Purging Liz Cheney  —  GOP leaders shouldn't have to lie about 2020 to keep their job.  —  By The Editorial Board  —  This should be a hopeful moment for House Republicans.  While they're playing defense in the minority for now, their prospects for picking up the five net seats they need …

Judge Says Barr Misled on How His Justice Dept. Viewed Trump's Actions  —  Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a ruling that the misleading statements were similar to others that William P. Barr, the former attorney general, had made about the Mueller investigation.

The U.S. Birthrate Has Dropped Again.  The Pandemic May Be Accelerating the Decline.  —  Over all, the birthrate declined by 4 percent in 2020.  Births were down most sharply in December, when babies conceived at the start of the health crisis would have been born.

Please buy this newspaper: A Daily News reporter begs a local owner to rescue the tabloid from Alden Global Capital  —  Like any good tabloid headline, it's simple, snappy and succinct: DAILY NEWS NEEDS NEW OWNER.  —  And not just any owner: a New York owner, someone who knows the city …

Why Democratic Departures From the House Have Republicans Salivating  —  A growing number of Democrats in battleground districts are retiring or leaving to seek higher office, imperiling the party's slim House majority and President Biden's expansive agenda.

Scoop: Jared Kushner founds “Abraham Accords Institute”  —  Jared Kushner is founding an organization called the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace, to work on deepening the normalization agreements he helped strike between Israel and Arab countries.  —  The big picture: The Abraham Accords …

The Instagram ads Facebook won't show you  —  Companies like Facebook aren't building technology for you, they're building technology for your data.  They collect everything they can from FB, Instagram, and WhatsApp in order to sell visibility into people and their lives.

AJC Poll: Georgians narrowly back Biden, but state remains polarized on many issues  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  Six months after the 2020 elections, a new poll suggests Georgians like the way President Joe Biden is responding to the coronavirus pandemic, but they are more divided on his economic proposals …

Biden's $1.8 Trillion American Families Plan Is Supported by Nearly 60% of Voters  —  While just 1 in 4 Republicans back the package, they expressed more support for the proposal's individual provisions  — 86% of Democrats support Biden's plan, compared with 54% of independents and 25% of Republicans.

Fugitive QAnon Fan Runs Up $10,000 Diner Tab—and Bails  —  QAnon promoter Richard Potcner urged National Guard soldiers in the Capitol to order on his tab at a local diner, then crowdsourced to pay the bill.  But he stopped paying.  —  An unlikely partnership between a QAnon influencer and a Washington …

Giuliani's Legal Bills Are Growing.  His Allies Want Trump to Pay Them.  —  As Rudolph Giuliani faces an escalating federal investigation and defamation suits, his advisers believe he should benefit from a $250 million Trump campaign war chest.  —  As a federal investigation …

Republicans' Pessimistic Views On The Economy Have Little To Do With The Economy  —  In 2016, the media extensively covered Trump supporters' “economic anxiety.”  Will this misperception continue in the lead-up to 2024?  —  Since Joe Biden became president, several surveys have found …

If Bill and Melinda Gates can't make a marriage work, what hope is there for the rest of us?  —  Just imagine how many hours of couples therapy you can afford when you're among the world's richest people.  Or the shared sense of purpose you could forge while raising three children and running …

Steyer paid settlements to 5 former campaign staffers  —  Tom Steyer's short-lived presidential campaign has made more than $24,000 in settlement payments to five former campaign staffers in recent months.  —  The payments, which haven't been previously reported, came after two of the former …

Supply vs Demand: Which States are Reaching their COVID-19 Vaccine Tipping Points?  —  We recently estimated that the U.S. was close to its “COVID-19 vaccine tipping point” - that is, the point at which vaccine supply may start to outstrip demand.  We also noted that national averages may mask important differences by state.

The Allegations Against Blake Bailey and the Shock of the Familiar  —  As a teacher, Bailey was a type, a stock character, the sort whose behavior is often trailed by public silence.  —  In the opening pages of Philip Roth's novel “I Married a Communist,” from 1998, Nathan Zuckerman delivers …

Scoop: Biden weighs posting LA Mayor Garcetti to India  —  President Biden is considering naming Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to a high-profile ambassadorship, possibly India, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.  —  Why it matters: The potential exit of the Democratic executive …

Biden team prepares a Mike Lindell, yes, Mike Lindell oppo file  —  With help from Allie Bice and Daniel Payne  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people of the Biden administration. … President JOE BIDEN has kept his public focus on combating the pandemic and passing his infrastructure plan.