Trump's epic Mueller gamble  —  Several top White House officials thought then and think now that President Trump made an epic error in rolling over to cooperate with Robert Mueller in the early stages of the special counsel investigation.  —  Why it matters: Trump himself thought then and thinks …

Clapper: Brennan's rhetoric is becoming an issue  —  Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper  —  said Sunday that he thinks former CIA Director John Brennan  —  's rhetoric is becoming an issue “in and of itself.”  —  “John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself …

Beto O'Rourke Could Be The Democrat Texas Has Been Waiting For  —  Beto O'Rourke's grassroots campaign to unseat Senator Ted Cruz is blazing across Texas.  But can it convert energy into actual votes?  —  Beto O'Rourke is a prolific, prodigious sweater.  We're talking shirt-soaking …

Democrats in stronger position to take the House: CBS News Battleground Tracker  —  Democrats have improved their standing in the fight for control of the House of Representatives.  Our House model now shows the party poised to win 222 seats if the election were today, up from our estimate of 219 earlier this summer.

Blake Farenthold Blames ‘F-Tards,’ Me Too Campaign For His Downfall  —  Months after quitting Congress in disgrace, the Texas Republican insists his sexual harassment scandal was everyone's fault but his own.  —  WASHINGTON Four months after abruptly quitting Congress amid a sexual harassment scandal …

Speechwriter who attended conference with white nationalists in 2016 leaves White House  —  (CNN)A speechwriter for President Donald Trump who attended a conference frequented by white nationalists has left the White House.  —  CNN's KFile reached out to the White House last week about Darren Beattie …

ICE arrested a man driving his pregnant wife to give birth.  She drove herself to the hospital.  —  Maria del Carmen Venegas was on her way to deliver a baby boy, her fifth child, by Caesarean section in a planned operation Wednesday afternoon.  Her husband, Joel Arrona-Lara, was driving her car to the hospital.

Mulvaney on canceled military parade: It wasn't just the money  —  Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney said he believes President Donald Trump's plans for a military parade were canceled for other reasons besides the cost of the event, but would not specify other “contributing factors.”

Empty hotels, idle boats: What happens when a Pacific island upsets China  —  KOROR, Palau (Reuters) - Empty hotel rooms, idle tour boats and shuttered travel agencies reveal widening fissures in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, which is caught in an escalating diplomatic tug-of-war between China and Taiwan.

In horrifying detail, women accuse U.S. customs officers of invasive body searches  —  Tameika Lovell was retrieving luggage at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when Customs and Border Protection officers detained her for a random search.  It was Nov. 27, 2016 …

Al Sharpton Messes Up Spelling of Legendary Aretha Franklin Song: ‘R-E-S-P-I-C-T’  —  MSNBC's “PoliticsNation” host Rev. Al Sharpton called on President Donald Trump to be respectful in his rhetoric toward women but inadvertently misquoted legendary singer Aretha Franklin's most famous lyric.

Trump Won Pennsylvania.  Democrats Want the State (and His Voters) Back.  —  CONWAY, Pa. — The rules are workable enough in the right hands, in the right corner of a right-leaning region of a state like this one.  —  Avoid the jacket-and-tie look, so voters — wary enough of Democrats …

Gender Is a Construct—Except When It's Not  —  For academic feminists, male and female biology is either interchangeable or immutable, depending on what complaint they need to lodge.  —  The Social Order  —  A foundational tenet of academic feminism holds that alleged differences between males and females are socially constructed.

End U.S. support for this misbegotten and unwinnable war  —  ON AUG. 9, an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen struck a bus packed with young boys in the northern village of Dahyan, killing at least 51 people, including 40 children, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Trump adviser: Besides Russia, ‘national security concern’ on, China, North Korea and Iran election meddling  —  National Security Adviser John Bolton said Russia is only one of four countries that could potentially try to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.

Midterm Elections Blue Wave Looking Doubtful, Says CBS News Head Pollster  —  The CBS News head pollster has some information for Democrats expecting a Blue Wave to take over the House and more in November's midterm elections: It's not looking good.  —  In Where Did You Get That Number? …

New study finds growing demand for concealed handgun permits  —  Trump Calls for Concealed Carry Faculty  —  The number of permits to carry concealed weapons in the U.S. has jumped to more than 17.25 million this year, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center.