Top Items:
Politico:
Republicans wanted Jack Smith to give them a smoking gun. They got a gaffe instead. — It started with a pledge to expose a Biden-era conspiracy to take down President Donald Trump. It ended with a botched attack over basketball tickets. — Armed with subpoena power in Congress …
Discussion:
The Bulwark, MS NOW, CBS News, The Parnas Perspective, Mediaite, Roll Call, abc7NY, Deseret News and The Independent
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NBC News:
GOP senator airballs perjury claim against Jack Smith over apparent Hawks/Hawkeyes mix-up — The Missouri senator's shot at a gotcha moment against the former special counsel wound up being a very public miss. … His slam dunk was a brick. — Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. …
Discussion:
CNN, Civil Discourse …, New York Post and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Jack Crosbie / Rolling Stone:
MAGA Media Is Trying to Spin Senator's Brutal Gaffe Into a Win — Eric Schmitt humiliated himself while trying to corner Jack Smith during a Senate hearing. The right is running cover for him — ADD US AS A GOOGLE PREFERRED SOURCE — MAGA firebrand Eric Schmitt came after Jack Smith during …
Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:
New Evidence Shows Just How Badly One Republican Senator Beclowned Himself in the Jack Smith Hearing — TPM has found fairly definitive evidence proving Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) misread text messages when he attempted to corner former special counsel Jack Smith during a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Letters from an American, Mediaite, Rumble and The Hill
Jeremy Roebuck / Washington Post:
Senator's basketball mix-up derails ‘gotcha’ moment at Jack Smith hearing
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, TMZ.com, Esquire, PBS NewsHour, The Hill, CBS News and Mediaite
Wall Street Journal:
Homeland Security Money Financed Pro-Trump Television Ads — White House calls the spots public-service ads, but critics argue using taxpayer money for campaign-like messaging may violate federal law — WASHINGTON—The Trump administration used federal funds from the Department …
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Associated Press:
Homeland Security taps $20M in taxpayer funds for pro-Trump ads — The Department of Homeland Security has tapped $20 million to pay for the campaign-style ads glorifying President Donald Trump that have drawn widespread criticism from Republicans and Democrats as a blatant misuse …
Discussion:
Roll Call, The Independent, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Politico, The Daily Beast and HuffPost
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
Scoop: Trump's hand-picked, taxpayer-funded ads about to ramp up
Discussion:
The Contrarian, Vox, The Independent, ABC News, Associated Press, CNN and Politico
Jordain Carney / Politico:
Lummis blocks resolution denouncing Trump's ‘public service announcements’
Lummis blocks resolution denouncing Trump's ‘public service announcements’
Discussion:
Washington Post
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court allows Trump's ‘third country’ deportation policy — This is the second time the court has rejected lower court rulings that immigrants must be able to object before being sent to countries to which they have no previous connection. — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday …
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Abbie VanSickle / New York Times:
Supreme Court Allows Rapid Third-Country Deportations, for Now — The court also announced it would hear arguments in December on the legality of the Trump administration policy to swiftly deport immigrants to countries not their own. — The Trump administration can resume rapidly deporting immigrants …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, HotAir and The Guardian
Lindsay Whitehurst / Associated Press:
Supreme Court lets quick deportations to third countries resume for now while it weighs Trump policy
Supreme Court lets quick deportations to third countries resume for now while it weighs Trump policy
Discussion:
Axios, CNN, twitchy.com, Reuters, Roll Call, The Daily Caller, JURISTnews, The Japan Times, abc7NY, Talking Points Memo, SCOTUSblog, Bloomberg, New Republic, The Hill, The Washington Sun, MS NOW, Courthouse News Service, The San Joaquin Valley Sun, Politico, The Intercept, The Daily Wire and Law.com
Chris Dolmetsch / Bloomberg:
NYC Pied-a-Terre Tax Rollout Blocked Again by State Judge — New York's pied-a-terre tax rollout was blocked for a second time by a Staten Island judge who said the city improperly published property information and wrongly required homeowners to apply for exemptions.
Discussion:
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, VINnews, The City Reporter and City of New York
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Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
A.I. Is ‘Better Informed’ Than Doctors, Kennedy Tells Industry-Backed MAHA Summit — The health secretary, Vice President JD Vance and other top officials addressed a conference sponsored by corporations, including A.I. companies and others with business before the government.
Discussion:
The Washington Sun, The Hill, One America News Network, Washington Examiner, MS NOW, NewsMax.com and Politico, more at Techmeme »
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Ed Kilgore / New York Magazine:
Trump's Campaign Schedule Is a Really Bad Sign for Republicans — For much of the 2026 midterm-election cycle, Donald Trump has maintained that keeping the MAGA base energized would be the key for Republicans seeking to keep control of Congress. And he's been especially insistent that making …
Discussion:
New York Times, Daily Mail, The Hill, MS NOW, Daily Kos and Politico
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Joseph Gedeon / The Guardian:
US Senate blocks resolution demanding accountability over Israeli violence in West Bank — Nine American citizens have been killed by Israeli settlers or security forces in occupied West Bank since 2022 — The US Senate on Tuesday evening rejected along mostly party lines a Democratic resolution …
Discussion:
Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Daily Caller, The Intercept, The Hill, VINnews and Mediaite
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Tara Copp / Washington Post:
Hegseth to cut more generals, admirals in bid to remake military's top ranks — The defense secretary is expected to announce that the number of top officers will be reduced by as much as 20 percent, officials said. — SummaryLoading... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, ABC News, One America News Network, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and Stars & Stripes
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Molly Parks / Washington Examiner:
Grassley says Smith subpoenaed nearly 5,000 checks from Trump donors as part of Arctic Frost — Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says former special counsel Jack Smith obtained checks from at least 4,782 Americans as part of his “Arctic Frost” investigation …
RELATED:
The White House:
Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence — By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: — Section 1. Purpose. America stands at the forefront of a new technological revolution in intelligence.
Discussion:
Politico, Forbes, The Verge, RedState, The Information, Gizmodo, TechCrunch and MS NOW, more at Techmeme »
Daniel Miller / Politico:
Why Aaron Sorkin left Trump out of ‘The Social Reckoning’ — LOS ANGELES — Aaron Sorkin says “The Social Reckoning” “shouldn't” be a political film. — But he acknowledges that it is one, probing Facebook's role in the rise of extremism and division ahead of the 2020 presidential election …
Discussion:
Variety and Vanity Fair
Garrett Graff / Doomsday Scenario:
The Disgrace and Danger of Kash Patel, Part II — A quick check-in on the FBI director's latest raft of scandals (including, of course, the bestiality). … The swirl of scandal around Patel seemed like it would imminently end his career, but the Trump administration's depth and breadth …
Discussion:
MS NOW, SpyTalk, Wonkette, Mother Jones and CBS News
Aiden Reiter / Politico:
Financial regulator investigates Adam Kinzinger over Kalshi trading — A top federal financial regulator is investigating former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger — an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump — for prediction market trades he made tied to his pardon by former President Joe Biden …
New York Times:
OpenAI Ignored Employees Who Warned It Wasn't Doing Enough About Security — Employees and security researchers said that they had cautioned the company on safely testing its A.I. models and strengthening its corporate infrastructure, but that OpenAI did not listen.
Discussion:
GovExec.com and NextDraft, more at Techmeme »
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
The Forces of Trumpism Are in Disarray — This is what it looks like when a movement begins to come apart. — 1. Things Fall Apart — The last 72 hours have seen a remarkable series of fractures within the Republican party. Taken together they are signs that Donald Trump, his movement …
Zoe Tillman / Bloomberg:
Trump Loses Bid to Pause Judge's Sanctions in IRS Case Fight — A US appeals court has refused to halt a Florida federal judge's decision to penalize President Donald Trump and his lawyers for “bad faith” conduct in his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service while he appeals.
Discussion:
MeidasTouch, Reason, CNBC, The Washington Sun, Scripps News and NewsMax.com
Julianne McShane / MS NOW:
Kristi Noem files for divorce from Bryon Noem — Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has filed for divorce from her husband of over three decades, Bryon Noem, six months after a tabloid published photos that appeared to show him wearing women's clothing and fake breasts and reported …
Hugh Leask / CNBC:
Trump denies offering Iran sanctions relief; Qatar pushes for peace talks … U.S. President Donald Trump has denied reports that he had offered sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for concessions from Tehran on its nuclear program. — The president in a Truth Social post dismissed …
Discussion:
Reuters, The American Conservative, Mediaite and Al Jazeera
Britta Miller / Washington Examiner:
The View co-host's electioneering is a ‘blatant violation’: Joe Concha — Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha said ABC is “begging to have their license pulled” after The View co-host Ana Navarro encouraged Floridians to vote against Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL).
Discussion:
Townhall, Legal Insurrection, Breitbart, Fox News, twitchy.com, Mediaite, RedState, The Gateway Pundit and Newsbusters
Simon Shuster / The Atlantic:
Trump's Latest Appeal to Russia Could Outrage Even His Allies — Trump's envoy wants to trade Russian political prisoners for U.S. sanctions relief, creating a path to business deals before the war in Ukraine ends. — A few months ago, Donald Trump's envoy to Eastern Europe came …
Discussion:
Catholic World Report, MeidasTouch, Bloomberg, Semafor, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and The White House
Joe Perticone / The Bulwark:
An Evangelical Kingmaker Is Lost in the Age of Trump — Eat Pray Love Vote Stand — One of the major subplots in American politics over the past half-decade is evangelical Christians—the political constituency without which Trump would have never been elected president—becoming the dog that caught the car.
Discussion:
People For and CNN
Chris Cameron / New York Times:
Trump Launches Government Chatbot That Contradicts Some of His Claims — Democrats amplified statements from America.gov that frequently contradict the president on tariffs, election fraud and other topics. — A new A.I.-powered search tool that President Trump unveiled Tuesday to help Americans …
Josephine Walker / Axios:
Trump's shadow docket blitz hits a new milestone … - “Keep in mind that the shadow docket, the emergency docket, is used and should be used for actual emergencies,” he says. — “The administration continues to claim that they're going to face irreparable harm, and that this is an appropriate emergency …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com, PinkNews, American Greatness and Balls and Strikes
Victoria Bekiempis / The Guardian:
Trump agrees to end court fight against $5m verdict in E Jean Carroll case — The verdict stems from Carroll's 2023 sexual abuse and defamation civil trial against Trump — Donald Trump has agreed to stop fighting in court the disbursement of E Jean Carroll's $5m verdict in her 2023 sexual abuse …
Brett Meiselas / MeidasTouch:
MAGA Speaker Johnson Calls Trump Family Investigations a ‘Nightmare’ Ahead of Midterms — With control of Congress at stake in November, Johnson warned that Democratic committees would investigate Trump, his family, cabinet officials and major donors—and claimed that accountability would threaten the markets.
Discussion:
Daily Kos

