Exclusive: Secret Service out of money to pay agents because of Trump's frequent travel, large family  —  WASHINGTON — The Secret Service can no longer afford to pay hundreds of agents it needs to carry out an expanded protective mission - in large part due to the sheer size of President Trump's family …

Steve Bannon Readies His Revenge  —  The war on Jared Kushner is about to go nuclear.  —  On the morning he was being ousted as Donald Trump's chief strategist last Friday, Steve Bannon had already turned the page.  “Why do you sound unfazed?” a friend asked Bannon as news of his demise ricocheted across the web.

USS John S. McCain collides with merchant ship near Strait of Malacca  —  SOUTH CHINA SEA - The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) has arrived at Changi Naval Base following a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while underway east of the Strait of Malacca and Singapore on Aug. 21.

Trump to ask Americans to trust him on Afghanistan  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  (CNN)Donald Trump will ask Americans Monday to trust him on his new Afghanistan strategy, exercising a president's most somber duty, a decision on waging war, at a time when his own political standing is deeply compromised.

Former DHS Secretary: Removing Confederate Statues Is A Matter Of National Security  —  Statues of Lincoln, Catholic saints, and Confederate generals have been in the political debate as of late.  There are even a few commentators who want to tear down monuments to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

The Daily 202: The elites strike back — getting under Trump's skin  —  THE BIG IDEA: The 2016 election represented, as much as anything else, a repudiation of America's elites and everything they believe in.  By running on the hollow promises of populism, nativism and isolationism …

Lobbyist at Trump Campaign Meeting Has a Web of Russian Connections  —  WASHINGTON — Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian immigrant who met last summer with senior Trump campaign officials, has often struck colleagues as a classic Washington mercenary — loyal to his wife, his daughter and his bank account.

Normal Americans Are Bored By The Fake Drama  —  I took a week off from the milieu of political insanity to go out amongst the normals and chalk up another huge trial victory, and when I got back I was stunned - stunned! - to find that a consensus had formed that Nazis are bad.

personal news  —  Shortly I will be headed to the Richmond University Medical Center to pursue intensive treatment for my mental illness.  My day-to-day existence has become entirely unmanageable, and I fear for my health and safety.  I do not have much of a plan at this point other than to get checked in.

KKK leader threatens to ‘burn’ Latina journalist, the first black person on his property  —  Christopher Barker, a leader of a Ku Klux Klan chapter in North Carolina, agreed to meet for an interview at his home late last month with Ilia Calderón, a Colombian news anchor for Univision based in Miami.

Republican committees have paid nearly $1.3 million to Trump-owned entities this year … The Republican National Committee paid the Trump International Hotel in Washington $122,000 last month after the party held a lavish fundraiser at the venue in June, the latest example of how GOP political committees …