Benghazi bust  —  Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More  —  There's a reason Benghazi Committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy offered Hillary Clinton the chance to testify in a private, closed hearing.  And there's a reason Clinton wanted to appear in an open setting, with the whole world watching.

Lincoln Chafee ends quixotic presidential bid  —  <p>Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee, always a long shot, dropped out of the race for his party's nomination on Friday morning. </p><p>"As you know I have been campaigning on a platform of Prosperity Through Peace," …

Carson Surges Past Trump in Latest Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll  —  Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has moved into a dominant position in Iowa, surpassing former front-runner Donald Trump as evangelical Christians begin to coalesce around him in the state that will cast the first 2016 nomination ballots.

Ryan offers concession to House Freedom Caucus  —  <p>Rep. Paul Ryan has agreed to delay a discussion about reforming the procedural motion used to remove a House speaker, a major concession to the House Freedom Caucus.</p><p>The Wisconsin Republican, now the presumptive next speaker of the House …

McConnell presses Paul to focus on Senate bid  —  <p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies are quietly ratcheting up pressure on Rand Paul to pay more attention to his Senate reelection next year — and less to his flagging 2016 presidential candidacy.</p><p> So far …

Pro-Trump super PAC shuts down  —  <p>The main super PAC backing Donald Trump is shutting down amidst increasing scrutiny of its ties to Trump's campaign.</p><p> Trump, who has made his independence from wealthy donors a cornerstone of his anti-establishment presidential campaign …

Watch: President Obama explains what “all lives matter” gets wrong  —  President Barack Obama on Thursday gave a strong defense of Black Lives Matter, arguing that the movement's concerns about racial disparities in the criminal justice system are legitimate.

Conservative PACs Attack Republicans, and It Pays  —  WASHINGTON — The petitions that started surfacing online over a year ago were as incendiary as they were urgent, begging recipients to sign up to “Boot Boehner,” “Dump McConnell,” “Drop a Truth-Bomb on Kevin McCarthy” and “Fire Paul Ryan.”

Texas raids several Planned Parenthood facilities, group says  —  Texas officials raided several Planned Parenthood facilities on Thursday, the group said, in a move that comes days after the state's Republicans leaders barred the women's health group from receiving state Medicaid money.