The House has already opened an impeachment investigation against Trump  —  Forget the political optics.  As a matter of law, the Judiciary Committee's actions are clear.  —  Has the House of Representatives opened an impeachment inquiry?  That question is starkly presented by a petition …

GOP Rep. Martha Roby to retire  —  Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) announced Friday she plans to retire at the end of her term, becoming the third Republican lawmaker to announce their retirement this week.  —  “While my name will not be on the ballot in 2020, I remain committed to continuing …

$250 million Sandmann lawsuit against Washington Post dismissed by federal judge  —  Ted Sandmann, father Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann, on why he wants doxing legislation to criminalize revealing a minor's identity online  —  The $250 million lawsuit filed by Nick Sandmann …

Gross Domestic Product, Second Quarter 2019 (Advance Estimate) and Annual Update  —  Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2019 (table 1), according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Lil Nas X Shuts Down Mayor Pete Buttigieg ‘Old Town Road’ Collaboration  —  The 2020 candidate was set to recite the lyrics to the chart-topping megahit for a BuzzFeed event, but the singer nixed the idea, leading to the mayor's exit.  —  Lil Nas X has collaborated with the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus, Keith Urban, BTS, and Young Thug.

DOJ's Russia probe review focusing on ‘smoking gun’ tapes of meeting with Trump aide: sources  —  CIA, FBI and DNI work with Attorney General Bill Barr to determine the origins of the Trump-Russia probe  —  The Justice Department's internal review of the Russia investigation is zeroing …

EXCLUSIVE: Ilhan Omar SPLITS with her husband and moves into luxury penthouse as she heads for SECOND divorce with father of her three children  — Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and her husband Ahmed Hirsi - the father of her three children - have split, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively

You Have a Moral Obligation to Claim Your $125 From Equifax  —  Help make sure that companies pay the consequences for data breaches.  —  Go claim your $125 from Equifax.  Right now.  Even if $125 isn't a sum of money that matters to you, even if you don't feel you were really directly affected by the breach.

‘It snuck up on us’: Scientists stunned by ‘city-killer’ asteroid that just missed Earth  —  Alan Duffy was confused.  On Thursday, the astronomer's phone was suddenly flooded with calls from reporters wanting to know about a large asteroid that had just whizzed past Earth, and he couldn't figure out “why everyone was so alarmed.”

Shadow force: The secret history of the U.S. intelligence community's battle with Iran's Revolutionary Guard  —  The hackers pretended to be professors, appealing to Achilles' heel of academics: their egos.  Posing as admiring colleagues from other universities, they emailed their targets …

Is ‘Doing the Right Thing’ Worth Increasing the Risk of a Second Trump Term?  —  A new argument for impeaching President Trump has gained attention in the wake of Robert Mueller's testimony in the House on Wednesday, during which the special counsel confirmed his understanding that Trump …

The American System Is Already Failing  —  The Mueller hearings told us almost nothing that we didn't know already.  We knew that the president welcomed assistance from a foreign power in order to win an election, and has fawned over his political patron in this endeavor, Vladimir Putin, since he became president.

What happened to the Republican outrage on Russia?  —  First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.  —  WASHINGTON — Two and a half years ago, it was easy to find Republicans who were outraged …

Exclusive: Inside the effort to turn Trump against Amazon's bid for a $10 billion contract  —  (CNN)Tech giant Oracle's push to scuttle a bid by its rival Amazon to win a highly sought-after defense contract has reached President Donald Trump's desk — a possible attempt to appeal to the President's …

Scarborough calls McConnell ‘Moscow Mitch,’ says lack of action on Russian meddling is ‘un-American’  —  MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Friday lashed out at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling him “Moscow Mitch” over his inaction on legislation to address Russian election interference.

The Extraordinary Humbling of John Hickenlooper  —  HANOVER, N.H. — Can John Hickenlooper interest you in a joke?  —  “What's the opposite of woe?”  Mr. Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor and still-presidential-candidate, asked inside a hotel reception room last week …

Trump announces asylum deal with Guatemala  —  President Donald Trump said today that the United States had struck an asylum agreement with Guatemala.  —  Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he had reached a “safe third country” deal with the Central American nation.

The New Yorker Seriously Mischaracterized the Story of One of Al Franken's Accusers  —  This week, the New Yorker ran a long piece by Jane Mayer re-examining the sexual harassment allegations against Al Franken, a piece which minimized the accusations themselves while giving Franken ample space to defend himself.

Charlottesville Lawyers Dump Nazi Clients  —  These two ‘Unite the Right’ white supremacists are so loathsome, their own lawyers are giving them the boot.  —  One won't pay his legal bills and keeps threatening attorneys.  The other is on the run.  These two white supremacists are so awful, their own lawyers are dumping them.

What Were Robespierre's Pronouns?  —  The French Revolution was led by sociopaths who politicized language, much like today's Jacobins.  —  We often make historical parallels here.  History doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme, as clever people say.  And sometimes it hiccups.  Here is a hiccup.

Ex-Congressmen Took Your Cash.  They Used It to Help the Saudis and the Qataris.  —  The contributions “add another dimension to the familiar but ever-expanding story of money, influence, and access in Washington,” the Campaign Legal Center wrote in its report.

Pakistan - Technical Security Team (TST) in Continued Support of the F-16 Program  —  Media/Public Contact:  —  pm-cpa@state.gov  —  Transmittal No:  —  19-29  —  The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Pakistan for Technical Security Team …

Mueller Moments You Might Have Missed  —  Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not want to make a splash on Wednesday.  He didn't want to be testifying on Capitol Hill at all.  His reluctance to be in the spotlight was apparent as he delivered most of his answers with as few words as possible and zero dramatic flair.