A federal judge appears poised to again reject President Donald Trump's bid to erase his hush money conviction, slamming his lawyers for legal maneuvers he said amounted to taking "two bites at the apple." Directed by an appeals court to take a fresh look at the matter, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein was at turns inquisitive and incredulous in nearly three hours of oral arguments Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. Sparring with Trump lawyer Jeffrey Wall throughout, he suggested that the whole exercise was moot because the president's legal team had waited too long after the historic verdict to seek federal court relief.

Matt Gaetz has withdrawn as Donald Trump's pick for attorney general following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation. The Florida Republican made the announcement Thursday. Gaetz's withdrawal is a blow to Trump's push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration and the first sign that Trump could face resistance from members of his own party. Trump said in a social media post that Gaetz "did not want to be a distraction for the Administration." Gaetz said "it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work" of the transition team. He added, "There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle."

At the top of his first speech as her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz turned to Vice President Kamala Harris and declared, "Thank you for bringing back the joy." The next day, Harris took the theme a step further, branding the Democratic ticket "joyful warriors." Contrast that with former President Donald Trump, who opened a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida later in the week saying, "We have a lot of bad things coming up." Democrats are playing up their sunnier outlook. But the Trump campaign argues their candidate is reflecting the country's more accurate, dour mood.

Donald Trump typically likes to be the one in the spotlight. But in the days since President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance, the presumptive Republican nominee has kept a low profile, leaving the focus on the drama engulfing the Democratic Party. The strategy comes as Trump and his campaign revel in a series of legal and political victories heading into the Republican National convention this month. Those victories include a Supreme Court ruling Monday that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution and a ruling Tuesday by the judge in Trump's New York criminal hush money trial to delay his sentencing, which had been scheduled for next week.

President Joe Biden is beginning an intense period of private debate preparations at Camp David. The Democrat's trip comes as officials in both major political parties scramble to set expectations for what may be the most consequential presidential debate in decades. Biden's team notes he cannot afford an underwhelming performance against Donald Trump on June 27 in Atlanta. Trump's allies are pushing the Republican to stay focused on his governing plans but expect him to be tested by pointed questions about his unrelenting focus on election fraud and his legal baggage. Strategists on both sides agree on one thing: Nearly four months before Election Day, the political stakes could not be higher.

Donald Trump has made a triumphant return to Capitol Hill to meet with House and Senate Republicans for the first time since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. GOP lawmakers find themselves newly energized and reinvigorated by Trump's bid to retake the White House. This is despite the federal charges against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and his recent guilty verdict in an unrelated hush money trial. He held an hour-long closed-door morning meeting with House Republicans and then was meeting with Senate Republicans at campaign headquarters near the Capitol to discuss party priorities. It's his first visit as the party's presumptive nominee.

About half of U.S. adults approve of Donald Trump's recent felony conviction, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The findings paint a picture of a nation with firmly entrenched opinions of the divisive former Republican president less than five months before Election Day. Overall views of Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden remain unchanged since before the guilty verdict in Trump's New York hush money trial. But the survey shows some modest signs of vulnerability for Trump as he tries to become the first American with a felony record to win the presidency.

Donald Trump has had plenty to say since his hush money trial conviction last week. What he hasn't done is utter any variation of the words that might benefit him most come sentencing time next month: "I'm sorry." It's an age-old truism of the criminal justice system that defendants hoping for lenient treatment at sentencing are expected to take responsibility for their actions, even express remorse. But that approach flies in the face of the "deny everything" strategy that Trump and his legal team employed at trial — and the combative posture the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has adopted during years of investigations into his business career, presidential activities and post-White House life.

Donald Trump isn't known for letting slights pass. Yet for weeks, the famously combative presumptive Republican presidential nominee has sat silently in a sterile lower Manhattan courtroom amid a barrage of insults and accusations. Through it all, Trump has spent the majority of his time as a criminal defendant sitting nearly motionless, for hours, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed — so zen he often appeared to be asleep. Trump's demeanor inside the courtroom has, in many ways, been dramatic for its very lack of drama. And it is at least, in part, a strategy in response to warnings that behaving like he has in past trials could backfire.