White House officials knew about Porter's abuse allegations and scrambled to protect him  —  (CNN)Senior aides to President Donald Trump knew for months about allegations of domestic abuse levied against top White House staffer Rob Porter by his ex-wives, even as Porter's stock …

Right-wing media obsesses over FBI text message story; hours later it's debunked  —  Members of the pro-Trump media acted like they hit the goldmine on Wednesday morning.  Led by Fox News, these outlets went into a frenzy over what they presented as an explosive story that not only cast former President Obama …

Russians penetrated U.S. voter systems, says top U.S. official  —  The U.S. official in charge of protecting American elections from hacking says the Russians successfully penetrated the voter registration rolls of several U.S. states prior to the 2016 presidential election.

Uranium One informant makes Clinton allegations in testimony  —  An FBI informant connected to the Uranium One controversy told three congressional committees in written testimony that Moscow routed millions of dollars to America with the expectation it would be used to benefit Bill Clinton

George W. Bush: ‘Clear evidence Russians meddled’ in election  —  Former President George W. Bush appeared to take aim at President Trump on Thursday when he said at an economic summit in the Middle East that there was “pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled” in the 2016 U.S. president election.

Nunes: We've ‘grappled’ with approaching Chief Justice Roberts  —  House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes  —  (R-Calif.) has weighed whether it would be possible to bring Chief Justice John Roberts to “testify” before Congress as part of his investigation into political malfeasance at the Department of Justice.

Trump's military parade draws bipartisan rebuke  —  Members of Congress from both parties joined retired military leaders and veterans in heaping scorn Wednesday on President Donald Trump's push to parade soldiers and weaponry down the streets of the nation's capital — calling it a waste …

Republicans are completely reversing themselves on the deficit … Republican lawmakers in 2011 brought the U.S. government to the brink of default, refused to raise the debt ceiling, demanded huge spending cuts, and insisted on a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.

An escort girl may be the latest ‘Russia Gate’ link  —  Alexey Navalny has published new corruption allegations against Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Prikhodko and oligarch Oleg Deripaska, alleging that the two met aboard Deripaska's yacht in August 2016 off the coast of Norway …

Nancy Pelosi Claims Record for Longest House Floor Speech  —  And a brief history of the chamber's ‘filibuster’  —  Will 2018 Be the New Year of the Woman?  So Long, Insurance Penalty: Here's Where the Most People Were Paying House Freedom Caucus Has Mulvaney's Ear

From Fallujah to FBI investigation: The undoing of Duncan Hunter  —  The criminal investigation into Rep. Duncan Hunter is intensifying as a grand jury in San Diego questions multiple former aides about whether the California Republican improperly diverted political funds for personal use.

ICE Wants to Be an Intelligence Agency Under Trump … Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement are actively exploring joining the U.S. Intelligence Community, The Daily Beast has learned.  —  The effort is helmed by a small cohort of career Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) …

Big Russian delegation anticipated for prayer breakfast in Washington  —  Russian state TV sides with President Trump  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump will attend the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, a prime networking opportunity for Beltway insiders.  But this year's event is also an opportunity for dozens of Russians.

Pro-government forces attack U.S., Kurdish troops in eastern Syria … Pro-government forces in Syria launched an assault on a base where U.S. troops were operating in support of local partner units, triggering a counterattack from U.S. aircraft, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

U.S. Secretly Offered Iran a Channel for Talks on Prisoners  —  Iranians so far have spurned Trump administration's overture  —  The White House secretly reached out to Iran in December to propose creating a direct channel to negotiate the release of prisoners held by each side …

‘Tough it out’: Watch Jeff Sessions recommend aspirin instead of opioids for chronic pain patients  —  Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week said that the solution for many people who suffer from chronic pain should be to “take aspirin and tough it out.”  —  The Tampa Bay Times reports Sessions …

Meet the first Gerber baby with Down syndrome; his name is Lucas!  —  The 2018 Gerber baby is Lucas Warren, a 1-year-old from Dalton, Georgia who is the first child with Down syndrome to be named a Gerber baby since the contest's start in 2010.  —  “He's very outgoing and never meets a stranger …