Anthony Fauci invokes 5th Amendment right not to testify at Covid hearing, calls Sen. Rand Paul ‘unhinged’  —  The former top health official said he would invoke his 5th Amendment right not to testify to avoid the possibility that Republicans might try to prosecute him for perjury.

Trump Demanded Details of Agents' Interview of Comey, New Filing Says  —  The demand suggests the intense personal involvement of President Trump in investigating one of his longtime critics, the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey.  —  Secret Service agents who questioned the former F.B …

Iran War Live Updates: U.S. and Saudi Airstrikes Drag More Countries Into Fighting  —  Global oil prices jumped on Wednesday after the U.S. and Saudi Arabia said they had carried out joint airstrikes on Iranian proxies in Iraq.  —  Here's the latest.  —  American and Saudi fighter jets …

Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk's Racist Commentary?  —  “The Turner Diaries” is a work of white supremacist agitprop.  It purports to be the diary of a neo-Nazi militant, Earl Turner, who is working to overthrow the United States government — or as the book calls it, “the System” — through a group called “the Organization.”

Trump overrode his own agencies to deny four Democratic disaster requests  —  President Donald Trump overruled his own agencies when he denied disaster aid for four Democratic-led states this month.  —  Emails between state and federal officials obtained by POLITICO along with more than 150 pages …

Bari's New ‘60’ Slate … On Tuesday afternoon, I received an urgent tip on the encrypted-messaging app Signal: Ross Douthat, the conservative opinion columnist at The New York Times, was set to leave the newspaper and join “60 Minutes.”  Initially, I was skeptical.

GOP governors back new reconciliation bill as Senate sputters  —  Nearly two dozen governors are throwing their support behind President Donald Trump's push for a new party-line spending bill — the latest effort to build pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his GOP colleagues to move quickly.

Blanche nomination hangs by a thread as Cornyn stands by settlement ultimatum  —  GOP Sen. John Cornyn said Wednesday, less than 24 hours before a critical committee vote, that he is “not prepared” to support Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general as the two continue to tangle …

Elon Musk's xAI sues to stop Minnesota law banning nudification technology  —  Add CBS News on Google  —  Billionaire Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is suing Minnesota over a first-of-its-kind law that bans apps and websites that create fake, sexualized pictures of individuals, claiming it violates the First Amendment.

CNN Poll: Americans doubt Trump is paying enough attention to the country's most important problems  —  A record-high 73% of US adults say that President Donald Trump hasn't paid enough attention to the country's most important problems, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds, with just 27% saying he's had the right priorities.

Trump Will End Subsidies for Medicare Drug Premiums  —  Millions of older Americans could pay more for their prescription drug coverage next year.  —  The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it intended to end a Biden-era program that for the past two years has helped tamp …

A New Age of Missiles Reshapes Battlefields Around The World  —  The world is on the cusp of a third missile age, with conventional ballistic weapons proliferating at unprecedented speed in the wake of widespread, battlefield-warping deployment in Iran and Ukraine.

Thune's next nightmare  —  Senate Majority Leader John Thune has one of the toughest jobs in Washington.  It could get even harder next year. … But the Senate leader could enter the next Congress with diminished power, leading a conference whose loyalty increasingly lies with Trump.

Domestic Abuse Allegations Rock an Ohio House Race  —  Representative Max Miller, a Republican, is facing accusations of abuse from his ex-wife in a bitter family feud that might put his otherwise safe seat in play.  —  A sordid, yearslong family drama involving two powerful Republican members …

Trump's Tariffs Are Sending Some Companies Back to China … Workers at factories in China and Thailand assembling and testing flashlights for sale to American customers.Videos by Lauren DeCicca and Qilai Shen  —  On a dusty piece of land south of Bangkok, a flashlight factory stands full of promise.

The fake historian advising Trump's anti-Smithsonian crusade  —  Last Friday, President Trump released an executive order directing officials to install signs outside the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) informing visitors that the museum presents history inaccurately.

A U.S. Citizen Deleted His Phone's Data.  Now He Faces a Felony Charge.  —  Federal prosecutors charged a man returning to the United States with obstruction because he gave them a passcode that erased his smartphone during a customs search.  —  It sounds like something that James Bond would use …

Todd Blanche Colluded with an Italian Mafioso ... and Also Rudy Guiliani ... to Indict Jim Comey  —  Jim Comey has filed his pretrial motions.  The memoranda and backup for each are here (Fitzgerald's affidavit is a worthwhile place to start):  — Motion to Dismiss (MTD) for lack of a true threat

US commander warns troops their videos help Iran, sources say  —  The top U.S. commander for the Middle East has warned troops that cellphone videos shared online can help Iran target American bases, and sources told Reuters some deployed personnel could soon be ordered to surrender their phones.

ICE agents target NC's Pisgah National Forest and make multiple arrests, feds say  —  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has extended its reach into North Carolina's wilderness areas to find people suspected of living in the country illegally.  —  On Sunday, multiple arrests …