Diplomats Sound the Alarm as They Are Pushed Out in Droves  —  WASHINGTON — Of all the State Department employees who might have been vulnerable in the staff reductions that Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has initiated as he reshapes the department, the one person who seemed least likely …

While eyes are on Russia, Sessions dramatically reshapes the Justice Department  —  For more than five hours, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sat in a hearing room on Capitol Hill this month, fending off inquiries on Washington's two favorite topics: President Trump and Russia.

Time says Trump is ‘incorrect’ after president says he rejected Person of the Year overture  —  President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday that Time called to tell him that he was “probably” going to be named the magazine's person of the year, but that he turned the offer down, an account Time later disputed.

Republicans flee from McConnell in 2018 primaries  —  Nobody wants to be on Team McConnell.  —  Heading into the 2018 elections, only one Republican Senate candidate nationwide has pledged unequivocally to back Mitch McConnell as majority leader.  Most Republicans facing competitive primaries …

Mueller Probe Looks at Mike Flynn's Work on Documentary Targeting Exiled Turkish Cleric  —  Special counsel focuses on links to Turkey as legal team's move signals possible cooperation with investigators  —  WASHINGTON—Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating former White House …

'Doug Jones's problem': African American voters not energized by Alabama's Senate race  —  Doug Jones makes a campaign stop in Troy, Ala., on Nov. 17.  The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate believes he can win if he pieces together an unusually delicate coalition.  (Aly Grice/Troy Messenger/AP)

How a powerful senator schooled Betsy DeVos  —  A furious Sen. Lamar Alexander saw the Education Department going off track in its enforcement of a law he helped write, and he didn't hesitate to intervene.  —  Several months ago, Sen. Lamar Alexander phoned Education Secretary Betsy DeVos with a message: Back off.

Trump taps Mulvaney to head CFPB, sparking confusion over agency's leadership  —  President Donald Trump on Friday named White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, setting up a legal clash over who is in charge of the controversial agency.

A flat-Earther's plan to launch himself in a homemade rocket just hit a speed bump  —  A California man who planned to launch himself 1,800 feet high Saturday in a homemade scrap-metal rocket — in an effort to prove that Earth is flat — said he is postponing the experiment …

Want to Know Why Roy Moore Might Win?  Blame the Media.  —  In the wake of the Roy Moore fiasco, a number of “hot takes” have made their rounds in the media.  How obviously hypocritical it is, for example, for evangelical leaders to stand behind a man crediblay accused of sexually assaulting a minor.

Mueller might be the one who's ‘draining the swamp’  —  President Trump famously promised that, if elected president, he would “drain the swamp” — upending the culture in Washington that favors the well-connected.  —  It is special counsel Robert S. Mueller III whose work seems …

Youth pastor arrested for allegedly murdering family on Thanksgiving … CHESTER, Va. - Police have arrested a youth pastor for allegedly murdering his family at a home in Chester on Thanksgiving night.  —  Officers discovered two women and a man shot to death at a home on Dogwood Ridge Court …

St. Louis Galleria reopened after protest and arrests on Black Friday  —  RICHMOND HEIGHTS  • The St. Louis Galleria closed for about a half hour Friday afternoon after seven people were arrested during a Black Friday protest.  —  Among those arrested was state Rep. Bruce Franks Jr.