Donald Trump Is Frightened  —  The media verdict is in: President Trump has “softened” his stance on his paramilitary war on Minneapolis.  He struck a “cooperative tone” in a call with Minnesota's Democratic governor, Tim Walz.  The administration hopes to “shift its strategy” on its ICE raids.

‘CBS Evening News’: Tony Dokoupil Under Fire for Interviewing His Own Mom  —  After CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss said she and her team would put a “huge emphasis on scoops,” CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil responded by... interviewing his own mother.

FBI executing search warrant at Georgia election office related to 2020 vote, law enforcement official says  —  The Federal Bureau of Investigation is executing a search warrant at a Fulton County election office in Georgia related to the 2020 election, a law enforcement official familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

European leader spoke of shock at Trump's state of mind after Mar-a-Lago meeting  —  BRUSSELS ― Slovakia's prime minister told EU leaders at a summit last week that a meeting with Donald Trump left him shocked by the U.S. president's state of mind, five European diplomats briefed on the conversation said.

Trump's Response to Ilhan Omar Attack Is as Ugly as It Gets  —  President Trump used the Tuesday night spray attack against Representative Ilhan Omar to further berate the congresswoman—accusing her of spraying herself, although video of the incident clearly shows the contrary.  —  “No. I don't think about her.

One Supreme Court Case Is Most Responsible for Our Oligarchy.  It's Not the One You Think.  —  Whether or not money is the root of all evil, the root of our current American oligarchy is a single Supreme Court case.  That Supreme Court decision, Buckley v. Valeo, happens to turn 50 years old this week.

Miller Suggests Federal Agents May Have Diverted From ‘Protocol’ Before Pretti Shooting  —  The comments by Mr. Miller, the influential White House deputy chief of staff, came after days of blaming Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal agents.  —  Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump …

Fed holds key interest rate steady as economic view improves  —  The Federal Reserve on Wednesday voted to take a break from a recent run of interest rate cuts, as the central bank navigates questions about its independence and awaits a new leader.  —  Meeting market expectations …

Next ‘No Kings’ march on the horizon with flagship event in the Twin Cities  —  The liberal grassroots group Indivisible simultaneously announced nationwide “Eye on ICE” trainings in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.  —  Listen to this article with a free account

Trump Threatens Iran Invasion In Post, Says Armada Is On Its Way  —  Trump demanded Iran make a deal to halt nuclear weapons development or face imminent attack  —  Donald Trump once again threatened Iran in a post on Truth Social Wednesday morning, stating that the carrier group for the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln was on its way to Iran.

Live Updates: 2 Federal Agents Who Shot Minneapolis Man Are Placed on Leave  —  The move was disclosed by an administration official as more Republican leaders broke with the White House's handling of the shooting.  U.S. Capitol Police were also investigating an attack on Representative Ilhan Omar.

New polling memo urges Senate Dems to ‘play hardball’ on ICE … The memo was written by Adam Jentleson, the former chief of staff to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) and top aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), for his organization the Searchlight Institute …

Ecuador says ICE agent was blocked from entering its Minneapolis consulate  —  The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry said it had issued “a note of protest” to the U.S. embassy in Ecuador.  —  Listen to this article with a free account  —  Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says an Immigration …

Grok is the most antisemitic chatbot according to the ADL  —  In a study, the Anti-Defamation League fed Grok, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek, and Llama antisemitic, anti-Zionist, and extremist inputs and measured how each responded. … Across six top large language models …

In Minneapolis, far-right influencers frame ICE resistance as terrorism  —  Over the weekend on X, conservative influencer Cameron Higby began posting screen recordings from the encrypted messaging app Signal showing a list of hundreds of usernames in one massive group chat in Minnesota.

Bari Weiss to CBS News staff: Without a shift in strategy, ‘we are toast’  —  The editor in chief said the network needs to produce journalism people want as she named a raft of new contributors from her website, the Free Press.  —  Bari Weiss has two jobs.

Trump hangs picture of himself with Putin in White House  —  After months of tension the Russian leader has taken pride of place above a photo of the US president and his granddaughter  —  President Trump's on-off relationship with President Putin is so volatile that he has veered from describing …

Kristi Noem Is Holding Up More Than $1 Billion in Hazard Mitigation Funds  —  Somewhere in the pile of projects awaiting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's personal signature sits a plan to protect the town of Los Alamos, New Mexico, from devastating wildfire.

The Trump administration has secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules  —  The Trump administration has overhauled a set of nuclear safety directives and shared them with the companies it is charged with regulating, without making the new rules available to the public, according to documents obtained exclusively by NPR.

The State of FARA  —  State legislatures are increasingly regulating foreign influence, which could mean greater compliance burdens for companies and nonprofits.  —  BVanGrack  —  Meet The Authors  —  Last March, Arkansas proposed a bill that would require foreign agents to register in the state.

Catholic Church emerges as a bulwark of resistance … With an American Pope at its helm for the first time, the Vatican is positioned to be a unique foil for the president.  — “Leo is the pope for this moment,” said Vincent Miller, a theology professor at the University of Dayton …

Bessent Touts a Strong Dollar After Trump Brushed Off Its Drop  —  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent touted a strong-dollar policy on Wednesday, offering the greenback support a day after comments by President Donald Trump had sent the US currency tumbling.  —  “The US always has a strong dollar policy …

US state lawmakers push to allow lawsuits against ICE agents  —  Several Democratic-led states are pursuing laws trying to enable people to sue federal agents deployed to their communities for civil rights abuses, a push that has gained steam amid protests over tactics used …