Republicans warn Trump of 2018 bloodbath  —  A few weeks before Alabama's special Senate election, President Donald Trump's handpicked Republican National Committee leader, Ronna Romney McDaniel, delivered a two-page memo to White House chief of staff John Kelly outlining the party's collapse with female voters.

President Trump signs tax bill into law  —  President Donald Trump signed the $1.5 trillion rewrite of the tax code into law at the White House on Friday capping off a victory lap before leaving to spend the holidays in Mar-a-Lago.  —  “Everything in here is really tremendous things for businesses …

Russian hackers targeted more than 200 journalists globally  —  PARIS (AP) — Russian television anchor Pavel Lobkov was in the studio getting ready for his show when jarring news flashed across his phone: Some of his most intimate messages had just been published to the web.

A Conservative Nonprofit That Seeks to Transform College Campuses Faces Allegations of Racial Bias and Illegal Campaign Activity  —  On Tuesday, in a convention center in West Palm Beach, Florida, amid chants of “USA!” and “The wall is going to be built!,” Donald Trump, Jr. …

EXCLUSIVE: James O'Keefe Believes Roy Moore's Accusers Despite Attempt to Debunk Their Stories  —  Not only does James O'Keefe not regret paying a woman to pose as a rape victim in a botched hit-job that would serve to discredit Roy Moore's accusers — in a surprising twist …

Trump Promised to Protect Steel.  Layoffs Are Coming Instead.  —  CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — At this sprawling steel mill on the outskirts of Philadelphia, the workers have one number in mind.  Not how many tons of steel roll off the line, or how many hours they work, but where they fall on the plant's seniority list.

FBI's top lawyer said to be reassigned … The FBI's top lawyer, James Baker, is being reassigned — one of the first moves by new director Christopher A. Wray to assemble his own team of senior advisers as he tries to fend off accusations of politicization within the bureau.

'The World's Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread'  —  Not every leaker is an ideological combatant like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning.  Reality Winner may be the unlikeliest of all.  —  Reality Winner grew up in a carefully kept manufactured home on the edge of a cattle farm 100 miles north …

Ex-Trump adviser Carter Page accused academics who twice failed his PhD of bias  —  Carter Page, Donald Trump's former foreign policy adviser, accused his British examiners of “anti-Russian bias” after they took the highly unusual step of failing his “verbose” and “vague” PhD thesis, not once but twice.

Trump Administration Considers Separating Families to Combat Illegal Immigration  —  The Trump administration is considering a new policy that would separate parents from their children when families are caught entering the country illegally, according to officials who have been briefed on the plans.

Myanmar says the story of these people is “fake news.”  —  The military says they burned down their own villages,  —  faked massacres,  —  left their own children for dead.  —  This is the real story of how 655,000 Rohingya Muslims escaped.  —  I. Fire  —  Maungdaw South

The Miss America Emails: How The Pageant's CEO Really Talks About The Winners  —  Internal correspondence reveals name-calling, slut-shaming and fat-shaming in emails between the Miss America CEO, board members and a pageant writer.  —  In late August 2014, the CEO of the Miss America Organization …

Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski chastises Mark Halperin's sexual harassment victims for not wanting to see him so he can apologize  —  MIKA BRZEZINSKI (CO-HOST): We also have — some men who are willing to face the music, who are willing to face the facts, who are willing to admit to their actions 10, 20 years ago, even five years ago.

That's a wrap on 2017  —  PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Money will not publish from Dec. 25-Jan. 1.  Our next Morning Money newsletter will publish on Tuesday, Jan. 2.  —  THAT'S A WRAP ON 2017 — Welcome to the last Morning Money of the year.  What a year it was.

E.P.A. Officials, Disheartened by Agency's Direction, Are Leaving in Droves  —  This article was written through collaboration between The New York Times and ProPublica, the independent, nonprofit investigative journalism organization.  —  WASHINGTON — More than 700 people have left …

Opioid Deaths Are Spreading Rapidly Into Black America  —  2016 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 residents  —  In counties with fewer than 10 drug overdose deaths, the map combines observed totals with modeled estimates.  —  The epidemic of drug overdoses, often perceived as a largely white rural problem …

Why I started saying ‘reality-based press’ in 2017, instead of ‘mainstream media’  —  On Jan. 22, Kellyanne Conwaydefended the president's order that Sean Spicer, in his first appearance before the White House press corps, should feed reporters a whopping lie.

A deafening media silence on the Obama-Hezbollah scandal  —  Politico published a jaw-dropping, meticulously sourced investigative piece this week detailing how the Obama administration had secretly undermined US law-enforcement agency efforts to shut down an international drug-trafficking ring run by the terror group Hezbollah.

Exclusive: Ex-Farenthold aide told House Ethics Committee she was pressured to perform campaign duties  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  (CNN)A former aide to GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold contacted the House Ethics Committee last week to detail what she said were regular requests from the congressman …

Top FBI official grilled on Comey, Clinton in Hill testimony  —  Washington (CNN)FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe faced numerous questions this week about his interactions, conversations and correspondence with his one-time boss, former FBI Director James Comey, spanning both the FBI's Russia investigation …

‘Young Turks’ Founder Cenk Uygur Apologizes for ‘Ugly,’ ‘Insensitive’ Old Blog Posts (Exclusive)  —  Liberal host once wrote that women are genetically “flawed” because they don't want to have sex often enough  —  “Young Turks” creator and host Cenk Uygur made multiple graphic and disparaging remarks …

Hundreds of People Made Gifts of Stock With Great Timing  —  Michael Milken is among investors who gave shares near peak prices or before drops, a WSJ analysis shows  —  When Michael Milken donated $27 million of stock to charity in September 2013, the former junk-bond financier's timing scarcely …

Sessions rescinds Justice Dept. letter asking courts to be wary of stiff fines and fees for poor defendants  —  Attorney General Jeff Sessions is rescinding an Obama-era Justice Department letter that asked local courts across the country to be wary of slapping poor defendants with fines …

How the Carried Interest Break Survived the Tax Bill  —  Treasury chief sought to keep break for private equity funds  —  Congress imposed three-year holding requirement in legislation  —  President Donald Trump's plan to abolish a tax break for hedge-fund managers was kept …

Mitch McConnell ready to defend Senate majority from Democrats — and Steve Bannon  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell intends to play a central role in the midterm elections, using his affiliated super PAC to block insurgent Republicans and help his party withstand the headwinds from President Trump's low approval ratings.

Axios AM  —  Two weeks of insight: Between now and New Year's Day, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei and I will bring AM readers our year-end thoughts on the topics that matter most ...  Robert Mueller isn't the only one hot on the trail of the Russians' election interference and Facebook manipulation.

Grand Rapids Police Department  —  Press Release: GRPD Concludes Internal Investigation and Announces Next Steps  —  The Grand Rapids Police Department today released the remaining 100 minutes of the body worn camera footage from the December 6 incident involving an 11-year-old on the City's Northwest Side.