U.S. fighter jet shot down in Iran, search underway for crew  —  Iran has shot down a U.S. fighter jet, per Iranian media and a source familiar with the incident, and a search and rescue effort is underway to locate two crew. … - The U.S. military and the White House didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Pam Bondi's portrait already taken down at Justice Department  —  It did not take long for the pictures to come off the wall.  —  Within hours of the news that President Donald Trump had fired Pam Bondi as attorney general, images began circulating of her framed portrait …

White House Seeks $1.5 Trillion for Defense in New Budget Request  —  The massive, proposed increase would be offset in part by steep cuts to domestic programs, some of which the administration describes as wasteful.  —  With the United States at war with Iran and embroiled in conflicts around the world …

Exclusive: Justice Samuel Alito was taken to a hospital last month in previously undisclosed incident  —  Supreme Court justices Supreme Court Donald Trump  —  Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was taken to a hospital after becoming ill last month at a Federalist Society dinner in Philadelphia …

Is It Legal to Bully the Supreme Court?  —  Emily Bazelon: Hi David.  I should start on a light and friendly note, I know, but I confess that the birthright citizenship case is making me feel trolled.  President Trump began his term with an executive order professing to end the right …

A new CNN poll reveals how people mad at both parties see the midterms  —  Americans' views of both the Democratic and Republican parties remain deeply negative, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.  And in an election year that may turn on which party voters see as the lesser of two evils …

Hegseth has intervened in military promotions for more than a dozen senior officers  —  The defense secretary's efforts to block or delay promotions to general or admiral for some officers has raised concerns that he may be targeting them because of race, gender or affiliation with the Biden administration, sources say.

Grandmother Faces Trial in Alabama for Wearing Penis Costume to No Kings Protest  —  In the body camera footage, a police officer parks his black SUV on the grass, a rosary swinging from the rearview mirror.  He exits his car, moves briskly past a pair of protesters, and points an accusatory finger …

The bizarre reason Hegseth's right-hand man is spreading damaging rumors about the Secretary of War  —  WASHINGTON — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's top aide Ricky Buria told colleagues last year that he and his boss donned disguises and went out drinking together — a juicy bit …

FBI labels data breach ‘major incident,’ notifies Congress  —  The FBI has labeled a recent data breach, which reportedly targeted an FBI surveillance system, a “major incident” and notified Congress about the cyber intrusion, the agency confirmed to The Hill on Friday.

Relationship with Trump may be beyond repair, Keir Starmer told  —  PM gets widespread backing after president's mocking impersonation takes US-UK relationship to new low  —  Keir Starmer has been warned his relationship with Donald Trump may be beyond repair after the US president derided …

Hegseth Says U.S. Troops Are Fighting for Jesus.  The Pope Disagrees.  —  In sharp contrast to the Trump administration's calls for Christian prayers for the war effort, Pope Leo XIV says military domination is “entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”

The Mythology of Pete Hegseth  —  The Iran War cheerleader-in-chief embraces a dangerous alternate history of the 21st Century … I didn't begin this week thinking I would be writing about the Iran War, Chuck Norris, and Kid Rock, but one of the “joys” of living through the Trump era …

Trump and the Myth of American Oil Independence … When President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he's winding down the U.S. war on Iran and washing his hands of the embattled Strait of Hormuz, he invoked what he likes to call America's “energy dominance”: The United States has become …

#170: The Opinion No One Wrote About … Podcast microphones on cable news desks.  Churning out to vertical videos.  AI-assisted stories.  Collabs with creators.  —  Media organizations everywhere are experimenting with new ways to attract audiences.  Virality is rewarded.  Pithiness is king.

The six big events that have dragged down Donald Trump's approval rating  —  Note: This article is free to read, but it was not free to produce.  To help grow this newsletter business (doing so incurs costs like paying for polling data and modeling infrastructure, experimenting on biz dev …

Trump's back-to-back-to-back setbacks  —  On the latest episode of Nir & Rupar, our live weekly video show, David Nir of The Downballot and Aaron Rupar of Public Notice catalog an extraordinary series of setbacks for Donald Trump in just the last few days.  —  If you haven't yet subscribed …

Judge Jeanine's Big Audition … When Jeanine Pirro took over as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia in May of last year, she was surprised to learn that her workspace came with a full bathroom.  Even more surprising was what her predecessor, Ed Martin Jr., had left in the shower.