Exclusive: The true origins of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory.  A Yahoo News investigation.  —  WASHINGTON — In the summer of 2016, Russian intelligence agents secretly planted a fake report claiming that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was gunned down by a squad …

President Trump cannot block his critics on Twitter, federal appeals court rules  —  President Trump cannot block his critics from the Twitter feed he regularly uses to communicate with the public, a federal appeals court said Tuesday, in a case with implications for how elected officials nationwide interact …

McConnell likens himself to Obama: ‘We both are the descendants of slave owners’  —  The Senate majority leader, who opposes reparations, was asked about NBC News' report that two of his great-great-grandfathers owned at least 14 slaves.  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell …

Barr Won't Recuse Himself From New Case Against Jeffrey Epstein  —  Attorney General William Barr won't recuse himself from involvement in the new charges filed against Jeffrey Epstein by federal prosecutors in New York, according to a Justice Department official.

Tom Steyer Will Run for President and Plans to Spend $100 Million on His Bid  —  Tom Steyer, the former hedge fund investor turned impeachment activist, announced on Tuesday that he would challenge President Trump in 2020, reversing a previous decision not to enter the race.

Trump dossier author Steele gets 16-hour DOJ grilling  —  The interview was contentious at first, according to two people familiar with the matter, but investigators ultimately found his testimony credible and even surprising.  —  Christopher Steele, the former British spy behind the infamous …

Billionaire insists he has legal parking spot on West Village street, infuriating neighbors who say he created a fake space for himself  —  A billionaire hedge fund honcho carved out a personal driveway in a West Village sidewalk — and didn't pay a dime for the brazen annexation of public space.

Ross Perot, self-made billionaire, patriot and philanthropist, dies at 89  —  Ross Perot, self-made billionaire, renowned patriot and two-time independent candidate for U.S. president, has died after a five-month battle with leukemia.  —  He was 89.  —  The pioneer of the computer services industry …

Michael Flynn Changes His Story, Putting Him on Collision Course With Judge  —  WASHINGTON — Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser, backed off his planned testimony in a federal case against a former associate, according to court documents unsealed on Tuesday.

Jeffrey Epstein's Sick Story Played Out for Years in Plain Sight  —  How did the New York financier stay nearly untouchable for decades?  Vicky Ward—who has reported extensively on Epstein, on efforts to rehabilitate him—finds out what's changed.  —  A couple of years ago …

Jill Biden defends husband from Kamala Harris: Can't say 'that he's a racist'  —  Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of former Vice President Joe Biden, adamantly defended her husband in the wake of criticism from Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., during the first Democratic primary debate — arguing that he was definitely not racist.

'What's the point?'  Lawmakers fess up to not fully reading the Mueller report  —  Time for a Mueller report reality check: Only a small segment of America's most powerful have read it.  —  President Donald Trump can't give a straight answer about the subject.

Rapinoe 42, Trump 41  —  By popular demand PPP tested how a Megan Rapinoe v. Donald Trump 2020 match up would shake out, and we found that Rapinoe gets 42% to 41% for Trump.  —  Trump's 41% standing is familiar territory.  On PPP's last public national poll we tested 8 of the actual Democratic candidates …

Hola: Majority of Hispanic voters approve of citizenship question on U.S. census  —  Two-thirds of voters approve of a citizenship question on the 2020 census, and that includes a majority of Hispanic voters — despite claims by Democratic lawmakers that the inquiry would discourage participation in Latino communities.

Updating our rules against hateful conduct  —  We create our rules to keep people safe on Twitter, and they continuously evolve to reflect the realities of the world we operate within.  Our primary focus is on addressing the risks of offline harm, and research* shows that dehumanizing language increases that risk.

Republican Compared Anti-LGBTQ Proposal To Saving Jews From Holocaust  —  State Sen. Dan Bishop, who faces Democrat Dan McCready in a special election, used an Oskar Schindler analogy to characterize his advocacy against gay rights.  —  The Republican candidate for an open House seat …

Elizabeth Warren shuns conventional wisdom for a new kind of campaign  —  When Elizabeth Warren said earlier this year she was swearing off fundraisers, many Democratic strategists saw it as a sign of desperation from a flailing candidate.  —  But that gamble against conventional wisdom …

The Effects on Employment and Family Income of Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage  —  The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not changed since 2009, though many states and localities have set their minimum wage above that level.  Increasing the federal minimum wage would have two principal effects on low-wage workers.

Why Lucy McBath faces challenge over Trump impeachment  —  Lawmakers are gearing up for a new debate over the impeachment of President Donald Trump when former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies in Congress next week.  And it could raise the pressure on Democrats in tight districts to join the push to oust Trump.

The Breakup  —  It was bound to happen.  —  Like a summer romance, this relationship always felt doomed to fail.  Brought together by little more than the maxim “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Never Trumpers and Democrats seem like they're on the verge of a break up.

Democrats have moved ‘too far to the left,’ says BET network founder Bob Johnson  —  KEY POINTS  — America's political establishment is riven with partisanship that has become “very wicked and very mean,” said entrepreneur and media mogul Robert Johnson

A black principal, four white teens and the ‘senior prank’ that became a hate crime  —  The students swore they weren't racists.  Now a Maryland judge would decide their fate.  —  The principal saw a swastika first.  It was inky black, spray painted on a trash can just beside the entrance to the high school.

The War to Empower Rural White Voters Is Bigger Than Trump  —  One month before Donald Trump launched his presidential bid, the Supreme Court agreed to consider a bid by conservative legal activists to rejigger the boundaries of American electoral politics in their favor.

How to Run the Perfect Losing Campaign  —  In praise of the rare candidate who actually knows when to quit.  —  Eric Swalwell ended his presidential campaign on Monday.  You probably don't know who he is - a member of the House from California - or that he was running.  He didn't even make the trivia books, really.

Do House Democrats really want Trump's taxes?  —  On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed legislation that would allow Congress to obtain state tax returns.  The bill gives House Democrats a powerful new route to obtain Trump's taxes.  Under the new bill, House Ways …