jan. 6 Bus Trip Organizer  —  Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick called Jan. 6th a “coup attempt,” but that didn't stop him from attending a fundraiser at the home of a man who helped bus hundreds of people to Washington for a “Million MAGA March”

California couple die of covid, leaving five kids behind.  Their newborn is 3 weeks old.  —  Davy Macias, 37, was intubated and dying of complications from covid-19 when doctors helped her give birth to her daughter.  She would never see her baby.  —  Her husband, Daniel Macias, 39 …

Afghan American woman's escape highlights secretive CIA role in Kabul rescues  —  Five days after Afghanistan's fall, Shaqaiq Birashk, holed up in her Kabul apartment, was contacted by a stranger offering to have her picked up and escorted to the airport for evacuation.

Trump takes aim at George W. Bush, saying he shouldn't ‘lecture’ about threat of domestic terrorism  —  Former president Donald Trump lashed out Monday at former president George W. Bush, saying his fellow Republican had “a failed and uninspiring presidency” and shouldn't be “lecturing” …

It made me sick to watch a once-male special forces combat veteran beat up a woman on TV - it's time to stop this trans sport insanity before women start being killed  —  It was the moment ideology met cold, hard reality.  —  Alana McLaughlin, 38, the second transgender MMA fighter to compete in the sport …

Trump's White House chief of staff is target of Capitol attack records request  —  House select committee investigating 6 January wants telecom and social media companies to preserve records on Mark Meadows  —  The House select committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol …

Lauren Boebert Says Government Should Be Run by ‘Righteous Men and Women of God’  —  Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado spoke Saturday at a conference held by the Truth & Liberty Coalition, a religious-right political organization founded by right-wing pastor Andrew Wommack.

USA-POLICING/MINNEAPOLIS  —  After the brutal killing of a Black man went viral and triggered national protests, Minneapolis police underwent an abrupt shift: Officers began making fewer traffic stops, drug and gun checks, Reuters found.  With the city engulfed in violence, citizens ask: Where are the police?

Biden starts clemency process for inmates released due to Covid conditions  —  The Biden administration has begun asking former inmates confined at home because of the pandemic to formally submit commutation applications, criminal justice reform advocates and one inmate herself tell POLITICO.

The Man Behind Critical Race Theory  —  As an attorney, Derrick Bell worked on many civil-rights cases, but his doubts about their impact launched a groundbreaking school of thought. … The town of Harmony, Mississippi, which owes its origins to a small number of formerly enslaved Black people …

Former US Sen. Al Franken talks political downfall, return to comedy before Northampton show  —  The past few years have been unsettling for many — and Al Franken is no exception.  —  After a successful career in comedy, including a lengthy stint on NBC's “Saturday Night Live,” …

The Legacy of America's Post-9/11 Turn to Torture  —  Twenty years after the attacks, the United States is still grappling with the consequences of brutal interrogations carried out in the name of national security.  —  NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — Mohamedou Ould Slahi is almost clinical …

SEC Charges Three Media Companies with Illegal Offerings of Stock and Digital Assets  —  Companies to Pay More Than $539 Million in Settlement for Distribution to Investors  —  The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged New York City-based GTV Media Group Inc. and Saraca Media Group Inc. …

The F.E.C. dismisses claims that Twitter illegally blocked a Hunter Biden article.  —  The Federal Election Commission has dismissed Republican accusations that Twitter violated election laws in October by blocking people from posting links to an unsubstantiated New York Post article …

Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years if geneticist's new start-up succeeds  — Tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm is helping to fund a project by Harvard geneticist George Church to revive the woolly mammoth.  — The project, called Colossal, aims to create a calf in as little as six years, Church told CNBC.

Why Our Monsters Talk to Michael Wolff  —  In his new book, the author of “Fire and Fury” continues his specialty: teasing out stories from men in power.  —  It's early 2019, a few months before Jeffrey Epstein will be arrested on sex charges, and he is sitting in the vast study …

Chairman Neal Announces Additional Days of Markup of the Build Back Better Act  —  SPRINGFIELD, MA—Today, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) announced that the Committee will continue consideration of legislative proposals under the budget reconciliation instructions on Tuesday …