Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program  —  WASHINGTON — In the $600 billion annual Defense Department budgets, the $22 million spent on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program was almost impossible to find.  —  Which was how the Pentagon wanted it.

CDC gets list of forbidden words: fetus, transgender, diversity … The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation's top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases — including “fetus” and “transgender” — in any official documents being prepared for next year's budget.

Democrat: Rumor is Trump could fire Mueller before Christmas  —  (D-Calif.) said Friday that “rumors” on Capitol Hill suggest President Trump  —  could fire special counsel Robert Mueller before Christmas, after Congress leaves Washington for the winter recess.

After Alabama loss, Trump has ambitious plans to campaign in 2018 midterms  —  President Trump is not on the ballot in 2018, but the White House is planning a full-throttle campaign to plunge the president into the midterm elections, according to senior officials and advisers familiar with the planning.

‘Trump, Trump, Trump!’  How a President's Name Became a Racial Jeer  —  For more coverage of race, sign up here to have our Race/Related newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox.  —  The high school basketball squad from Eagle Grove, population 3,700, had traveled 60 miles up Highway 69 …

World's Most Expensive Home?  Another Bauble for a Saudi Prince  —  A $300 million chateau is one of a string of extravagant purchases for a prince who is cracking down on ill-gotten wealth and preaching fiscal austerity.  —  LOUVECIENNES, France — When the Chateau Louis XIV sold …

FBI officials' text message about Hillary Clinton said to be a cover story for romantic affair  —  Two senior FBI officials who texted each other about President Trump and Hillary Clinton relied on work phones to try to hide their romance from a spouse and made the bureau's probe …

Donald Trump And GOP Leaders Could Be Enriched By Last Minute Tax Break Inserted Into Final Bill  —  Republican congressional leaders and real estate moguls could be personally enriched by a real-estate-related provision GOP lawmakers slipped into the final tax bill released Friday evening …

Omarosa, Leaving the White House, Suggests the Show Will Go On  —  WASHINGTON — Every must-watch television show needs two ingredients to survive its first season: a believable villain and a nail-biter of a cliffhanger.  Omarosa Manigault Newman, a veteran of “The Apprentice,” …

“It just seems wrong.”  GOP rep admits tax scam he voted for rips off working people  —  There's not much to like about the GOP tax scheme.  The bill, drafted hurriedly and under the cover of darkness, is wildly unpopular among the American people and economists alike …

The two expat bros who terrorized women correspondents in Moscow  —  Matt Taibbi and Mark Ames trafficked in hideous stereotypes and body-shaming.  —  There's more than one way to harass women.  A raft of men in recent weeks have paid for accusations of sexual harassment with their companies, their jobs, their plum political posts.

The owner of Steve Bannon's D.C. rowhouse wants a 3-foot security fence.  D.C. government is not having it.  —  (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post)  —  While the Breitbart News operation pushes an anti-establishment message across the country, it is also steeped in a municipal battle in the nation's capital.

Why Democrats failed to tank tax reform  —  The tax fight has all the ingredients that helped Democrats kill Obamacare repeal: party unity on Capitol Hill, energized liberal activists and legislation that polls in the toilet.  But this time it doesn't appear to be enough.

Trump calls wife of hospitalized Sen. John McCain  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has called the wife of John McCain as the Arizona senator is hospitalized for cancer treatments.  —  The White House said Trump called Cindy McCain on Friday to send his best wishes and check on her and her husband.

Roy Moore fundraising for ‘election integrity fund’ ahead of election certification  —  's campaign announced Friday that it is seeking donations for an “election integrity fund” following the former judge's unsuccessful bid for an Alabama Senate seat.  —  Moore has refused to concede the race …

Brookings fellow rips Trump: I entered through lottery system  —  A fellow at the Brookings Institution blasted President Trump  —  's derision of the visa lottery system on Friday, putting himself forward as an example of the program's effectiveness.  —  “I won a green card through …

AP-NORC Poll: 52 percent say country worse off under Trump  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are painting a pessimistic view of the country and President Donald Trump as 2017 comes to a close.  —  That's according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The Grande Dame of Documentary is Leaving Her Home at HBO  —  After almost 40 years, she has reels of memorable film, a pile of awards and plenty of perspective on the current battle of the sexes.  —  When Sheila Nevins first started working in television in the 1970s, she thought …

E.P.A. Contractor Has Spent Past Year Scouring the Agency for Anti-Trump Officials  —  One of the top executives of a consulting firm that the Environmental Protection Agency has recently hired to help it with media affairs has spent the past year investigating agency employees who have been critical …