Faced with Blanche dilemma, Trump chooses revenge  —  President Donald Trump has a choice: allow changes to a controversial court settlement and secure the confirmation of his former personal lawyer as attorney general, or thumb his nose at a pair of his few remaining Republican critics in Congress.

How the Pro-Trump Media Ecosystem Is Splintering Ahead of the Midterms  —  Once united in support of President Trump, right-wing influencers are embroiled in feuds and losing viewers, creating a problem for Republicans in the midterm elections.  —  Benny Johnson, a right-wing podcaster …

‘The Boss Wants This Money’: Inside Trump's Unprecedented Fundraising Operation  —  Meredith O'Rourke, nicknamed ‘princess of darkness,’ carries out president's desire to wring hundreds of millions from companies for his projects  —  WASHINGTON—Almost every night in the White House …

New York sues Kalshi, says prediction market is running ‘illegal gambling operation’ … New York state sued prediction market platform Kalshi on Friday, alleging that the company is running an “illegal gambling operation.”  —  In a case filed in a Manhattan state court …

Panetta: US locked into ‘unwinnable war’ with Iran  —  Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Thursday that the U.S. is “locked into an unwinnable war” with Iran, arguing the conflict risks becoming another prolonged military engagement with no clear end.

Trump will be ‘very disappointed’ if Israel obstructs his Gaza plan, US official warns  —  Comments come after Netanyahu's office says Israel can't accept disarmament proposal approved by Hamas, which official says triggered 14-day sprint to set implementation timeline

How Trump Has Changed, With Maggie Haberman  —  This is an edited transcript of “The Ezra Klein Show.”  You can listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts.  —  Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent at The New York Times, a Pulitzer Prize winner and an author …

Exclusive: FBI gets voter's IP address in new fraud probe tactic  —  The Trump administration has a new tactic for trying to isolate cases of alleged voter fraud — digging into the IP addresses of those who went online to register to vote.  — The FBI recently obtained the IP address …

The Tate Brothers' Should Be The Trumps' Second Epstein Scandal  —  The truth is much worse than most people realize, and they knew a lot of it.  —  I've had Heidi Blake's lengthy New Yorker exposé about Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan open in a browser tab for over a month.

Investigating three real-world incidents in our cybersecurity evaluations  —  In a review of our cybersecurity evaluation transcripts, we found three incidents in which a Claude model reached the internet from within or while interacting with a third-party evaluation environment …

Kennedy Center Halts Free Public Tours After Five Decades of Service  —  The decision to suspend tours indefinitely came after a volunteer tour guide was featured in a Times article detailing President Trump's dramatic revamp of the Kennedy Center.  —  The John F. Kennedy Center …

Capitol agenda: The Senate's fly-out agenda takes shape  —  Senate Republicans are prepping a jam-packed — if somewhat optimistic — agenda for their final week before summer recess.  Majority Leader John Thune wants to move stopgap funding through Dec. 11, bipartisan Russia sanctions legislation …

The Bond Market Doesn't Like Bullshit  —  The Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve meets every six weeks to set interest rates — specifically the federal funds rate, the overnight rate at which banks lend each other money.  The Fed funds rate has little direct economic significance …

A discarded SpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon  —  A drifting SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon after launching a pair of lunar landers more than a year ago.  The rocket's upper stage will unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday …

Cheap gas won't save Trump, now at a new all-time approval low  —  This post is free to read, but if you want to support my independent data-driven political journalism and get premium posts like these sent to your inbox 2x a week, become a paying subscriber to Strength In Numbers today.

'It's beyond embarrassing': Ken Martin and the DNC have a 2028 problem, donors warn  —  Major Democratic donors are getting really anxious about 2028.  —  The Democratic National Committee has a massive cash deficit heading into November, and Chair Ken Martin is facing a growing onslaught …

Mandela Barnes ends Democratic campaign for Wisconsin governor  —  Mary Spicuzza Molly BeckMilwaukee Journal Sentinel  —  Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has ended his campaign for governor.  —  The decision by Barnes came amid reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel into allegations …

Josh Shapiro shoots his shot  —  With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner  —  Happy Friday morning.  The late Andrew Breitbart said politics is downstream from culture.  Today, we explore how one potential 2028er is working upstream, driven by his love of sports.  Get in touch.

Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Thousands With Past Felony Convictions  —  Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger on Friday announced she is restoring the voting rights of about 66,000 people with past felony convictions, reversing the course set by her predecessor, Glenn Youngkin.

Senator's daughter files new restraining order against GOP Rep. Max Miller  —  Emily Moreno had previously accused her ex-husband, an Ohio congressman, of domestic abuse, including throwing hot water on her and holding a gun to her head.  He denies the allegations.  —  Summary

Divided Democrats face a moment of truth in Michigan  —  Democratic socialists look like they're about to rack up a stunning new victory: Their candidate in Michigan's Senate Democratic primary has the momentum heading into Tuesday's primary. … The Michigan primary brings the ideological clash to its biggest stage yet.

Pulte lingers as intel chief while senators say it's time for ‘the temp’ to move on  —  Bill Pulte may be out of a job, but he hasn't walked out the door.  —  The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jay Clayton to be the new director of national intelligence (DNI), replacing Pulte in a role President Trump …

Trump admin tries to rebuild election security infrastructure it gutted as midterms near  —  Election security Federal agencies Donald Trump National security  —  After dismantling the federal system designed to protect US elections, the Trump administration now says it has a plan to rebuild it …

Trump-Themed Passport Rollout Goes National  —  An additional 250,000 “Patriot Passports” will soon be available at more than two dozen passport agencies across the country.  — Copy  —  The State Department plans to make a new batch of U.S. passports with President Donald Trump's image …

The next abortion battle is over Kansas's highest court  —  Voters will decide whether to replace a nearly 70-year-old appointment system with direct elections that could reshape the state Supreme Court for decades.  —  GREAT BEND, Kan. — A national fight over state supreme courts is flaring up in Kansas …

One Big Beautiful Bill cut healthcare funds.  Now, Republicans have to sell the costs  —  Republicans campaigning in swing districts are running ads about healthcare after facing criticism of the cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.  Many of these ads target voters over 35 years old …

Rebuilding Democracy Requires Rebalancing Power  —  Thoughtful policy experts on a range of issues are currently preparing plans to rebuild the federal government in the event that a pro-democracy president is elected in 2028.  That planning is essential.  —  But it will also be wholly insufficient …