Exclusive: Trump targets birth tourism and citizenship in new executive orders … - Children born of foreign diplomatic staff working on behalf of another government while in the U.S. The 14th Amendment doesn't confer automatic citizenship on ambassadors' families, and this order would expand …

McConnell Announces Discharge From Rehabilitation Center  —  The Kentucky Republican has been absent from Congress for nearly two months after a health episode.  He said he would continue recovering from home.  —  Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, said on Thursday …

This A.I. Just Created Viruses Not Found in Nature  —  Scientists trained artificial intelligence on libraries of DNA and then asked the model to create recipes for viral genomes.  Sixteen of them were viable, yielding new viruses.  —  For the first time, scientists have used artificial intelligence …

Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left  —  One moderate group says the progressive wins are “deeply troubling” and is planning a $15 million effort against democratic socialism.  —  The embattled establishment of the Democratic Party searched furiously for a political reset …

WSJ: Fauci May Have a Bigger Problem Than Contempt Charge Today; UPDATE: Contempt Referral Passes  —  Anthony Fauci spent his life as a bureaucrat.  He apparently never learned a thing about operational security.  —  Today, a Senate committee led by Rand Paul (R-KY) will vote to send …

‘Is she even allowed to be doing this?’:  Inside a federal judge's side gig running a PR firm  —  A Trump-appointed federal appeals judge spent months running a Washington public affairs firm after being appointed to the bench last year, an arrangement that contributed to an exodus among …

IRS worker's group joins Jan. 6 ‘slush fund’ suit, seeking to block Trump audit carveout  —  The National Treasury Employees Union argues career IRS auditors “will be given unlawful directions” to terminate tax audits because of a Trump administration decision.

JD Vance's Senate lunch visit dominated by Iran  —  Vice President JD Vance fielded questions on Iran — lots of them — during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans Thursday.  Vance's visit to Capitol Hill came as the Senate is trying to wrap up a massive to-do list ahead …

How the U.S. Squandered Its Strategic Advantage  —  Idle threats and munitions shortages have boxed Trump in.  —  The united states is running out of missiles.  After five months of war with Iran, stockpiles of long-range weapons are so low, current and former U.S. defense officials told us …

Ohio Rep. Max Miller faces a growing number of calls to resign from fellow Republicans  —  Miller, who is running for re-election, has denied abusing his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, who is the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio.  —  A growing number of Republicans are calling on Rep. Max Miller …

Elon Musk's DOGE made big errors in claims of government savings, GAO finds  —  The government watchdog found that billions of dollars in DOGE's public tally could not be verified and that some claimed cuts never happened.  —  Summary  —  The U.S. DOGE Service, the cost-cutting group spearheaded …

North Carolina Teen Arrested for Using Abortion Pills As “Deadly Weapon”  —  North Carolina cops have classified abortion pills—which are safe, common, and recognized as an essential medicine by the World Health Organization—as a “deadly weapon,” and the act of taking the pills as “intent to kill.”

Susan Collins Reminds Maine Voters Just How Easily Brett Kavanaugh Duped Her  —  On Tuesday, Maine Senator Susan Collins performed one of her favorite bits: acting like she cares about abortion access.  —  Collins announced that she would oppose President Donald Trump's nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general.

Trump voter pleads for fiancée's release after ICE arrest: “They're destroying families”  —  Add CBS News on Google  —  John Gannon says he deeply regrets his decision to vote for President Trump after his fiancée, an immigrant from Venezuela, was arrested and detained by federal immigration agents last month.

Trump Administration Has Repeatedly Confessed in Court to Withholding Money From Blue States  —  The New York Times reported last month on one instance of the Trump administration explicitly admitting in court that it withheld grants from states for political reasons.  TPM has found more.

An Israeli professor lost a prestigious US job offer after speaking out on Gaza.  Now the university is paying him $250,000  —  The University of Minnesota withdrew an offer for Raz Segal to lead its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies after an organized campaign against his hiring

Vanderbilt's Board Declares War Against Academic Freedom  —  A new policy punishes faculty for speech the trustees deem strays from the core purpose of the university.  —  On July 29, Vanderbilt University's board of trustees announced the release of “The University And Its Purpose: A Declaration of First Principles.”

House Democrats pitch AI tax to fund worker protections  —  Three Democratic House lawmakers unveiled legislation Thursday to tax artificial intelligence companies and use the proceeds to fund a jobs program aimed at offsetting AI's impact on workers, marking one of Congress' most ambitious efforts yet …

Judge formally dismisses Reflecting Pool charge against Olympian  —  A local judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday formally dismissed the felony charge accusing Olympic canoeist David Hearn of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro backed away from the case.

Facebook is paying controversial creators to produce rage-bait content  —  In short:  —  An ABC NEWS Verify investigation has found Facebook's parent company, Meta, is directly paying several controversial content creators including a white nationalist with Neo-Nazi links and a prominent anti-vaxxer.

Author of DNC's 2024 “autopsy” says he concluded Gaza war hurt Harris  —  The author of the Democratic National Committee's 2024 election “autopsy” confirmed an Axios report that he concluded the war in Gaza hurt Kamala Harris politically — and that he'd privately shared that assessment with a pro-Palestinian group.

Trump Issues Tariffs on Key Ingredient for Electronics and Solar Panels  —  The administration will impose a minimum import price for polysilicon, a key component for semiconductors and solar panels, as well as tariffs for products made with the material.  —  President Trump on Thursday signed …

Cities Are Ditching Flock, Immediately Replacing It With Axon License Plate Readers  —  Rather than get rid of ALPR cameras entirely, many cities and towns are switching to Axon, whose cameras can be mounted to an existing streetlamp, helping them blend into their surroundings.

Trump Administration Considers Order on Autism and Vaccines  —  The Trump administration is actively considering issuing an executive order on vaccines and autism as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter.  —  The effort is prompted by President Donald Trump's interest …

See Where the Reflecting Pool Renovation Appeared to Fail  —  The New York Times identified dozens of areas throughout the newly installed liner of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that showed signs of bubbles, tears or peeling.  —  President Trump has for weeks blamed vandals for the damage …

White House highlights 2020 Arizona voter roll hack in an attempt to back up election integrity claims  —  After a hacker exploited a security flaw to obtain mostly public voter rolls that year, federal and local law enforcement at the time declined to prosecute.