Exclusive: Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians: sources  —  Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump's campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race …

Trump weighs downsizing Spicer's public role  —  President Donald Trump is considering scaling back White House press secretary Sean Spicer's public role, according to several officials familiar with the president's thinking, as Trump also weighs a broader shakeup of his communications shop in the wake of several scandals.

The Special Counsel Mistake  —  Rosenstein bends to political pressure, and here we go again.

Chaffetz to announce early departure from Congress  —  Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is expected to announce Thursday that he is resigning before the end of this congressional term, according to three sources familiar with his plans.  —  Chaffetz did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.

Speeding car mows down pedestrians in Times Square  —  A speeding car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Times Square, killing at least one person and injuring 10 others, sources said.  —  The driver is in police custody, according to cops.  —  The smoking vehicle, a maroon Honda, was wedged up against a pole on the sidewalk.

Roger Ailes, who built Fox News into a powerhouse, dies at 77  —  Roger Ailes dead at 77  —  Roger Ailes, who transformed cable news and then American politics by building Fox News into a ratings powerhouse, died Thursday.  He was 77.  —  The death was announced by his family and reported on Fox News Channel.

Chris Cornell dead at age 52  —  (CNN)Chris Cornell, lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave, died Wednesday night, his representative told CNN.  —  Cornell, 52, was in Detroit performing with Soundgarden, which had embarked on a US tour in April.  His passing was “sudden and unexpected …

Trump isn't a toddler — he's a product of America's culture of impunity for the rich  —  “When you're a star, they let you do it.”  —  Ross Douthat's column arguing for the superiority of “25th Amendment remedies” to impeachment for Donald Trump's various misdeeds is impressive in its ability …

House Dems Smash Fundraising Records Ahead of Midterms  —  House Democrats have already raised more money in online contributions this year ahead of the midterms than they did during all of 2015, the most recently comparable year, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee official told NBC News.

House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: ‘I think Putin pays’ Trump  —  KIEV, Ukraine — A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation …

We tracked the Trump scandals on right-wing news sites.  Here's how they covered it.  —  We're experiencing these historical events very differently.  —  The past week of Trump scandals for people reading mainstream news outlets has gone something like this: President Trump fired …

Related coverage … After a tense nine hours of deliberations, a jury acquitted Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby of a first-degree manslaughter charge in the death of Terence Crutcher.  —  Jurors began deliberating about noon and the verdict was read about 9:50 p.m. Wednesday.