Trump to conservative leaders: If this plan fails, I'll blame Democrats  —  Washington (CNN)In an Oval Office meeting featuring several leaders of conservative groups already lining up against the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Donald Trump revealed his plan …

Nigel Farage Just Visited The Ecuadorian Embassy In London  —  Asked by BuzzFeed News if he'd been visiting Julian Assange, the former UKIP leader said he couldn't remember what he'd been doing in the building.  —  Nigel Farage visited the Ecuadorian embassy in west London on Thursday …

EPA chief Scott Pruitt says carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to global warming  —  EPA takes aim at CAFE standards: Scott Pruitt  —  Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Thursday he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.

Roger Stone's Russian Hacking “Hero”  —  Trump loyalist communicated with “Guccifer 2.0,” target of FBI probe  —  In the months before Election Day, a longtime confidante and political consultant for Donald Trump was in contact with the Russian hacking group that U.S. intelligence officials …

Steve Bannon Helped Preserve DACA But Democrats And Activists Aren't Celebrating  —  They're bracing for what's coming: millions of deportations and further crackdowns on both legal and illegal immigration.  —  WASHINGTON — The Trump administration doesn't want to talk about it.

President Mike Pence Doesn't Sound Quite So Bad, Some Top Democrats Say  —  “I'd sleep easier with almost any other human being as president than Donald Trump,” said a former Obama speechwriter.  And they won't say so publicly, but several elected Democrats told BuzzFeed News they would much prefer …

McConnell on Mexico paying for the border wall: ‘Uh, no’  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday threw cold water on President Donald Trump's insistence that Mexico will pay for his proposed border wall.  —  “Uh, no,” McConnell said flatly, asked whether he thinks Mexico …

Burger-flipping robot replaces humans on first day at work  —  A burger-flipping robot has just completed its first day on the job at a restaurant in California, replacing humans at the grill.  —  Flippy has mastered the art of cooking the perfect burger and has just started work at CaliBurger, a fast-food chain.

Sex Columnist Dan Savage Calls Melania Trump ‘Ugly on the Inside’  —  Savage says first lady gets a pass from some liberals because of her looks, but “is as ugly on the inside as she is pretty on the outside”  —  Author and sex columnist Dan Savage says many liberals are giving first lady Melania …

Hot story: Miami lawyer's pants erupt in flames during arson trial in court  —  A Miami defense lawyer's pants burst into flames Wednesday afternoon as he began his closing arguments in front of a jury — in an arson case.  —  Stephen Gutierrez, who was arguing that his client's car spontaneously combusted …

‘No Comment,’ Justice Dept. Says, Asked About a Trump Inquiry  —  WASHINGTON — With questions still swirling over President Trump's unsubstantiated claims that he was wiretapped on orders of President Barack Obama, the Justice Department on Thursday declined to confirm statements a day earlier …

Expect the CBO to estimate large coverage losses from the GOP health care plan  —  Editor's Note:  —  This analysis is part of The Leonard D. Schaeffer Initiative for Innovation in Health Policy, which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.

How Many People Are Affected by Obamacare Premium Increases?  (Hint, It's Fewer Than You Think)  —  SCROLL TO START  —  Republicans cite rising insurance premiums as a primary reason for repealing the Affordable Care Act.  But only a narrow slice of the market was actually affected by the increases.

Republican Study Committee backs two Medicaid changes to Obamacare repeal bill  —  The Republican Study Committee is backing two proposed changes to the Obamacare repeal bill that could help win over conservatives to the measure, which has been in a markup before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for nearly 24 hours.

Russian ambassador denied meeting with Trump or campaign officials in October speech  —  (CNN)In an October speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, denied meeting with Donald Trump or campaign officials during the course of 2016 presidential election …

States seek to block new Trump travel ban executive order  —  A group of at least four states is headed to court to block key elements of the new travel ban executive order President Donald Trump signed Monday.  —  Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said his office is filing …

Full Frontal With Samantha Bee Mocks Brain Cancer Patient For Having ‘Nazi Hair’  —  TBS's Full Frontal With Samantha Bee mocked a CPAC attendee for having “Nazi hair” in a Wednesday segment, but according to his friends and family, his hair looks that way because he's undergoing treatment for brain cancer.

The budget rule you've never heard of that ties Republicans' hands on Obamacare  —  Everything you ever wanted to know about reconciliation.

The 40-year decline in the tolerance of college students, graphed  —  Last week, the author Charles Murray was shouted down when he attempted to give an invited talk at Middlebury College.  Allison Stanger, the political science professor who, at the request of students, participated in Murray's visit …

Pope Francis issues veiled warning about Donald Trump: ‘Populism is evil’  —  Pontiff also confesses to moments of spiritual doubt in interview with German newspaper Die Zeit  —  Pope Francis has warned in an interview with a German newspaper of the dangers of rising populism in western democracies.

C.I.A. Scrambles to Contain Damage From WikiLeaks Documents  —  WASHINGTON — The C.I.A. scrambled on Wednesday to assess and contain the damage from the release by WikiLeaks of thousands of documents that cataloged the agency's cyberspying capabilities, temporarily halting work on some projects …

China to US: Stop hacking us  —  China asked the U.S. government on Thursday to stop spying on and hacking other countries, after WikiLeaks revealed data showing that the CIA can hack a range of devices, including some manufactured in China.  —  Software companies quickly tried …

Sessions open to using outside counsel to investigate DOJ under Holder, Lynch  —  Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday that he would be open to bringing in an outside counselor to investigate the practices of his Department of Justice predecessors under former President Barack Obama.