President Biden has notched major victories this week — both at home and abroad — that could shape his legacy and re-election hopes far beyond the partisan squabbles consuming Washington on a daily basis.

Why it matters: While his potential Republican rivals duke it out in Iowa — including former President Trump going to war with the state's popular GOP governor — Biden is harnessing the power of incumbency.

Driving the news: June's Consumer Price Index shows inflation has dramatically plunged from its peak, suggesting the end of a crisis that dragged down Biden's approval rating and gave Republicans political ammunition for nearly two years.

• The report also showed wage growth was outpacing inflation for the first time since March 2021, meaning Americans may actually start to notice rising purchasing power.
• That kind of shift in perception could do wonders for Biden's political fortunes, given the persistent disconnect between experts' views on the economy and negative sentiment expressed by American voters.

What they're saying: "Good jobs and lower costs: That’s Bidenomics in action," Biden said in a statement today, taking a victory lap two weeks after the administration launched its newly branded economic pitch.

• Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, said in a speech in New York today that the U.S. has the both lowest inflation rate and the strongest pandemic recovery among all G7 nations.
• "The economy is defying predictions that inflation would not fall absent significant job destruction," Brainard declared.

The big picture: At the NATO summit in Lithuania, Biden booked two other wins: Paving the way for Sweden to join the alliance and finding a consensus on new security guarantees for Ukraine.

• Turkey shocked the world by lifting its veto on Sweden's membership, a signature moment in Biden's pledge to strengthen NATO and a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's apparent fury at NATO's refusal to endorse a membership timeline abated today when Biden unveiled a long-term security framework for Ukraine backed by the G7.

Zelensky effusively praised Biden after their meeting, while the president told reporters that the NATO summit had "accomplished every goal" as he departed Vilnius for the final stop of his trip: Helsinki.

Reality check: Biden, now in Finland, can enjoy a long summer's night. But back home, his approval rating remains near the lowest of his presidency — with no shortage of negative scrutiny to sully an otherwise exceptional week.

• A bipartisan push has emerged in Congress to block Biden's plan to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, citing humanitarian concerns about a weapon that more than 120 countries have banned.
• The New York Times' Maureen Dowd skewered Biden in a widely read column about his refusal to acknowledge his seventh grandchild, after Hunter Biden settled a child support case last month that began as a paternity dispute.

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No Labels, the bipartisan group plotting an independent presidential campaign, is claiming that a new poll — commissioned by Democratic and Republican strategists determined to stop them — actually bolsters their case, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.

Why it matters: No Labels' response to the survey — which shows a moderate third-party candidate at roughly 20% in a three-way race with Biden and Trump — is another indication that the deep-pocketed group isn’t going away.

• "Their poll validates our strategy and what we’ve been saying all along — there’s an unprecedented opening for the independent ticket, a lot of room to grow and a viable path to victory," Dritan Nesho, chief pollster at No Labels, told Axios.

Driving the news: No Labels is giving every indication that their leaders are dead-set on launching a third-party campaign, with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) scheduled to headline a No Labels town hall in New Hampshire on July 17.

• Alarmed — a collection of former Republican and Democratic lawmakers and top party strategists — are forming a new group, led by former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, to stop them.
• But first the strategists wanted their own data and commissioned a poll that included 2,200 likely national voters and then 500 voters in seven swing states.

What they're saying: "When the poll came back, it confirmed our worst fears," said Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic strategist.

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FBI Director Christopher Wray went toe-to-toe with his fiercest critics in Congress today, testifying before a Republican-led House Judiciary Committee that has accused his agency of weaponizing law enforcement.

Why it matters: Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) yesterday unveiled a detailed roadmap for using the budget to target federal law enforcement policies reviled by conservatives.

Highlights:

• On alleged "weaponization": "The idea that I'm biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background," Wray, a registered Republican appointed by Trump, told the committee.
• On the Hunter Biden probe: Wray refused to comment on the ongoing investigation but pushed back on assertions by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) that he was "suspiciously uncurious" about alleged wrongdoing by the Bidens: "The FBI has no interest in protecting anyone politically," he said.
• On Trump's indictment: Wray again declined to speak in detail about the investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents but offered a veiled criticism: "In my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms and bedrooms are not SCIFs," he said, in reference to sensitive compartmented information facilities.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he has no interest in being Trump's running mate, telling the Wisconsin Right Now podcast that he's "not a No. 2 guy" and could accomplish more by remaining governor.

• Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung responded by shooting down the notion the former president would ever pick his former ally as a VP.
• "Ron DeSantis isn’t anybody’s guy. He’s not ‘the guy.’ He’s just ‘a guy,’" Cheung said in a blistering statement. “Ron is just there, sullen and sad, because his numbers are as tiny as him.”

Meanwhile: Rupert Murdoch's media empire appears to be souring on DeSantis as a Trump alternative, with the 92-year-old billionaire privately suggesting he would like to see Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin join the race, the New York Times reports.