James Comey Has a Story to Tell.  It's Very Persuasive.  —  Truth, Lies, and Leadership  —  290 pages.  Flatiron Books.  $29.99.  —  In his absorbing new book, “A Higher Loyalty,” the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey calls the Trump presidency a “forest fire” …

Trump, Mueller teams prepare to move forward without presidential interview  —  WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office and President Donald Trump's legal team are now proceeding with strategies that presume a presidential interview will likely not take place as part of the Russia investigation …

President Trump poised to pardon Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, sources say  —  President Donald Trump is poised to pardon Scooter J. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, according to sources familiar with the president's thinking.

Lawmakers' Letter Claims Further Spending Abuses by the E.P.A. Head, Scott Pruitt  —  WASHINGTON — Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, insisted on staying in luxury hotels that were costlier than allowed by government standards, while also pushing to fly on an airline …

Trump Reverses Course and Proposes Rejoining Trans-Pacific Partnership  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump, in a stunning reversal, told a gathering of farm state lawmakers and governors on Thursday morning that he was directing his advisers to look into rejoining the multicountry trade deal known …

The National Enquirer, a Trump Rumor, and Another Secret Payment to Buy Silence  —  Late in 2015, a former Trump Tower doorman named Dino Sajudin met with a reporter from American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania.

Trump, Having Denounced Amazon's Shipping Deal, Orders Review of Postal Service  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump abruptly issued an executive order on Thursday demanding an evaluation of the Postal Service's finances, asserting the power of his office weeks after accusing Amazon …

Diamond & Silk Claim Facebook Never Contacted Them.  Facebook Emails Prove Otherwise. … Pro-Trump vloggers Diamond & Silk found themselves the center of two high-profile congressional hearings this week lawmakers obsessed over claims the duo were “censored” by Facebook.

Confirm Mike Pompeo  —  MIKE POMPEO'S confirmation hearing to become secretary of state arrived at a moment when the Trump administration is grappling with a chaotic confluence of actual and looming foreign crises — including some of its own making.  President Trump is contemplating military strikes …

Former Texas Congressman Steve Stockman found guilty of 23 felonies  —  A federal jury in Houston has ruled that Steve Stockman, a conservative former Texas congressman, is guilty of all but one charge in his federal fraud trial.  —  Steve Stockman, a former Texas congressman …

This Parkland teacher left his gun in a public bathroom.  It was loaded, BSO says.  —  Not the most normal sight: a gun left in the bathroom stall.  —  But that's exactly what went down on Sunday in a men's room at the Deerfield Beach Pier.  —  The circumstances of how the Glock 9mm got there are unusual.

Fire the special counsel.  Please.  —  Let me put it to you this way, Mr. President.  Who are you going to listen to — the voice of the stable genius inside your head, or the timid voices of experience, the ones that said you'd never win?  —  You know what you want to do.  Just do it already.

Charlie Rose's Life Now: “Broken,” “Brilliant” and “Lonely”  —  Before the devastating allegations of sexual misconduct hit, Rose was a legendary man-about-town.  Now, the former CBS and PBS star, one of TV's most feted journalists, is hiding out on Long Island with occasional …

Biblical prophecy claims the Rapture is coming April 23, numerologist says  —  Is the Rapture finally here?  One Christian numerologist says a biblical sign strongly suggests it.  —  David Meade tells the U.K.'s Daily Express newspaper that on April 23, the sun and moon will be in Virgo, as will Jupiter, which represents the Messiah.

APNewsBreak: Indiana GOP locked candidate out of database  —  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Senate candidate Todd Rokita likely violated ethics laws as Indiana's secretary of state by repeatedly accessing a Republican donor database from his government office, prompting party officials to lock …

Brain-damaging lead found in tap water in hundreds of homes tested across Chicago, results show  —  Amid renewed national attention to the dangers of lead poisoning, hundreds of Chicagoans have taken the city up on its offer of free testing kits to determine if they are drinking tap water contaminated with the brain-damaging metal.

Disney CEO Bob Iger On Taking the Biggest Risk of His Career  —  Disney's plan to acquire 21st Century Fox is about keeping up with a rapidly changing world.  “The status quo, to me, is a joke,” says Iger, photographed at home in Los Angeles.  —  Photographed by Mark Peckmezian, Vogue, May 2018.

Member of Trump's Voter Fraud Commission Sued for Voter Intimidation  —  A conservative activist and voter fraud alarmist is facing a federal lawsuit Thursday over dubious allegations of massive voter fraud in Virginia.  A civil rights group and four Virginia voters filed a suit …

Revealed: Secret rightwing strategy to discredit teacher strikes … A nationwide network of rightwing thinktanks is launching a PR counteroffensive against the teachers' strikes that are sweeping the country, circulating a “messaging guide” for anti-union activists that portrays the walkouts …