‘Something Was Badly Wrong’: When Washington Realized Russia Was Actually Invading Ukraine  —  This oral history was compiled and woven together by writer and historian Garrett M. Graff, based on dozens of hours of interviews by POLITICO national security reporters Erin Banco, Lara Seligman …

Exclusive: How a box with classified documents ended up in Trump's office months after FBI searched Mar-a-Lago  —  The Justice Department wants to know how a box containing a handful of classified records scattered among copies of presidential schedules turned up at Mar-a-Lago late last year …

GOP Rep. John James won't seek Michigan's open Senate seat  —  Republican Rep. John James filed paperwork Friday to run for reelection to his Detroit-area House seat, opting against a campaign for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Debbie Stabenow in 2024.

Strapped to a gurney, death row inmate Donald Dillbeck saves his last words for DeSantis  —  RAIFORD — Donald Dillbeck didn't mince words in the minutes before the state executed him Thursday night.  —  “I know I hurt people when I was young.  I really messed up,” Dillbeck, 59, said …

After a Decade of Tracking Politicians' Deleted Tweets, Politwoops Is No More  —  Whether officials were deleting an embarrassing post or just correcting a typo, Politwoops tracked them all.  But service changes made after Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter have rendered it impossible for us to continue tracking these tweets.

Rep. Judy Chu hits back at Texas Republican over ‘racist’ remarks questioning her loyalty to U.S.  —  Rep. Judy Chu, the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, blasted GOP Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas on Thursday over his comments this week questioning her loyalty to the U.S.

Mike Pence Should Drop His Grand Jury Subpoena Gambit  —  Former Vice President Mike Pence recently announced he would challenge Special Counsel Jack Smith's subpoena for him to appear before a grand jury in Washington as part of the investigation into former President Donald Trump's efforts …

Florida surgeon general fudged data for dubious COVID analysis, tipster says  —  The state closed the investigation, leaving more questions than answers.  —  Florida's health department opened and then closed an investigation into the state's polarizing surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo …

China calls for Russia-Ukraine cease-fire, peace talks  —  1 of 2  —  China has called for a cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia and the opening of peace talks as part of a 12-point proposal to end the conflict.  The plan issued Friday morning by the Foreign Ministry also urges the end …

The right's new culture-war target: ‘Woke AI’  —  ChatGPT and Bing are trying to stay out of politics — and failing  —  Christopher Rufo, the conservative activist who led campaigns against critical race theory and gender identity in schools, this week pointed his half-million Twitter followers toward …

McCarthy and Jeffries are creating a bipartisan task force that will set a process for booting lawmakers off committees  —  WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have agreed to create a bipartisan task force that will establish a process to remove members …

U.S. has admitted 271,000 Ukrainian refugees since Russian invasion, far above Biden's goal of 100,000  —  More than 271,000 Ukrainian refugees have been admitted to the United States since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began one year ago, according to the Department of Homeland Security …

Will a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit finally stop Fox News from spreading lies?  —  Advertising boycotts don't restrain the rightwing network, but the Dominion lawsuit may succeed in holding them to account  —  If you've paid even the slightest attention to how Fox News operates …

Key US inflation measure surges at fastest rate since June  —  1 of 2  —  The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge rose last month at its fastest pace since June, an alarming sign that price pressures remain entrenched in the U.S. economy and could lead the Fed to keep raising interest rates well into this year.

New cracks emerge in Elon Musk's Twitter  —  Jira went down, Slack's gone, and site performance is degraded.  What's next?  —  Today, let's check in on Elon Musk's Twitter, where sudden software outages and another dubious transparency effort have left the company's remaining workers more beleaguered than usual.

DOJ Seizing Luxury Hamptons, NYC Pads in $75M Real-Estate Raid on Russian Oligarch  —  Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets

‘A Great, Great, Great Man’: The Cringey Gushing Over Jimmy Carter … Is it the very unseemliness of the death watch over poor Jimmy Carter that has forced everyone to talk balls?  —  We human beings often react this way when we catch ourselves doing something that's in poor taste or otherwise undignified.

The QAnon ‘Meme Queen’ Wants Trump To Help Her Convicted Pedophile Son  —  A woman who has devoted the last five years of her life fighting a non-existent secret cabal of pedophiles, says her convicted child sex abuser son needs protection.  —  David Gilbert

The GOP field descends on Iowa, readying to eat some humble pie  —  DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. Tim Scott arrived in Iowa this week amid buzz about a presidential bid to come.  But shortly after stepping foot in the state, that enthusiasm was complemented by the humbling elements that come with politicking in such an intimate place.

Mike Lindell says he will sue McCarthy for sharing Jan. 6 footage only with Tucker Carlson  —  My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell says he plans to sue Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for providing Fox News host Tucker Carlson with exclusive access to footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Rebuilding the Closet  —  Gender and sexuality are a spectrum.  In common discourse, we lose sight of what that means.  Very Online approaches to gender and sexuality seem to say that gender and sexuality are a spectrum, but everyone is at a very specific and static spot on that spectrum.

U.S. Justice Dept accuses Google of evidence destruction in antitrust case  —  U.S. Justice Department lawyers say that Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) destroyed internal corporate communications and have asked a federal judge to sanction the company as part of the government's antitrust case over its search business.

Don't Let Politics Cloud Your View of What's Going On With Teens and Depression  —  Last year, a study came out showing that left-leaning adolescents were experiencing a greater increase in depression than their more conservative peers.  Indeed, while girls are more likely to be depressed than boys …

GOP goes after DEI degrees  —  A new bill calls for the removal of degrees in critical race theory (CRT), gender studies, and other majors and minors that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from Florida's public colleges. … - It also threatens state colleges and universities …

Will D.C.'s Least-Popular Team Owner Get Bought Out by Bezos?  —  It's been a busy and heavy week, with the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; President Biden visiting Kyiv; a talkative grand juror relishing her moment in the spotlight; belated national attention …

Marjorie Taylor Greene Has a Dream  —  Marjorie Taylor Greene, now one of the most influential Republicans in the House of Representatives, says it is time for Americans to consider a national divorce.  —  “Tragically, I think we, the left and right, have reached irreconcilable differences,” Greene wrote a few days ago on Twitter.

On Anniversary of Justice Jackson's Nomination, New Report Highlights Our Ongoing Fight for an Equal Justice Judiciary  —  For our democracy to thrive, it must be multiracial, inclusive, and work for all of us.  But today, our democracy — and our hard-won civil and human rights — are under attack.

It's not ‘homophobia’ to admit Pete Buttigieg got his job because he's gay  —  An unfortunate symptom of a society that's suffering from a serious case of identity politics is that people are celebrated simply for their membership to a particular, and usually immutable, identity group.