Top Items:
ABC News:
DOJ expected to drop criminal probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell amid pressure from senators: Sources — The investigation threatened to delay the confirmation of Powell's successor. — Katherine Faulders, Elizabeth Schulze, Allison Pecorin, and Alexander Mallin
Discussion:
CBS News, Reuters, Bloomberg and The Stanford Daily
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Associated Press:
Justice Department drops criminal probe of Fed chair Powell, likely clearing way for Warsh — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Deparment has ended its probe into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, clearing a major roadblock to the confirmation of his successor, Kevin Warsh.
Discussion:
Straight Arrow News, Scripps News, Axios, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, KARE-TV, Mediaite and MS NOW
Steve Kopack / NBC News:
Justice Department drops investigation into Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell — The decision clears the way for Trump's nominee to chair the Fed, Kevin Warsh, to advance toward a confirmation vote in the Senate. — The Justice Department on Friday dropped a criminal investigation …
Discussion:
New York Post, Bloomberg, The Hill, CNBC, CBS News, Politico, KDFX-TV, KIFI-TV, The Independent, The Gateway Pundit, Newsweek, The Daily Signal, Joe.My.God., New Republic and Semafor
Phil Stewart / Reuters:
Exclusive: Pentagon email floats suspending Spain from NATO, other steps over Iran rift, source says — An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain …
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Politico:
Former NATO envoy warns of ‘very big mistakes’ in criticizing Trump on Iran — Kurt Volker warned European countries not to anger the U.S. president. — The former U.S. ambassador to NATO is urging British and European politicians not to alienate Donald Trump by criticizing …
William J. Burns / New York Times:
Here's How Trump Can Get Us Out of the Mess in Iran
Discussion:
NBC News, Washington Examiner and Raw Story
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
April 23, 2026 — Yesterday Secretary of the Navy John Phelan spent the day talking to lawmakers about the Navy's plans for new ships and about the Pentagon's huge budget request only to get a call from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asking him to resign. Phelan is a billionaire businessman …
Discussion:
MS NOW
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New York Times:
Trump's Dreams for a Battleship Led to His Navy Secretary's Ouster
Discussion:
The Nation, The Independent, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Al Jazeera and The Washington Free Beacon
Wall Street Journal:
Inside the Navy Secretary's Last-Ditch Bid to Save His Job
Inside the Navy Secretary's Last-Ditch Bid to Save His Job
Discussion:
Axios, The Moderate Voice, Wonkette, Mediaite, Fox News, The Independent, The Hill, Reuters, Washington Times, Politico, Blaze Media, Military and Veteran …, Daily Kos, NewsMax.com, WVEC, Washington Examiner, Straight Arrow News, NOTUS, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Financial Times and Washington Post
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
The Conspiracy Theory Behind Tucker Carlson's Apology — Tucker Carlson, you might have heard, is sorry. Early this week he posted a long conversation with his brother, Buckley, a former Trump speechwriter, in which they tried to make sense of the wreckage of the second Donald Trump presidency.
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo and Washington Monthly
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Matt Lewis / The Hill:
Trump lived by the conspiracy theory — now he pays the price
Trump lived by the conspiracy theory — now he pays the price
Discussion:
Raw Story
New Republic:
Trump Hit by Brutal Fox Poll as Aides Scramble: “He's in a Bad Mood” — A new Fox News poll contains crushing findings for Donald Trump. His approval on the economy is at 34 percent with 66 percent disapproving. On inflation, those numbers are even worse, at 28-72.
Discussion:
Politico
Ayaan Hirsi Ali / The Free Press:
The SPLC Targeted Me. Now Its Reckoning Has Come. — The group that called me an ‘extremist’ has been accused of funding hate groups. And it's provoked racial conflict for decades. — Upgrade to Listen — A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday issued an 11-count indictment …
Discussion:
PJ Media, The Daily Wire, The Federalist, twitchy.com, Townhall and Public Notice
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Marc Caputo / Axios:
DeSantis plots end run of Florida law to create more GOP House seats — Florida bans lawmakers from intentionally creating congressional seats to give their party an advantage. But Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly has launched a three-tiered power play to evade the ban — and create more GOP-friendly seats — in November.
Discussion:
New Republic, Joe.My.God., The Contrarian, Raw Story, IJR, Fox News, Roll Call, Florida Politics, Washington Examiner, The Hill, KDFX-TV, Wall Street Journal, NewsMax.com and Politico
Erin Reed / Erin In The Morning:
Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics — The ban applies to theses and dissertations, and is expected to begin going into effect on a rolling basis. … A new memo at Texas Tech University establishes a sweeping and draconian censorship policy toward LGBTQ+ people …
Washington Post:
Elon Musk's near-daily online posts about race are turning off some fans — The billionaire posted 850 times on the topic in recent months, almost triple the rate for the previous two years. — Summary — Elon Musk, the world's richest person, is on the cusp of a record-setting initial public offering …
Wall Street Journal:
A Dispiriting Airline Bailout — There's no economic justification for the government to save Spirit Airlines. — Click for Sound — Who could have imagined that the U.S. government would deem a budget airline too big to fail? Yet here we are, as President Trump is flying to the rescue of the beleaguered Spirit Airlines.
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Examiner, HuffPost, Bangor Daily News, Raw Story, Christian Science Monitor, KIFI-TV, The Verge, Newsweek, The Hill, WJBK-TV and The Daily Wire
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Torrie Herrington / NOTUS:
Trump Faces Conservative Mutiny Over Potential $500M Spirit Airlines Bailout
Discussion:
The Hill, Joe.My.God., KDFX-TV, CBS News, Axios, Reason Foundation and Raw Story
Catherine Rampell / The Bulwark:
A Flailing President Seeks a Hellhole Airline
A Flailing President Seeks a Hellhole Airline
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, New Republic, emptywheel, CBS News, Bloomberg, WUSA, Mediaite, Associated Press, KDFX-TV, Semafor, Digby's Hullabaloo and The official Ryan …
Anna Clark / ProPublica:
Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash — Reporting Highlights — Health Fears: Some critics say large solar farms are a public health threat. While there is little reputable evidence for this, their claims have helped power a backlash.
Washington Post:
Pentagon fires ombudsman overseeing military newspaper after calling it ‘woke’ — Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith said the Defense Department dismissed her without giving a reason, according to an email reviewed by The Post. — Summary — Three months after the Pentagon decried …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »
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G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
The incredible shrinking Trump coalition — An updated look at the president's approval rating by geography and demographics shows just how narrow his coalition has become. — It has been an exciting poll week here at Strength In Numbers. On Tuesday, we released our April Strength …
Kyla Guilfoil / NBC News:
Trump says he'll renovate ‘filthy’ reflecting pool on National Mall — At an Oval Office event, the president said he's planning to pour a new surface for the 2,000-foot reflecting pool, giving it an “American flag blue” hue. — President Donald Trump touted plans Thursday to coat …
Discussion:
Straight Arrow News, Northern Virginia Magazine, CBS News, Associated Press, The Independent and Mediaite
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Luke Broadwater / New York Times:
Trump Says He's Renovating ‘Filthy’ Reflecting Pool on the National Mall
Trump Says He's Renovating ‘Filthy’ Reflecting Pool on the National Mall
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Washington Examiner
ABC News:
DOJ arrests soldier who made $400,000 betting on Maduro's removal: Sources — The bet was allegedly placed by a commando involved in Nicolas Maduro's capture. — Katherine Faulders, Aaron Katersky, Peter Charalambous, and Alexander Mallin — Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores …
Discussion:
CBS News, The Guardian, Task & Purpose, Associated Press, Straight Arrow News, CNN, The Week, NBC News, Semafor, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Washington Times, The Japan Times, Mediaite, Raw Story, New York Post, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Independent, The Hill, Washington Examiner, KDFX-TV, FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, Gizmodo, Washington Post and Joe.My.God., more at Techmeme »
Ellen Mitchell / The Hill:
Hegseth responds to pope's criticism: ‘We know what authority we have’ — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday defended the U.S. military operation against Iran amid President Trump's ongoing feud with Pope Leo XIV, head of the Catholic Church. — “The pope's gonna do his thing …
Discussion:
IJR
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Trump Isn't Thinking Strait — Another day, another Pentagon press conference in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fruitlessly demands Europe get more involved with reopening the Strait of Hormuz: “This should not be America's fight alone,” Hegseth seethed. “We barely use the Strait of Hormuz. . . .
Discussion:
CNN, MS NOW and Joe.My.God.
Benjy Sarlin / Vox:
Nobody is laughing at Donald Trump anymore — When I think of the difference between Donald Trump's first term and Donald Trump's second term, the image that stands out most is the president bombing. — Not a country, in this case — a comedy routine. — It was this January's keynote speech …
Politico:
New York Republicans dig in against Trump's preferred Stefanik successor … Though Trump's endorsement is often decisive in a GOP primary, Smullen's supporters are digging in, deepening the split in the fight to replace Stefanik and raising the stakes as Democrats watch closely for a pickup opportunity.
Discussion:
Raw Story
US Department of Justice:
U.S. Soldier Charged With Using Classified Information To Profit From Prediction Market Bets — For Immediate Release — U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York — United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, Acting Attorney General for the United States …
Discussion:
Associated Press, New York Post, Politico, New York Times, Townhall, Asia Times, CFTC, RedState, CNBC, Forbes, UPI, One America News Network, Rolling Stone, The Daily Wire, Engadget, MS NOW, Straight Arrow News, Washington Examiner, NPR, Wired, CBS News, Axios, Bloomberg, CoinDesk, The Gateway Pundit, The Post Millennial, The Verge and NOTUS
Ryan King / New York Post:
Rep. Max Miller's divorce from Sen. Bernie Moreno's daughter gets ugly over questions about 2-year-old's broken collarbone — WASHINGTON — Ohio Rep. Max Miller is mired in a messy custody battle with his ex-wife that has involved a police investigation into their 2-year-old's broken collarbone, court documents reveal.
Discussion:
TiffinOhio.net
Tracey Tully / New York Times:
Concern Grows Over Republican Congressman's Mysterious Absence — A spokesman for Representative Thomas Kean Jr. said an unspecified “personal medical issue” has led the New Jersey Republican to miss House votes. — Representative Thomas Kean Jr., one of the most vulnerable Republican members of Congress …
Discussion:
Townhall, New Jersey Globe, New York Post, Althouse, RedState, NJ Spotlight News, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire and Politico
New York Times:
Iran War Has Drained U.S. Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons — The Pentagon's rush to rearm its Mideast forces makes it less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, administration and congressional officials say. — Since the Iran war began in late February …
Discussion:
CBS News, NewsMax.com, Breaking Defense, Just Security, The Independent, Air & Space Forces Magazine, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal and Semafor
Asawin Suebsaeng / Zeteo:
First Draft - 🥂 Journalists: Stop Partying With Donald Trump! — Tomorrow, at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, reporters will pal around with the man who keeps threatening to put them in jail. Plus: more details on Israel's murder of a journalist in Lebanon. — ∙ Paid
Discussion:
USA Today, Just Jared, France 24, Raw Story, Al Jazeera and New Republic, more at Mediagazer »
Ximena Bustillo / NPR:
DHS starts deportation of woman whose loved one died in the Baltimore bridge collapse — BALTIMORE — Zoila Guerra Sandoval, 48, remembers making “frijoles blancos,” white beans, the day before the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore in 2024. — She had just spoken …
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Inside the House Dem push to impeach Trump on Day 1 — A cohort of resistance-minded House Democrats is pushing their colleagues to begin building the case against President Trump now in anticipation of a Day 1 impeachment vote if they retake the House.
Discussion:
HotAir, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and HuffPost
Collin Anderson / The Washington Free Beacon:
New York Times Puts Elise Stefanik Third on Best Sellers List Despite Sales Data Showing She Had Top-Selling Title — The Times has not reviewed or covered Stefanik's book, ‘Poisoned Ivies,’ as New York Republican accuses outlet of refusing to ‘acknowledge the crisis of antisemitism’
Discussion:
New York Times and Washington Times
