Politics

The New York Times reports: The crisis engulfing the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project deepened on Friday when Steve Schmidt, a co-founder, resigned abruptly from the board and former employees renewed demands to be released from nondisclosure agreements in order to provide more information about the organization’s handling of harassment allegations against another co-founder, John Weaver. He stepped down from …

Politico reports: Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of 10 House Republicans to support Donald Trump’s impeachment for inciting the Capitol insurrection, pleaded with those close to the former president — and former vice president Mike Pence — to come forward and reveal what they know about Trump’s conduct. “To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as …

The Washington Post reports: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is preparing to put all first-class mail onto a single delivery track, according to two people briefed on his strategic plan for the U.S. Postal Service, a move that would mean slower and more costly delivery for both consumers and commercial mailers. DeJoy, with the backing of the agency’s bipartisan but Trump-appointed …

CNN reports: According to multiple people who spoke to CNN about Trump’s life in the weeks since she departed the nation’s capital, her daily schedule has nothing to do with politics, Congress, trials or stymied social media accounts. “She goes to the spa, has lunch, goes to the spa (again) and has dinner with Donald on the patio,” said one …

Reuters reports: Tokyo 2020 Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori resigned on Friday and apologised again for sexist remarks that sparked a global outcry, leaving the troubled Olympics searching for a chief five months from the opening ceremony. The resignation of former prime minister Mori, 83, will further erode confidence in the organisers’ ability to pull off the postponed Summer Games during …

Fox News reports: Police in Irving, Texas, have identified the man who shot and killed himself outside of GOP Rep. Beth Van Duyne’s home as former campaign staffer Chris Dillard, according to a report Thursday. Dillard, 55, served as Van Duyne’s communications director from November 2019 to April 2020 and was a prominent local GOP activist. The Irving Police Department …

From the Daily Mail: Controversial conspiracy congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene cheated on her husband with a polyamorous tantric sex guru, DailyMail.com has learned. Then after ending her affair with him, the mom-of-three moved on to a gym manager behind her husband’s back. But despite the tawdry flings, Taylor Greene stuck with her husband Perry as she made her unlikely rise …

Dallas’s NBC News affiliate reports: An unidentified man took his life in front of the home of Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne Wednesday afternoon. Irving police say the incident happened around 3:45 p.m. Officers responded to a call of a shooting on Shumard Oak Lane. When officers arrived, they found an unidentified man on the sidewalk in front of Van Duyne’s …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Gina Carano will not be returning to The Mandalorian or the Star Wars galaxy after sharing a post on social media implying that being a Republican today is like being Jewish during the Holocaust. “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a Lucasfilm …

The New York Post reports: Larry Flynt — the controversial porn peddler who built an empire that included “Hustler” magazine — reportedly died on Wednesday. He was 78. Flynt, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 1978 murder attempt, succumbed to heart failure in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, TMZ reported. The mogul was known for his myriad …

NPR reports: The NBA says every team – including the Dallas Mavericks – must play the national anthem in their arenas, after news emerged that team owner Mark Cuban had ordered the Mavericks to discontinue the long-held practice. “With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in …

Reason reports: A Reason investigation in 2014 and subsequent documentary reported that, as a prosecutor, Rod Ponton leveraged the gears of the federal government in a yearslong effort to level bogus drug charges against a woman in Alpine, Texas, ultimately succeeding at destroying her business. The target, Ilana Lipsen, was his alleged former lover; she says she had one sexual …

ESPN reports: The Dallas Mavericks have stopped playing the national anthem before home games at the direction of owner Mark Cuban, he confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday. The Mavericks do not plan to resume the tradition to play the national anthem before games in the future. Cuban, who declined further comment, made the decision after consulting with NBA commissioner Adam …

CNN reports: Embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has told those close to him he wants to stay in his role under the new president, two sources tell CNN, despite his troubled tenure at the helm of the US Postal Service and his background as a supporter and donor to former President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden faces mounting pressure from …

Politico reports: The Justice Department has abandoned an arguably unprecedented lawsuit seeking to confiscate the proceeds of a book written by an aide to former First Lady Melania Trump. Government lawyers filed a notice with a federal judge Monday saying they are voluntarily dismissing the suit filed last October against Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who served as a volunteer adviser to …

The New York Times reports: A coalition of civil liberties and human rights groups urged the Biden administration on Monday to drop efforts to extradite the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from Britain and prosecute him, calling the Trump-era case against him “a grave threat to press freedom.” The coalition sent a letter urging a change in course before a Friday …

Roll Call reports: Lobbyists who’ve been around a long time can regale younger generations with tales of freely roaming the Capitol — parking steps from an entrance to the temple of democracy and leisurely loitering by elevators to grab members en route to the House or Senate floors. Those days, of course, vanished long ago. And now COVID-19 has shifted …

The Baton Rouge Advocate reports: Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry on Friday sued a reporter for The Advocate and The Times-Picayune over a public-records request she filed, asking a judge to issue a declaratory judgment denying the request and seal the proceedings. The unusual action came a few days after the newspaper warned Landry that it intended to sue him …

CNN reports: A top doctor at the Russian hospital where opposition leader Alexey Navalny was treated immediately after his poisoning last summer has died, the hospital said on Thursday. Sergey Maximishin, who was the deputy chief physician of the Omsk emergency hospital, “suddenly” died at the age of 55, according to a statement released by the hospital. A spokeswoman from …

TMZ reports: Donald Trump no longer has the privilege of using Marine One whenever he pleases so his exclusive helipad at Mar-a-Lago is getting the boot. According to new building permits — obtained by TMZ — the formal process of removing the helipad from the former President’s favorite resort has begun and it looks like the job will cost about …