In a Private Dinner, Trump Demanded Loyalty.  Comey Demurred.  —  WASHINGTON — Only seven days after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president, James B. Comey has told associates, the F.B.I. director was summoned to the White House for a one-on-one dinner with the new commander in chief.

Sessions issues sweeping new criminal charging policy  —  Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the sweeping criminal charging policy of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed his federal prosecutors Thursday to charge defendants with the most serious, provable crimes carrying the most severe penalties.

Trump's Comey fight spooks Capitol Hill  —  There is widespread concern among Congressional leadership about Trump's frame of mind in the wake of the Comey firing.  —  Senior Senate aide: “It has to stop ... never seen anything like this in my entire career.”

GOP senators won't buck Trump on Comey firing  —  Democrats who thought the sudden dismissal of FBI Director James Comey would finally jolt Republicans to back a special prosecutor to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign are going to be sorely disappointed.

HHS Secretary Dr. Tom Price On The Senate Negoitations Ahead  —  HHS Secretary Dr. Tom Price joined me this morning to discuss the ongoing collapse of Obamacare and the negotiations with and within the Senate:  —  Audio:  —  05-12hhs-price  —  Transcript:

Who Will Save the Republic?  —  You have seen them on high, scurrying with great urgency between columns of marble, the clicks of Armani-heeled favor seekers never far behind.  You have heard them in the past few days, saying they are “troubled” or “disappointed” about the latest assault on democracy from the White House.

Conventional Artillery and Nuclear Missiles in North Korea  —  A Game Theory Approach to Credible Threats  —  There has been much discussion of what a Second Korean War might look like.  I think it is misguided.  I am just a game theorist with a bit of Japan expertise …

DON'T CALL ME CAITLYN: BABY NAME PLUNGES IN POPULARITY  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't call me Caitlyn.  —  A year after Caitlyn Jenner announced her new name and gender, the popularity of the name Caitlyn plummeted more than any other baby name, according to Social Security's annual list of the most popular baby names.

Trump lawyers claim his tax returns show no income from Russia with few exceptions  —  President Trump's lawyers on Friday said that a review of his last ten years of tax returns do not reveal “any income of any type from Russian sources” with some exceptions, but refused to release copies of his tax returns to verify such conclusions.

Republicans misstate, again and again on TV and at town halls, what's in their health-care bill  —  The American Health Care Act that narrowly passed out of the House earlier this month cuts $880 billion from Medicaid — but that won't affect anyone's coverage.

Aetna CEO in private meeting: “Single-payer, I think we should have that debate”  —  A top insurance executive signals openness to government-financed health care.  —  The chief executive of one of the country's largest health insurance companies says he is open to having a single-payer debate.

Did Bill Clinton Fire His FBI Director One Day Before Vince Foster Died?  —  Conspiracy theorists find the timing of President Clinton's firing of William Sessions in 1993 “suspicious.”  —  CLAIM  —  President Bill Clinton fired FBI Director William Sessions one day before Deputy White …