Top Items:
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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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:
Scripps News, Straight Arrow News, Axios, CBS News, Washington Examiner, CoinDesk, Washington Times, Associated Press, WXIA-TV, KARE-TV and Mediaite
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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, Washington Post, The Hill, Reuters, The National Pulse, Bloomberg, New Republic and The Stanford Daily
Steve Kopack / NBC News:
Justice Department drops investigation into Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell
Justice Department drops investigation into Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell
Discussion:
The Hill, NOTUS, New York Post, Bloomberg, CNBC, CBS News, Al Jazeera, RedState, Daily Caller News Foundation, Asia Times, MS NOW, Semafor, Daily Kos, The Independent, The Gateway Pundit, Newsweek, IJR, The Daily Signal, New Republic, Joe.My.God. and Politico
Matt Lewis / The Hill:
Trump lived by the conspiracy theory — now he pays the price — A truism of life — right up there with “don't read the comments” — is that what goes around comes around. Put another way, if you live by the sword, you will eventually die by the sword. — For more than a decade …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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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:
Washington Monthly and Digby's Hullabaloo
Trevor Aaronson / The Intercept:
Kash Patel Got Arrested for Public Urination After a Night of Drinking — FBI Director Kash Patel was twice arrested in incidents involving alcohol, once for public intoxication and once for public urination after leaving a bar, he admitted in a 2005 letter about disclosures on his Florida Bar application.
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:
The Intercept, No More Mister Nice Blog, PJ Media, The Daily Wire, The Federalist, twitchy.com, Townhall, New Republic and Public Notice
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Chris Bradford / New York Post:
Trump calls for 2020 presidential election to be ‘permanently wiped from the books’ if Southern Poverty Law Center convicted of fraud
Trump calls for 2020 presidential election to be ‘permanently wiped from the books’ if Southern Poverty Law Center convicted of fraud
Discussion:
Election Law Blog, Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, Mediaite, MeidasTouch News, New Republic, HuffPost, NewsMax.com, Joe.My.God., The Daily Wire and IJR
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
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, Fox News, IJR, Roll Call, Washington Examiner, Florida Politics, The Hill, KDFX-TV, Wall Street Journal and Politico
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 …
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.
Jason Leopold / Bloomberg:
FOIA Documents ‘Scrubbed’ From Intelligence Agency Website — Last year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence removed all documents from its FOIA reading room. Emails say a Biden-era FOIA release caused a “fuss.” … At first glance, the disappearance of documents …
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.
Steve Holland / Reuters:
Witkoff and Kushner to travel to Pakistan soon for Iran talks, US official says — U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel to Pakistan soon for talks with Iran's foreign minister, a U.S. official told Reuters on Friday.
Discussion:
Axios, HotAir, New York Times, The Times of Israel, New York Post, Financial Times and Bloomberg
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 …
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 …
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:
The Nation, The Hill and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »
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Jacqueline Smith / Stars & Stripes:
The Pentagon is trying to silence me
The Pentagon is trying to silence me
Discussion:
Straight Arrow News, The Hill and New York Times
Maria Sacchetti / Washington Post:
Appeals court clears way for U.S. to reopen border for asylum seekers — A federal appeals court found Trump's declaration of an “invasion” at the U.S.-Mexico border was illegal, effectively reopening the U.S. to migrants seeking asylum. — Summary — A federal appeals court ruled Friday …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Washington Times and KDFX-TV
Minho Kim / New York Times:
White House Allowed Officials' Text Messages to Be Deleted, Lawsuit Says — Two watchdogs say internal White House guidance that text messages need not be preserved unless “they are the sole record of official decision-making” contradicted the law. — Two government watchdogs sued President Trump …
Discussion:
Washington Post and NewsMax.com
Natalie Hausmann / Democracy Docket:
Many Americans believe Trump's lies about voter fraud, poll shows — President Donald Trump's repeated attempts to convince the public that elections are rigged and voter fraud is rampant - both false claims - have had an impact, a new poll shows. — The findings underscore the damage …
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
Palantir Is Helping Trump's IRS Conduct “Massive-Scale” Data Mining — Military contractor Palantir has been paid more than $130 million by the IRS to analyze sensitive federal databases. — MILITARY CONTRACTOR PALANTIR is helping the IRS analyze dozens of different data sets on Americans …
US Department of Justice:
The Justice Department Takes Actions to Strengthen the Federal Death Penalty — For Immediate Release — President Trump's Day-One Executive Order Directed the Department to Prioritize Seeking and Implementing Death Sentences to Protect Public Safety — Today, the Department of Justice acted …
Discussion:
CNN, CBS News, Fox News, Forbes and The Post Millennial
Jennifer Medina / New York Times:
A New Worry for Republicans: Latino Catholics Offended by Trump — In 2024, the president made significant inroads with Hispanics. But in a competitive Arizona congressional district, voters now express dismay at his feud with the pope. — When Stuart Sepulvida arrives …
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
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 …
Dasha Burns / Politico:
White House directs post-Virginia ire at Youngkin … “Look, there's plenty of blame to go around. But if Youngkin hadn't left the special session open, Louise Lucas would never have had the chance to ram through those maps,” the person said, referring to the Democratic state senator who helped lead the charge.
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
Politico:
Erika Kirk, Turning Point USA CEO, helped arrange White House talks amid MAHA backlash … “Charlie was a coalition builder, right? Like, he tried to bring these groups together,” said one of the people involved in setting up the White House meeting. “Erika, kind of taking the reins …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com, The Independent, Media Matters for America, Joe.My.God., Washington Examiner and New York Times
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:
Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, The Hill and MS NOW
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, New York Times, Deseret News, Townhall, The Daily Caller, Truthout, Politico, Asia Times, RedState, Forbes, UPI, Rolling Stone, Engadget, One America News Network, MS NOW, The Daily Wire, Straight Arrow News, NPR, Wired, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Axios, CoinDesk, CNBC, The Gateway Pundit, The Post Millennial, The Verge and NOTUS, more at Techmeme »
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
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:
Washington Times, The Guardian, Task & Purpose, Associated Press, CBS News, Straight Arrow News, Semafor, Reuters, The Week, NBC News, CNN, The Japan Times, Mediaite, Raw Story, New York Post, Al Jazeera, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Independent, The Hill, Breitbart, FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, Washington Examiner, Gizmodo, Washington Post and Joe.My.God., more at Techmeme »
Hugo Gurdon / Washington Examiner:
‘White supremacy’ was a leftist scam — When facts are stranger than fiction, pundits will say, “You can't make this stuff up.” But actually, you can make this stuff up — that turns out to be the Left's modus operandi. — The Southern Poverty Law Center, a malignant organization …
Discussion:
The Daily Wire
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
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 …
Caleigh Keating / CNBC:
AI data center backlash threatens Pennsylvania GOP incumbents in 2026 election … The AI-driven data center boom in Pennsylvania — which includes a $20 billion investment from Amazon — is leading to political angst in districts in the Keystone State that could help decide control of the U.S. House.

