CNN severs ties with Jeffrey Lord  —  CNN severed ties with Jeffrey Lord on Thursday, hours after he ignited controversy by tweeting the words “Sieg Heil!” at a prominent liberal activist.  —  “Nazi salutes are indefensible,” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement.  “Jeffrey Lord is no longer with the network.”

More drama in Trumpland: Gorka publicly shuns Tillerson's effort to scale back North Korea red line  —  For those worried that President Trump might get into nuclear war with North Korea, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson provided some solace Wednesday.  “Americans should sleep well at night …

In a new poll, half of Republicans say they would support postponing the 2020 election if Trump proposed it  —  Critics of President Trump have repeatedly warned of his potential to undermine American democracy.  Among the concerns are his repeated assertions that he would have won …

With Bank Subpoenas, Mueller Turns Up the Heat on Manafort  —  Investigators seek account records linked to Trump ex-adviser  —  Special counsel pressuring Manafort's son-in-law, associates  —  Follow @bpolitics for all the latest news, and sign up for our daily Balance of Power newsletter.

Trump says he is ‘very thankful’ to Putin for expelling U.S. diplomats from Russia  —  BEDMINSTER, N.J. — President Trump said here Thursday that he is “very thankful” to Russian President Vladimir Putin for expelling hundreds of U.S. diplomats from Russia, because he said it helps him cut the U.S. government's payroll.

Judge orders new searches for Clinton Benghazi emails  —  Nine months after the presidential election was decided, a federal judge is ordering the State Department to try again to find emails Hillary Clinton wrote about the Benghazi attack.  —  U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled …

Trump lawyer slams special counsel for ‘gross abuse’ in Manafort raid, challenges warrant  —  A top lawyer for President Trump slammed the special counsel's office over the FBI raid of former campaign manager Paul Manafort's Virginia home, accusing investigators of committing a …

Vacationing Trump tweets “get back to work” to Mitch McConnell  —  Donald Trump dialed up his criticism of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Twitter Thursday, tweeting from his club in Bedminster, New Jersey:  —  The backstory: This back-and-forth was sparked by the health-care collapse …

Sebastian Gorka, the West Wing's Phony Foreign-Policy Guru  —  Gorka's a former Breitbart editor with Islamophobic views and ties to neo-Nazi extremists - and he has the ear of the president  —  The Breitbart News headline, back in November 2014, rang like a five-alarm fire bell: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD OVERRUNS NATIONAL CATHEDRAL IN DC.

Chelsea Manning Changed the Course of History.  Now She's Focusing on Herself  —  “It's not like I'm living in fear or anything,” Manning says.  “I'm so glad to be out and about and walking around.”  Here, Manning in a Norma Kamali swimsuit.  —  Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue, September 2017

West Virginia Gov. Justice Asks Trump for $4.5 Billion to Save Eastern Coal  —  Miners in Western states say proposal goes against free market principles  —  West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is asking President Donald Trump to extend his support for the coal industry by providing some $4.5 billion …

The Democratic Party's Looming Fundraising Crisis  —  Halfway through Year One of the Trump presidency, the Democratic base is energized.  Its voters are showing up at rallies, crowding town hall forums, self-organizing into local groups and scaring Republican incumbents …

Here's the Memo That Blew Up the NSC  —  Fired White House staffer argued “deep state” attacked Trump administration because the president represents a threat to cultural Marxist memes, globalists, and bankers.  —  The memo at the heart of the latest blowup at the National Security Council paints …

Exclusive: The chaos behind the scenes of Fox News' now-retracted Seth Rich story  —  Lawsuit puts Seth Rich conspiracy inside the West Wing  —  For more than two months, Fox News has declined to explain the story behind one of its most high-profile journalistic disasters …

International report confirms 2016 was third consecutive year of record global warmth  —  A new State of the Climate report confirmed that 2016 surpassed 2015 as the warmest year in 137 years of recordkeeping.  Last year's record heat resulted from the combined influence of long-term global warming …

Republicans limiting early voting in Marion County, letting it bloom in suburbs  —  Absentee voting in Hamilton County grew in 2016 with the addition of early polling places.  Why was Marion County limited to just one?  Stephen J. Beard / IndyStar  —  CONNECT

Study: Trump actions trigger health premium hikes for 2018  —  https://apnews.com/cc6b335865e24a4b843d c0e2c4cc6c7a  —  Link copied!  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's own actions are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased …

A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Year's DNC Hack  —  Former NSA experts say it wasn't a hack at all, but a leak—an inside job by someone with access to the DNC's system.  —  It is now a year since the Democratic National Committee's mail system was compromised …

Trump pick Sam Clovis stoked birther conspiracy, called Eric Holder a ‘racist black’  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  (CNN)Sam Clovis, Donald Trump's pick to be chief scientist for the Department of Agriculture, pushed unfounded theories about then-President Barack Obama's upbringing and called …