White House communications director Hope Hicks retains lawyer in Russia probe  —  White House communications director Hope Hicks has retained a personal attorney, as the special counsel's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia is expected to heat up this fall.

Why Trump hopes the new Trump sticks  —  A Trump adviser says that after a tumultuous seven months in office, it had finally dawned on the president: “People really f@&@ing hate me.”  For someone who has spent his life lapping up adulation, however fake, it was a harsh realization.

Mercurial Trump Rattles Republican Party Ahead of Midterms  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump's mercurial politics are already rattling Republicans heading into the 2018 midterm campaign, sparking Trump-like primary challenges in two high-profile Senate races and a host of lower-profile House contests …

More White, More Male, More Jesus: CIA Employees Fear Pompeo Is Quietly Killing the Agency's Diversity Mandate  —  CIA insiders worry reforms pushed by Brennan are languishing in his absence.  —  In early summer, Judy and Dennis Shepard bought plane tickets to give a speech to the workforce at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

I Ran Digital For A 2016 Presidential Campaign.  Here's What Russia Might Have Got For $100,000  —  Even the pros struggle to know how far messages travel when Facebook is paid to promote them — but Russia's $100,000 could have reached millions.  —  One common response to the news …

Betsy DeVos Ends a Campus Witch Hunt  —  Suppose you're the kind of thoughtful liberal who concluded from Donald Trump's election that you've been living in a bubble and need to better understand the causes of America's distemper.  Suppose, too, that you have friends who voted for Trump …

A Requiem for Florida, the Paradise That Should Never Have Been  —  ORLANDO, Fla.—The first Americans to spend much time in South Florida were the U.S. Army men who chased the Seminole Indians around the peninsula in the 1830s.  And they hated it.  Today, their letters read like Yelp reviews …

GOP struggles to control its own agenda  —  President Donald Trump's flirtations with Democrats and fixation on divisive campaign promises have paved the way for hazardous, rolling deadlines over the next six months on spending, the debt ceiling and immigration.

‘Trump betrays everyone’: The president has a long record as an unpredictable ally  —  President Trump prepared for the pivotal meeting with congressional leaders by huddling with his senior team — his chief of staff, his legislative director and the heads of Treasury and the Office of Management …

Seriously, Equifax?  This Is a Breach No One Should Get Away With  —  Equifax, you had one job.  Your only purpose as a corporation, the reason you were created and remain a going concern, is to collect and maintain people's most private financial data.  —  Now you have fallen down on your only job — and spectacularly so.

Taking Risks to Move the Culture Forward  —  An interview with Claire Lehmann, founder of an online magazine for free thought  —  Claire Lehmann is the founder and editor of Quillette, an online magazine that publishes essays on a range of topics related to politics, social life, science, and academia.

Hurricane Irma churns toward Florida where cities brace for storm surges up to 15 feet  —  Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic storm in a decade, hit Cuba overnight as a rare Category 5 storm before being downgraded to a Category 3 Saturday morning, and the storm is expected to restrengthen as it heads toward Florida.

CNN exclusive: Joe Paterno may have known of earlier Jerry Sandusky abuse claim, police report reveals  —  (CNN)A police report obtained by CNN bolsters evidence that legendary football coach Joe Paterno knew years before Jerry Sandusky's arrest that his longtime assistant might be sexually abusing children.

Miami's mayor on Hurricane Irma: 'If this isn't climate change, I don't know what is'  —  Miami's Republican mayor called on President Donald Trump and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency Friday to acknowledge that climate change is playing a role in the extreme weather that has slammed …

Al Sharpton's daughter Ashley Sharpton arrested after cops say she attacked cab driver  —  Rev. Al Sharpton's daughter's birthday celebration ended in handcuffs early Saturday after she attacked a cabbie in Midtown, police sources said.  —  Ashley Sharpton, 30, is facing charges of petty larceny …

983 would lose protection per day: What a DACA phase-out would look like  —  Trump and Sessions spin the facts on DACA  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  — As many as 983 undocumented people previously covered under DACA would lose their protected status every day