CNN/ORC Poll: Confidence drops in Trump transition  —  Washington (CNN)Donald Trump will become president Friday with an approval rating of just 40%, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, the lowest of any recent president and 44 points below that of President Barack Obama, the 44th president.

First on CNN: Trump's cabinet pick invested in company, then introduced a bill to help it  —  Tom Price in 60 seconds Story highlights  —  Washington (CNN)Rep. Tom Price last year purchased shares in a medical device manufacturer days before introducing legislation that would have directly benefited …

The Most Successful Democrat Since F.D.R.  —  When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, he understood, without quite saying it, that there had been no highly successful Democratic president in decades.  —  Bill Clinton made the country a better place, but his biggest legislative plans failed and he was beset by scandal.

8 shot at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park in Miami on MLK Day; 2 detained  —  Police and fire rescue crews are on the scene after eight people were shot during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.  —  According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue …

Poll: Trump draws low marks for transition, response to Russian hacking  —  After a tumultuous campaign and transition, President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office Friday as the least popular incoming president in at least four decades, but a majority of Americans nevertheless express optimism …

CIA Director John Brennan Rejects Donald Trump's Criticism  —  Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan rejected Donald Trump's suggestions that he may have leaked an unsubstantiated dossier on the president-elect while defending the U.S. intelligence community more broadly.

Scalpers taking losses on tickets to Trump inauguration, as secondary market interest on the mogul's swear-in wanes  —  Donald Trump will take office as one of the most unpopular President-elects in recent history — and even scalpers are feeling the pain.  —  Some flippers …

The Trumpcare Conundrum  —  As congressional Republicans race to repeal and replace President Obama's Affordable Care Act, one of their principal challenges is finding an alternative that does not expose older and less affluent white voters at the core of Donald Trump's electoral coalition to greater costs and financial risk.

Sources: Trump labor pick Andrew Puzder has voiced second thoughts about nomination  —  Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be labor secretary has voiced second thoughts in recent days, because of a relentless barrage of criticism from Democrats, labor unions and other liberal groups …

Trump has earned no respect for being the ultimate sore winner  —  Kellyanne Conway is walking a Dangerfield line.  —  “We got no forbearance.  We got nothing.  We got no respect,” the Trump strategist told CNN's Anderson Cooper last week, complaining about media coverage of her boss.

Trump Warns on House Republican Tax Plan  —  Donald Trump criticized a cornerstone of House Republicans' corporate-tax plan, which they had pitched as an alternative to his proposed import tariffs, creating another point of contention between the incoming president and congressional allies.

Fear Spurs Support for Health Law as Republicans Work to Repeal It  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans appear to have accomplished a feat that President Obama, with all the power at his disposal, could not in the past seven years …

Return of the leftover left  —  The leftover left that materialized during the Bush administration is returning in force as of January 20.  Whatever they do to disrupt events related to the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, it is a preview of coming attractions.

‘Never Trump’ national-security Republicans fear they have been blacklisted  —  They are some of the biggest names in the Republican national security firmament, veterans of past GOP administrations who say, if called upon by President-elect Donald Trump, they stand ready to serve their country again.

‘He Is Going to Test Our Democracy as It Has Never Been Tested’  —  Sometime early last fall, John Dean says he began having nightmares about a Trump presidency.  He would wake in the middle of the night, agitated and alarmed, struggling to calm his nerves.

For Trump, Three Decades of Chasing Deals in Russia  —  It was 2005, and Felix Sater, a Russian immigrant, was back in Moscow pursuing an ambitious plan to build a Trump tower on the site of an old pencil factory along the Moscow River that would offer hotel rooms, condominiums and commercial office space.

How Trump's Pick for Education Secretary May Reignite the Education Wars  —  Let the education wars begin.  —  Donald Trump's choice to lead the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos, has the nation's teachers unions preparing to re-enter battle over public education systems …