President Trump installed a room-sized golf simulator at White House  —  President Trump has installed a room-sized “golf simulator” game at the White House, which allows him to play virtual rounds at courses all over the world by hitting a ball into a large video screen, according to two people told about the system.

Trump backer Tom Barrack defends Saudi Arabia  —  Real estate developer said that kingdom was misunderstood by the West  —  Dubai: America is in no moral position to criticise Saudi Arabia, according to financier and key Trump backer Tom Barrack.  —  Speaking on stage at the Milken Institute MENA Summit …

Former U.S. Counterintelligence Agent Charged With Espionage on Behalf of Iran; Four Iranians Charged With a Cyber Campaign Targeting Her Former Colleagues  —  Indictment Unsealed as U.S. Treasury Department Announces Economic Sanctions  —  Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, a former U.S. service member …

Kamala Harris Was Accused of Lying About Listening to Tupac and Snoop Dogg.  The Truth Is More Complicated.  —  It began as a lighthearted moment.  Senator Kamala Harris, the California Democrat and former prosecutor who announced her presidential candidacy last month …

Howard Schultz and the media's unlearned lesson  —  A billionaire flirts with a run for president and gets grossly disproportionate free airtime.  We all know the punchline.  Howard Schultz, the running-but-not-yet-running former CEO of Starbucks, has attracted intense media interest …

Justice Department investigating leak of confidential Michael Cohen bank records  —  (CNN)The Justice Department is investigating the leak last year of confidential reports about Michael Cohen's personal bank records which led to revelations that the former Donald Trump lawyer was profiting …

Michael Bloomberg's $500 million anti-Trump moonshot  —  Billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg is preparing to spend at least $500 million from his own pocket to deny President Donald Trump a second term, according to Democratic operatives briefed on his plans.

Democrats are learning to copy Trump.  Uh-oh.  —  Sometime in the past few years, the left became obsessed with “gaslighting.”  Derived from the 1944 movie “Gaslight” starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, the term means not just lying to someone's face but also persuading them that they don't see what you both plainly do.

Who is Richard Burr, Really?  Why the public can't trust his voice in the Russia probe  —  On the same day that Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) officially joined the Trump campaign as a senior national security advisor, the U.S. intelligence community released a statement that the Kremlin was trying to interfere in the election.

MN Jewish leaders talked with Ilhan Omar about anti-Semitism last year.  Why they remain frustrated.  —  Ilhan Omar has been talked to about this before.  —  Last year, before she was elected to the House of Representatives, before she emerged from a crowded Democratic field …

Green New Deal has paved the way for Trump to cave on border wall funding at lower political cost  —  Thanks to the release of the Green New Deal, President Trump will be able to sign on to the latest plan to fund the government without his border wall funding at a much lower political cost.

Being Raised by Two Narcissists Taught Me How to Deal with Trump  —  Two years in, some people are still expecting one of his scandals to bring him down.  I know better.  —  If you've watched the past three-plus years of the Donald Trump circus looking for some glimmer of hope he'll get owned …

House Democrats plan vast Russia probe  —  Mueller is just the beginning.  House Democrats plan a vast probe of President Trump and Russia — with a heavy focus on money laundering — that will include multiple committees and dramatic public hearings, and could last into 2020.

President Trump wants the press to check out the Great Tariff Debate of 1888.  Okay!  —  On tariffs, what can 1888 tell us about 2019?  —  Many things happened at President Trump's El Paso rally on Monday night.  A BBC cameraman was violently attacked by a #MAGA supporter; you can read his colleague's account of that here.

U.S. Revives Secret Program to Sabotage Iranian Missiles and Rockets  —  WARSAW — The Trump White House has accelerated a secret American program to sabotage Iran's missiles and rockets, according to current and former administration officials, who described it as part of an expanding campaign …

Investigation finds no evidence of ‘racist or offensive statements’ by Covington Catholic students during Lincoln Memorial incident  —  An investigation released Wednesday into an encounter between Covington Catholic High School students and Native American activists at the Lincoln Memorial …

Trump Approval, Economic Confidence Rebound  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump's job approval rating has risen to 44% after the conclusion of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.  While views of Trump have improved, the public's heightened positivity does not extend …

NASA rover finally bites the dust on Mars after 15 years  —  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's Opportunity, the Mars rover that was built to operate just three months but kept going and going, was pronounced dead Wednesday, 15 years after it landed on the red planet.

APNewsBreak: Howard Dean to head new Dem voter data exchange  —  Howard Dean is back.  —  The one-time presidential candidate, former Vermont governor and ex-Democratic National Committee chairman is set to return to prominence as head of a new operation that Democrats hope puts them back on par …

‘Mr. Manafort did not lie’: Attorneys take final stand against Mueller charges  —  The special counsel has accused Manafort of breaching a plea deal when he lied about interactions with an associate allegedly linked to Russian intelligence.  —  Paul Manafort's lawyers made a last-ditch bid Wednesday …

Unmistakable Divide Among Women in Virginia Over Accusations Against Fairfax  —  RICHMOND, Va. — To Constance Cordovilla, the president of the Virginia National Organization for Women, the two sexual assault allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax are not just grounds for him to resign …

I scrape mould off the top of jam and eat what's underneath, admits PM: Theresa May shares hot tip with Cabinet in discussion over food waste  —  It is advice which could have come from a Good Housekeeping guide - but it also applies to 10 Downing Street too.

NETANYAHU: ISRAEL AND ARAB STATES ADVANCING COMMON INTEREST OF WAR WITH IRAN  —  Israel is working to oust Iran from Syria, Netanyahu said, adding, “we are obligated to do this and we will do this.”  —  Arab countries and Israel are talking about war with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu …

McCarthy rebuffs accusations of anti-Semitism in deleted tweet about Soros, Steyer and Bloomberg  —  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday denied expressing anti-Semitic undertones in a now-deleted tweet he posted before last year's midterms that warned of three prominent Jewish …