Virginia judge blocks redistricting referendum from being certified  —  ARLINGTON, Va. (7News) — A Virginia judge blocked the state from certifying the results of Tuesday's congressional map referendum, deeming the referendum and the bill that triggered it as unconstitutional, according to a judge's order issued Wednesday.

Secret ‘sugar daddy’ sex scandal explodes inside Trump's counterterrorism HQ: Read glamorous senior aide's voracious text messages, itemized ‘trophies’... and her utterly shameless justification  —  A top-level Trump counterterrorism official is under investigation amid claims she actively looks …

Navy Secretary John Phelan Is Leaving the Pentagon and the Trump Administration  —  John Phelan is leaving the Pentagon and the Trump administration after months of infighting with senior Pentagon leaders.  —  Secretary of the Navy John Phelan was fired on Wednesday after months of infighting …

F.B.I. Said to Have Investigated Times Reporter After Article on Patel's Girlfriend  —  The bureau said it is not pursuing a case, but the scrutiny is an example of the Trump administration weighing whether to criminalize routine news gathering.  —  The F.B.I. began investigating …

CDC won't publish report showing covid shots cut likelihood of hospital visits  —  The report, which had cleared the agency's scientific-review process, had been delayed.  It now won't be published at all, people familiar with the decision told The Post.  —  Summary

Oversight members split over whether to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, committee chair says  —  Members on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are divided over whether President Donald Trump should pardon Jeffrey Epstein's convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange …

Southern Poverty Law Center indicted on federal fraud charges  —  WASHINGTON — The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information …

Clearing Strait of Hormuz of mines could take 6 months, Pentagon tells Congress  —  The Pentagon assessment, shared in a classified briefing for lawmakers, suggests gasoline and oil prices could remain elevated through the midterm elections.  —  Summary  —  It could take six months …

Trump admin agrees to pay $1.25M to 2016 Trump adviser over surveillance … A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.  Page and one of his attorneys did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.  —  The settlement does not resolve Page's effort to revive his claims …

Kalshi suspends, fines 3 congressional candidates in ‘insider trading’ enforcement actions … Prediction market platform Kalshi said Wednesday it had suspended and fined three candidates for Congress from Minnesota, Texas and Virginia for “political insider trading” activity on their own campaigns.

Trump Administration Nearing Rescue Deal for Spirit Airlines  —  President signaled this week the government could help discount carrier, which has struggled with surging jet-fuel prices  —  The Trump administration is nearing a rescue deal for Spirit Airlines, people familiar with the matter said.

New poll: 55% support impeaching Trump  —  This article reports results from the April 2026 Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll.  You can read our previous poll releases here.  Subscribers to Strength In Numbers have access to additional trended charts and a full archive of crosstabs …

New Jersey's most vulnerable GOP incumbent is MIA  —  Rep. Tom Kean Jr. represents New Jersey's most competitive district this November — but nobody, even his GOP colleagues, can say where he's been for the past month.  A scion of one of the state's most storied political dynasties …

Secretive Shipments of Iranian Oil to China Are Under Threat by U.S.  —  Boarding of tanker raises risk for sanctions-evading ‘shadow fleet’  —  Iran, China and an array of middlemen have evaded U.S. sanctions for years by shipping oil on aging tankers with opaque records …

Couple Accused of Taking Child to Cuba for Gender Surgery Now Facing Kidnapping Charges  —  When it comes to the whole question of “gender-affirming surgery,” there's an argument to be made that adults, presumably those able to give informed consent, might seek out and obtain these treatments.

Virginia court blocks voter-approved redistricting, appeal coming  —  A Virginia judge temporarily halted the state's newly approved congressional map — but state officials are already moving to try to overturn the ruling, setting up a rapid legal fight in the state's Supreme Court.

Two Iranian Women in ICE Detention Are Not, In Fact, Related to Qasem Soleimani, Documents Show  —  After Laura Loomer pointed to two women she claimed were connected to the late Iranian military commander, they were arrested and remain in immigration detention.  One is now gravely ill.

Judge tosses Kash Patel's defamation suit against former MSNBC contributor  —  The judge said that Frank Figliuzzi's statement, “when taken in context, cannot have been perceived by a person of ordinary intelligence as stating actual facts about Patel.”  —  A federal judge in Texas has tossed …

John Phelan out as Navy secretary  —  WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Navy John Phelan is leaving his position effective immediately, the Pentagon announced Wednesday night.  —  “On behalf of the Secretary of War (Pete Hegseth) and Deputy Secretary of War (Steve Feinberg) …

5 AI Models Tried to Scam Me.  Some of Them Were Scary Good  —  The cyber capabilities of AI models have experts rattled.  AI's social skills may be just as dangerous.  —  I recently witnessed how scary-good artificial intelligence is getting at the human side of computer hacking …

Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat seeking his 13th term in Congress, dies at age 80  —  U.S. Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat who was seeking his 13th term in Congress despite challenges from within his party, has died.  He was 80.  —  Scott was Democrats' ranking member …

Man who swiped Noem's purse in a DC restaurant is sentenced to 3 years in prison  —  A man who stole a purse from then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem while she dined at a restaurant under the protection of Secret Service agents was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison for a string of thefts in the nation's capital.

Democrats demand FBI director, Kash Patel, take alcohol abuse test  —  Amid growing congressional scrutiny of his conduct, Patel has claimed he has ‘never been intoxicated on the job’  —  House judiciary Democrats have launched a formal inquiry into the alleged drinking habits of the FBI director …

Pentagon Erases Wounded U.S. Troops From Iran War Casualty List: “Definition of a Cover-up”  —  Amid a fragile ceasefire in the U.S. war on Iran, the Pentagon is playing a numbers game with American casualty statistics, adding and subtracting from the count as questions about the human toll mount.