Trump Pressed Top Republicans to End Senate Russia Inquiry  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump over the summer repeatedly urged senior Senate Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to end the panel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election …

Have We Been Lied to About the Kate Steinle Case?  —  The illegal immigrant who killed Kate Steinle in 2015 was found not guilty of her murder by a San Francisco jury today.  Outrageous, right?  —  Before the killing, Garcia Zarate had been released from a San Francisco jail despite a standing federal deportation order.

Inspector general launches inquiry into whether Treasury hid Republican tax bill analysis  —  The Treasury Department's inspector general has launched an inquiry into whether the department hid an analysis of the Republican tax bill — or even did one at all.

Trump tells confidants that a government shutdown might be good for him … President Trump has told others that a government shutdown could be good for him politically and is focusing on his hard-line immigration stance as a way to win back supporters unhappy with his outreach to Democrats this fall …

Trump White House Faces Prospect of More Senior Departures  —  Secretary of State Tillerson is most likely to leave as first anniversary approaches, say officials  —  WASHINGTON—The White House is facing the prospect of another round of senior departures in the coming weeks …

Interrogators Blast Trump's ‘Clueless’ CIA Pick Tom Cotton … The Central Intelligence Agency is set to receive an advocate of waterboarding, sweeping surveillance powers, jailing journalists, and conflict with Iran as its next director.  —  A combat veteran and first-term Arkansas GOP senator …

Conservative Megadonor Robert Mercer Funded Project Veritas  —  The Mercers, secretive billionaires who are among President Trump's most powerful donors, also helped to fund Project Veritas, the controversial activist organization, tax filings obtained by BuzzFeed News show.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation tops $5 million  —  Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the 2016 election has cost more than $5 million, ABC News has learned.  —  Those expenses include money for a staff …

Matt Lauer's lawyers trying to get him $30M payout after firing  —  Lawyers for Matt Lauer are working on landing the shamed anchor a $30 million golden sexual parachute following his NBC firing.  —  Sources close to the disgraced newsman say his team is working on a plan to get him paid through …

Vice fires three employees amid investigations into sexual harassment  —  Vice Media fired three employees on Thursday amid a probe into sexual harassment and improper workplace conduct, according to a memo obtained by CNNMoney.  —  Vice did not name the employees.

Why Twitter didn't delete anti-Muslim tweets  —  Outrage after Trump retweets anti-Muslim videos  —  President Trump has been heavily criticized for his decision to retweet three graphic anti-Muslim videos.  —  But why did Twitter allow them in the first place?

Donald Trump's ‘working visit’ to UK dropped as tensions with Theresa May grow over president's far-Right retweets  —  US diplomats have dropped plans for Donald Trump to conduct a visit to Britain in January amid a war of words between the two countries' leaders.

Congress secretly paid near $100,000 to settle harassment claims against disgraced congressman  —  The Congressional Office of Compliance secretly paid close to $100,000 in taxpayer funds to settle sexual harassment claims from at least two young male staffers who worked for disgraced former …

Trump's mind-numbing media manipulation machine  —  There is a very specific — and dangerous — formula for manipulating the media and hijacking the Twitter/cable/conventional media industrial complex.  Trump sets this formulaic trap increasingly often.  And news organizations keep falling for it.

Mulvaney: Authority I have at consumer bureau ‘should frighten people’ … White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney  —  said Thursday that the authority wielded by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) chief “should frighten people” days after he assumed the role of acting director.

Obama: If I watched Fox News 'I wouldn't vote for me'  —  joked Friday that if he watched Fox News, he wouldn't have voted for himself.  —  Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi, Obama took shots at the network, which is widely criticized for its negative coverage of Democrats.

Erik Prince details Seychelles meeting with Russian banker  —  Erik Prince: ‘Exploring options’ on Senate run  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  — Prince informed the House Intelligence Committee that he met in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev  —  Washington (CNN)Blackwater founder Erik Prince testified …