Exclusive: Dozens of Clinton emails were classified from the start, U.S. rules suggest  —  For months, the U.S. State Department has stood behind its former boss Hillary Clinton as she has repeatedly said she did not send or receive classified information on her unsecured, private email account, a practice the government forbids.

GOP insiders to Trump: Enough already  —  Seven out of 10 early-state Republicans want the Donald to move on from his immigration plan and his tough talk about ending birthright citizenship.  —  Politico Illustration—Getty  —  Donald Trump may have the whole Republican field talking about immigration …

Ellen Page Confronts Ted Cruz on Gay Rights at Iowa State Fair  —  While Sen. Ted Cruz was grilling pork chops at the Iowa State Fair today, actress Ellen Page, wearing a hat and sunglasses, snuck her way up to the grill and asked the GOP presidential candidate about “the persecution of gays in the workplace and LGBT rights.”

Trump Goes Off At ABC Reporter Over Questions On Term ‘Anchor Babies’  —  Donald Trump lashed out at ABC reporter Tom Llamas on Thursday after the network aired segments critical of the presidential candidate's use of the term “anchor babies” to describe the children of undocumented immigrants.

Poll: Majority want Congress to reject Iran nuclear deal  —  Most Americans say Congress should reject the international deal brokered by the Obama administration over Iran's nuclear program, according to a CNN/ORC International poll released Thursday.  —  A majority, 56 percent …

Hundreds of feds paid for Ashley Madison memberships at work  —  Hundreds of government workers accessed and paid membership fees for the affair-focused website Ashley Madison using their federal Internet connection, The Associated Press reports.  —  The officials included several assistant U.S. attorneys …

Debt Is Good  —  Rand Paul said something funny the other day.  No, really — although of course it wasn't intentional.  On his Twitter account he decried the irresponsibility of American fiscal policy, declaring, “The last time the United States was debt free was 1835.”

Man killed by St. Louis police died from gunshot in the back  —  ST. LOUIS  • An autopsy on Mansur Ball-Bey, whose death from police gunfire this week stirred protests, showed that he died from a single wound in the back, police officials said.  —  Chief Sam Dotson said the wound's …

Dr. Dre Apologizes to the 'Women I've Hurt'  —  For Dr. Dre, the self-proclaimed “first billionaire in hip-hop,” the movie “Straight Outta Compton” and its quasi-soundtrack, “Compton,” his first album in 16 years, were meant to be a victory lap.  That biopic, about his hip-hop group, N.W.A. …

Search warrant served at home of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons  —  (CNN)A search warrant was served at the Los Angeles home of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, but the rocker and his family are not considered suspects, authorities said.  —  The division that handles online crimes against children executed …

Carly Fiorina did a 4-minute riff on climate change.  Everything she said was wrong.  —  Katie Couric recently interviewed Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, and the subject of climate change came up.  They discussed it for over four minutes, likely marking the longest …

Bakers Who Were Fined $135,000 for Gay Wedding Cake Refusal Deliver a Major Surprise — and a Powerful Message — to 10 Gay Rights Groups  —  Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweetcakes by Melissa, were ordered by Oregon state officials last month to pay $135,000 in damages after they declined …

Slovakia to Welcome Christian Migrants but Reject Muslims; Insists Controversial Decision Is Not Discriminatory  —  The government of Slovakia has said it will take in struggling migrants from Syria and other countries under a European Union scheme to share the burden of 40,000 new arrivals to the continent …

Are Republicans For Freedom Or White Identity Politics?  —  Now that we have had time to observe the Donald Trump phenomenon, there is enough evidence to make a clear assessment of what it represents.  The rise of Trump is an epic expression of frustration with the American political system …

Jonathan Franzen ‘considered adopting Iraqi orphan to figure out young people’  —  Novelist said the idea came to him as he felt he could not identify with ‘cynical and angry’ younger generation, but he was persuaded against it by his editor  —  In a setup that would not look out of place in fiction …

Democratic blues  —  Barack Obama will leave his party in its worst shape since the Great Depression—even if Hillary wins.  —  SHARES  —  As historians begin to assess Barack Obama's record as president, there's at least one legacy he'll leave that will indeed be historic—but not in the way he would have hoped.