Exclusive: Senate investigators told Trump Jr.'s mysterious calls weren't with his father  —  (CNN)Senate investigators have obtained new information showing Donald Trump Jr.'s mysterious phone calls ahead of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not with his father, three sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

Senate Rebukes Trump Over Troop Withdrawals From Syria and Afghanistan  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate, in a stinging bipartisan rebuke to President Trump's foreign policy, voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation drafted by the Senate majority leader to express strong opposition …

Feds Seized ‘Several Years’ of Roger Stone's Communications  —  FBI agents seized several years worth of Roger Stone's communications following his arrest last week, prosecutors told a federal judge on Thursday.  In a motion to ask for more time to bring Stone's case to trial …

Why We Are Quitting RedState  —  For more than a decade, RedState was a solid voice in the world of online conservative commentary.  Unfortunately, the allure of Trumpism has left the once great site a shell of its former self.  —  In 2015, before the Republican tide shifted …

Howard Schultz Doesn't Understand American History  —  The most effective third-party presidential candidates were polarizers, not centrists.  —  Howard Schultz, the former chief executive of Starbucks, cannot win the presidency as an independent candidate.  But is there someone who could?

Bezos' Investigators Question the Brother of His Mistress, Lauren Sanchez, in National Enquirer Leak Probe  —  Michael Sanchez is an outspoken Trump supporter with ties to Roger Stone and Carter Page.  —  Jeff Bezos' top personal security consultant has questioned his mistress' brother …

If Howard Schultz Wants To Run For President, He Should Run Against Donald Trump  —  Howard Schultz's clumsy and damaging entry into the 2020 presidential race this week offers a lesson for billionaires who would like to replace Donald Trump: They should consider running against Donald Trump.

‘Whistleblower’ in White House security clearance office gets suspended  —  Tricia Newbold was suspended less than a week after NBC reported Jared Kushner's top secret security clearance was approved over staff objections.  —  WASHINGTON — A White House security specialist …

Virginia lawmaker says she wouldn't have co-sponsored controversial abortion bill if she had read it closely  —  A Virginia lawmaker sent an email to her constituents Wednesday night apologizing for attaching her name to a controversial abortion bill without reading it closely enough.

Trump Considering Herman Cain for Federal Reserve Board, Sources Say  — President interviewed former Godfather's CEO on Wednesday  — Cain's presidential run ended in sexual misconduct scandal  —  Herman Cain, the former pizza company executive who ran for the Republican presidential nomination …

Trump Is Finalizing a Nuclear Option That Could Split the G.O.P.  —  The president believes he has the upper hand—but he might be walking into a trap.  —  In public, Donald Trump is still talking (and tweeting) about an immigration compromise with Democrats to avert another government shutdown.

Progressive Dems: ‘Not Another Dollar’ More in DHS Funding  —  Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar just threw a wrench in the border wall debate.  —  Four freshman progressive House members are throwing a wrench into government funding negotiations …

Kyrsten Sinema Is Not Just a Funky Dresser.  She's a Fashion Revolutionary.  —  In July 2017, Democratic women in Congress organized a protest against the enforcement of an “appropriate attire” dress code that was being used to keep reporters in sleeveless outfits out of certain parts of the Capitol building.

Bernie Sanders to propose dramatic expansion in estate tax on richest Americans, including 77 percent rate on billionaires  —  Sanders's “For the 99.8% Act” would target the wealthiest 0.2 percent of estates.  —  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will unveil a plan Thursday to dramatically expand …

Trump Allies Think Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Hiding or Dead.  It Started on QAnon.  —  She's kept a low profile while recovering from cancer surgery.  Right-wing sickos turned that against the liberal Supreme Court justice.  —  Top figures in the pro-Trump media are claiming Supreme Court …

Trump insists he's on same page as intel chiefs after insulting them  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that his intelligence chiefs, including Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel, told him that they were misquoted …

The Coming Democratic Drama Over Medicare for All  —  As more Democrats propose moving beyond the Affordable Care Act, the party may be steaming toward the same iceberg that sank Republican efforts to repeal the law.  —  The GOP's drive to rescind the ACA ran aground in part because it pitted …

APNewsBreak: ICE force-feeding detainees on hunger strike  —  Federal immigration officials are force-feeding six immigrants through plastic nasal tubes during a hunger strike that's gone on for a month inside a Texas detention facility, The Associated Press has learned.

Amy Klobuchar may be best equipped to send the president packing  —  Surely the silliest aspirant for the Democrats' 2020 presidential nomination is already known: “ Beto ,” a. k.a.  Robert Francis, O'Rourke is a skateboarding man-child whose fascination with himself caused him to live-stream …

The Six Forms of Media Bias  —  A media critic inveighs against the bias toward centrism, which inspires me to come up with my own list.  —  “Impartiality is still a value worth defending in mainstream news coverage,” writes Margaret Sullivan, the Washington Post media critic.

Until this week, Del. Kathy Tran was known for nursing her daughter on the House floor.  Now Republicans are calling her a baby killer.  —  Del. Kathy Tran arrived in Richmond last year as part of a wave of Democratic women whose electoral victories in Northern Virginia leveled the balance of power in the General Assembly.

The 15 Things You Need to Know About Chris Christie's Book  —  Chris Christie's tell-all, Let Me Finish, has now hit shelves, and it's absolutely the second most interesting book about Donald Trump released this week.  —  Is it worth you slogging through the entire 400 pages?  Hard pass.

‘The man who attacked me works in your kitchen’: Victim of serial groper took justice into her own hands  —  Nearly six years ago, on an unseasonably warm April night in Washington, Lauren Clark was cooling down from a jog when she spotted a man in the distance.

Who's Ahead in the Race to Beat Trump? … Jan. 31, 2019 … This week on “The Argument,” a debate over who is leading the 2020 Democratic primary in its nascent state.  Jamelle Bouie, The Times's newest Opinion columnist, joins his colleagues to discuss declared and potential candidates hoping to win the presidency.

Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps  —  Google joins Facebook in Apple's banning spree  —  Apple has now shut down Google's ability to distribute its internal iOS apps, following a similar shutdown that was issued to Facebook earlier this week.

Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior From Iran  —  Today we removed multiple Pages, groups and accounts that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram.  This activity was directed from Iran, in some cases repurposing Iranian state media content …

How the relationship between Trump and Bloomberg went into a tailspin  —  NEW YORK — On an autumn day in 2013, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg traveled to the Bronx to hail the transformation of a massive garbage dump into a world-class golf course.  Donald Trump stood nearby …