Via press release from the White House: Jill and I are heartbroken by the recent loss of Nex Benedict. Every young person deserves to have the fundamental right and freedom to be who they are, and feel safe and supported at school and in their communities. Nex Benedict, a kid who just wanted to be accepted, should still be here …

The Washington Post reports: A senior aide to Donald Trump will have to go to prison while he appeals his conviction for refusing to testify before Congress about his involvement in efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election. Peter Navarro, a 74-year-old economist, “has not shown that his appeal presents substantial questions of law or fact likely to …

“As I’m on the record saying in the past, what happened in Sandy Hook was an absolute tragedy. I am not and have never been of the opinion that the events did not take place. Again, I hope that we learn from this and other tragedies to identify the signs that will allow us to prevent unnecessary loss of life. …

The Tennessean reports: Three dozen well-regarded Americana, country and pop vocalists — including Grammy winners Allison Russell, Brittany Howard, Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Emmylou Harris and Amanda Shires — have joined forces to record and release the new soul anthem “Tennessee Rise.” It is being released to support of the U.S. Senate campaign of state Sen. Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville. …

“They released Hillary Clinton. She hammered her phones. She used all sorts of acid testing and everything else. They call it BleachBit but it’s essentially acid that will destroy everything within ten miles. I mean, what she did was unbelievable. Nothing happens to her. Nothing happens to Bill Clinton. He took it out in his socks, you know? It was …

The Associated Press reports: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, saying he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” and is an obstacle to peace in the region amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The speech drew a swift reprisal from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said …

NBC News reports: Indicted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is considering running for re-election in November as an independent, two sources who spoke with him directly tell NBC News. Menendez, who along with his wife Nadine Menendez is facing 18 federal counts and is alleged to have accepted bribes, has not yet publicly said if he would run again this year. …

NBC News reports: Vice President Kamala Harris plans to tour a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota that provides abortion services Thursday, according to three sources familiar with the planning. The sources said they believed this was the first time a president or vice president has ever visited a clinic that provides abortion services in U.S. history. Harris plans to tour …

The New York Times reports: The third try was closer to the charm for Elon Musk and SpaceX, as the company’s flight test of the mammoth Starship rocket launched on Thursday and traveled almost halfway around the Earth before it was lost as it re-entered the atmosphere. The flight achieved some key milestones in the development of the vehicle, which …

The Associated Press reports: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling on Israel to hold new elections, saying he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza and a growing humanitarian crisis there. Schumer says the prime minister has put himself in a coalition of far-right extremists and “as a result, he …

CNN reports: Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade arrived at the courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, for the 10 a.m. ET hearing in the classified documents case. Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, has set apart an entire day to hear arguments on whether the prosecution should be thrown out on the basis of Trump’s claims about his presidential …

CBC News reports: SpaceX’s huge Super Heavy-Starship rocket, by far the most powerful ever built, blasted off on its third test flight Thursday morning. The test aimed to boost the unpiloted upper stage into space on a sub-orbital hop to a controlled re-entry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The giant rocket’s 33 Raptor engines, gulping 40,000 pounds of liquid …

The Guardian reports: Back in 2020, Alexander Smirnov was paid $600,000 by a company called Educational Transformation Technologies (ETT), prosecutors said. That same year, Smirnov began lying to the FBI about the Bidens, according to his indictment. ETT Investment Holding Limited was registered in the UK on 6 March 2020. Shah Khan, an investor who purchased the Plaza Hotel in …

CNBC reports: Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is building an investor group to acquire ByteDance’s TikTok, as a bipartisan piece of legislation winding its way through Congress threatens its continued existence in the U.S. “I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “It’s a great business and I’m …

“The government doesn’t make the law. The people rise up, power rises up from the people and the people make the law. And that law should be in accordance with God’s word and the conscience. And these federal laws are restricting both of those things. So when this authority – namely the federal government – commands what God has forbidden …

The Hill reports: The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Wednesday to get the state to review its voter registration rolls. The committee alleges the state has “failed to live up” to the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA) requirement that voter registration rolls must be clean. The RNC’s lawsuit comes just …

“He’s stood up. He’s been hammered by the press, stood up for things we believe in. I like that part of his character. He’s a critical thinker and I think we need that at the time as you know the rise of A.I. “We need people who understand that you cannot always trust authority just because somebody’s in charge. It …

Mediaite has the transcript: LEMON: Hate speech on the platform is up. Do you believe that X and you have some responsibility to moderate hate speech on the platform, that you wouldn’t have to answer these questions from reporters about the great replacement theory as it relates to– MUSK: I don’t have to answer these questions. LEMON: –great replacement theory …

Reuters reports: Two years into office, President Donald Trump authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government, according to former U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the highly classified operation. Three former officials told Reuters that the CIA created a small team of operatives …

“I’d be honored to serve my country in that way. I’d be honored to actually be in a position to help President Trump execute his policies, bringing — bringing the experience that I have had of being on the front lines of many of these battles and actually understanding what we’re up against. “And so whether you’re talking about securing …