Sources: Trump will ask Congress, not Mexico, to pay for border wall  — The Trump transition team says he his preference is to fund the border wall through the appropriations process  — The move would break a key campaign promise when Trump promised to force Mexico to pay for the wall

U.S. intercepts capture senior Russian officials celebrating Trump win  —  Senior officials in the Russian government celebrated Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton as a geopolitical win for Moscow, according to U.S. officials who said that American intelligence agencies intercepted communications …

Former CIA director James Woolsey quits Trump transition team  —  Former CIA director R. James Woolsey Jr., a veteran of four presidential administrations and one of the nation's leading intelligence experts, resigned Thursday from President-elect Donald Trump's transition team …

In Break With Precedent, Obama Envoys Are Denied Extensions Past Inauguration Day  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump's transition staff has issued a blanket edict requiring politically appointed ambassadors to leave their overseas posts by Inauguration Day …

Trump makes calls against Kasich's pick for Ohio GOP chair  —  COLUMBUS - On Friday, President-elect Donald Trump and Gov. John Kasich will face off in their latest battle for the hearts and minds of Ohio Republicans — and Trump himself on Thursday entered the fray.

FBI: DNC rebuffed request to examine computer servers  —  Clapper: Russia hacks a multi-faceted campaign  —  Washington (CNN)The Democratic National Committee “rebuffed” a request from the FBI to examine its computer services after it was allegedly hacked by Russia during the 2016 election …

President Obama Talks Race Relations, Calls Alleged Hate Crime in Facebook Video ‘Terrible’  —  President Obama said “we appear to have seen” a hate crime in the alleged attack on a Chicago man captured on Facebook.  —  “It's terrible,” the president said about the incident, during an interview with ABC affiliate WLS in Chicago.

The Age of Fake Policy  —  On Thursday, at a rough estimate, 75,000 Americans were laid off or fired by their employers.  Some of those workers will find good new jobs, but many will end up earning less, and some will remain unemployed for months or years.  —  If that sounds terrible to you …

Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Tangled Over Hair, ‘P*ssy’  —  Just days after the departure of host Megyn Kelly from Fox News, the network replaced one of its few Trump skeptics with Tucker Carlson, an unabashed booster of the president-elect.  —  But Carlson—who recently compared …

Trump's Twitter feed traumatizes Washington  —  Donald Trump's unique, chaos theory of presidential communications is upending Washington, leaving lawmakers, government officials and lobbyists aghast that they are beholden to a single leader's whims, not to mention the uncertainty about his true thoughts and intentions.

Texas Moves to Limit Transgender Bathroom Access  —  AUSTIN, Tex. — One of the most powerful Republican officials in Texas put the state on the front lines of the nation's culture wars on Thursday, announcing the filing of a bill that would require people in government buildings and in public schools …

Send in the Head Clowns  —  Democrats have been in power for so long that they've forgotten how to oppose.  Their party has been on a roll since 2005 when the botched Social Security reform, the slow bleed of the Iraq war, and Hurricane Katrina sent the Bush administration into a tailspin.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Priorities for 2017  —  Ashley Kirzinger, Bryan Wu, and Mollyann Brodie  —  KEY FINDINGS:  — The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that health care is among the top issues, with the economy and jobs and immigration, Americans …

Head of nurses union ‘counting on’ Trump for single-payer system  —  OAKLAND — As Washington grapples with health care policy again, the head of the 185,000-member National Nurses United is turning her attention to a seemingly unlikely advocate for a single-payer system.

Bill Perry Is Terrified.  Why Aren't You?  —  At this naked moment in the American experiment, when many people perceive civilization on the verge of blowing up in some metaphorical sense, there is an elderly man in California hoping to seize your attention about another possibility.

How Republicans Plan to Roll Back Obama-Era Regulations  —  Giddy over controlling both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue for the first time in a decade, Republicans have set themselves a lofty goal: to unravel the legacy of Barack Obama.  Health care, trade pacts, environment regulation …

Coachella's Owner Is A Republican Mega-Donor Who Has Funded Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups  —  Update: Philip Anschutz, the CEO of AEG, who gave over $1,000,000 to Republican candidates in the 2016 election cycle, responded to anti-equality accusations against him.  —  Tickets for Coachella 2017 sold …

Hate crime, kidnapping charges filed in West Side attack streamed on Facebook Live  —  Tesfaye Cooper, from left, Tanishia Covington, Jordan Hill and Brittany Covington were charged with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Former Trump Foe to Head Washington Lobbying Group for U.S. CEOs  —  Joshua Bolten will replace former Michigan governor Engler  —  Bolten tried to organize Republican opposition to Trump  —  Business Roundtable, the powerful lobbying group for U.S. corporate executives, has hired Joshua Bolten …

Roberts Belatedly Sees Conflict, Withdraws in Top Court Case  —  Letter says office missed link between case, Thermo Fisher  —  Late recusal adds to pattern among stockholding justices  —  Chief Justice John Roberts withdrew from a U.S. Supreme Court patent case argued last month …

Clinton vs. de Blasio for New York Mayor?  Unlikely Idea Has People Talking  —  From political circles in New York City to cocktail parties on Capitol Hill, on right-of-center Facebook pages and among left-of-center donors, two of the biggest untethered threads in New York politics are being drawn together around a single question.