Trump's war on Big Law leads firms to retreat from ‘pro bono’ work for underdogs  —  Interviews with over 60 lawyers and 30 nonprofits show legal aid groups now have fewer resources to defend the vulnerable.  —  When the Texas Civil Rights Project needed lawyers to help dozens …

Senate Confirms Conspiracy Theorist To Lead National Counterterrorism Center  —  You can't make it up, folks.  Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to confirm Joe Kent, a conspiracy theorist with alarming ties to white nationalists and far-right groups, to lead the National Counterterrorism Center.

Family of Epstein abuse survivor urges Trump not to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell: ‘A monster who deserves to rot in prison’  —  The family of Virginia Giuffre said any leniency extended to Maxwell would go down as “one of the highest travesties of justice” in history.

Newsom will move to redraw California map if Texas redistricts, teeing up national fight  —  The governor plans to go through the Legislature to usher in a map with more Democratic seats if Texas tilts its map to the right, according to a person with knowledge of Newsom's thinking.

Donald Trump's unprecedented attack on Brazil's judiciary  —  He has placed sanctions on the judge leading the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, his ideological ally  —  “Let this be a warning to those who would trample on the fundamental rights of their countrymen,” Marco Rubio …

Key Inflation Measure Rose in June, Adding to Pressure on Fed  —  The price index was the latest indication that President Trump's tariffs are beginning to show up in consumer prices.  —  The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation picked up last month, the latest sign …

Army Secretary forces West Point to rescind appointment given to Easterly  —  The United States Military Academy abruptly ended the appointment of Jen Easterly to a high-profile academic position in West Point's Department of Social Sciences, according to a memorandum issued Wednesday by the Secretary of the Army.

WHAT WE'RE SEEING  —  Agents break car windows even when sobbing children or pregnant women are inside.  —  “She is pregnant!” a man yelled as his wife, a U.S. citizen, filmed from inside their Chevy.  “Is pregnant!  Is pregnant!”  —  Officers smashed through three windows …

Trump escalates trade war with Canada following Palestine stance  —  U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his trade war with Canada a day ahead of his August 1 deadline for a tariff agreement, saying it would be “very hard” to make a deal with Canada after it gave its support to Palestinian statehood.

Gaza Hunger Presents Trump With Moral Test Familiar to Past Presidents  —  The crisis has echoes of past humanitarian crises that left presidents wringing their hands over how to respond.  —  As Gaza tips into famine and images of starving children trigger new demands for action …

Traffic Apocalypse  —  Google's AI Overviews are killing click-throughs to news sites.  —  Worldwide search traffic has fallen by 15 percent in the past year, estimates Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform.  The culprit: AI search.  Now that AI-generated summaries are being integrated …

Cooper's North Carolina Senate bid will put Medicaid front and center  —  Democrats are hoping health care will be a winning issue across the 2026 midterm elections and see North Carolina as the top potential pickup opportunity in their long-shot play to regain control of the Senate.

Alan Dershowitz Says He's Suing ‘Bigoted Vendor’ After Being Denied Pierogi  —  Alan Dershowitz said he is suing a Martha's Vineyard food vendor who refused to serve the former Harvard Law professor pierogi because of his politics.  —  Dershowitz, a former Democrat who represented President Donald Trump …

Judge Excoriates Trump Officials for Violations of Laws on Voice of America  —  The judge had ruled that the administration must restore news programming at Voice of America and has brought back only a fraction of the coverage it provided.  —  A federal judge said Wednesday that it was likely …

The federal government is paying more than 154,000 people not to work  —  Early resignation offers and other programs have reduced the workforce, but critics say the moves are also wasting money.  —  Just now  —  The government is paying more than 154,000 federal employees not to work …

The Media Can't Handle the Absence of Truth  —  And their diffidence empowers pathological liars  —  We have guests for the next couple of days, and it would be rude to spend the whole time chained to the computer.  So this post and maybe the next will be short and somewhat meta.

Brown University signs deal with Trump administration to restore funding  —  Brown University on Wednesday announced a deal with the Trump administration that ends three investigations into the institution and restores research funding that was withheld from it.

Scoop: Massie blindsided Mike Johnson on Trump truce  —  At Rep. Thomas Massie's request, House Speaker Mike Johnson successfully appealed directly to President Trump for a truce, multiple sources told Axios.  — But Massie broke the truce just days later, accusing top Republicans of covering up the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Personal Superintelligence  —  Over the last few months we have begun to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves.  The improvement is slow for now, but undeniable.  Developing superintelligence is now in sight.  —  It seems clear that in the coming years …

Judge Bars Trump Administration From Punishing 2 Law Professors for I.C.C. Work  —  A federal judge in New York permanently blocked the government from pursuing penalties against the professors over their assistance to the International Criminal Court.  —  A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred …

Americans Wanted a Cost of Living Warrior.  Trump Is the Opposite  —  A new survey shows Americans are increasingly concerned with economic issues, and many of them are blaming the president  —  Donald Trump won his way back into the White House on a claim that he would address Americans' deep-seated economic pain.

This Tuckahoe home won a $1.26 billion contract for an ICE detention center.  The owner isn't talking.  —  On July 18, the Acquisition Logistics Company received a contract worth a reported $1.26 billion from the federal government for the construction and operation of an immigrant detention center …

How Scientific Empires End  —  And what it means for America  —  Roald sagdeev has already watched one scientific empire rot from the inside.  When Sagdeev began his career, in 1955, science in the Soviet Union was nearing its apex.  At the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow …

Why are American kids getting sicker?  —  This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox's newsletter about kids, for everyone.  Sign up here for future editions.  —  One of the central claims that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services …

Trump Torches GOP Sen For Blocking Effort Investigating Pelosi Stock Trades  —  President Donald Trump railed against Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on Wednesday afternoon following Hawley's decision to join Democrats in tanking a measure that would have commissioned a government report …

Trump Explodes at Putin Ally Who Likened Him to ‘Sleepy Joe’  —  FIGHTING TALK  —  “Tell [Dmitry] Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he's still President, to watch his words,” Trump blasted.  —  President Donald Trump exploded at former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev …

‘Not a Damned Penny.’ Texas Flood Survivors Look for Help … From the early days of the tragedy, officials in Kerr County have faced questions about the weak local government response and lack of alarm systems along the river.Desiree Rios for The New York Times

Dems grapple with Trump resistance dilemma  —  IN TODAY'S EDITION:  — Dems' big decisions ahead on spending, noms  — Schumer's new Epstein push  — Flood previews policy battles for Main Street Caucus  —  Senate Democrats have a chance to show their voters …

Bessent says new Trump child savings accounts are ‘back door for privatizing Social Security’  —  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the Trump administration was committed to protecting Social Security hours after he said in an interview that a new children's savings program …

Russian Missile and Drone Attack Pummels Kyiv, Killing at Least 8  —  The assault came soon after President Trump threatened new sanctions against Moscow if the bloodshed didn't let up.  —  Russia bombarded Kyiv with a missile and drone attack before dawn on Thursday, killing at least eight people …

MAGA Champion Who Said Trump Would Fight Child Predators Is Arrested on Charges of Being a Child Predator  —  ISN'T IT IRONIC  —  Scott Soucek, the husband of a prominent Wisconsin GOP operative, has been accused of possessing child pornography.  —  A fervent Trump supporter …

What Are Trump's Options If His Tariffs Are Ruled Unlawful?  —  In rolling out the most aggressive tariff regime in the US in nearly a century, President Donald Trump has leaned heavily on emergency powers that had never been used before to impose import taxes.

How Trump's personal attorney wound up investigating the Epstein case at DOJ  —  The lawyer who represented Trump in the New York hush money trial is the No.2 Justice official and interviewed Epstein associate.  —  Just now  —  Five months ago, Todd Blanche was asked at his Senate …

Access to 401(k)s couldn't come at a better time for private equity  —  President Trump is considering whether to encourage retirement funds to invest in private equity, a financial sector that's hungry for capital after shrinking last year for the first time in decades.

Republicans big bet on Latino candidates  —  Republicans are leaning into a simple strategy to win over the crucial bloc of Latino voters: recruit them as candidates. … Now, GOP leaders are making a concerted effort to field Latino candidates in these districts to help turn these pro-Trump voters into loyal Republicans.

The Fact Checker rose in an era of false claims.  Falsehoods are now winning.  —  Longtime Fact Checker Glenn Kessler takes stock as he departs The Washington Post.  —  Just now  —  When 400 fact-checkers from around the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro in June for an annual conference, the mood was tense.