In the Matter of Lisa Cook  —  Trump's attempt to fire a Fed governor is illegal.  Now we find out whether that matters.  —  Yesterday Donald Trump said that he had fired Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.  My wording is advisable: He “said” that he had fired her.

DOGE Put Critical Social Security Data at Risk, Whistle-Blower Says  —  DOGE team members uploaded a database with the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans to a vulnerable cloud server, according to the agency's chief data officer.  —  Members of the Department …

Dems' Messaging Nerds Urged Party Not to Talk About Trump's Military Takeover  —  Are Trump's military campaigns in blue cities a “distraction,” or what matters?  —  Donald Trump is waging a fascist takeover of the United States, siccing the Justice Department on his political enemies …

Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit against Maryland-based judges over handling of immigration cases  —  The Trump administration alleged that the court had no authority to issue a standing order that imposes an automatic, two-day pause in deportation cases.  —  WASHINGTON — A federal judge …

Trump Is Leaning in on Crime.  Democrats Need a Better Response — and Fast. … To many Washington insiders, President Trump's early August Beltway crime crackdown seemed like an opportunistic and hamhanded pivot after getting walloped for weeks over the Jeffrey Epstein affair.

‘The most illegal search’: Judges push back against D.C. criminal charges  —  Veteran defense lawyers and law enforcement experts have been warning about the potential for overreach since the federal government muscled its way into policing decisions in the nation's capital nearly three weeks ago.

Donald Trump's Big Gay Government … The Washington Monument as seen from the Ned, a private club where many Trump officials socialize.Caroline Gutman for The New York Times  —  It was the last Wednesday in July, and many of Washington's top players were hanging out at the Ned, a private club around the corner from the White House.

Trump to put Dan Scavino in charge of hiring at White House … Gor endeared himself to the president and his family for adopting a zero tolerance policy toward job-seekers who had been critical of Trump in the past, often scouring their social media posts and occasionally intervening to block hirings.

Trump's Unconstitutional Plan to Penalize States that Allow Cashless Bail  —  President Trump recently issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to penalize jurisdictions that allow cashless bail, by withholding federal funds from them:

She Pushed to Overturn Trump's Loss in the 2020 Election.  Now She'll Help Oversee U.S. Election Security.  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.  —  Heather Honey, a high-profile denier …

Lutnick says administration considering taking stakes in defense companies … The investment came partially from grants awarded from the CHIPS Act, but not yet paid out.  President Donald Trump has previously railed against the Biden-championed law, calling on Congress to “get rid” of it.

Jack Smith's Legal Team Fires Back Against Ethics Complaint  —  For months, the former special counsel has remained silent as the president and his advisers have publicly attacked him.  —  Lawyers for Jack Smith, the former special counsel who investigated Donald J. Trump …

The case against Kilmar Ábrego García is a study in sadistic absurdity  —  In its allegations against the Maryland man, the Trump administration is claiming authority over reality itself  —  In a way, you could think of the brief stint that Kilmar Ábrego García spent …

America's leading physician groups are now openly defying RFK Jr.  —  For decades, the American public, the federal government, and the medical community have been nearly unanimous: Vaccines are important because they save lives.  Today, after years of escalating attacks, that consensus has irrevocably shattered.

Vanity Fair staff erupt in fury over proposed Melania Trump cover with foul-mouthed meltdown  —  Raging Vanity Fair employees have vowed to quit their jobs and work at a supermarket if First Lady Melania Trump is granted a spot on its cover.  —  'I will walk out the motherf***ing door …

Blue States That Sued Kept Most CDC Grants, While Red States Feel Brunt of Trump Clawbacks  —  The Trump administration's cuts to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for state and local health departments had vastly uneven effects depending on the political leanings of a state, according to a KFF Health News analysis.

Judge orders Kari Lake to answer questions about Voice of America under oath  —  A senior federal judge ordered Trump administration official Kari Lake to submit to questioning under oath in ongoing litigation over her efforts to effectively dismantle Voice of America despite Congressional mandates that it be maintained.

Democrats lead the U.S. House generic ballot by 8; voters back fair maps and oppose Trump's tariffs  —  This article reports results from the August Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll.  You can read our previous poll releases here.  —  Summary of main poll findings:

A Teen Was Suicidal.  ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In. … A photograph of Adam Raine taken not long before his death.  His baby blanket, which his mother found in his bed, hangs over a corner.  Mark Abramson for The New York Times  —  When Adam Raine died in April at age 16, some of his friends did not initially believe it.

100 Push-Ups and 50 Pull-Ups in Under 10 Minutes.  What Could Go Wrong?  —  Fitness experts caution against jumping into a difficult routine suggested by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth.  —  Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenged Pete Hegseth to a test of fitness in which each …

In Big Win for Voters, Pennsylvania Must Count Undated Mail-In Ballots, Court Rules  —  A federal circuit court upheld a lower court ruling Tuesday that requires Pennsylvania to count undated or wrongly dated mail-in ballots, finding that a previous law rejecting such ballots violated the First and 14th Amendments.

The Bolton Raid Was Designed to Scare Us  —  IT'S TOO EARLY TO EVALUATE THE MERITS of any case that may eventually arise against John Bolton.  —  It's not too early, however, to talk about the FBI's conduct on Friday in executing a search warrant at his house.

Our guardrails are failing us  —  But with discipline, Democrats can get the message out.  —  The military invasion of Washington, D.C.—with masked troops from several red states occupying the city, grabbing residents off the street and out of vehicles while hiding their identities …

Case Against Judge Dugan Will Move Forward  —  Judge Hannah Dugan is the Milwaukee judge who was arrested by the FBI for interfering with an attempt by ICE to arrest a criminal alien from Mexico named Eduardo Flores-Ruiz.  —  Judge Dugan's attorneys argued that she was immune from prosecution …

Old master painting looted by Nazis spotted in Argentinian property listing  —  Dutch newspaper AD says it has traced Giuseppe Ghislandi's Portrait of a Lady to house near Buenos Aires  —  More than 80 years after it was looted by the Nazis from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam …

The foreigners working for DOGE … Federal hiring laws generally limit full-time government employment to U.S. citizens or nationals, with only narrow exceptions.  And while it's common for the GSA to employ foreign contractors, these three have been given similar access and authority as full …

Trump Ratings and U.S. Mood Stay Tepid in August  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new Gallup poll finds 40% of Americans approving of President Donald Trump's overall job performance, in line with support for him in June and July after registering 43% or higher in the first five months of the year.

Young Voters Who Swung Right Are Already Regretting It  —  Trump convinced voters under 35 — especially men — to give him a chance.  They are souring on what they see.  —  One of the most surprising datapoints from President Donald Trump's 2024 victory was his strength among young voters …