New questions raised about Avenatti claims regarding Kavanaugh  —  “I do not like that he twisted my words,” one woman says of lawyer Michael Avenatti.  —  When Sen. Chuck Grassley referred attorney Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for criminal investigation Thursday …

Trump Considers Closing Southern Border to Migrants  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump is considering taking executive action to bar migrants, including asylum seekers, from entering the country at the southern border, according to people familiar with the plan.

Newt Gingrich: 'We'll see whether or not the Kavanaugh fight was worth it'  —  Megyn Kelly's rocky two years at NBC  —  Saudi Arabia concedes Khashoggi's murder was premeditated  —  Numerous pipe bombs sent to prominent critics of President Trump  —  CNN's New York offices evacuated after reports of a suspicious device

EXCLUSIVE: Megyn Kelly is OUT at NBC just 48 hours after defending blackface as she and the network fight over whether she will be paid out her $69M contract in full  — Her show aired a repeat on Thursday and will also be a repeat on Friday after she defended blackface on Tuesday's show and apologized Wednesday on air

Trump used charity money to buy his own portrait because no one else would: lawyers … Donald Trump had no choice but to blow $10,000 in charity money on a giant painting of himself — because no one else wanted it, his lawyers claimed in court Thursday.  —  Trump picked up the infamous painting …

Ballot Applications in Georgia, and Senate and House Latest: 12 Days to Go  —  Welcome to The Tip Sheet, a daily political analysis of the 2018 elections, based on interviews with Republican and Democratic officials, pollsters, strategists and voters.  —  Voter applications said to be missing in Georgia

‘False Flag’ Theory on Pipe Bombs Zooms From Right-Wing Fringe to Mainstream  —  Just hours after the news broke this week that explosive devices had been sent to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats, a conspiracy theory began to take shape in certain corners of conservative media.

Trump administration considers travel ban-like order for Mexican border  —  WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering an executive action that could use travel ban-like authority to block certain asylum seekers at the Mexican border, sources familiar with the discussions said Thursday.

How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the ‘Father of Android’  —  The internet giant paid Mr. Rubin $90 million and praised him, while keeping silent about a misconduct claim.  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Google gave Andy Rubin, the creator of Android mobile software, a hero's farewell when he left the company in October 2014.

Housing Is Tanking in the Northeast.  Guess Why.  —  Losing big deductions for state and local property taxes is having the expected effect.  —  Sales of new single-family houses were down 13.2 percent in September from a year earlier, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

Saudi Spy Met With Team Trump About Taking Down Iran  —  Mueller's investigators examined a series of meetings between an Israeli social media strategist, the general blamed for Jamal Khashoggi's murder, and Trump adviser Michael Flynn.  —  Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri, the Saudi intelligence chief taking …

GOP sees new bomb scare victim: Trump  —  A day after several leading Democrats were found to have been targeted by package bombs, Republicans have identified one of their own as a victim: President Donald Trump.  —  As of Thursday afternoon, less than 36 hours after the first packages were discovered …

Instagram Removes Milo Yiannopoulos Post Praising Mail Bombs After Daily Beast Report  —  Instagram had first told The Daily Beast that Yiannopoulos' post regretting that the bombs didn't go off had not violated its standards.  —  Instagram deleted a post from right-wing figure Milo Yiannopoulos praising …

There's Just No Way That a Terrorism-by-Mail Scheme Targeting the Political-Media Establishment Could be a False Flag.  I Mean, It Couldn't Happen Again, After The Last False Flag Mail Terror Attack in 2001  —  Everyone remember the Anthrax mailings?  —  Real anthrax, by the way.  Not fugazi.

Mueller has evidence suggesting Stone associate knew Clinton emails would be leaked  —  Mueller's team is investigating whether Jerome Corsi knew stolen emails would be leaked and passed information about them to Trump associate Roger Stone.  —  WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office …

I thought Trump would help the LGBTQ community.  I was wrong.  —  Caitlyn Jenner is a transgender rights advocate and author.  —  These past two years under President Trump have given me the opportunity to reflect on a lot of topics that have come up in the LGBTQ community and in our nation.

New voters get notices listing wrong Dodge City polling site  —  WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — After moving Dodge City's sole polling site outside city limits, county election officials sent newly registered voters an official certificate of registration that listed the wrong place to cast a ballot …

Judge denies Nunes access to secret depositions on Steele dossier  —  The chairmen of two congressional committees, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Cal., who sought sealed testimony in a South Florida court case from key players in the Trump-Russia investigation ran afoul …

We recommend Beto O'Rourke for U.S. Senate  —  When, in the course of human events, a people become so divided among themselves that they can no longer engage in meaningful political discourse or even remain civil to one another, it is time to take bold steps forward.

Trump's DEA Chief Vetted Candidates and Then Took the Job Himself, Riling Police Groups  —  Uttam Dhillon's rise to the top of the drug-fighting agency disappointed organizations seeking an administrator with law-enforcement experience  —  WASHINGTON—As one of President Trump's top compliance …

Dining club emails reveal Kavanaugh's close ties to Trump's solicitor general  —  The new supreme court justice was a member of the Eureka club with Noel Francisco, who argues government cases before court  —  Brett Kavanaugh, the new supreme court justice, counts the Trump administration's solicitor general …

Careless cruelty  —  Civil servants said separating families was illegal.  The administration ignored us.  —  The meeting was way overdue, and it wasn't going well.  —  It was May 21.  The Department of Homeland Security, where I worked as a senior adviser in the Office for Civil Rights …

How much a pint of beer costs around the world  — The price of a pint of beer varies from city to city.  — Deutsche Bank analyzed the price of beer in 50 cities worldwide and found Dubai was the most expensive, with the average pint costing $12.  — New York City and San Francisco …

At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks  —  Buzzwords and anxiety fill the hallways as Hollywood giant tries to maintain a winning culture amid breakneck growth; ‘sunshining’ the ‘N-word’ scandal  —  At a Netflix Inc. corporate retreat in July …

Kroger Shooting: Accused shooter tried to get into Baptist church minutes before attack  —  First Baptist Church on Watterson Trail has predominantly black congregation  —  LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The man accused of killing two people at a busy grocery store was seen on surveillance video trying …

Holocaust memorial group unwittingly funded Rep. King's meeting with far-right Austrians  —  Rep. Steve King met with members of a far-right Austrian party with historical Nazi ties during a European trip financed by a Holocaust memorial group.  —  In an interview with a website associated with the party …

Exclusive: Chelsea Clinton mulling political office: If someone ‘steps down or retires’  —  Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former president Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said she wouldn't rule out a run for office herself, and said her mother has not spoken …

Package Found At Building That Houses Sen. Dianne Feinstein's Office Determined Safe  —  LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - A package that was discovered Thursday at a building that houses one of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's state offices turned out to not pose a threat.  —  SKY2 was over the scene on the corner …

Hundreds of Thousands of Wisconsin Voters Purged from Rolls Since 2016 General Election  —  A review of the latest voter registration tallies by Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) finds that almost 700,000 Wisconsin voters have been removed from the voter rolls since the end of December 2016 …

The Russians didn't swing the 2016 election to Trump.  But Fox News might have.  —  Blaming foreign influence is a cop-out.  The most influential propaganda is homegrown.  —  Yochai Benkler is a professor at Harvard Law School, co-director of Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society …

Elizabeth Warren Meets the Left's Circular Firing Squad  —  The release of her DNA test might not have been the best idea, but it shouldn't be disqualifying.  —  I recently spent an afternoon with some new friends in Connecticut, writing letters to registered Democrats in Georgia who hadn't voted in the past few elections.

Time Warner Center, building that houses CNN's NYC headquarters, partially evacuated  —  New York City's Time Warner Center, the building that houses CNN's Manhattan headquarters, was partially evacuated Thursday for about an hour as police investigated a “pair of unattended packages” found at the building, the NYPD said.

Facebook's political ad tool let us buy ads “paid for” by Mike Pence and ISIS  —  Last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said making political advertising more transparent was one of the most important things the company would do after it was revealed Russians used the platform to attempt to manipulate the 2016 presidential election.