Daily Beast

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesThe U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, recently visited our colleague, Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, at the Federal Security Service’s toughest prison in Moscow.Gershkovich was in “good health and remains in good spirits,” the ambassador said, which was the best news from inside the “political prison,” as Russians call the FSB’s investigative pre-trial detention site, Lefortovo.Friday March 29 marks one whole year that the 32-year-old American reporter has spent behind bars awaiting his trial. On Tuesday, a Russian court extended his detention—for a fifth time—by another three months.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Bast/Getty ImagesWith just over seven months until Election Day, and the GOP and Democratic presidential primaries functionally over, the 2024 race is entering a new phase: the frantic cash grab stage.Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are in an all-out sprint to fill up their campaign coffers ahead of what is expected to be the most expensive presidential campaign in history, with the Democrat maintaining a clear advantage over his Republican opponent.Biden, with the help of the Democratic National Committee, has outraised Trump and the Republican National Committee for months—and there are few indications that Republicans have the infrastructure to close the gap, given the drain of Trump’s mounting legal bills, a Republican committee hollowed out by the Trump campaign, and a GOP small-dollar donor base that is showing signs of fatigue.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Getty / OhdokiI am instantly uncomfortable.I’m standing in the middle of a massive convention hall during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. After passing by flashy displays from the likes of Sony, Hyundai, and LG, I arrive at an exhibit for a device that somehow manages to stand out the most amongst some of the newest, most cutting-edge technology out there: the Handy, a machine that—to put it bluntly—jerks you off.There seems to be dozens of Handy devices displayed on several tables. Each one looks like a cylindrical bluetooth speaker with a rubber sleeve moving (or, rather, stroking) in an up-and-down motion on its side. There’s no mistaking what it is, or what it’s meant for.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastIt’s been years since I was involved in a good old-fashioned Twitter (X) spat. So imagine my surprise when I became embroiled in one on Holy Wednesday. This wasn’t just some rando troll, either.My interlocutor was none other than Richard Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and former acting director of the United States National Intelligence—a man that Donald Trump, Jr. calls a “top contender for secretary of state” in a second Trump administration. The impetus for his ire was a video of me interviewing The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, over which I tweeted the following words: “It's a GREAT time to be alive. So why are so many Americans depressed and convinced that things have never been worse ?!?”Grenell, who has over a million X followers, responded by cryptically citing “3 wars,” “An open border,” “An open attack on political enemies,” as the accomplishments of the sinister “The Biden Regime.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Bryan Lynn/Getty, Kevin Mazur/GettyIf you thought Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” was icy cold, just wait until you hear Beyoncé’s sinister version of the song.The Renaissance singer’s new album, Cowboy Carter, arrived at midnight on Friday and, as promised, it’s a marathon-length, star-studded country rodeo. The 27-track LP is presented in the style of a country radio show, with Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, and Parton herself making appearances as DJs.On the spoken interlude track “Dolly P,” Parton addresses Beyoncé directly: “Hey Miss Honey B, it’s Dolly P,” she begins. From there, Parton references “Becky with the good hair,” the mistress featured on Beyoncé’s Lemonade album.Read more at The Daily Beast.

NBCSeth Meyers didn’t choose a career in comedy for his love of math, but the Late Night host knows enough about addition, subtraction, and failing social media businesses to understand that something seems off about the recent multi-billion-dollar valuation of Donald Trump’s Truth Social.“I don’t need to tell you Donald Trump needs cash and he needs it ASAP,” Meyers said at the top of Thursday’s “A Closer Look” segment. “The guy’s been hawking bibles on TV like he’s trying to raise money to go to Jesus Camp.”While there’s nothing like a $60 version of the good book to help put a few extra dollars in your pocket—especially one that inexplicably comes with copies of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights—it turns out Trump didn’t really even need to take to bible-shilling. That’s because the cash-strapped former president’s golden goose was staring him in the face this whole time: Truth Social.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Reuters/Lee SmithSandro Tonali, the already-suspended soccer star in hot water for gambling on matches in Italy, was slapped with dozens of similar charges by Britain’s Football Association on Thursday.Tonali, 23, is now accused of placing bets on soccer matches in England while he was a member of Newcastle United. Authorities said he placed 50 wagers, all within a three-month span that included his first months with his new club after joining them from AC Milan for a fee of $75.6 million.Thursday’s allegations add to Tonali and Newcastle’s headache, as he’s been unavailable to feature since he was slapped with similar charges by the governing body of Italian soccer. He was suspended 10 months in that case—a ban he’s currently halfway through.Read more at The Daily Beast.

CNNA lifelong Republican voter who cast his ballot for Donald Trump in 2016 now views things quite differently, admitting to CNN on Wednesday night that Hillary Clinton was “absolutely right” about her opponent in that year’s election.Texas Trey said on Laura Coates Live that his choice back then “wasn’t so much a vote in support of” Trump, but rather against the former secretary of state, who “didn’t have anything to offer that necessarily appealed to me.”When asked if the events of the past eight years have made him rethink things, Trey responded affirmatively.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Reuters/Shannon StapletonDonald Trump once again went scorched earth against the daughter of the judge overseeing his New York hush-money trial on Thursday, posting a fiery rant to Truth Social that called her out by name.That woman, Loren Merchan, has become the focal point of Trump’s attacks against her dad, Judge Juan Merchan, in his longshot attempt to have him ousted as the judge presiding over his criminal case in New York. Trump has decried that Loren’s position as president of a political consulting firm that’s worked with Democrats, as well as anti-Trump social media posts he wrongly attributed to her, should disqualify Judge Merchan from his case because it somehow shows he’s biased.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Reuters/Rick OsentoskiThe embattled MLB star Wander Franco was taken off the Tampa Bay Rays’ 40-man roster and placed on administrative leave Thursday—an Opening Day move that keeps the 23-year-old on the payroll despite him not featuring for the team since August, multiple reports said Thursday. Franco stands accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor and for breaking money-laundering laws in his native Dominican Republican, but he’s yet to be criminally charged there. Franco’s move to administrative leave was a joint decision between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association, the Tampa Bay Times and ESPN reported, citing sources.Read more at The Daily Beast.