Special counsel David Weiss charged an FBI confidential source with felony false statement and obstruction crimes for providing allegedly false information about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
The big picture: Alexander Smirnov, 43, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Central District of California after beingarrested at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, according to a DOJ statement.
President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday held their second call this week, as concerns mounted globally over the lack of major progress in the hostage talks and the possibility of an Israeli ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Why it matters: Biden has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu and Israel's actions during the war. The U.S. president last week called the Israeli military operation Gaza "over the top."
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began testifying at a hearing Thursday that could determine whether she is disqualified from leading Georgia's 2020 election interference case against former President Trump.
The big picture: The hearing centers on allegations of an improper relationship between Willis and a special prosecutor she hired for the sweeping racketeering case against Trump and his co-defendants.
A new Apple TV+ special gives a background to Franklin Armstrong, the first Black character in the long-running cartoon strip "Peanuts."
The big story: "Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin," debuting on Apple TV+ on Friday, follows Franklin Armstrong as he moves into the neighborhood of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
Russia is pursuing a "troubling" anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) that has not been deployed into space and cannot cause "physical destruction" on Earth, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.
Why it matters: Kirby was responding to a cryptic alert sent out on Wednesday by House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, who described the weapon as a "serious national security threat."
Rep. James Clyburn's (D-S.C.) decision to step down as assistant House Democratic leader has set off a game of musical chairs for Democratic leadership roles.
Why it matters: The 83-year-old's exit presents what could be the last vacancy in a top Democratic leadership position in the coming years.
The big picture: Trump, the GOP presidential frontrunner, has used the four criminal cases where he faces charges to rally voters as he campaigns for another term.
Donald Trump's social media company, Truth Social, has received U.S. regulatory approval to go public by merging with a blank check company called Digital World Acquisition Corp.
The big picture: This is a giant step forward for the beleaguered deal, but comes one day after a giant step backward.
The big picture: The shooting left one person dead and at least 22 people injured, officials said Thursday at a press conference. Four people, including two minors, have been charged.
Officials said Thursday that there was "no nexus to terrorism" in the mass shooting on Wednesday near the Kansas City Super Bowl parade based on preliminary findings.
The big picture: Authorities responded yesterday to the shooting that had occurred just after the parade ended. The shooting left one person dead and at least 22 people injured, including children.
About 80% of Americans say the U.S. government is doing a bad job dealing with the large number of migrants at the border, including 45% who say it is doing a very bad job, a new survey finds.
Why it matters: Infighting, blame-shifting and indecision has plagued the Biden administration's struggle with the border crisis, Axios exclusively reported this week.
Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan is set oversee former President Trump's trial next month over a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Why it matters: This will be Trump's first criminal trial and will take him away from the 2024 campaign trail as the expected rematch between him and President Biden heats up.
About 17.5 million Latinos are projected to vote in this year's U.S. election, with the biggest increases in turnout expected to take place in some battleground states, according to an analysis by the NALEO Educational Fund.
Why it matters:Latinos are projected to play a critical role in a tight election year, especially in swing states such as Arizona and Nevada.
A key architect of the Biden administration's economic sanctions on Russia is rejoining the White House, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Daleep Singh's return as the deputy national security adviser for international economics will allow him to pick up where he left off in April of 2022 — looking for innovative ways to punish Russia and help support Ukraine.
Members of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus are working on a smaller version of the Senate's foreign aid legislation, with the addition of a version of the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy.
Why it matters: It's an attempt to meet House GOP leadership's demand that any national security bill include a strict border security crackdown.
Former President Trump said Wednesday at a campaign rally that his recent mix-up of other politicians' names was intentional.
Why it matters: Trump, like President Biden, has faced scrutiny about his age and mental acuity, especially among Democrats who seized on the gaffes as another reason he's unfit for a second term.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has drafted plans for releasing up to 15,000 people without accepting new migrants from the border in their place due to massive cash shortfalls, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Congress has failed to provide the agency much-needed emergency funds. Now $700 million in the hole, ICE is eyeing cuts to its central immigration efforts as members of both parties decry the border crisis.
U.S. officials are warning of Russia's rising ability to station nuclear weapons in space, illuminating the next, scarier frontier of warfare.
Why it matters: The future of war is autonomous weapons, robots, sophisticated artificial intelligence and a race to dominate space. The new intelligence suggests Russia might be gaining a tactical edge in the space race.
President Biden's age was a big problem for swing voters in Metro Detroit participating in focus groups on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Voters have concerns about Biden's age and fitness, but none who participated in the focus group are concerned he's a threat to democracy.
Cliff Sims, a former top Trump White House and intelligence official, will be out May 7 with a behind-the-scenes book blending faith and cutthroat politics — "The Darkness Has Not Overcome: Lessons on Faith & Politics from Inside the Halls of Power."
Why it matters: Sims tells me he was moved to write about "the importance of maintaining faith in a political environment — and in a city, Washington, D.C. — where faith is always tested."
Washington, D.C., Oregon and Delaware have comparatively large estimated shares of adult residents who identify as LGBT, per a recent analysis.
Why it matters: It's difficult to pin down the exact size of the LGBT population nationwide or in any given state, in part because gold-standard data collection efforts like the decennial census or the American Community Survey lack specific relevant questions.
Special counsel Robert Hur is in final talks to publicly testify before Congress in early March about his report on President Biden's handling of classified documents, a GOP aide tells Axios.
Why it matters: House Republicans are salivating about the chance to ask Hur about Biden's fitness for office.
The big picture: The public comments are Putin's first about the 2024 U.S. presidential election and follow Russian interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny former President Trump's request to pause the federal 2020 election case while the Republican appeals a D.C. court ruling that he's not immune from prosecution.
Why it matters: The trial in the federal election subversion case had been due to start on March 4, but it was postponed indefinitely pending the outcome of Trump's presidential immunity appeal. Trump is facing four separate criminal indictments while campaigning as the Republican presidential front-runner.
Fresh off a thumpingspecial election victory in New York, Democrats are rapidly mobilizing around a high-risk, high-reward strategy to flip the script on their biggest vulnerability: the border.
Why it matters: Even Republicans acknowledge that Democrat Tom Suozzi's embrace of stricter border policy — and his attacks on Republicans for rejecting the Senate's bipartisan border bill — contributed to his eight-point victory.
