Xi, Cast as Peacemaker, Wades Into Russia's War in Ukraine  —  China's top leader, Xi Jinping, is expected to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia this month and speak with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.  —  China's top leader, Xi Jinping, has cast himself as a global statesman …

'You think I'm crazy?'  Florida GOP sweats Trump vs. DeSantis  —  Most of Congress' Sunshine State Republicans have a line ready if you ask whether they prefer Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis: “The next president will be from Florida.”  —  Ask them who that president will be, though, and you rarely get a firm answer.

New Data Links Pandemic's Origins to Raccoon Dogs at Wuhan Market  —  Genetic samples from the market were recently uploaded to an international database and then removed after scientists asked China about them.  —  An international team of virus experts said on Thursday that they had found genetic data …

Hunter Biden sues laptop repair shop owner, citing invasion of privacy  —  The lawsuit, a counter-move against John Paul Mac Isaac, escalates the legal battle surrounding the president's son at a sensitive moment.  —  Hunter Biden has filed a sweeping countersuit against the computer repair shop owner …

Regulatory Failure 101: What the Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank Reveals  —  The collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank this past weekend were the end point in an all-too-familiar cycle: first the boom, then the breathtakingly speedy bust and then the bailout.

Trump Picks an Enemy: Us  —  The Orange Caligula sides with Russia.  —  For a moment, set aside the buzz about an impending indictment, bank bailouts, and even how badly your March Madness bracket is doing.  —  Pay attention to this.  Please.  —  Because on Earth 2.0, this would be the stuff of endless news cycles and nightmares.

Steve Bannon Is Neck-Deep in Guo Wengui's Allegedly Fraudulent Business Empire  —  In late November 2021, Steve Bannon appeared in a live broadcast on GTV, a media outlet that he'd helped his friend Guo Wengui launch a year earlier.  Bannon used the appearance to celebrate HCoin, a supposed cryptocurrency that Guo was selling.

Trump-commissioned report undercut his claims of dead and double voters  —  A report buried by the former president's campaign and obtained by The Post did not back up his claims of fraud and did not provide evidence to overturn the 2020 election  —  When Donald Trump called Georgia Secretary …

Ron DeSantis' crackdown on “woke” banks could help a big Ron DeSantis donor  —  Today's bonus newsletter is written by Jason Garcia, an amazing corporate-accountability reporter who focuses on Florida.  He also has his own newsletter, Seeking Rents.  For more of Jason's indispensable reporting, subscribe.

Trump Media executives worried over murky $8m loans, emails reveal  —  Exclusive: financing with suspected Russian ties came at a critical time as company was running out of cash after a planned merger  —  Top executives at Donald Trump's social media company started to become concerned …

The Unlearned Lessons From the War in Iraq  —  You don't have to reflect on a war if that war doesn't end, let alone pay reparations for your crimes.  —  Leave it to George W. Bush to misspeak his way to the truth about the Iraq War that he launched 20 years ago.

The Federalist Society Isn't Quite Sure About Democracy Anymore  —  AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas sun was just beginning to rise over central Austin as groups of neatly-dressed law students arrived at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, a beige monolith plopped on the southwestern corner …

Biden's Italian mystery  —  With the Senate finally voting to confirm Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India, senators and Democratic donors are turning their attention to something of a Biden-era mystery: the open embassy in Italy. … - Although the embassy's chargé d'affaires …

DeSantis Will Betray Ukraine for MAGA Votes  —  The two GOP front-runners are selling out a democracy at war.  —  Both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis have signaled their willingness to sell out Ukraine to the Kremlin, and the Russians have gleefully taken notice.  How could this be happening in the party of Ronald Reagan?

Gosar Blames Jesus for Sneaking Kari Lake into ‘New’ National Prayer Breakfast  —  Lake rejected the prayer breakfast's calls for reconciliation, said God “enacts justice”  —  Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) at the Feb. 2, 2023, National Prayer Breakfast.

Former Guantanamo prisoner: Ron DeSantis watched me being tortured  —  Mansoor Adayfi says the brutal force-feeding methods employed on Guantanamo prisoners like him amounted to torture.  He tells Richard Hall that Ron DeSantis watched it happen  —  A former detainee of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp …

Jack White pens poetic ode to Meg White after White Stripes drummer was maligned  —  Jack White dedicated a poem on Wednesday to his former wife and bandmate, Meg White, after a journalist posted a disparaging tweet about the White Stripes drummer that went viral.

EXCLUSIVE: Dozens of Mar-a-Lago staff, from servers to aides, are subpoenaed in classified documents probe  —  At least two dozen people - from Mar-a-Lago resort staff to members of Donald Trump's inner circle at the Florida estate - have been subpoenaed to testify to a federal grand jury that's investigating …

Scoop: YouTube restores Trump's channel  —  YouTube will lift its restrictions on former President Trump's channel Friday, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios.  Why it matters: The restrictions have prevented Trump from posting any new YouTube videos to his account, which has more than 2.6 million followers, for over two years.

How the ‘No Labels’ Gambit Could Wreck the 2024 Election  —  The group says it doesn't want its (as-yet-unchosen) third-party candidate to be a spoiler—but it also doesn't say who all its funders are.  —  Those politics watchers—including most journalists—who are envisioning …

Here Dems are, stuck in the middle with Biden  —  President Joe Biden is taking a number of steps to negate potential Republican attacks and he's telling progressives they'll have to stomach some tough policy compromises.  But the White House insists you not call it triangulation.

Dallas Has a Problem With ‘Zombie’ Astroturf Groups … In September 2020, a large, white transportation truck wrapped in splashy adverts drove through the streets of downtown Dallas.  “Tell City Council to Defund Themselves—Not the Police,” read one side.  “Don't let Dallas become Portland,” read the other.

Pence defends joke about Buttigieg ‘maternity leave’  —  The husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday he hasn't heard from Mike Pence in the days since the former vice president mocked his family, but will continue to hold him accountable for his words.