Senate health-care draft repeals Obamacare taxes, provides bigger subsidies for low-income Americans than House bill  —  Senate leaders on Wednesday were putting the final touches on legislation that would reshape a big piece of the U.S. health-care system by dramatically rolling back Medicaid …

Intel chiefs tell investigators Trump suggested they refute collusion with Russians  — Coats and Rogers said interactions with Trump about the Russia investigation were odd, uncomfortable  —  (CNN)Two of the nation's top intelligence officials told Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team …

Trump Turns an Iowa Rally Into a Venting Session  —  CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — President Trump said on Wednesday that he was crafting legislation to bar new immigrants from receiving welfare for at least five years.  He announced the proposal in a conquering-hero-returns speech in Iowa …

The Note: Senate's unhealthy start on health care  —  WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY  — Time to show their work: Senate Republicans share their health care draft this morning after negotiating it behind closed doors.  The bill is expected to roll back Medicaid expansions but more gradually …

FBI Fired Sebastian Gorka for Anti-Muslim Diatribes … The inflammatory pundit Sebastian Gorka worked for the FBI while he was a paid consultant to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, lecturing bureau employees on counterterrorism issues.  —  Until the FBI terminated Gorka for his over-the-top Islamophobic rhetoric.

Trumps suggests creating law that has been enacted since 1996  —  President Trump in a rally on Wednesday evening said immigrants who enter the United States should not be eligible for welfare benefits for five years, though such a law has already existed for 20 years.

Jon Ossoff spent six times more than Karen Handel but complains about ‘money in politics’  —  Down south in Georgia last night, a woman overcame the odds to win a seat in Congress and prove that money can't always buy elections.  Unfortunately for Democrats, that underdog named Karen Handel is a Republican.

The GOP's Suburban Nightmare  —  Surveying the Democratic wreckage after a disastrous 1952 campaign, Robert Taft, the typically taciturn Ohio Republican senator, made a bold prediction about the opposition.  “The Democratic Party,” the one-time Senate majority leader asserted …

Trump appointee is a Saudi government lobbyist  —  Richard Hohlt earning six figures from kingdom bent on influencing Trump  —  President Donald Trump talks with Saudi King Salman as they pose for photos with leaders at the Arab Islamic American Summit, at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center …

Kamala Harris Was Silenced.  Then She Silenced Us.  —  Last week, Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, made headlines when Republican senators interrupted her at a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee while she interrogated Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Op-Ed The case for restricting hate speech  —  Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on Oct. 6, 2010.  (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)  —  As a sociologist and legal scholar, I struggle to explain the boundaries of free speech to undergraduates.

D.C. cops used ‘rape as punishment’ after Inauguration Day mass arrests, lawsuit says  —  Wide array of unconstitutional tactics alleged in suit over chilling round-up that hit peaceful protesters, journalists, and anarchists alike.  —  When black-clad marchers began smashing windows in Washington …

White House Tries to Get G.O.P. to Water Down Russia Sanctions Bill  —  WASHINGTON — The White House is quietly lobbying House Republicans to weaken a bill overwhelmingly passed by the Senate last week that would slap tough new sanctions on Russia for its meddling in the 2016 election …

Not quite half of American teens have had sex by 18.  That's actually low.  —  American teens may be becoming more conservative about sex.  —  According to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report reflecting data from 2011 to 2015, about 42 percent of girls and about 44 percent …

2 Cosby holdouts prevented guilty verdict, juror says  —  In an exclusive interview with ABC News, a juror in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case said that after dozens of hours of grueling deliberations in a tiny room, 10 of the 12 jurors agreed he was guilty on two counts.

White House shows no sign of reopening Paris talks  —  Three weeks after President Donald Trump pledged to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement and negotiate a better deal, foreign allies and U.S. officials alike remain perplexed about the White House's plans going forward.

Column: What to do with a broken Illinois: Dissolve the Land of Lincoln  —  Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper.  —  But before we run out of the essentials, let's finally admit …

Spicer: Publicity-Hungry Reporters Want to ‘Become YouTube Stars’  —  White House press secretary defends use of off-camera briefings to prioritize ‘substantive discussions’  —  White House press secretary Sean Spicer pushed back on reporters' complaints that on-camera news briefings have been limited …