Exclusive: Trump says he must be involved in picking Iran's next leader  —  President Trump told Axios in an interview Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran's next leader — just as he was in Venezuela.  — Trump revealed this exclusively in an eight-minute phone call …

The Year Texas Might Turn Blue  —  Democrats may have gotten the race in Texas they have been pining for since 1993, when the last Democrat held a U.S. Senate seat.  Rising Democratic star and state representative James Talarico — with an assist from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr …

Buried in the cascade of news this week, Sadie Gurman and Caitlin Ostroff of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that 47,635 files are missing from the Epstein files documents that the Justice Department has made public.  A spokesperson for the Justice Department told the reporters that the files were …

Trump mulls Noem firing … Even Speaker Mike Johnson speculated about the potential for a change at the top of DHS during a recent House Republican elected leadership retreat in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.  —  Trump dialed up some GOP senators after Noem testified in front of the Senate …

‘Soulless hotel conference space’: Approval for Trump's East Wing ballroom delayed amid scathing public feedback  —  Approval for President Donald Trump's massive East Wing ballroom project - from a government commission that oversees planning for federal buildings and land in the nation's capital …

Sen. Steve Daines announces he will not seek reelection … “Serving the people of Montana in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate the past 13 years has been the greatest honor of my professional career and I am grateful to God for allowing me to serve,” Daines said in a statement released Wednesday evening.

‘Nazi heaven’: Inside Miami campus Republicans' racist group chat  —  The secretary of Miami-Dade County's Republican Party started a group chat primarily for conservative students last fall — and within three weeks it was filled with racist slurs, someone wrote dozens of ways …

Hundreds of thousands of Americans stranded in a war zone  —  On February 28, the United States and Israel launched major combat operations in Iran.  Iran has retaliated by striking multiple U.S. military facilities and embassies across the Middle East, including in Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Trump calls on Kurds to aid U.S. effort in Iran, offers support  —  In outreach to Kurdish minority leaders in Iran and neighboring Iraq, the president offered U.S. support to insurgent efforts against Tehran.  —  The Trump administration, bracing for more U.S. casualties and considering whether …

Vance's “war on fraud” is a fraud  —  PN is supported by paid subscribers.  Become one ⬇️  —  💥 Subscribe to PN 💥  —  In his State of the Union address, President Trump mentioned his vice president only once.  It came after he denounced the state of Minnesota …

Susie Wiles sounds the alarm on gas prices … Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other advisers focused on energy policy, including a council led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, “are getting screamed at to find some good news” on bringing down prices, the same executive said.

Russia Is Big Winner as Iran War Drains Supplies That Ukraine Needs  —  Kyiv faces a shortfall of missile interceptors for its air defense, while surging oil prices are boosting Russia's economy  —  Russia is one of the biggest winners in the early days of the largest U.S. military confrontation in decades …

Documents Reveal a Web of Financial Ties Between Trump Officials and the Industries They Help Regulate  —  ProPublica is releasing a trove of disclosure records that detail the finances of more than 1,500 Trump appointees, including former lobbyists, industry executives and at least …

Primary Results Offer Warning Signs to Incumbents in Both Parties  —  Even as some top targets held on, lawmakers in both parties were pushed into runoffs by challengers in Texas, while some in the North Carolina state legislature lost.  —  The primary elections on Tuesday offered …

How a feud led a billionaire donor to oust Rep. Crenshaw  —  Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw owes his defeat in this week's Republican primary to a billionaire megadonor who was hellbent on ending Crenshaw's career, sources tell Axios. … - In this case, Marling's clout meant Crenshaw was the first House incumbent to be ousted in 2026.

Anthropic chief back in talks with Pentagon about AI deal  —  Dario Amodei holding discussions with deputy to Pete Hegseth to reach a compromise on military use of the technology  —  Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei is making a last-ditch attempt to strike a deal with the US defence department …

Judge moves, cautiously, toward civil contempt in case over treatment of trans people in prison  —  U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth made clear on Wednesday morning that he had no problem holding Trump administration officials in contempt if needed.  —  “Once I issue an order …

Trump allies expand role in planning America's 250th anniversary  —  The emergence of the Trump-backed Freedom 250 sparks tensions with a bipartisan commission and draws questions from Democrats.  —  Two groups — one with the imprimatur of Congress, the other with President Donald Trump's blessing …

Bonus 214: Emergency Relief from State Courts  —  At a moment in which the Supreme Court's emergency docket is *already* busier than ever, Monday's stay grant in the Malliotakis case wrongly expands it to encompass countless state-court rulings, too.  —  ∙ Paid

SpaceX: the final frontier of IPOs … Star Trek's warp drive allows a starship to bend space-time and exceed the speed of light without breaking Einstein's general theory of relativity.  As SpaceX prepares to go public at a reported $1.75tn valuation, Elon Musk is attempting a comparable feat …

Spain rejects White House claim it agreed to cooperate with U.S. forces amid Iran war … Spain has pushed back against the White House's claim that it agreed to cooperate militarily with Washington amid the conflict with Iran, doubling down on its anti-war stance despite the U.S. president's threat to sever trade ties.

Scoop: Trump officials broker massive U.S.-Venezuela gold deal … - The contract calls for 98% final gold content, the source said.  — Trafigura will shepherd the gold to U.S. refineries under a separate arrangement with the U.S. government, that source said.

Justice Dept., Under Pressure From Trump, Fails to Build Autopen Case Against Biden  —  Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Washington were unable to build a case, underscoring the department's increasing inability to follow through on the president's desire to indict his rivals.