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 …

Rob Porter told White House senior staff ex-wife's black eye was accidental: Sources  —  Hours after allegations of domestic abuse came to light — including stark photos of one ex-wife with a black eye and a harrowing account of violence from a second ex-wife — former White House Staff …

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 …

Vanessa Trump taken to hospital as precaution after suspicious letter sent to her home  —  President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law was taken to a Manhattan hospital as a precaution on Monday after a suspicious letter containing an unidentified substance was sent to her apartment, senior law enforcement and city officials told NBC News.

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 …

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.

GOP Senate candidate's parents max out donations to primary campaign of Democrat he hopes to unseat  —  (CNN)Just months after Republican Kevin Nicholson announced his bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2018, his own parents donated the legal maximum to her primary campaign.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

Trump administration wants to sell National and Dulles airports, other assets around U.S. … The Trump administration is making a push to sell off federal assets as part of its infrastructure plan released Monday.  —  Among the targets: Reagan National and Dulles International airports …

Senators flag ‘unusual’ Susan Rice email on Russia probe from Inauguration Day  —  Ex-national security adviser Susan Rice sent an “unusual email” to herself the day President Trump was sworn into office documenting former President Barack Obama's guidance at a high-level meeting …

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

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

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.

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.

VA watchdog to say chief wrongly accepted Wimbledon tickets, airfare, but his lawyers blast findings  —  VA Secretary David Shulkin says taxpayers did not foot the bill for his sightseeing during a European trip.  He also dismisses rumors that he is in the running to become the next HHS secretary.

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.

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 …