Behind closed doors, Republican lawmakers fret about how to repeal Obamacare  —  PHILADELPHIA — Republican lawmakers aired sharp concerns about their party's quick push to repeal the Affordable Care Act inside a closed-door meeting Thursday, according to a recording of the session obtained by The Washington Post.

Trump's First Week: Governing Without a Script  —  The new president seems to be running his administration much like he ran his company and campaign, eager to weigh in on every issue and willing to make last-minute calls  —  A directive to revive two controversial oil pipelines awaited …

Donald Trump's Mexico Tantrum  —  Less than a week into the job, President Trump on Thursday raised the specter of a trade war with America's third-largest partner, Mexico, as the White House warned that the United States could impose a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports.

Trump argument bolstered: Clinton received 800,000 votes from noncitizens, study finds  —  Hillary Clinton garnered more than 800,000 votes from noncitizens on Nov. 8, an approximation far short of President Trump's estimate of up to 5 million illegal voters but supportive of his charges of fraud.

No, the White House didn't Photoshop an image of the president's hand  —  Dana Schwartz, a writer for the New York Observer, claimed to have noticed something interesting about one of the photos displayed during President Trump's interview with ABC News that aired this week.

Calexit backers can begin collecting signatures to qualify for 2018 ballot  —  Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment seeking California's secession from the U.S. can begin collecting voter signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot, the secretary of state's office said Thursday.

How Author Timothy Tyson Found the Woman at the Center of the Emmett Till Case  —  With a renewed cultural interest in the 1955 murder that catalyzed the 20th century civil rights movement, an interview with the author of a new book who tracked down the long-hidden woman at its center.

A viral Washington Post story about State Department resignations is very misleading  —  On Thursday morning, the Washington Post published a piece with an explosive headline: “The State Department's entire senior management team just resigned.”  The piece alleged that Undersecretary …

No Mention Of Jews In Trump Holocaust Statement Breaks With Tradition  —  President Donald Trump did not explicitly mention Jews in his Friday statement commemorating the millions exterminated by the Nazis, an omission that the Anti-Defamation League called “troubling” and out of step with past presidential statements.

McCain warns Trump he'll fight on lifting Russian sanctions  —  (R-Ariz.) is urging President Trump not to make a “reckless” move to lift Russian sanctions, warning that he would work in Congress to reinstate the sanctions as law.  —  “For the sake of America's national security and that of our allies …

The end of Sarah Palin is here … Remember how former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was going to use her political celebrity to build an army of like-minded politicians via her political action committee?  —  Yeah, not so much.  —  Michael Beckel of the Center for Public Integrity flagged for me this news …

Trump won't attend Alfalfa Club dinner  —  President Donald Trump will not attend the annual Alfalfa Club dinner Saturday night, an exclusive black-tie dinner — and White House roast — that every president since Ronald Reagan has attended.  —  Instead of the president himself …

New wave of anti-evolution bills hit states  —  New legislation introduced in a handful of states would allow alternatives to the theory of evolution to be taught in classrooms, the latest wave of measures backed by religious conservatives targeting broadly accepted scientific curriculum.

McConnell all but rules out filibuster change  —  (R-Ky.) on Friday all but ruled out the possibility of a change to the filibuster rule this year.  —  McConnell made his comment in an interview with The Hill one day after President Trump said he wants Senate Republicans to strip Democrats …

Melania Trump wins round in libel suit over blogger's ‘escort’ claims  —  First lady Melania Trump prevailed Friday in the first round of a $150 million libel suit she filed against a Maryland blogger over a report he published last summer about claims that Trump worked as a “high-end escort.”

Mikhail Gorbachev: ‘It All Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War’  —  Mikhail Gorbachev was the president of the Soviet Union and is the author of The New Russia.  —  The world today is overwhelmed with problems.  Policymakers seem to be confused and at a loss.

Huge shakeup at ‘Today’ to make way for Megyn Kelly  —  More On:  —  NBC is canceling the third hour of “Today” to make way for new star Megyn Kelly, sources exclusively confirm to Page Six.  —  We're told Kelly will take over either the 9 a.m. hour from Tamron Hall and Al Roker or will replace Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford.

Rod Blagojevich's 20-year-old daughter Amy unloads on Barack Obama  —  Patti Blagojevich with her daughters Annie, center, and Amy on Aug. 9, 2016, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's resentencing.  —  Scratch the Obamas off Amy Blagojevich's Christmas card list.

Donald Trump thinks he is the modern Andrew Jackson.  Here is why he isn't.  —  It's rapidly become conventional wisdom that President Trump is the modern-day incarnation of Andrew Jackson.  Establishment Republicans, long unsure of how to understand Trump and his successes in any sort …

Trump says sanctuary cities are hotbeds of crime.  Data say the opposite.  —  The “sanctuary cities” that President Trump has repeatedly characterized as incubators of crime are generally safer than other cities, according to a new analysis of FBI crime data.