Here's what you need to know as you start your day State Department was steered away from coronavirus origins probe, ex-officials say State Department leaders were warned not to pursue an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, former department officials told Fox News on Thursday. The concern was that a probe would bring attention to U.S. funding of research at the Wuhan institute from which the virus may have escaped. Vanity Fair reported that officials calling for transparency from the Chinese government were told not to explore the Wuhan Institute of Virology's "gain of function" research, because it would bring what the outlet described as "unwelcome" attention of U.S. government funding into that research. The outlet reported that Thomas DiNanno, a former acting assistant secretary of the State Department's Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, wrote in a January memo that staff from two bureaus "warned" leaders within his office not to probe the origins of the virus because it risked opening "a can of worms." Multiple former State Department officials told Fox News that the reported memo accurately describes what was happening at State at the time and that there was an effort among some officials at the department to oppose an extensive investigation into a possible lab leak.

The press gushing over Dr. Fauci's leaked emails, Chris Mathews' accuser getting hate mail and journalist Andy Ngo saying he was beaten up by Antifa last week round out today's top media headlines Despite the fact that Democrats control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House, Politico's highly-read newsletters have dedicated more digital ink to former President Trump and GOP infighting on Capitol Hill. Politico Playbook, which describes itself as "The unofficial guide to official Washington," headlined 12 out of its 31 newsletters published in the month of May fixated on various Republican drama from the ouster of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo, from House leadership to Trump's potential legal woes. One newsletter additionally focused on the disgruntled staffers who formally worked for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. However, only 11 of the Playbook's newsletters were focused on the Biden agenda. The GOP obsession is even more severe in Politico's "Huddle" newsletter, which offers a "play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news."