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 …

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 …

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

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

G.O.P. Kills Bid to Expand I.V.F. Access in the Military  —  In a notable shift, Republican senators voted unanimously against a proposal to expand the military's coverage of fertility treatments.  —  Republicans in Congress have quietly blocked a proposal to expand military health coverage …

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 …

Pentagon weighs eliminating civilian tenure at military academies and reviewing all curriculum, draft memo says  —  Add CBS News on Google  —  Washington — The Defense Department is considering its most sweeping remake of military higher education, according to an unreleased draft memorandum obtained …

It's not just Biden — Washington is an assisted-living facility with nuclear keys  —  When former President Joe Biden unraveled on the debate stage before 51 million television viewers, some Republicans were no doubt giddy.  I was not.  Like many people, I have watched cognitive decline afflict loved ones, often parents.

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 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 …

Critics Say Historic Sites Are Endangered by Trump-Aligned Panel's Plan  —  Proponents say the changes to the federal preservation rules are necessary, but critics argue they are alarming and would help expedite the president's redesign of Washington.  —  For decades, from the highway boom …

Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom.  Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble? … the first full day of the second Trump administration — Larry Ellison woke up in his 33-bedroom, 34-bathroom oceanfront mansion in Florida, got into his Gulfstream jet and headed up to Washington.

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 …