Russian Government Sought to Aid Trump's Candidacy, According to Email  —  WASHINGTON — Before arranging a meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr. was informed in an email that the material …

Trump Aides Recruited Businessmen to Devise Options for Afghanistan  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump's advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagon's plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan …

Military plane crashes in Mississippi; 5 dead … JACKSON, Miss. — A military refueling aircraft crashed Monday afternoon in a soybean field in LeFlore County, claiming at least five lives, officials said.  —  Sheriff Ricky Banks said there were five confirmed dead as of 6:15 p.m. CT …

GOP struggles to revamp ailing Obamacare repeal bill  —  Republican leaders are frantically pushing for a vote on the Senate's ailing Obamacare repeal bill next week, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell racing to placate warring moderates and conservatives with a new draft due within days, according to senators and aides.

Award-Winning Journalist Who Broke Story of Jewish Women Barred From Chicago ‘Dyke March’ Removed From Reporting Duties  —  An award-winning journalist who broke the story of the group of Jewish women ejected from an LGBTQ march in Chicago last month has been reassigned to non-journalistic duties …

NRA Breaks Its Silence on Philando Castile Shooting  —  Yesterday the National Rifle Association broke its recent silence on the shooting of Philando Castile, a Minnesota carry permit holder who was killed during a traffic stop last summer by a cop who panicked when Castile reached for the wallet containing his driver's license.

This Town Melts Down  —  A veteran political reporter takes stock of how Washington has — and hasn't — changed in the time of Trump.  —  Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, was running late and “tied up in the Oval,” an assistant explained.  It was late on a Thursday afternoon in June …

Federal government cancels costly, decade-long search for a new FBI headquarters  —  The federal government is canceling the search for a new FBI headquarters, according to officials familiar with the decision, putting a more than decade-long search by the bureau to move out of the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building back at square one.

Monmouth University Polling Institute  —  New Jersey  —  Choice Words for “Beachgate”  —  Most think state is now worse off because of Gov. Christie  —  West Long Branch, NJ - The past few weeks have been no day at the beach for New Jersey's governor... except for that day at the beach, of course.

How to Sell “Medicare for All” to All Americans  —  Democrats increasingly support a single-payer health care system—and Republicans are already on the attack.  Let the messaging wars begin.  —  Early in her campaign last year for the Democratic presidential nomination …

One of the Biggest Reasons Republicans Stick by Trump  —  They blocked Obama's court nominees for years.  Now they're filling those seats, starting a huge shift rightward for the judiciary.  —  Although he's been thwarted so far on his legislative agenda before Congress, most notably on health care …

White House criticizes Russia sanctions stalled in House  —  A new package of economic sanctions on Russia and Iran unacceptably constrains the president's authority, the White House says, as Democrats complain that the Trump administration is trying to weaken the penalties.

Sharp Partisan Divisions in Views of National Institutions  —  Republicans increasingly say colleges have negative impact on U.S.  —  Republicans and Democrats offer starkly different assessments of the impact of several of the nation's leading institutions - including the news media …

In Blow to Tech Industry, Trump Shelves Start-Up Immigrant Rule  —  The Trump administration said it would delay, and probably eliminate down the line, a federal rule that would have let foreign entrepreneurs come to the United States to start companies.  —  The decision, announced …

GOP Researcher Who Sought Clinton Emails Had Alt-Right Help  —  The saga of Peter Smith's quest to obtain 33,000 emails deleted by Hillary Clinton—an effort now at the center of intrigue swirling around the Donald Trump campaign's ties to Russia— keeps getting weirder.

CNN hired top al-Qaeda propagandist for award-winning Syria documentary and wants to cover its tracks  —  Star CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward worked with al-Qaeda “media man” Bilal Abdul Kareem  —  On June 16, an American media activist living in rebel-held Syrian territory sat …

Donald Trump Jr. Hires Lawyer and Pledges to Work With Congress  —  President Donald Trump's eldest son retained a private attorney on Monday and said he would work with congressional investigators who have sought his testimony as part of ongoing probes into whether the president's campaign colluded …

FBI: Hawaii soldier with ties to ISIS threatened to kill ‘a bunch of people’  —  An active duty Hawaii soldier who was arrested for allegedly trying to provide material support and training to the Islamic State terrorist group told an undercover federal agent Saturday that he wanted to “kill a bunch of people.”