Exclusive: Email shows effort to give Trump campaign WikiLeaks documents  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  Washington (CNN)Candidate Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and others in the Trump Organization received an email in September 2016 offering a decryption key and website address …

Arizona's Trent Franks to Resign Jan. 31  —  Updated 7:24 pm |  Arizona Republican Trent Franks said Thursday he is resigning from Congress effective Jan. 31 amid an Ethics Committee investigation into discussions he had with two female staffers about surrogacy.

Dossier author was in contact with Obama Justice Department  —  It's been ten months since Washington learned that former British spy Christopher Steele, author of the so-called “Trump dossier,” took the Hillary Clinton-funded opposition research document to the FBI, which considered sponsoring …

Congressional Democrats Left Out of White House Hanukkah Party  —  WASHINGTON — The latkes were fried and the kosher lamb chops were prepared on Thursday, just as in past years, for the first White House Hanukkah party of the Trump era.  But there was one prominent break with tradition …

Al Franken's Resignation and the Selective Force of #MeToo  —  On what he called the worst day of his political life, Senator Al Franken articulated two points that are central to understanding what has become known as the #MeToo moment.  In an eleven-minute speech, in which Franken announced …

Fox's pro-Trump hosts are working overtime to discredit Robert Mueller  —  This is why Trump loves ‘Fox & Friends’  —  What's President Trump hearing when he watches Fox News?  —  He's hearing that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is “illegitimate and corrupt.”

George Papadopoulos' fiancee: He's a patriot, not a Trump campaign coffee boy  —  The Italian fiancee of George Papadopoulos offered the first public defense of the embattled former Trump campaign adviser, who in October was revealed as the first campaign adviser to plead guilty and cooperate with the special counsel's Russia probe.

Trump's richest friends are asking for changes to the GOP tax plan, and he's listening … Some of President Trump's wealthiest New York friends have launched a last-minute campaign to pressure him for changes to the GOP tax bill, telling the president personally that the current plan would drive up their taxes and hurt his home state.

Roy Moore Believes America Was Great During Slavery.  Twitter Users Detonate.  —  “Families were united” then, the Senate candidate actually told an African-American person.  —  GOP Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore stunned some listeners when he said he thought America was “great” during the era of slavery.

Stark Partisan Divisions Over Russia Probe, Including Its Importance to the Nation  —  Trump's style, Twitter use top ‘disappointments’ among supporters  —  A majority of Americans say they think senior members of Donald Trump's administration definitely or probably had improper contacts …

Secretary Ryan Zinke reportedly spent $6,250 on a government helicopter ride so he could go horseback riding with Mike Pence  — Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke reportedly spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on government helicopter rides.  — During one trip, Zinke ordered a helicopter …

The G.O.P. Is Rotting  —  A lot of good, honorable Republicans used to believe there was a safe middle ground.  You didn't have to tie yourself hip to hip with Donald Trump, but you didn't have to go all the way to the other extreme and commit political suicide like the dissident Jeff Flake, either.

Nearly Every Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Disagrees With Trump's Jerusalem Decision  —  All but two of 11 former United States ambassadors to Israel contacted by The New York Times after President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital thought the plan was wrongheaded, dangerous or deeply flawed.

Ex-Governor's Run Gives Democrats a Bit More Hope of Retaking the Senate  —  WASHINGTON — Former Gov. Phil Bredesen, the last Democrat to win statewide office in Tennessee, announced on Tuesday that he would run for the seat being vacated by Senator Bob Corker, handing his party a conceivable …

Private War: Erik Prince Has His Eye On Afghanistan's Rare Metals  —  BuzzFeed News is publishing the slide presentation by the founder of Blackwater to privatize the Afghan war and mine Afghanistan's valuable minerals.  He pitched the proposal to the Trump administration.

Brexit: ‘Breakthrough’ deal paves way for future trade talks  —  PM Theresa May has struck a last minute deal with the EU in a bid to move Brexit talks on to the next phase.  —  There will be no “hard border” with Ireland and EU citizens in the UK, and UK citizens in the EU, will see their rights protected.

2 Times Reporters Will Write Book on Sexual Abuse Scandals  —  The New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey will publish a book about the sexual abuse and harassment scandals that have convulsed the nation over the past two months, Penguin Press confirmed on Thursday.

The Bitcoin Whales: 1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of the Market  —  A few massive investors can rock it with a shrug.  —  On Nov. 12, someone moved almost 25,000 bitcoins, worth about $159 million at the time, to an online exchange.  The news soon rippled through online forums …