The Louisville Courier-Journal reported Wednesday that Biden will nominate Chad Meredith as a judge in Kentucky in what sources said is an apparent arrangement to shepherd his other federal nominations through the Senate. The reported deal comes as Biden faces pressure to protect abortion rights after the Supreme Court struck down federal protections for the procedure on Friday. Representative John Yarmuth, Kentucky’s sole congressional Democrat, confirmed to the Courier-Journal that Meredith will be nominated to the federal bench....

After being besieged from both sides on immigration, the Biden administration dispatched Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the White House briefing room last week to deliver a message to migrants seeking a new life in the U.S. “We are not saying don’t come,” Mayorkas explained. “We are saying don’t come now, because we will be able to deliver a safe and orderly process for them as quickly as possible....

On Monday, Biden’s lawyers confirmed that around 10 documents containing an unidentified number of classified materials were discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in November. The president used the office space after the end of his vice presidency in 2017 until the beginning of his 2020 presidential campaign. Biden was asked about the documents’ discovery at a press conference following the conclusion of the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City, Mexico, on Tuesday, and told reporters that he “takes classified documents, classified information seriously....

Emerson College on Friday released its latest national survey, tracking numerous political statistics heading into the midterms and beyond. The college found in this most recent survey that Biden’s approval rating was the highest it had been all year, according to its own data, with 45 percent approving of him as president and 49 disapproving, with 5 percent claiming to be “neutral.” The president’s approval, based on Emerson College’s data, has grown more than his disapproval has fallen, with the former seeing a 3 percent rise compared to a 2 percent drop for the latter....

While former President Donald Trump announced a week after the midterms that he will run, many voters are waiting to hear if President Joe Biden will announce a reelection bid, which could lead to a rematch, both battling for a second term. Biden has said he plans to announce whether he will run by early 2023, and he’s keeping voters on their toes by briefly dismissing a voter’s request that he run again during the White House Tribal Nations Summit on Wednesday....

In a recent op-ed in The Hill, Christine Ahn provides a detailed blueprint for President Biden that Kim Jong-Un would certainly welcome. She urges the president-elect to reverse Trump’s maximum-pressure campaign, drop all sanctions, end “provocative” joint military exercises with South Korea and end the state of war with North Korea. Finally, Ahn urges the Biden administration to democratize the “process of shaping foreign policy” by “including women’s groups and civil society....

“Not at the moment,” Biden told reporters at the White House before departing for Pennsylvania. Biden didn’t elaborate on a possible timeline for if or when he might make such a trip. His comments come just a day after a group of House Republicans traveled to the southern border to draw attention to the growing influx that has put pressure on facilities and processing sites. But Biden has faced criticism from Republicans, who say that there is a crisis of immigrants entering the country, as well as criticism from some immigrants rights advocates who have questioned the handling of migrant children in custody amid the coronavirus pandemic....

The latest state surveys from Fox News found the presumptive Democratic nominee was 13 points ahead of Trump in Minnesota, and 11 points clear of the incumbent in Pennsylvania as of Monday. Fifty percent of voters in Pennsylvania opted for Biden when asked who they would vote for if an election were held today, while 39 percent told Fox News they would back Trump. When the same poll was conducted in mid-April, the gap between the former vice president and Trump was 3 points tighter, with the same share of voters backing Biden while 42 percent supported the president....

During an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press Sunday, Klain said the mandate will be “well litigated well before January 3,” a day before the policy is slated to take effect. “Look, these vaccine requirements have been litigated up and down the courts all over the country, state requirements, for example, one in Maine,” Klain said. “And every single court before this one ruled that they were valid. The Supreme Court has turned back several times already various efforts to enjoin other vaccine requirements....

Biden also said Trump is neither capable nor competent enough to handle the coronavirus situation. “There’s no confidence in the president, in anything he says or does,” Biden said. “He turns everything into what he thinks is a political benefit for himself, when he’s actually imploding in the process. But there’s a lot of innocent bystanders that are being badly hurt.” “I think if the president were to just get out of the way, let the experts at CDC and others handle this, speak to it, talk about what needs to be done, we’d all be better off,” Biden continued....

There are at least five parts of the bill that raise major concerns about reducing job growth. The first is a minimum wage increase that will raise the cost of hiring, and thus reduce demand for workers. Economists disagree on the size of the impact—partly because employers may reduce non-wage compensation in response—but no one believes it helps job growth. Second, extending the generous unemployment insurance add-on of $400 a week would be highly damaging to job growth....

“@potus’s executive order on crypto is a watershed moment. It paves the way for thoughtful national crypto regulation that will allow builders to build onshore and ensure that the US remains a leader in crypto—creating greater independence, choice, and opportunity for all,” Bitcoin investor and co-founder of Gemini, a cryptocurrency trading application Cameron Winklevoss wrote on Twitter. On Wednesday, Biden signed the executive order which in addition to calling on the nation’s central bank to explore options for constructing it’s own cryptocurrency, seeks to protect investors and companies from risks associated with investing in digital currencies....

Biden has sought to portray many of these criticisms as naïve and dismissive of the realities of serving as a U.S. senator in the company of segregationists. In a recent interview with NPR, the son of Delaware cast similar aspersions on critics of his foreign policy record, apparently ignoring his own public comments in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. He told the public radio network he thought his “record has been good” on foreign policy, defending his decision in 2002 to vote for the use of military force in Iraq, part of then-President George W....

“You’re dealing every day with Vladimir Putin, and look at what he’s done to these people. What does it make you think?” a reporter asked Biden in Warsaw in an exchange recorded by Agence France-Presse. “He’s a butcher,” Biden responded. Biden’s remarks come days after the U.S. formally accused Russia of committing war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine. The president has previously condemned Putin over the war and has labeled him a war criminal....

Biden is facing more COVID-19 deaths under his tenure than former President Donald Trump had, with coronavirus cases breaking records across the country. While Biden has defended his approach for being vastly different from Trump’s, he’s struggling to convince voters that he has a good grip on the situation, and losing with independents could hurt Democrats in this year’s midterm elections. As Biden marks one year in office, 48 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of the pandemic, according to FiveThirtyEight....

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki indicated during a press conference earlier today that Trump should be “more vocal about the safety and efficacy” of the vaccine. “We’d support that,” she said, adding that “every other living president has participated in public campaigns.” “They did not need an engraved invitation to do so. He may decide he should do that. If so, great. But there are a lot of different ways to engage to reach out to ensure that people of a range of political support and backing know the vaccine is safe and effective,” she added....

Biden addressed the massive storm whose remnants have gone on to pound the Northeast with massive flooding. “My message to everyone affected is, we’re all in this together, and the nation is here to help,” Biden said Thursday. Biden will travel to Louisiana on Friday to survey damage in New Orleans and other areas that were hit hard when slammed ashore Sunday. Specific details about the president’s trip, including what areas he will tour or whom he will meet with, are forthcoming, according to the White House....

Notably, “Bedlam” between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will be played Dec. 3, giving the teams a shot to impress the College Football Playoff committee during “Championship Week”, not a week earlier over Thanksgiving weekend like this season. MORE: Projecting where Big 12 teams are bowling | Baylor-TCU is battle of backups Texas won’t be playing a conference game on the final weekend of the regular season as the Longhorns will end their Big 12 season on Thanksgiving against TCU....