Trump wades into French elections  —  Two days before a French election that has Europe on edge, President Donald Trump weighed in Friday with a tweet that seemed to imply support for the controversial far-right populist Marine Le Pen.  —  Trump's Friday morning tweet responded to a shooting …

Vacation's Over: Obama Returns to Public Life Next Week  —  WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's extended post-presidential vacation is about to end.  After spending weeks in French Polynesia — including time on the yacht of the movie mogul David Geffen along with Bruce Springsteen …

Freed Egyptian American prisoner returns home following Trump intervention  —  An Egyptian American charity worker who was imprisoned in Cairo for three years and became the global face of Egypt's brutal crackdown on civil society returned home to the United States late Thursday …

Brat: New ObamaCare repeal bill has ‘significant’ changes … A Republican who opposed the first House GOP ObamaCare replacement bill says a revamped effort is the “same fundamental bill” as the one that failed last month.  —  Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), who has signaled he might be able to back the new bill …

Trump condos worth $250 million pose potential conflict  —  LAS VEGAS — President Trump's companies own more than 400 condo units and home lots whose sale could steer millions of dollars to Trump, a USA TODAY investigation has found.  —  USA TODAY spent four months cataloging every property Trump's companies own across the country.

Aurora Democrat David Aarestad joins race to unseat Mike Coffman  —  Aarestad previously ran unsuccessfully for a board seat on the Cherry Creek School District  —  A lawyer at the University of Colorado on Thursday became the latest Democrat to announce plans to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman in 2018.

How Trump Blew Up the Conservative Media  —  Months before Donald Trump blew up American politics with his surprise win in November, he did the same thing to the conservative media.  Through much of the campaign, two very different media moguls with colliding visions for the Republican Party vied …

White House demands disrupt shutdown negotiations  —  Congressional leaders' efforts to hatch a massive spending deal have been thrown off course by the Trump administration's 11th-hour intervention, leaving the bipartisan bill teetering on the brink of collapse just a week before a government shutdown deadline.

Bernie Sanders Defends Campaigning For Anti-Abortion Rights Democrat  —  Sen. Bernie Sanders is campaigning for Omaha, Neb., mayoral candidate Heath Mello Thursday night, and he's not apologizing for it.  —  “Absolutely, and I want him to win,” Sanders, I-Vt., told NPR Thursday, after a rally in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Sen. Frank Artiles apologizes for using racial slurs  —  Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles formally apologized on the Florida Senate floor on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, for insulting and using racial slurs against two black lawmakers two days prior.  —  Friends of Artiles …

Sources: US prepares charges to seek arrest of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange  —  Washington (CNN)US authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, US officials familiar with the matter tell CNN.  —  The Justice Department investigation of Assange …

No, Gov. Dean, there is no ‘hate speech’ exception to the First Amendment  —  Former Vermont governor Howard Dean writes: … This leads me to repeat what I've said before: There is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment.  Hateful ideas (whatever exactly that might mean) …

Google is a monopoly — and it's crushing the internet  —  Five to 10 years ago, independent bloggers used to be able to get by on internet advertising, like the broadsheets of yore.  But that changed quite quickly, and for two big reasons: Facebook and Google.

YAF to Berkeley: Honor First Amendment or Face Litigation  —  Late Thursday night, Young America's Foundation put UC-Berkeley on notice that their attempts to deny the First Amendment rights of students will not be tolerated any longer.  —  In a letter to Berkeley's Vice Chancellor Stephen Sutton …

Sanctuary Cities Face Aid Cuts as Justice Dept. Tightens Screws  —  WASHINGTON — Escalating a threat to withhold grants from state and local governments that block the police from telling federal authorities about undocumented immigrants in custody, the Trump administration sent letters Friday …

Secret meeting at Mar-a-Lago raises questions about Colombia peace and Trump  —  BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA  —  President Donald Trump quietly met a pair of former Colombian presidents last weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, thrusting his administration into an ugly power struggle …

Trump to sign executive actions to review tax regulations, roll back Dodd-Frank  —  President Trump is set to sign a set of executive actions ordering a review of significant 2016 tax regulations along with two separate reviews aimed at rolling back Dodd-Frank financial regulations.

2nd doctor, wife arrested in genital mutilation case  —  Federal agents Friday arrested a second doctor in connection with the nation's first genital mutilation case, sources told The Detroit News.  —  Dr. Fakhruddin Attar is accused of letting Dr. Jumana Nagarwala perform mutilations at his Burhani Medical Clinic on Farmington Road.

Jeff Sessions's attack on a Hawaii judge is an attack on judicial review itself  —  It's not “amazing that a judge on an island in the Pacific” can strike down an executive order.  It's how the US works.  —  The ability of federal judges to strike down actions taken by Congress …

Gorsuch's First Big Supreme Court Vote Allows Arkansas Execution  —  Justices vote 5-4 to let state start lethal injections  —  Convicted murderer Ledell Lee subsequently put to death  —  Justice Neil Gorsuch took his first major action on the U.S. Supreme Court by casting the deciding vote …