Obama Portraits Blend Paint and Politics, and Fact and Fiction  —  WASHINGTON — With the unveiling here Monday at the National Portrait Gallery of the official presidential likenesses of Barack Obama and the former first lady, Michelle Obama, this city of myriad monuments gets a couple of new ones …

Police: Donald Trump Jr.'s wife exposed to white powder  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump Jr.'s wife was taken to a New York City hospital as a precaution Monday after she opened an envelope addressed to her husband that contained an unidentified white powder, police said.

Trump's real plan for 2018  —  President Trump today will unveil a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan that his own aides don't think will pass, and a $4 trillion budget that Axios' Jonathan Swan calls “science fiction.”  —  It's the strangest of year-ahead plans for a party that controls …

Dear America: Your News Media Absolutely Hates You  —  It'd be nice to say that American media doesn't hate this country.  It'd be nice to claim that the American press, while maintaining objectivity and balancing against bias, is still inherently American - that they are patriots who love …

Trump Proposes to Cut Medicare and Spend Big on Wall, Defense  —  Lawmakers already acted to raise military, domestic spending  —  Immigration enforcement a major theme of 2019 proposal  —  President Donald Trump will propose cutting entitlement programs by $1.7 trillion, including Medicare …

Top Justice Department official Brand quit partly over fear she might be asked to oversee Russia probe  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's No. 3 attorney had been unhappy with her job for months before the department announced her departure on Friday, according to multiple sources close to Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand.

INSIDE THE TWO YEARS THAT SHOOK FACEBOOK—AND THE WORLD  —  How a confused, defensive social media giant steered itself into a disaster, and how Mark Zuckerberg is trying to fix it all.  —  ONE DAY IN late February of 2016, Mark Zuckerberg sent a memo to all of Facebook's employees to address some troubling behavior in the ranks.

The Education Department Officially Says It Will Reject Transgender Student Bathroom Complaints  —  Department officials have said they were considering the issue since last February — now, a department spokesperson tells BuzzFeed News the agency's position is set.

Sessions invokes ‘Anglo American heritage’ of sheriff's office  —  Sessions: Crime rate going up is not a blip  —  Washington (CNN)Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday brought up sheriffs' “Anglo-American heritage” during remarks to law enforcement officials in Washington.

CNN, Despite Trump Bump, Prepares for Dozens of Layoffs  —  A year ago, CNN was positioning itself as ready to take on Vice and BuzzFeed in the digital space.  Now, the company is rightsizing as it prepares for AT&T's embrace.  —  Besides the occasional Twitter-issued invective from the president …

Abbas Tells Putin: ‘We Refuse to Cooperate With U.S. in Any Form’; Putin: Trump Sends Best Wishes  —  In a meeting between the Palestinian and Russian presidents in Moscow, Putin assures Abbas that he has spoken with Trump, knows Palestinians want U.S. out of peace talks

First-class travel distinguishes Scott Pruitt's EPA tenure … Just days after helping orchestrate the United States' exit from a global climate accord last June, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt embarked on a whirlwind tour aimed at championing President Trump's agenda at home and abroad.

Is Devin Nunes Obstructing Justice?  —  As public scrutiny exposes deep flaws in the memo from the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, about alleged F.B.I. surveillance abuses, the committee's Republicans are increasingly downplaying its significance.

Analysis: The Generic Is Falling!  The Generic Is Falling!  —  I hear it all the time these days.  The Democratic electoral wave is petering out.  The generic ballot shows the Democrats' advantage is cratering.  President Donald Trump's job approval ratings are up.

Former Senior FBI Official Is Leading BuzzFeed's Effort to Verify Trump Dossier  —  Anthony Ferrante coordinated the U.S. government's response to Russian election interference.  Now he's helping a news site defend itself from a Russian billionaire's lawsuit.

Trump's Controversial Pick to Run the 2020 Census Withdraws  —  The Trump administration's controversial pick to run the 2020 census has withdrawn from consideration to be deputy director of the US Census Bureau, according to sources close to the bureau.  —  In November, Politico reported …

EXCLUSIVE: Married senior policy advisor to President Obama pleaded guilty to sex crimes for taking pictures up women's skirts on the DC Metro and resigned before the government could fire him  — William Mendoza, 42, was the executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education

Sony Apologizes After ‘Peter Rabbit’ Movie Exploits a Food Allergy, Upsetting Parents  —  Sam Rose has a son who loves Peter Rabbit, a character from a children's book by Beatrix Potter, but she won't take him to see “Peter Rabbit,” the new movie loosely based on it.  —  The issue?

Ben Shapiro's Website Eyes Buying Glenn Beck's TheBlaze … The people who head Ben Shapiro's conservative news site are in talks to buy Glenn Beck's troubled media empire TheBlaze, The Daily Beast has learned.  Two sources familiar with the conversations said this appears quite likely, though the deal isn't final.

Trump takes ‘shackles’ off ICE, which is slapping them on immigrants who thought they were safe … A week after he won the election, President Trump promised that his administration would round up millions of immigrant gang members and drug dealers.  And after he took office …