Trump Directed Use of Taxpayer Money for Ads Praising His Presidency  —  The government-funded ads show just how much President Trump has been able to use federal money for his own aims.  —  President Trump personally instructed his budget director to use taxpayer money for TV ads praising …

Top GOP group pauses Senate spending in N.C., goes up in Kansas  —  Senate Republicans' top super PAC is making a tactical change, pausing its ad campaign in North Carolina's Senate race and launching a new one in Kansas.  —  Senate Leadership Fund is plowing seven figures into Kansas …

Justice Alito confirms he is considering retirement  —  Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has confirmed that he is considering retirement, leaving open the possibility that he could leave after next year's term and hand another nomination to President Donald Trump.

Agency Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress  —  The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation's primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.  —  The National Science Foundation …

Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing  —  Rufo often gets treated as a “respectable” conservative.  His latest podcast episode — framing Indian-Americans as a problem in need of solving — is more evidence that he shouldn't be.

‘Blackmail’: Europe fumes against White House demand for more diesel  —  The Trump administration's full-court pressure campaign on Europe to release diesel supplies or face a U.S. export ban heading into the winter has split and angered European leaders, entangled oil companies and raised private charges of “blackmail.”

FlyDubai Attacker Had Been Banned From Flying by Oman for Radical Views  —  The U.A.E. airline later hired the co-pilot who stabbed the captain of Flight 1073 and nearly crashed the plane  —  The FlyDubai co-pilot who stabbed his captain and sent Flight 1073 diving toward the ground …

Trump says ‘Cornell Seven’ won't get a fair shake under Letitia James  —  President Donald Trump denounced New York Attorney General Letitia James's ability to serve as special prosecutor for the reopened case surrounding gang rape allegations at Cornell University on Friday.

DOJ Not Reopening Criminal Probe Into Powell, Blanche Says  —  The US Justice Department isn't reopening a criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for cost overruns related to the central bank's building renovation project.  —  Attorney General Todd Blanche …

Scoop: Trump's top national security aides meet secretly at Camp David on Iran, Yemen  —  President Trump's top cabinet members huddled for hours at Camp David on Friday to discuss next steps in the Iran war and the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen, three U.S. officials told Axios.

With Christa Pike Unconscious, Another Execution Attempt Is in Doubt  —  Her condition raises questions about whether Tennessee could attempt to execute her again if she is incapable of understanding what is happening.  —  Christa Pike was unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator …

Georgia board asks Trump administration to investigate voting machines … The State Election Board's Executive Director James Mills has asked the Trump administration to examine Georgia's voting machines that are deployed statewide and prohibit QR-code vote counting, according to letters obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database  —  DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.  —  An explosive and newly partially …

Mayor Mamdani holds hands with onetime rival Curtis Sliwa to get flu shot in Fort Greene  —  Mayor Mamdani held hands with Curtis Sliwa as they received flu shots.  —  FORT GREENE, Brooklyn (WABC) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani held hands with his one-time political rival, Curtis Sliwa …

Senior House Republican says Trump's ‘lack of favorability’ creating ‘tough’ politics  —  House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson sued for defamation over ICE ride-along videos calling protesters ‘terrorists’  —  Johnson accompanied top DHS officials last year to an ICE protest, where he pointed out “left-wing terrorists” for his millions of followers across social media.

Musk-led war commission triggers alarms in Pentagon  —  Pentagon officials warn that Pete Hegseth's plan for a pair of billionaire defense contractors to help steer the military's future will produce conflicts of interest that threaten the long-term integrity of the department.

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras  —  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Kash Patel commissions classified, internal FBI report to examine department ‘failures’  —  FBI Director Kash Patel has commissioned a classified report examining purported past FBI shortcomings, in what current and former bureau officials see as the Trump administration's latest effort to rewrite history in the president's favor.

Judge says federal law banning noncitizen voting is unconstitutional  —  In a possible blow to the Trump administration's efforts to charge noncitizens with voting in U.S. elections, a judge has dismissed a federal case against a Jamaican national accused of illegally voting, finding the law she was charged under is unconstitutional.

F.D.A. Found Cyclospora During Taylor Farms Inspection in Mexico  —  The discovery adds strong evidence that the outbreak that sickened thousands over the summer originated in the company's fields or processing facility in northeastern Mexico.  —  The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday …

Trump revisits the scene of his political ascent as Republicans struggle  —  A month before the midterms, the president is returning to Alabama and other places where his movement remains strongest.  —  SummaryLoading...  MOBILE, Ala. — Eleven years ago, Donald Trump arrived in Mobile in his Boeing 757 …

Judge Slows Border Wall Construction in Big Bend Sector  —  The order prevents the Trump administration from waiving environmental protections that would allow it to quickly build across a national and state park.  — Copy  —  A judge on Friday slowed the Trump administration's plans …

Judge Throws Out Another Confession in Sept. 11 Case  —  Prosecutors have long considered the defendants' admissions during interrogations in 2007 to be their best evidence.  —  In a new setback to prosecutors in the Sept. 11 case, a military judge on Friday excluded the confessions …

Senate crushes House on congressional work days  —  The Senate is well on its way to claiming the congressional attendance trophy this year, spending 32 more weekdays in session so far than the House. … - The Senate left town late Wednesday — two weeks after its House counterparts …

Trump threatens to double tariffs on South Korea if they do not pay for Alaska natural gas pipeline - US politics live  —  President has claimed pipeline project was part of a deal made last year to lower tariffs on imports from South Korea in return for billions of dollars of investments in the US

The AI deepfake election is starting to get litigious  —  Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) was hit with a cease-and-desist letter this week over an AI deepfake he posted falsely depicting his Democratic opponent voicing positions her campaign says she rejects.

CBS News poll finds voters split on state v. national focus in tied Maine Senate race  —  Anyone who's walked its rugged coast or skied in its mountains knows Maine can get windy.  —  But right now Maine's Senate race seems a bit insulated from the national political winds …