Attorney General Merrick Garland won't be prosecuted for refusing to turn over audio of President Biden's interview on his handling of classified documents, the Department of Justice said Friday.
Why it matters: Republicans had threatened to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for not producing the audio of Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur after the report criticized the president's memory.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) nudged defense policy legislation over the finish line despite pushback from Democrats over a slew of amendments related to DEI programs, abortion, medical treatment of transgender troops and other Republican-backed culture war issues.
Why it matters: The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has become increasingly partisan within the last two years, with leaders allowing for lightning-rod amendments.
The Supreme Court in a 6-3 vote Friday threw out a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, attachments that allow semiautomatic weapons to fire at nearly the rate of a machine gun.
Why it matters: The plastic devices, which were used extensively in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, will now be able to return to the market in states without their own bans, allowing consumers to mimic fully automatic firearms.
U.S. Catholic bishops apologized Friday for the Catholic Church's part in fostering "a history of trauma" on Indigenous children at church-run boarding schools where priests sexually abused students.
Why it matters: It's an official acknowledgment of the church'spast abuse against Indigenous children as the extent of widespread abuses inflicted on Native children over many decades has come into sharper focus.
Supreme Court justices have faced stark and growing concern over ethics violations, prompting a call for the impeachment of conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The big picture: Impeaching a Supreme Court justice is possible but not easy.
Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' personal assets will be liquidated to help repay the $1.5 billion he owes to the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, a Texas bankruptcy judge ruled on Friday, AP reports.
The big picture: The judge later ruled against liquidating Jones' Infowars media platform and its parent company Free Speech Systems.
The ghostwriter of President Biden's memoir told federal investigators he deleted many recordings of his conversations with Biden after a special counsel was appointed to investigate the president, according to a partial transcript of the interview obtained by Axios.
Writer Mark Zwonitzer said he erased the recordings because he was afraid of being hacked, the transcript says.
Abortion pill access saw a win at the Supreme Court this week, but the fight to curtail them likely isn't over.
Why it matters: Anti-abortion advocates know how to work the court system. The Supreme Court didn't rule on the merits of the high-profile case involving the pill mifepristone this term, leaving a path open for further challenges.
The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' (ATF) ban on a gun attachment that allows shooters to fire weapons at nearly the rate of a machine gun.
Why it matters: Under former President Trump, the ATF attempted to ban the attachment, called a "bump stock," after a gunman used it in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting — the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Now, they will be back on the market again.
House Democrats are discussing a wide range of potential events to counter-program Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress next month, six sources familiar with the planning tell Axios.
Hunter Biden has agreed to drop a civil lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani and the former New York mayor's lawyer over the release of Biden's private digital data, according to a new court filing Thursday.
The big picture: The lawsuit alleged that Giuliani violated federal law by accessing and disseminating Hunter Biden's digital data from a laptop that had belonged to him. Embarrassing revelations from the data dump fueled a wave of Republican attacks and played a role in the president's son's legal troubles.
"Inadequate" oversight of Feeding Our Future and a lack of action by theMinnesota Department of Education "created opportunities for fraud," a legislative audit released Thursday concludes.
Why it matters: The report details the Walz administration's failure to stop what federal prosecutors have called the biggest pandemic fraud case in the nation.
The Democratic National Committee is launching billboards in 10 locations across Milwaukee on Friday featuring former President Trump's reported diss of the city that's the site of the Republican National Convention next month.
Why it matters: Trump reportedly used "horrible" to describe the city in the key swing state during his closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday with House Republicans, though his campaign and Republican lawmakers dispute this account.
President Biden appears to be making serious inroads with America's oldest voters — and could become the first Democrat to win the demographic in over two decades.
Why it matters: If current polling pans out, November's election between two historically old candidates would upend long-held assumptions about how Americans vote.
A group aligned with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is spending millions in Ohio and Montana to slam vulnerable Democrats over the border and immigration, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Even in stateshundreds of miles away from the southwest border, GOP leaders in Congress see President Biden's vulnerability on immigration as key to winning the Senate majority in November.
Former President Trump and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients offered America's top CEOs competing visions Thursday on how to use corporate tax policy and multilateral institutions for stable economic growth.
Why it matters: Individual CEOs don't control the economy. But collectively they help set the business tone for the country, and both Trump and President Biden want CEOs to help them carry out their economic plans.
In January, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will go from the longest-serving Senate party leader to a regular senator from Kentucky — and some of his colleagues already are speculating about how he might continue to wield his long-held power.
Why it matters: Several sources close to GOP leadership tell Axios that assuming Republicans win the Senate majority in November, McConnell is eyeing chair of the Appropriations Committee.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) launched an investigation into misinformation tracking company NewsGuard on Thursday, citing concerns about "protected First Amendment speech" and "censorship campaigns."
The big picture: NewsGuard is a web extension that uses trained journalists to monitor and rate news and information sites' trustworthiness and it has highlighted issues with both conservative- and progressive-leaning websites.
Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) was the first to throw his hat in the ring to be the next chair of the Republican Study Committee on Thursday.
Why it matters: The position, currently held by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), entails leading the largest conservative caucus in Congress and has provided past chairs with a seat at key meetings with leadership.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill aimed at ensuring federal protections for in vitro fertilization (IVF), as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) forced them to take another difficult vote on a hot-button election issue.
Democrats are trying to hold Republicans' feet to the fire on reproductive rights two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — and ahead of the 2024 elections. The GOP is trying to dodge those bullets.
Every Senate Republican this week signed a letter voicing their support for IVF, arguing that Democrats are lying about the GOP's position on the procedure.
