Phone logs in impeachment report renew concern about security of Trump communications  —  President Trump has routinely communicated with his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, and other individuals speaking on cellphones vulnerable to monitoring by Russian and other foreign intelligence services …

Doubts Surface Over Giuliani-White House Budget Office Calls  —  Number associated with OMB is also linked to several other offices in the White House  —  WASHINGTON—House Democrats earlier this week released records asserting that Rudy Giuliani was in contact with a phone number associated …

When Pete Buttigieg Was One of McKinsey's ‘Whiz Kids’  —  Among the hoops that candidates for plum consulting jobs at McKinsey & Company had to jump through in late 2006 was a bit of play acting: They were given a scenario involving a hypothetical client, “a business under siege,” …

The Republicans' Star Impeachment Scholar Is a Shameless Hack  —  Jonathan Turley's testimony was so inconsistent, it contradicted his own previous statements on impeachment.  —  The House Judiciary Committee held something like a national teach-in on impeachment yesterday.

US gains a robust 266,000 jobs; unemployment falls to 3.5%  —  1 of 3  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring in the United States jumped last month to its highest level since January as U.S. employers shrugged off global trade conflicts and added 266,000 jobs.  —  The unemployment rate declined …

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Biden: Media, rivals wrong that AOC represents direction of party  —  Former Vice President Joe Biden told “Axios on HBO” in Iowa that he has shaped the 2020 race, faulting the media and his rivals for thinking Democratic voters are more liberal than the reality.

Mike Bloomberg says he's “not trying to take” Joe Biden's job in 2020 race  —  Mike Bloomberg says he's not just another billionaire running for president.  In an exclusive interview with “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King, Bloomberg spoke about President Trump, the other Democratic …

Joe Biden says Trump is ‘ripping the soul out of this country’ and 'we're likely to inherit a recession'  — Joe Biden sat down with CNBC's John Harwood on Thursday to discuss a range of topics, including trade, health care, taxes and President Trump's standing among world leaders.

R. Kelly Used Bribe to Marry Aaliyah When She Was 15, Charges Say  —  He bribed a government employee in 1994 so that he could obtain a fake ID for the singer Aaliyah, a person familiar with the matter said.  —  A persistent question has dogged R. Kelly's two-decade music career …

Southaven Republican challenges 14-vote loss to Democrat, asks House to overturn election  —  State Rep. Ashley Henley, a Southaven Republican, is asking the GOP-led Mississippi House to overturn the results of the election she narrowly lost to Democrat Hester Jackson-McCray.

Inside the Cell Where a Sick 16-Year-Old Boy Died in Border Patrol Care  —  Video obtained by ProPublica shows the Border Patrol held a sick teen in a concrete cell without proper medical attention and did not discover his body until his cellmate alerted guards.  The video doesn't match the Border Patrol's account of his death.

Another California GOP lawmaker is leaving the Republican Party.  Here's why  —  California's Republican Party is getting even smaller.  —  The super-minority in the Legislature has lost another state lawmaker, as former Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley has decided …

Boy invites entire kindergarten class to his adoption hearing — and it's adorable  —  This boy's definition of family will warm your heart.  —  A Michigan kindergartner brought his entire class to witness his adoption hearing Thursday in an adorable courtroom scene marking Kent County's annual Adoption Day.

Disgraced “Peloton Husband” Speaks Out  —  The psychological impact of being at the centre of worldwide controversy.  —  Few people know what it's like to be thrust into the public eye amidst worldwide controversy quite like the actor who plays the “tone-deaf” husband in a recent controversial Peloton ad.

Rudy's New Ukraine Jaunt Is Freaking Out Trump's Lieutenants—and He Doesn't Care  —  Top administration officials have been tracking Giuliani's venture through Europe, wondering if he's going to cause yet another major headache for the president.  —  Rudy Giuliani's decision to travel …

Ukrainian Fugitive Who Claimed to Have Dirt on Biden Firm Is Arrested  —  Oleksandr Onyshchenko publicly claimed to have inside information about Hunter Biden just as the impeachment proceedings got underway.  —  A former Ukrainian member of parliament who has claimed to have dirt …

Uranium-contaminated site collapses into Detroit River  —  A Detroit property contaminated with uranium and other dangerous chemicals partially collapsed into the Detroit River on Nov. 26, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has confirmed.

Is Melania Trump sending coded messages, or are we just talking to ourselves?  —  A new unauthorized biography of Melania Trump is titled “Free, Melania,” and although the words refer to the left-wing fantasy meme that the first lady is a prisoner begging for liberation, the comma demands unpacking.

I Was Once a Socialist.  Then I Saw How It Worked.  —  Two cheers for capitalism, now and forever.  —  I was a socialist in college.  I read magazines like The Nation and old issues of The New Masses.  I dreamed of being the next Clifford Odets, a lefty playwright who was always trying to raise proletarian class consciousness.

Russian agents planned hit from assassins' lairs in French Alps, say intel officials  —  Western intelligence agencies tracked up to 15 members of Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, including 2 who poisoned a defector in London.  —  WASHINGTON — A group of elite Russian military …