Trump's Longtime Lawyer Says He Paid Stormy Daniels Out of His Own Pocket  —  Michael D. Cohen, President Trump's longtime personal lawyer, said on Tuesday that he paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to a pornographic-film actress who had once claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump.

Third White House official resigns after being told he wouldn't qualify for full clearance  —  National Economic Council official George David Banks departed amid increasing scrutiny of the Trump administration's decision to let multiple staffers work on interim clearances.

Read the text of Elizabeth Warren's speech to Native American group  —  Read the prepared text of the speech Senator Elizabeth Warren gave to Native Americans on Wednesday.  —  Thank you for having me here today.  —  I want to start by thanking Chairwoman Andrews-Maltais for that introduction.

Veterans Affairs chief Shulkin, staff misled ethics officials about European trip, report finds  —  Veterans Affairs Secretary David J. Shulkin's chief of staff doctored an email and made false statements to create a pretext for taxpayers to cover expenses for the secretary's wife on a 10 …

Poll: GOP gains on generic ballot, Trump approval ticks upward  —  Republicans have erased the Democratic advantage on the generic congressional ballot in a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll that, for the first time since April, also shows President Donald Trump's approval rating equaling …

Utah's Republican chairman slams Mitt Romney and his expected Senate bid, compares him to Hillary Clinton  —  The Utah Republican Party chairman blasted Mitt Romney's anticipated Senate run, hitting him for “essentially doing what Hillary Clinton did in New York” — campaigning in a state he hasn't spent much time in.

Suspect wounded, SUV stopped after shooting at NSA gate  —  FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — One person was wounded in a shooting Wednesday morning outside the National Security Agency campus at Fort Meade.  —  Authorities surrounded a handcuffed man after a black SUV ran into a barrier outside the Maryland base.

NY Times ‘Very Concerned’ Over Tweets By Its Nazi-Befriending Editorial Board Hire  —  Quinn Norton has tweeted that she's friends with neo-Nazis, and has used slurs on a regular basis.  —  The New York Times is investigating past tweets by Quinn Norton, a journalist who just joined the paper's editorial board, HuffPost has learned.

Christopher Steele is a hero - and Americans owe him their thanks … Christopher Steele, the former British spy whose claims about Donald Trump's ties with Russia hold center stage in Washington right now, drives Republicans crazy.  They have recommended that the Department of Justice open a criminal investigation into his work.

Kelli Ward touts endorsement from fake-news site  —  It looked as if Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward had scored a big endorsement: On Oct. 28, she posted a link on her campaign website and blasted out a Facebook post, quoting extensively from a column in the Arizona Monitor.

GOP rep unveils ‘Crumbs Act’ to make bonuses tax-free, in swipe at Pelosi  —  A Republican lawmaker is set to unveil legislation that would make most bonuses given out as a result of President Trump's tax reform plan tax-free — and took a jab at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi with the bill's name.

EPA's Scott Pruitt got waiver to fly business class on foreign carrier from Italy to U.S.  —  WASHINGTON — EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been under fire for frequently flying in first and business class at taxpayer expense.  CBS News has learned more about one of those flights …

Open Letter to the Bruin Republicans Who Invited Milo Yiannopoulos to UCLA  —  This is a bad idea.  —  Editor's note: On February 13, UCLA's college Republican group, the Bruin Republicans, announced that they would be hosting Milo Yiannopoulos on campus to give a talk titled “10 Things I Hate About Mexico.”

As Shaun White cements legacy, why so little attention paid to sexual harassment allegations?  —  GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Shaun White is an American cultural institution, winning the third Olympic gold medal of his pioneering career Wednesday at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

An immigrant called 911 to report a crime.  Police took him to ICE in handcuffs. … At 5:30 a.m. Thursday, as Wilson Rodriguez Macarreno was getting ready for work, he noticed a stranger peering into his Tukwila, Wash., home.  —  Rodriguez, a carpenter and native of Honduras …

Mercenaries Hurt in U.S. Syria Strikes Are Treated at Russian Defense Hospitals  —  Mercenaries said to be taken to Russian military hospitals  —  Russia denies link to fighters who struck U.S.-backed forces  —  Even as the Kremlin denies any official link to them, scores …

So Long, Huck Finn and Atticus Finch  —  The desire to stamp out disturbing expression is illiberal.  —  When the censors come, it will be with a smile on their face and unctuous talk about your feelings on their lips.  It's for your own good, they'll say.  Art that takes a stand against hatred will be confused with hate speech.

New Hedge-Fund Tax Dodge Triggers Wild Rush Back Into Delaware  —  Firms set up LLCs in plan to avoid carried-interest change  —  Congress may have stumbled in narrowing loophole for managers  —  Wall Street's fast-money crowd is returning to well-trodden ground to elude Trump-era tax laws: Delaware.

Seabee command triad fired after XO found strolling naked in woods  —  The entire command triad of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, currently deployed to Okinawa, Japan, was fired Feb. 11 after the unit's executive officer was found intoxicated and walking naked in the woods on Camp Shields.

Dems: Bill Clinton too toxic to campaign in midterms  —  Democrats are looking to embrace the #MeToo moment and rally women to push back on President Donald Trump in the midterms—and they don't want Bill Clinton anywhere near it.  —  In a year when the party is deploying all their other big guns …