Joe Biden

On Wednesday, writing for The Bulwark, conservative Charlie Sykes criticized former President Donald Trump for his demand for Vladimir Putin to leak dirt on President Joe Biden's family — and declared it not just an attack on the president, but on the whole United States.

"This was not taken out of context, nor was it a gotcha take. His own spokeswoman enthusiastically tweeted out his plea to Putin," wrote Sykes. "It is as if he is recapitulating all of his most egregious scandals — from 'Russia, if you’re listening' to 'I would like you to do us a favor' — multiplied by a factor of genocide."

The Justice Department is ratcheting up its investigation into the business practices of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, sources tell CNN, saying that there's been an uptick in witnesses providing testimony to federal investigators.

"The probe, led by the US Attorney in Wilmington, Delaware, began as early as 2018 and concerns multiple financial and business activities in foreign countries dating to when Biden's father was vice president," CNN reports. "Investigators have examined whether Hunter Biden and some of his associates violated money laundering, tax and foreign lobbying laws, as well as firearm and other regulations, multiple sources said."

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has faced years of criticism and scrutiny after 2020 her vote to acquit former President Donald Trump of any wrongdoing for attempting to extort Ukraine. After the vote, she told CBS News' Norah O'Donnell, "I believe the president has learned from this case...I believe he will be much more cautious in the future."

CNN's John Avlon talked about the recent report of a missing 7.5 hours of call logs from the White House. But to host Brianna Keilar, Trump's recent comments begging Russia for help is just as important.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has effectively ensured that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice.

Collins this week became the first Republican to announce that she will vote for Jackson's confirmation.

Republicans are widely believed to be favorites to win at least one chamber of Congress in the fall, between President Joe Biden's struggling approval ratings and the historical trends of the opposition party gaining seats in midterm years weighed against Democrats' already razor-thin margins in the House and Senate.

But on Wednesday, POLITICO Playbook outlined an ongoing risk for Republicans that could lead to them stumbling in the midterm: President Donald Trump jumping back into the ring.

Vladimir Putin's belligerent rhetoric warning the United States not to become directly involved in his war on Ukraine has led to concern that nuclear weapons could be deployed. Ever since the Cold War, the United States has maintained a rapid response capability to deal with that eventuality.

Given today's environment, the timing of the first public release of video from a 1986 federal government training exercise that simulated a nuclear terrorist attack is intriguing. Gizmodo has obtained footage of the effort, code-named the Mighty Derringer, through a Freedom of Information Act request with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which operates under the Department of Energy.

The US should focus on achieving economic independence from China rather than pressuring Beijing to change "unfair" trade practices, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai will suggest Wednesday, as a shift in strategy toward the Asian giant.

The new approach takes into account Washington's inability to force fundamental changes in business practices under a trade agreement signed by the previous administration, she will argue.

Donald Trump openly asked Vladimir Putin to release damaging information about President Joe Biden's son, but MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski fact-checked the former president's latest conspiracy theory.

The twice-impeached former president suggested Putin might know about an alleged payment to Hunter Biden from the wife of Moscow's former mayor, which was based on a partisan Senate report released shortly before the 2020 election, but the "Morning Joe" co-host said there's nothing to the allegations.

Only days after traveling to Georgia to campaign for former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), Donald Trump described his endorsed candidate as a "long shot" against incumbent GOP Gov. Brian Kemp.

At a low-turnout rally in Commerce, Georgia where the crowd was "hardly applauding," Trump lashed out at Kemp not going along with his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which was decisively won by Joe Biden. Trump allies aggressively sought to respond to reports of an anemic rally.

Former President Donald Trump's well-established habit of calling for wrongdoing and then claiming he was joking has become such a trope that CNN's Jim Acosta came close to giving a preemptive fact-check of an assumed future lie on Tuesday.

Acosta's analysis came after Trump called upon Vladimir Putin to release dirt on President Joe Biden.

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would prefer to continue his retirement at Mar-a-Lago over returning to Washington, DC to work in the legislative branch.

As the Constitution does not require the Speaker of the House of Representatives to be an elected member of Congress, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has vowed he would nominate Trump to succeed Nancy Pelosi if Republicans win the 2022 midterms.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed into law a historic bill classifying lynching as a federal hate crime — bringing to fruition an push that had failed to pass Congress over and over for a century.

But Fox News anchor Jesse Watters was unhappy with the passage of the bill, attacking the whole thing as a waste of time.