Jan. 6 texts missing for Trump Homeland Security's Wolf and Cuccinelli  —  DHS watchdog was alerted in February to unavailable records of top officials, but did nothing to alert or investigate  —  Text messages for former President Donald Trump's acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf …

POLITICO Playbook: White House to GOP: Why you trippin'?  —  With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  MANCHIN GIVETH AND MANCHIN... — Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) may have just resurrected Biden's domestic agenda, but he told CHRIS CUOMO in an interview that aired Thursday …

Phillips: Democrats need ‘new generation’ of leadership, not Biden in 2024  —  In an interview on the Chad Hartman radio show on WCCO-AM, Phillips, who represents Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District, said he wants to see “a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats who step up.”

Inside one far-right sheriff's crusade to prove Trump's bogus voter-fraud claims  —  In rural Michigan, county Sheriff Dar Leaf has teamed with a Trump-camp lawyer to chase the former president's outlandish rigged-election theories.  A member of a radical group of “constitutional sheriffs,” he's now under investigation himself.

House passes chips and science bill, sending measure to Biden's desk  —  The House passed a $280 billion bill on Thursday to strengthen the domestic chip manufacturing industry and finance scientific research in a bid to boost the United States's competitiveness on the global stage …

Justices worry about the future of the Supreme Court — and point fingers as to who's to blame  —  Limping away from one of the most significant terms in decades, justices are sending out flares expressing concern not only for the future of the Supreme Court but the country as a whole …

Americans dismayed at end of Roe are less certain they will vote, poll finds  —  A Washington Post-Schar School poll finds 65 percent of Americans view the Supreme Court's abortion ruling as a major loss of women's rights, while 35 percent say it is not  —  Nearly two-thirds of Americans …

Wait, Is Biden a Better President Than People Thought?  —  Biden is making a comeback with his breakthrough on climate legislation — but limitations to his leadership still shadow his presidency.  —  Altitude is a column by POLITICO founding editor John Harris, offering weekly perspective …

Pelosi Must Go  —  I'm not in the habit of saying that Nancy Pelosi is right.  But if she wants to visit Taiwan next month as part of a congressional delegation to several countries in the Indo-Pacific, she really ought to go.  Canceling the trip now would be a capitulation to tyranny.

Why did the GOP reject a bill to help veterans exposed to toxins?  —  If there's a defense for Senate Republicans rejecting a bill to help sick veterans, after having already voted for a similar bill, it's hiding well.  —  It may not have been the highest profile legislative fight of the year …

Oz's Great Escape  —  Republican Party insiders are increasingly frustrated with what they perceive as a certain laissez-faire attitude from the poorly-polling G.O.P. Senate candidate, who has spent nearly as much time on vacation as on the campaign trail.  —  To the G.O.P. establishment …

Paul Manafort admits indirectly advising Trump in 2020 but keeping it secret in wait for pardon  —  In new book, obtained by Guardian, 2016 campaign manager convicted of tax fraud says he was ‘very careful’ to hide advice  —  Paul Manafort indirectly advised Donald Trump's 2020 campaign …

First on CNN: Jared Kushner details West Wing ‘war’ with ‘toxic’ Steve Bannon in new book  —  (CNN)Jared Kushner details his clashes with Steve Bannon in his new book, describing a “toxic” West Wing presence who accused him of “undermining the President's agenda” and threatened to break him “in half” if Kushner turned on him.

Eating Too Much Protein Makes Pee a Problem Pollutant in the U.S.  —  Protein-packed diets add excess nitrogen to the environment through urine, rivaling pollution from agricultural fertilizers  —  In the U.S., people eat more protein than they need to.  And though it might not be bad for human health …

EXCLUSIVE: Prosecutors prepare for court battle to force former White House officials to testify about Trump's January 6 conversations  —  Justice Department prosecutors are preparing to fight in court to force former White House officials to testify about then-President Donald Trump's conversations …

Ukraine could be turning the tide of war again as Russian advances stall  —  KYIV, Ukraine — Russian advances in Ukraine have slowed almost to a standstill as newly delivered Western weapons help Ukrainian forces reclaim much of the advantage they had lost in recent months …

Horrifying footage appears to show Russian captors castrating a Ukrainian prisoner of war  —  A horrific video posted online on Thursday appears to show a Ukrainian prisoner of war being castrated by his Russian captors.  —  While Yahoo News cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video …

Johnson County sheriff claimed he got 200 tips of election fraud.  A records request yielded only one  —  Few outside Sheriff Calvin Hayden's office appear to know what he and his department are investigating.  —  The Johnson County Sheriff's Office has said that since last fall it has received …

Susan Collins: Democrats' Climate Deal May Doom Bipartisan Efforts On Same-Sex Marriage  —  The GOP senator said the surprise move by Democrats could make it harder to convince fellow Republicans to get on board.  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Susan Collins, one of a handful of GOP senators working …

Hmmm: Did Macron just get more oil production out of MBS?  —  Joe Biden sent to Saudi Arabia, gave Mohammed bin Salman an enthusiastic fist bump, only to wind up with no new oil production and mutual accusations of lying about their meeting.  MBS traveled to Paris to get a warm handshake …

As Jan. 6 probe expands, officials worry DOJ resources are at a breaking point  —  WASHINGTON — It's the “most wide-ranging investigation” in Justice Department history: the unprecedented manhunt for hundreds of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Donald Trump's behalf on Jan. 6, 2021 …

Is Pro-Life Now Hate Speech?  —  Below is my column in The Hill on a shift in the rhetoric in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.  From politicians to pundits, pro-life positions are being treated as virtual hate speech.  The demonization of those with pro-life views is meant …

A key US inflation gauge reaches 6.8% as prices keep surging  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.8% in June from a year ago, the biggest increase in four decades, and leaving Americans with no relief from surging costs.

On Economics And Democracy  —  High unemployment is extremely dangerous.  —  Earlier this week, I spoke at a gathering in Washington organized by Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Adam Jentleson on what they are calling “Inclusive Populism” — an economic agenda that defends the rights of all working people, whatever they may look like.

Pelosi's January 6th Committee and the Death of American Justice  —  The Committee's real agenda.  —  One of my favorite Hollywood movies is John Frankenheimer's thriller, “Seven Days in May,” which describes an attempted military takeover of the US government.