With cameras banned, CNN sends sketch artist to White House briefing  —  The White House has been prohibiting cameras at some press briefings, so on Friday CNN got creative and sent a sketch artist.  —  Bill Hennessy, the network's regular sketch artist for Supreme Court proceedings …

T r u m p ' s L i e s  —  Many Americans have become accustomed to President Trump's lies.  But as regular as they have become, the country should not allow itself to become numb to them.  So we have catalogued nearly every outright lie he has told publicly since taking the oath of office.

Fifth GOP senator announces opposition to ObamaCare repeal bill  —  (R-Nev.) announced Friday that he is opposed to the Senate GOP's ObamaCare repeal bill in its current form, making him the fifth GOP senator to come out against the plan.  —  “I'm announcing today that in this form I will not support it …

Attorney General Becerra: Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota and Texas Added to List of Restricted State Travel  —  Contact: (415) 703-5837, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov  —  California will prohibit state-funded and state-sponsored travel due to discriminatory legislation enacted in each state

Gowdy: Oversight panel won't pursue Russia, obstruction probes  —  Newly-elected House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy does not plan to investigate Russia's meddling in the 2016 election or questions of whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Why Hasn't Trump Actually Nominated an FBI Director? … Attorney Christopher Wray is on deck to become the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, if the president ever gets around to nominating him.  —  President Donald Trump tweeted Wray was his pick on June 7, more than two weeks ago.

Johnny Depp Apologizes for Joking About Trump Assassination: ‘I Intended No Malice’  —  Johnny Depp is apologizing for his comments about President Donald Trump.  —  The actor issued a statement exclusively to PEOPLE apologizing for the remarks he made Thursday in England at the Glastonbury Festival …

Don't make things worse  —  The secrecy extended into the White House.  —  Rice , Haines and White House homeland-security adviser Lisa Monaco convened meetings in the Situation Room to weigh the mounting evidence of Russian interference and generate options for how to respond.

Making America scared again won't make us safer  —  Sally Q. Yates served in the Justice Department from 1989 to 2017 as an assistant U.S. attorney, U.S. attorney, deputy attorney general and, briefly this year, as acting attorney general.  —  In today's polarized world …

Nebraska Democratic Party official caught on tape saying he's glad Scalise got shot  —  FILE - In this March 8, 2017 file photo, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington.  Scalise was shot Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., congressional officials say.

Poll: More Americans Believe Comey Over Trump  —  By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans say they are more likely to believe former FBI Director James Comey than President Donald Trump when it comes to their differing accounts of events that led up to Comey's firing, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

‘Fox & Friends’ propagates the most astounding piece of pro-Trump propaganda yet  —  Merely placing sweet little questions before President Trump isn't enough anymore, apparently.  These days, the treatment dished out by the “Fox & Friends” crew to Trump needs to include a bit of slander for the opposition.

Joe Biden's beef with Bill Ackman sparks heated exchange and presidential chatter  —  Some say former Vice President Joe Biden is too old to run for president in 2020, but he still knows how to throw a verbal punch — just ask financier Bill Ackman.  —  Continue Reading Below

Public support for ‘single payer’ health coverage grows, driven by Democrats  —  A majority of Americans say it is the federal government's responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage.  And a growing share now supports a “single payer” approach to health insurance …

White House frustration grows with Tillerson over jobs for Trump allies  —  The White House is becoming increasingly frustrated with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and a close-knit circle of aides over the slow pace of hiring and a chokehold on information and access to Tillerson …

Jane Sanders Lawyers Up  —  Bernie Sanders was in the midst of an interview with a local TV reporter early last month when the senator fielded an unexpected question about an uncomfortable matter.  —  “There's an implication, and from at least one individual, an explicit argument …

Pence meets with Koch brother in Colorado  —  Vice President Pence held an unannounced meeting with conservative political activist Charles Koch on Friday, the day before the Koch brothers network kicks off a donor meeting in Colorado Springs.  —  Pence, in town to headline a banquet celebrating …

Our Fake Democracy  —  We tell ourselves stories in order to live, as Joan Didion said.  We do this as a nation, as individuals, as families — even when that construct is demonstrably false.  For the United States, the biggest institutional lie of the moment is that we have a government of the people, responding to majority will.