Axios

A Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland was arrested Friday for making a false report about child trafficking, the Harford County Sheriff's office said in a press release.

Driving the news: Ryan Dark White, who is running for Senate under the name Jon McGreevey, told police officers in April that a man at an adult bookstore in Edgewood, Maryland, was forcing a young girl to perform sexual acts on male customers. An investigation found that the report was false, police said.

The House select committee's Jan. 6 hearings are cementing the views of some voters who once backed former President Trump and now believe he should face criminal prosecution, according to our latest Axios Engagious/Schlesinger focus groups.

Driving the news: 10 of 14 Wisconsin swing voters last week said Trump should be prosecuted for trying to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the attack on the Capitol; 10 of 13 Arizona swing voters in panels last month said the same.

A leading anti-abortion rights group is urging Republicans in Congress to stay away from phrases like "nationwide ban" and make clear they won't criminalize pregnant people's own actions.

Driving the news: A memo from SBA Pro-Life America sent to GOP lawmakers last week includes talking points on how to answer "hostile" abortion questions and a plea not to cede the issue to state lawmakers.

Democrat Tim Ryan is using his big fundraising advantage over Republican J.D. Vance in Ohio's Senate race to define himself as conservative-friendly through TV ads targeting GOP audiences — while Vance's campaign remains silent.

Driving the news: Ryan’s latest ad, airing exclusively on Fox News last week, shows him winning warm reviews from the conservative network’s hosts — including Tucker Carlson. 

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said at a conservative education summit Saturday that she believes the Department of Education should be abolished, according to the Florida Phoenix.

Driving the news: DeVos' rejection of the department she once led was well-received at the Moms for Liberty summit, which provided training on how to develop conservative majorities on local school boards, the Phoenix reported.

Nearly 400 law enforcement officers arrived on the scene to respond to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the vast majority of whom were federal and state officers, according to a new investigative report released Sunday by a Texas House of Representatives committee.

Why it matters: Local and state law enforcement officials in Texas have faced fierce criticism over the past two months as to why it took so long for officers to confront the shooter.

The Jan. 6 committee expects to receive the Secret Service's deleted text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, by Tuesday, panel member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said Sunday.

The big picture: The committee subpoenaed the Secret Service for information on Friday after an agency watchdog notified the Senate and House Homeland Security committees that text messages from Jan. 5 and 6 had been deleted.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson said at a conference on Friday that he doesn't "really care one way or the other" what Russian President Vladimir Putin does in Ukraine.

The big picture: Carlson's appearance as the keynote speaker at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa has sparked rumors of a potential 2024 presidential run.

Federal prosecutors are asking that Jan. 6 rioter Guy Reffitt, who was the first Jan. 6 defendant to go to trial earlier this year, receive a 15-year prison sentence, according to a court filing on Friday.

Why it matters: If accepted by the presiding judge, Reffitt's sentence would be the longest given to a Capitol rioter so far.

President Biden chided reporters late Saturday for asking about his fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday, which has garnered widespread backlash.

Driving the news: U.S. intelligence concluded MBS was responsible for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 — an allegation Saudi Arabia denies.

Democrats continued to voice their opposition on Sunday to Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) apparent decision last week to close the door on a climate and energy package.

Why it matters: The failure to produce a package expanding clean energy and electric vehicle investments will make it more difficult for the U.S. to meet its climate change targets.

Nearly half of Americans think the Supreme Court holds too much power, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll indicates.

The big picture: Confidence in the high court has hit historic lows since it overturned Roe v. Wade in late June.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Saturday became the latest Republican to voice opposition to the Supreme Court's ruling to legalize gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges, saying on an episode of his podcast "The Cloakroom" with conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler that the ruling was "clearly wrong."

Why it matters: The Supreme Court's recent ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade has prompted many Democrats and activists to warn that other legal precedents such as contraception and gay marriage could be next to be overturned.