The Source Behind The Ban … On Tuesday, after Donald Trump banned POLITICO from the White House alongside CNN and MS NOW, the White House press office dispatched a letter to the Rosslyn-based news organization attempting to justify the president's actions.

Trump courts Xi with pomp as China seeks greater global influence  —  The Chinese leader is expected to press Washington on Taiwan, while Trump wants help on manufacturing and restraint on Iran.  —  Summary  —  Chinese President Xi Jinping was expected to push President Donald Trump …

Mary Peltola's Campaign in Alaska Senate Race Is Rocked by Tumult, With Angry Outbursts and Slurs  —  Democrats hope that Mary Peltola can flip a Republican Senate seat in Alaska.  Former aides describe a campaign and congressional office marked by chaos.  —  National Democrats cheered …

Senate Republicans have 1 more chance to oppose the Iran war before the midterms  —  Republicans appear increasingly anxious that the economic fallout from the Iran war could cost them their House and Senate majorities.  They have one more chance to stage a symbolic jailbreak …

Dems are being outspent across House and Senate races.  They disagree over where to put the money they have. … Democrats are begging for more money ahead of November.  But they're torn over what to do with the limited funds they already have.  —  After months of downplaying their financial concerns …

Kyrsten Sinema's ex-bodyguard accused of causing $200K in damage at her Cave Creek home  —  Matthew Ammel allegedly threw artwork into pool  —  CAVE CREEK, AZ (AZFamily) — The former bodyguard accused of having an affair with former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is facing felony charges …

Democrats Show Strength in Michigan Senate Race but Trail in Maine, Polls Find  —  The party's nominees lead in Michigan and New Hampshire but the Republican incumbent is ahead in Maine, according to New York Times/Siena polls of the three battlegrounds.  —  Democrats appear …

Trump Aides Seek to Jump-Start Diplomacy With Iran as Crisis Widens  —  Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that U.S. negotiators had restarted conversations about Iran's nuclear program, but that there were no breakthroughs.  —  Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that U.S. negotiators …

Eight sailors assigned to US carrier group that fought in Iran war attempted suicide, Navy secretary tells Congress  —  EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains discussion of suicide.  Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters.

MAGA candidate fumes after his relative deported: 'That's not right'  —  A Republican running for the Maine's open 2nd Congressional District seat expressed outrage that a member of his family is facing deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Texas counties are receiving tens of thousands of unprocessed voter registration applications due to state error  —  Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Texas' free newsletter here.

OpenAI's A.I. Tried Breaching 4 Other Targets, Without Prompting  —  In each incident, the technology appeared to be conducting mundane data collection and resorted to hacking techniques to get it, researchers said.  —  OpenAI's artificial intelligence went rogue this year …

Susan Collins Dismissed Our Reporting as Old News.  Some of Her Claims Aren't True.  —  As the scandal over Susan Collins' relationship with Hawaii defense contractor Navatek became the central issue in her hotly contested senate campaign, she and her top aides mustered a defense with a series of incorrect and misleading claims.

Donald the Deadbeat Does Diesel  —  Trump gets ready to stiff more contractors  —  There's a strong whiff of desperation coming off the Republican Party these days, and it smells a lot like diesel fumes.  All indications are that the G.O.P. is headed for a huge defeat in the midterms …

'Don't owe the old guys anything': Backlash builds to GOP chairs clinging to power  —  House Republicans for decades have prided themselves on their strict three-term limit for committee leaders, saying it promotes fresh blood in the party ranks.  —  But that limit has grown less strict in recent years …

You should be skeptical of JD Vance's claims about Obamacare fraud  —  A government task force led by Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday that it will remove 760,000 allegedly improper enrollments from the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces.  The move is the latest in the administration's efforts …

Sen. Tommy Tuberville claims ‘many’ airline pilots, air traffic controllers are ‘part of the furry community’  —  Fly the furry skies.  —  Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville claimed the airline industry is full of members of the “furry” subculture in a bizarre speech from the Senate floor connecting transgenderism to mental illness.

Capitol agenda: Democrats fracture over college sports  —  An ugly fight is brewing among Democrats about an unlikely issue: college sports regulation.  Senate passage of a White House-endorsed bill to overhaul college athletic rules could happen as soon as Thursday.

No president has gone into a midterm election this unpopular.  Not even George W. Bush in 2006.  —  Democrats hit new midterm high as Trump's approval rating reaches a new low  —  Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump stood in front of a crowd of supporters at a first-of-its-kind midterms convention …