Kushner's overseas contacts raise concerns as foreign officials seek leverage … Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements …

Ben Carson's HUD, Planning Cuts, Spends $31,000 on Dining Set for His Office  —  WASHINGTON — Department of Housing and Urban Development officials spent $31,000 on a new dining room set for Secretary Ben Carson's office in late 2017 — just as the White House circulated its plans …

Hope Hicks Acknowledges She Sometimes Tells White Lies for Trump  —  WASHINGTON — Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, told House investigators on Tuesday that her work for President Trump, who has a reputation for exaggerations and outright falsehoods, had occasionally required her to tell white lies.

Mueller team asks about Trump's Russian business dealings as he weighed a run for president  —  (CNN)Investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller have recently been asking witnesses about Donald Trump's business activities in Russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign as he considered …

U.S. intel: Russia compromised seven states prior to 2016 election  —  The U.S. intelligence community developed substantial evidence that state websites or voter registration systems in seven states were compromised by Russian-backed covert operatives prior to the 2016 election …

Trump campaign chief lends name to penny stock tied to felon  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The political strategist and online guru who was named President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign manager Tuesday has a close financial relationship with a penny-stock firm with a questionable history …

David Hogg Is Fair Game for Critics  —  The Parkland survivor has chosen to insert himself into an important national policy debate.  We who disagree with his views on guns have a duty to speak up against them.  —  David Hogg, the telegenic 17-year-old who survived the shooting in Parkland …

Roger Stone's Secret Messages with WikiLeaks  —  On March 17, 2017, WikiLeaks tweeted that it had never communicated with Roger Stone, a longtime confidante and informal adviser to President Donald Trump.  In his interview with the House Intelligence Committee last September, Stone …

The Professor At The Center Of The Russia-Trump Probe Boasted To His Girlfriend In Ukraine That He Was Friends With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov  —  A Ukrainian woman named Anna says Joseph Mifsud asked her to marry him in a restaurant overlooking the Kremlin.

Shooting survivor's father admits email changes in CNN spat  —  Colton Haab's father acknowledges omitting some words from the email but says he didn't do it on purpose.  —  Last week's televised town hall on guns and school safety has led to finger-pointing by the father of a Florida school shooting survivor and CNN.

A self-described sex expert says she will spill information on Trump and Russia to get out of a Thai jail … MOSCOW — A self-described sex expert whose videos highlighted the ties between one of Russia's richest men and the Kremlin has been jailed in Thailand and is calling for U.S. help …

EXCLUSIVE: FedEx's secret deal with the NRA and the gun industry  —  While publicly trying to distance themselves from the NRA, FedEx has made a secret agreement with the association and other major players in the firearms industry.  —  More than two dozen companies have cut ties …

Schools are safer than they were in the 90s, and school shootings are not more common than they used to be, researchers say  —  The deadly school shooting this month in Parkland, Florida, has ignited national outrage and calls for action on gun reform.  But while certain policies …

Infowars one strike away from YouTube ban  —  Conspiracy theory outlet Infowars is one strike away from being banned from YouTube.  —  The channel said it received an alert from YouTube on Tuesday morning, saying Infowars received a second strike on a video about the Parkland, Fla. …

DCCC Advised Candidates Not To Discuss Gun Control Policy Right After Vegas Shooting  —  The campaign organization said Democrats should focus on offering thoughts and prayers.  —  The morning after the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas, a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign …

11 ill after suspicious letter arrives at military base  —  Washington (CNN)Eleven people fell ill after a suspicious letter was opened in an administrative building at Joint Base Fort Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday, according to the Arlington County Fire Department.

Far-Right Troll Chuck Johnson Tried Out for ‘Survivor.’ Here's His Audition Tape.  —  CBS' mistake is the world's loss.  —  The 36th season of “Survivor,” the reality TV show that ushered America into an era of turbo-capitalized narcissism and celebrity worship that helped get Donald Trump elected president, will premiere Wednesday.

NSA chief says Trump hasn't told him to confront Russian cyber threat  —  NSA chief: Need authority to stop Russian cyber threat  —  Washington (CNN)US Cyber Command chief Adm. Mike Rogers told lawmakers on Tuesday that he has not been granted the authority by President Donald Trump …

Democrats Flip Two State Legislative Seats in CT and NH, Bringing Trump-Era Total to 39 … Two Democrats won state legislative contests on Tuesday night, flipping the seats from Republican hands and marking the 38th and 39th legislative flips since President Trump's inauguration.

What Critics Don't Understand About Gun Culture  —  My wife knew something was amiss when the car blocked our driveway.  She was outside our house, playing with our kids on our trampoline, when a car drove slowly down our rural Tennessee street.  As it reached our house, it pulled partially in the driveway, and stopped.

Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology  —  Palantir deployed a predictive policing system in New Orleans that even city council members don't know about  —  Illustrations by Garret Beard and Alex Castro  —  In May and June 2013 …

The New York Times Fired My Doppelgänger  —  The day before Valentine's Day, social media created a bizarro-world version of me.  I have seen strange ideas about me online before, but this doppelgänger was so far from resembling me that I told friends and loved ones I didn't want to even try to rebut it.

Mueller moves to dismiss charges against Gates  —  Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his legal team has moved to drop charges that were brought last week in an expansive superseding indictment against Rick Gates.  The 32-count indictment issued in the Eastern District of Virginia accused Gates of tax and bank fraud.

Aliens Exist … In no particular order, here is a list of things Tom DeLonge has consistently claimed to believe: UFOs are real, aliens are real and they visit us episodically, the U.S. government has known about alien life for decades, the U.S. government has been actively experimenting …