Trump Deputy Chief of Staff to Step Down  —  Rick Dearborn, latest high-profile departure from West Wing, plans to pursue private sector work  —  WASHINGTON—Rick Dearborn, one of President Donald Trump's top aides, will step down early next year to pursue private-sector work …

Russian hackers targeted more than 200 journalists globally  —  PARIS (AP) — Russian television anchor Pavel Lobkov was in the studio getting ready for his show when jarring news flashed across his phone: Some of his most intimate messages had just been published to the web.

Prosecutors Said to Seek Kushner Records From Deutsche Bank  —  Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have sought bank records about entities associated with the family company of Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, according to four people briefed on the matter.

A Conservative Nonprofit That Seeks to Transform College Campuses Faces Allegations of Racial Bias and Illegal Campaign Activity  —  On Tuesday, in a convention center in West Palm Beach, Florida, amid chants of “USA!” and “The wall is going to be built!,” Donald Trump, Jr. …

President Trump signs tax bill into law  —  President Donald Trump signed the $1.5 trillion rewrite of the tax code into law at the White House on Friday capping off a victory lap before leaving to spend the holidays in Mar-a-Lago.  —  “Everything in here is really tremendous things for businesses …

Trump Promised to Protect Steel.  Layoffs Are Coming Instead.  —  CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — At this sprawling steel mill on the outskirts of Philadelphia, the workers have one number in mind.  Not how many tons of steel roll off the line, or how many hours they work, but where they fall on the plant's seniority list.

Axios AM  —  Two weeks of insight: Between now and New Year's Day, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei and I will bring AM readers our year-end thoughts on the topics that matter most ...  Robert Mueller isn't the only one hot on the trail of the Russians' election interference and Facebook manipulation.

Mark Hamill Rips His Role In ‘Last Jedi’: 'He's Not My Luke Skywalker'  —  The actor dishes on his creative differences with director Rian Johnson.  —  The actor Mark Hamill just lasered in on why he disliked how director Rian Johnson had him play Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

‘Young Turks’ Founder Cenk Uygur Apologizes for ‘Ugly,’ ‘Insensitive’ Old Blog Posts (Exclusive)  —  Liberal host once wrote that women are genetically “flawed” because they don't want to have sex often enough  —  “Young Turks” creator and host Cenk Uygur made multiple graphic and disparaging remarks …

Ex-Trump adviser Carter Page accused academics who twice failed his PhD of bias  —  Carter Page, Donald Trump's former foreign policy adviser, accused his British examiners of “anti-Russian bias” after they took the highly unusual step of failing his “verbose” and “vague” PhD thesis, not once but twice.

The Miss America Emails: How The Pageant's CEO Really Talks About The Winners  —  Internal correspondence reveals name-calling, slut-shaming and fat-shaming in emails between the Miss America CEO, board members and a pageant writer.  —  In late August 2014, the CEO of the Miss America Organization …

FBI's top lawyer said to be reassigned … The FBI's top lawyer, James Baker, is being reassigned — one of the first moves by new director Christopher A. Wray to assemble his own team of senior advisers as he tries to fend off accusations of politicization within the bureau.

My Theory on Why Mike Pence Kisses Donald Trump's, uh, Ring So Fulsomely … By now, you've seen the adoration heaped upon President Donald Trump by members of his team and congressional leaders on Wednesday.  —  House Speaker Paul Ryan praised his “exquisite leadership …

Opioid Deaths Are Spreading Rapidly Into Black America  —  2016 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 residents  —  In counties with fewer than 10 drug overdose deaths, the map combines observed totals with modeled estimates.  —  The epidemic of drug overdoses, often perceived as a largely white rural problem …

EXCLUSIVE: James O'Keefe Believes Roy Moore's Accusers Despite Attempt to Debunk Their Stories  —  Not only does James O'Keefe not regret paying a woman to pose as a rape victim in a botched hit-job that would serve to discredit Roy Moore's accusers — in a surprising twist …

'The World's Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread'  —  Not every leaker is an ideological combatant like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning.  Reality Winner may be the unlikeliest of all.  —  Reality Winner grew up in a carefully kept manufactured home on the edge of a cattle farm 100 miles north …

Why I started saying ‘reality-based press’ in 2017, instead of ‘mainstream media’  —  On Jan. 22, Kellyanne Conwaydefended the president's order that Sean Spicer, in his first appearance before the White House press corps, should feed reporters a whopping lie.

Swipe left if you voted for Trump  —  How dating in New York is changing under the new administration  —  It's your typical midtown Manhattan happy-hour crowd: Groups of co-workers with buckets of beer, a family of tourists and a couple at the bar enjoying the tense chemistry of a successful-looking early date.

California resists: State attorney general spent 2017 relentlessly suing Trump  —  Xavier Becerra was empowered to go after Trump on regulatory rollback — and sued the feds 24 times in 2017  —  California can't save us from the Donald Trump apocalypse, but California Attorney General Xavier Becerra …

Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski chastises Mark Halperin's sexual harassment victims for not wanting to see him so he can apologize  —  MIKA BRZEZINSKI (CO-HOST): We also have — some men who are willing to face the music, who are willing to face the facts, who are willing to admit to their actions 10, 20 years ago, even five years ago.

E.P.A. Officials, Disheartened by Agency's Direction, Are Leaving in Droves  —  This article was written through collaboration between The New York Times and ProPublica, the independent, nonprofit investigative journalism organization.  —  WASHINGTON — More than 700 people have left …

How the Carried Interest Break Survived the Tax Bill  —  Treasury chief sought to keep break for private equity funds  —  Congress imposed three-year holding requirement in legislation  —  President Donald Trump's plan to abolish a tax break for hedge-fund managers was kept …

Coinbase, one of the biggest bitcoin marketplaces, says buying and selling is temporarily disabled amid price rout  — The interruption in service comes as bitcoin briefly tumbled below $11,000, down 44 percent from its record high hit Sunday.  — On Thursday, Coinbase had temporarily disabled buys …

RNC launching multimillion-dollar effort to hit Dems on tax reform in 2018  —  The Republican National Committee (RNC) is gearing up to launch a multimillion-dollar effort at the start of 2018 aimed at vulnerable Democrats who voted against the GOP's tax bill.

Trump's ambassador to the Netherlands just got caught lying about the Dutch … A Dutch journalist just asked new U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra why he said there are “no go” areas in the Netherlands, where radical Muslims are setting cars and politicians on fire.  —  Hoekstra denied it, and called the claim “fake news.”

Justice Dept. Revokes 25 Legal Guidance Documents Dating to 1975  —  WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday that he had revoked more than two dozen documents that interpreted and explained a wide range of federal laws, including guidelines on storing explosives and accommodating people with disabilities.

4-Month-Old Attacked By Raccoon Inside Home  —  PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A baby had to undergo surgery after being attacked by a raccoon inside a North Philadelphia home earlier this week.  —  Papa John's Founder Stepping Down As CEO Following NFL Anthem Protest Comments

Georgia regulators say nuclear reactors, nation's first since 1978, will be finished  —  Move comes despite massive cost overruns, delays  —  In a decision that could help shape the future of American nuclear power, Georgia regulators on Thursday said a troubled $25 billion reactor project that's …