Putin sees U.S. as weakened by Iran war, intelligence reports say  —  The classified assessment of the Kremlin's thinking preceded CIA Director John Ratcliffe's secret trip to Moscow this week.  —  Summary  —  CIA Director John Ratcliffe's mysterious trip to Moscow this week was preceded …

Judge again blocks Trump mail ballot executive order in ruling that's likely to be swiftly appealed  —  A federal judge on Thursday halted — at least for now — attempts to implement President Donald Trump's executive order limiting mail voting.  —  The move stalled the directive for a second …

Trump directs federal government to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America  —  President Trump is escalating his ongoing dispute with Canada over tariffs with a new executive order renaming Lake Ontario, which sits between New York and Canada, to Lake America.  —  The order, which Trump signed Thursday …

Wyoming Governor Objects to ‘Very Odd’ D.O.J. Election Monitoring  —  Governor Mark Gordon, a Republican, said he was concerned by the behavior of election observers who visited a polling station in Cheyenne.  —  Two election monitors from the Justice Department tried to interview voters …

Trump Plans to Mark 9/11 at the Pentagon, Not Ground Zero  —  President Trump originally intended to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 with remarks at ground zero, but the memorial's organizers do not allow speeches.  Mr. Trump changed his plans.

Autopsy shows Tennessee National Guard fatally shot 20-year-old armed man in the back  —  Tennessee National Guard members assigned to a federal anti-crime task force in Memphis fatally shot an armed 20-year-old man in the back, according to an autopsy report obtained Thursday by The Associated Press …

Gas Prices Are High.  Trump's Supporters Are Feeling The Most Pain.  —  Gas at the pump costs 40% more than it did before the Iran war began in February, according to the Energy Information Administration.  And whether you're a die-hard Democrat or red-blooded Republican or somewhere in between …

Trump Administration's Blacklisting of Anthropic Was Illegal, Judge Rules  —  The government retaliated against the A.I. start-up “for constitutionally protected expressive activities,” a federal judge in California wrote.  —  The Trump administration acted illegally when it labeled …

Judge Says Trump's Name Should Stay Off Kennedy Center for Now  —  After the court forced the removal of the president's name from the building's title, the center devised a plan to add an inscription honoring President Trump.  —  An effort to inscribe President Trump's name …

White House Construction May Have Contributed to Close Call With Trump's Helicopter  —  A controller let a jet take off after missing warnings that Marine One was about to fly through the area, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.  —  Construction at the White House …

White South Africans could get $4,500 in aid if they come to U.S. as refugees  —  The assistance, which helps pay for basic needs such as housing and food, would nearly double under a new policy.  —  White South Africans who come to the United States as refugees could get up to $4,500 per person …

Corporate America Cut Big Checks to Trump.  Now CEOs Fear Subpoenas Are Coming.  —  Tech firms are courting Democrats and hiring advisers to prepare for potential investigations if Republicans lose control of the House  —  Some U.S. companies with close ties to President Trump are taking steps …

Senator calls for criminal investigation of RFK Jr after Guardian report  —  Newly obtained records indicate health secretary lied about Samoa trip during Senate confirmation hearings last year  —  A senior Democratic senator is calling for a criminal investigation into the US health secretary …

Trump Is Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer  —  For more than a year, the National Park Service has been quietly working to fulfill an unprecedented directive from Trump officials: Parcel off a corner of Yosemite National Park to give to a private developer.

Listen to 911 Calls From Inside an Immigration Detention Center: “We Just Need to Take Him to the Hospital”  —  Reporters don't have access to Camp East Montana, one of the largest immigration detention centers in the country.  Emergency calls from the Texas facility offer a glimpse …

Canada Hires 48 Scholars Away From Top U.S. Universities  —  A crackdown on American academia by the Trump administration has handed Canadian universities a rare opportunity to lure some top researchers north.  —  Twenty-one universities in Canada announced on Thursday the hiring of dozens …

In Trump's Washington, Ballooning National Debt Stirs Little Action  —  The relative indifference to the news that the U.S. government now owes $40 trillion demonstrates how drastically the politics of deficit spending has changed.  —  It used to be that a new report of budgetary red ink …

Spencer Cox's Crusade … On august 9, 2023, Utah's governor, Spencer Cox, found himself sitting across from Joe Biden in an armored presidential limousine as it idled in downtown Salt Lake City.  Working up the nerve to pitch a far-fetched idea, he cleared his throat.

Trump's Cabinet is fanning out to help juice the base.  It's not going as planned. … President Donald Trump is fanning out his Cabinet across the country to sell his accomplishments and shore up key constituencies ahead of the midterms.  —  It isn't quite working out that way.

Election Deniers Could Soon Control Elections in Three Swing States  —  Candidates with a history of denying the 2020 election results are on the ballot in states across the country this fall, running for the position of secretary of state.  If they win, they would be uniquely positioned to exert control over their states' elections.

How Democrats in Congress are preparing for Trump midterm election interference  —  Congressional Democrats are preparing for a new kind of midterm challenge: the risk that President Trump will attempt to undermine November's elections by claiming fraud or interfering in the voting process.