AP Exclusive: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed …

A President's Credibility  —  Trump's falsehoods are eroding public trust, at home and abroad.  —  If President Trump announces that North Korea launched a missile that landed within 100 miles of Hawaii, would most Americans believe him?  Would the rest of the world?

'I'll Criticize Judges,' Trump Says, Hours After a Scolding for Doing Just That  —  WASHINGTON — Not even a public scolding from Judge Neil M. Gorsuch could get President Trump to stop bashing federal judges.  —  Hours after Mr. Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court declared during Senate …

North Korea missile test fails, U.S. and South say, as tensions simmer  —  A North Korean missile appeared to have exploded on Wednesday just after it was launched, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said after detecting the latest in a series of weapons tests by the nuclear-armed state that have alarmed the region.

Trump's Diplomat  —  “I didn't want this job.  I didn't seek this job.”

The Note: Trump puts the pressure on his party  —  THE BIG STORY: This is set up for something big - bigger even than the actual stakes.  The Trump White House team has put everything it has into making the health care vote in the House a defining moment, for President Trump and the GOP …

Why deductibles would rise under the GOP health care plan  —  Health care is complicated, as the president has discovered.  But here is one thing that is not so complicated: if people have modest means and limited tax credits, and coverage is expensive, they will mostly buy health plans with lower premiums — and high deductibles.

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn Didn't Sign Trump's Ethics Pledge  —  The White House's former top national security official did not sign an ethics pledge ostensibly required of all Trump administration appointees barring them from ethically questionable lobbying activities, The Daily Beast has learned.

Republicans find themselves damned by 2016 attacks on Hillary Clinton  —  Donald Trump and the GOP repeatedly declared that Hillary Clinton should not be president because of an FBI investigation into her email practices.  Now that James Comey has revealed an investigation exists …

Susan Rice: When the White House twists the truth, we are all less safe  —  Susan E. Rice was national security adviser from 2013 to 2017 and U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013.  —  Last week, the British intelligence agency GCHQ took the rare step of debunking as …

Former Colorado GOP chairman Steven Curtis charged with voter fraud  —  WELD COUNTY, Colo. - The former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party is charged with forgery and voter fraud for allegedly forging his wife's mail-in ballot from last year's election, according to court records and sources.

Grieving father: 'I don't play Trump songs anymore'  —  Man who attended 45 rallies now opposes Trump  — GOP health care bill would end the requirement that addiction, mental health treatment be covered under Medicaid  —  (CNN)Last year, Kraig Moss sold the equipment for his construction business …

Chuck Barris, ‘Gong Show’ Host, Dies at 87  —  Chuck Barris, who hosted “The Gong Show” and created “The Dating Game” and “The Newlywed Game,” died Tuesday of natural causes in Palisades, N.Y., his publicist confirmed.  He was 87.  —  His autobiography, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” …

House Obamacare repeal DOA in the Senate  —  Forget the House GOP's troubles passing a health care bill.  The party's bigger problem looms in the Senate.  —  Mitch McConnell is being tasked with fixing what GOP senators and House members say is a flawed Obamacare repeal proposal …

Why Letting Go, for Trump, Is No Small or Simple Task  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump is a man seriously susceptible to snagging himself in the nettles of obsession.  In the last three weeks, no compulsion has so consumed his psyche, and his Twitter account, as the deeply held …

Eyeing Trump's Budget Plan, Republican Governors Say ‘No, Thanks’  —  Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky was unrestrained in his praise for President Trump: Opening for him at a rally on Monday, Mr. Bevin, a conservative Republican, echoed Mr. Trump's “America First” slogan and only gently noted the nagging divisions in their party.

U.S. Airstrike in Syria Is Said to Kill Dozens of Civilians  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 30 civilians have been killed in an airstrike by the United States-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in a rural area of Raqqa Province in northern Syria, according to residents, activists and Syrian state television.

New poll: only 3% of Trump voters regret their vote  —  Within weeks of the November 2016 U.S. presidential election, social media posts expressing voters' second thoughts began trending.  While some Donald Trump voters felt he was backtracking on initial hard-line positions …

Democrats gripped by special election performance anxiety  —  Money is flooding into Democrat Jon Ossoff's campaign.  The national party has started running focus groups on his behalf.  Thousands of volunteers have flocked to his team to help him win his April special election for a vacant Atlanta-area congressional seat.

Warren to Speak at Emily's List Gala as She Considers Campaigns  —  The Massachusetts senator is seen as potential Trump opponent  —  Poll shows plurality of voters opposed to her re-election  —  Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren will raise her profile as a leader among President …

How Sean Spicer lost his credibility  —  Sean Spicer's credibility problem  —  The White House press secretary has always been a spin artist.  —  Spinning is not lying, Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers once said, but rather “marshaling the facts in service of an argument.”

Mississippi passes ban on sanctuary cities  —  The Mississippi state Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to a measure that would prohibit counties, cities and colleges from acting as sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.  —  No Mississippi cities currently act as sanctuary cities.

Trump Lays Plans to Reverse Obama's Climate Change Legacy  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump is poised in the coming days to announce his plans to dismantle the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's climate change legacy, while also gutting several smaller but significant policies aimed at curbing global warming.

Why Trump Thinks Passing a Terrible Health-Care Bill Makes Sense  —  Almost every great vote-wrangling drama in Congress, especially on a high-profile issue in the first year or two of a new presidency, is eventually reduced to a simple test of strength.  Like a bad war, the original objective falls …