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Legal

Louisiana is set to make possessing abortion pills without a prescription punishable by up to 10 years in prison

By Megan Messerly

California

Biden helps California move closer to cannabis cafes

By Alex Nieves

Why progressive DAs are losing their grip on the West Coast

From Portland to Los Angeles, top prosecutors in deep-blue regions are being challenged over their criminal justice policies.

By Dustin Gardiner and Jeremy B. White

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (center) speaks.

Congress

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Visit Magazine

Scarlett Johansson attends the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

High Tech

Sam Altman’s Scarlett Johansson Blunder Just Made AI a Harder Sell in DC

The latest scandal over seemingly appropriating a movie star’s voice will only inflame tensions between Washington and Silicon Valley.

By Derek Robertson

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attends a meeting.

Washington And The World

What the Death of Iran's President Really Means

The fatal helicopter crash will accelerate a transition already underway to a faction that is eager to complete the country’s nuclear weapons program.

By Ray Takeyh and Suzanne Maloney

Ambassador Meg Whitman and President William Ruto speak onstage.

Column | Compass

Meg Whitman’s Trying to Be A Different Kind of US Ambassador. Washington Is Noticing.

Meg Whitman is determined to be the ambassador who makes good on U.S. rhetoric that it is prioritizing business in Africa.

By Nahal Toosi

Column | On Politics

Democrats Beware: A Progressive DA Fights for His Job — in Hipster Portland

The backlash against criminal justice reform is real, and Joe Biden needs to take note.

By Jonathan Martin

Here's what Ramit Sethi would advise Biden on housing

Q&A

A Finance Guru on What the Inflation Debate Gets Wrong

The bestselling author and Netflix star Ramit Sethi sees a major opportunity for the Biden campaign to change the conversation about the cost of living.

By Alexander Burns

White House

Opinion | Time to Close the Hatch Act’s Escape Hatch

The head of the Office of Special Counsel announces an enforcement update for White House officials.

Opinion by Hampton Dellinger

Jim Woodward on his property in Sagle, Idaho on April 2, 2024. Woodward is running against opponent Scott Herndon for both Senate and for Precinct.

Letter from Idaho

North Idaho Has Drifted to the Extreme Right. One Republican Thinks It’s Hit Its Limit.

One candidate is testing the power of a moderate coalition to stand up to extremism in a region that has been powerless to its advance.

By Cassidy Randall

GEOPOLITICS OF 2024

The Coming War Between DC and Silicon Valley

A political fight is brewing over who’ll benefit most from the AI revolution — and what if anything Washington should do to shape the outcome.

By Matthew Kaminski

Demonstrators build a barricade to close an entrance of the Parliament building during an opposition protest.

LETTER FROM GEORGIA

‘They Say They Will Wait for Me There to Beat Me Up’: A Week of Attacks Rocks Georgia

Vicious crackdowns have taken the small country’s democracy to the brink.

By Paul Salopek

An illustration featuring grayscale photos of Hannah Arendt, Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler

Q&A

‘A Truer Reality Beyond Reality’: Hannah Arendt's Warning About How Totalitarianism Takes Root

A Q&A with a leading Arendt scholar adapts the philosopher’s ideas to today’s politics.

By Joanna Weiss

Then President Donald Trump, left, and then Democratic nominee Joe Biden speak during the debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn

Q&A

‘Political Malpractice’: The Debate Commission Chief Thinks Trump Blew It

Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. lets loose on the potentially mortal wound to the Commission on Presidential Debates, and why Biden got the better of Trump.

By Ryan Lizza

Joe Biden sits at a table and signs a document while people around him watch.

Column | Capital Letter

Trade War: What Is It Good For?

Biden is playing with Trump’s deck of cards on trade. But tariffs aren’t a solution to everything.

By Victoria Guida

INTERACTIVES

Photo illustration of Joe Biden signing a bill (center) paired with photos surrounding him of (left to right): A broadband tower outside the Comporium, Inc. building in Brevard, NC, ; Biden walking with workers in Chandler, Arizona, at the Intel Ocotillo Campus; The Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Biden speaking to a roomful of people at the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Biden’s biggest challenge: How do you even spend $1.6 trillion?

Tracking the Trump criminal cases

CARTOON CAROUSEL

The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics

By POLITICO Staff

TRUMP HUSH MONEY TRIAL

Walt Nauta (center) valet to former president Donald Trump, his attorney Stanley Woodward (rear) and Carlos De Oliveira, foreground, the property manager of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, leave the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse.

‘Garbage argument’: Hearing in Trump’s classified docs case gets heated

Judge Aileen Cannon did not rule on a bid by one of Trump’s co-defendants to dismiss the charges.

By Kimberly Leonard

Donald Trump sits in a courtroom next to his Todd Blanche.

New York trial winds down — without Trump's testimony

By Natalie Allison

Donald Trump, left, speaks alongside his attorney Todd Blanche, right.

Despite gag order, Trump again assails one of his prosecutors

By Erica Orden

Attorney Robert Costello talks to reporters.

Costello testifies that Cohen told him 'Trump knew nothing about' the Daniels payment

By Erica Orden

CONGRESS

Dozens of House Democrats join most Republicans in passing sweeping crypto bill

Supporters of the measure included notable Democratic figures like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

By Anthony Adragna and Eleanor Mueller

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) speaks with reporters.

Scott’s aim to succeed McConnell disrupts GOP leadership race

By Burgess Everett

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol.

Congressional Dems confront broken trust on border as Biden prepares to act alone

By Daniella Diaz, Ursula Perano, Nicholas Wu and Myah Ward

House GOP to grill college leaders for negotiating with protesters

By Bianca Quilantan

2024 ELECTIONS

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks at a press conference.

Gov. Wes Moore stakes his reputation on the high-profile Senate race

The rising Democratic star is testing the limits of his own coattails in the state.

By Brakkton Booker

Biden and Trump campaigns call each other ‘racist’ as they seek to court Black voters

By Brakkton Booker

Biden hits Trump over ‘unified Reich’ video but stays silent on trial

By Lisa Kashinsky and Jonathan Lemire

Susheela Jayapal participates in a debate held at the Hilton hotel in downtown Portland.

Progressives flop in Oregon: 5 takeaways from Tuesday's primaries

By Madison Fernandez and Ally Mutnick

LEGAL

Bob Menendez arrives at Manhattan federal court holding notebooks.

A constitutional fight is brewing in Menendez’s corruption trial

The “speech or debate” privilege could shield “critical” records in prosecutors’ case against the New Jersey senator.

By Ry Rivard

Supreme Court rejects claim that South Carolina’s congressional map was racially gerrymandered

By Josh Gerstein and Zach Montellaro

Boxes of records are seen stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

Lawyers found classified docs in Trump’s bedroom 4 months after Mar-a-Lago search

By Kyle Cheney

Wael Hana, right, leaves a courthouse in New York.

USDA official explains early worries about meat monopoly in Menendez case

By Ry Rivard

WHITE HOUSE

Schumer touts diversity of Biden's 200 federal judge appointments

The White House is in a race against the clock to confirm more judges than Trump

With major legislation likely behind it, the White House wants to finalize its imprint on the judiciary.

By Jennifer Haberkorn

President Biden speaks with supporters during a campaign stop in Detroit on Sunday.

Biden’s grassroots fundraising has yet to take off

By Eli Stokols and Lauren Egan

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. (center) speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (right) and Pentagon Press Secretary Gen. Pat Ryder, in background at left.

Biden admin openly hammering Israel’s military strategy in Gaza

By Alexander Ward, Erin Banco and Lara Seligman

President Joe Biden speaks at Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, Wisconsin.

Biden’s legacy long game: Rain regulations — now

By Marcia Brown

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Members of the Kenya Defence Forces clap and sing as they prepare to deploy.

Kenya to get major non-NATO ally status during president’s US state visit

The mostly symbolic move comes right before Kenya is expected to send 1,000 police officers to quell gang violence in Haiti.

By Alexander Ward

A boy waves a Palestinian flag as demonstrators march during a protest in support of Palestinians and calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Inside the European attempt to reassure Biden before Palestinian statehood decision

By Matt Berg, Shawn Pogatchnik and Nahal Toosi

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 18: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions on October 18, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

UK election: Why Rishi Sunak pulled the trigger

By Rosa Prince

Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a debate.

The front-runners for the next European Commission

By POLITICO Staff

STATES

Students and staff members are seen in the hallway at a New Home Independent School District facility in Texas.

What’s breaking up the Texas Republican party? School vouchers

Out-of-state donors are funneling millions of dollars into state legislative races to defeat Republicans who opposed the governor’s top education priority.

By Liz Crampton and Andrew Atterbury