Intelligence Chief's Olive Branch to Trump Gets Twisted in Translation  —  James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, offered a public olive branch to President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday night, which Mr. Trump appears to have twisted.  —  Team Trump went to war …

Senate Takes Major Step Toward Repealing Health Care Law  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans took their first major step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, approving a budget blueprint that would allow them to gut the health care law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster.

Former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who produced Donald Trump Russian dossier, ‘terrified for his safety’ and went to ground before name released  —  A former MI6 officer who produced a dossier making lurid allegations about Donald Trump is “terrified for his safety” after he was unmasked by a US publication.

Mattis views on women in combat takes center stage  —  Retired Gen. James Mattis's stance on women in combat and LGBT troops will be thrust in the spotlight Thursday when he faces senators for his confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of Defense.  —  The man whom Mattis is in line to replace …

Trump's CNN tirade may affect Time Warner-AT&T merger  —  Is this any way to start off a relationship?  —  Nine days before CNN parent Time Warner will have to negotiate with Donald Trump's antitrust cops, the cable news network got a dressing down by the President-elect.

Tillerson on Russia: 'We're not likely to ever be friends'  —  Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson expressed hope that relations with Russia could be moderately improved under his stewardship, explaining that Kremlin aggression is mainly about one thing: bruised ego.

Trump ‘compromising’ claims: How and why did we get here?  —  Donald Trump has described as “fake news” allegations published in some media that his election team colluded with Russia - and that Russia held compromising material about his private life.  The BBC's Paul Wood saw the allegations …

Trump aide Monica Crowley plagiarized thousands of words in Ph.D. dissertation  —  By Andrew Kaczynski, Chris Massie, and Nathan McDermott, design by Tal Yellin  —  Conservative commentator Monica Crowley, who is slated to serve in a top national security communications role …

FACEBOOK DEATH Girl, 12, streams her own suicide on Facebook Live for 20 minutes after being ‘sexually abused by a relative’ - and cops are powerless to take it down  —  Cops say they have asked websites to remove the video of Katelyn Nicole Davis's death but admit they are unable to do more

Graham apologizes for calling for Cruz's murder  —  (R-Texas) Thursday for joking that it was possible to get away with murdering the Texas senator if it happened in the Senate.  —  Graham's remarks represent a truce of sorts between the two senators, who repeatedly feuded during …

Billionaire George Soros Lost Nearly $1 Billion in Weeks After Trump Election  —  Billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros lost nearly $1 billion as a result of the stock-market rally spurred by Donald Trump's surprise presidential election.

Anthony Weiner hoping Huma will call off divorce  —  MORE FROM:  —  Finally out of the media glare, Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin have been focusing on their 5-year-old son, as Weiner waits to hear if he'll face charges for sending sexually charged texts to an underage girl.

Why the media's Trump dossier coverage is suicidal  —  The media is sinking to Donald Trump's level.  —  Reeling from their inability to stop his election, envious of his power to make people believe his most ridiculous statements, and rinsed by a needy mood for self-soothing …

Russia moves to decriminalize domestic violence  —  The country has already decriminalized assault and battery that does not lead to actual bodily harm.  —  A bill that seeks to downgrade domestic violence from a criminal to an administrative offense passed its first reading on Wednesday in the duma …

Trump Shows How to Smother a Scandal: With a Bigger Story  —  The bar for scandal in the Trump administration keeps being raised.  —  Every week brings potentially damaging developments that in other contexts could have generated weekslong controversies.  With so many competing stories …