White House Withdraws Jackson Nomination for V.A. Chief Amid Criticism  —  WASHINGTON — The White House withdrew the nomination of Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician, to lead the Veterans Affairs Department on Thursday after lawmakers went public with a torrent of accusations leveled …

Secretly Taped Audio Reveals Democratic Leadership Pressuring Progressive to Leave Race  —  Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives, has for years been a prolific campaigner on behalf of current and potential members of Congress.  It was no surprise, then …

Senate Confirms C.I.A. Chief Mike Pompeo to Be Secretary of State  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday easily confirmed Mike Pompeo as the nation's 70th secretary of state, elevating the current C.I.A. director and an outspoken foreign policy hawk to be the nation's top diplomat.

Diamond and Silk say under oath they weren't paid by Trump campaign; FEC filings say otherwise  —  The conservative social media personalities known as Diamond and Silk claimed under oath at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday that they were never paid for their consulting work by President Trump

Trump says Cohen ‘represented me’ in Stormy Daniels scandal  —  Donald Trump said Thursday that attorney Michael Cohen “represented me” by cutting a deal with porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, after the president previously said he didn't know about the “hush money” payment.

In Bonkers Interview, Trump Threatens to Seize Control of Justice Department  —  While many reporters have described President Trump's aggrieved psychology, his phone call this morning on Fox & Friends gave outsiders unfiltered access to the sorts of rants he routinely imposes upon his staff.

Senate panel advances legislation to protect Robert Mueller from firing  —  The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation Thursday that would protect special counsel Robert S. Mueller III from being fired by President Trump after the panel's Republican chairman backed off changes that threatened bipartisan support for the bill.

Bill Cosby Is Found Guilty in Second Trial for Sexual Assault  —  Case revolved around incident involving a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home  —  NORRISTOWN, Pa.—A jury Thursday found entertainer Bill Cosby guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at his home in 2004, after giving her a drug that incapacitated her.

Trump's biggest problem might be the competency question  —  First Read is your briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter  —  WASHINGTON — This morning, President Trump's pick to head the Department …

Kevin Williamson: The punishment I favor for abortion  —  Kevin D. Williamson is a Texas-based writer.  —  As a libertarian, I fully accept the motto that what a woman chooses to do with her own body is her business.  As someone who can count, I believe that abortion involves two bodies.

Here's The White House Questionnaire For GOP Candidates Who Want Trump's Backing  —  It asks about immigration, Pakistan and trade.  —  The White House has a few questions for candidates in Republican primaries hoping for President Donald Trump's endorsement.  —  Do you support ending foreign aid to Pakistan?

New Yorkers are flocking to this Midwest sanctuary  —  The year was 2012.  A native of Columbus, Ohio's Worthington suburb, Bryan Williamson had studied interior design and learned furniture-making in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, while his NJ-born wife, Catherine, miserably slaved away at a public accounting firm.

Our shame: The sins of our past laid bare for all to see  —  We were wrong.  —  On the day when people from across the globe come to our capital city to consider the sordid history of slavery and lynching and try to reconcile the horrors of our past, the Montgomery Advertiser recognizes …

Unpacking the Other Clinton-Linked Russia Dossier  —  A copy of the little-publicized second dossier in the Trump-Russia affair, acquired by RealClearInvestigations, raises new questions about the origins of the Trump investigation, particularly about the role of Clinton partisans and the extent …

Raising the Ceiling, but Not the Floor, on Potential Democratic House Gains  —  Playing field widens even as odds of turnover don't change  —  KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE  — The number of potentially vulnerable Republican seats is growing, and we're adding an extra 10 GOP-held seats to the Likely Republican column this week.

Bush 41, Trump, and American Decline  —  George H.W. Bush once vomited on the prime minister of Japan.  It was a mortifying but innocent incident, the result of a nasty stomach bug.  Donald Trump has spent the last couple of days effectively doing likewise on France's Emmanuel Macron.

Exclusive poll: GOP Senate seats threatened in Arizona, Nevada  —  Data: SurveyMonkey poll conducted April 2-23, 2018.  Poll Methodology; Note: “No answer” responses not shown; Chart: Axios Visuals  —  Democrats have a real shot at winning two of the three Senate seats where Republicans …

The Center For American Progress Staff Was Shocked After Neera Tanden Named The Anonymous Harassment Victim In An All-Staff Meeting  —  The meeting comes after BuzzFeed News reported on allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation against those who reported at the progressive organization.

The military paid for a study on sea level rise.  The results were scary. … More than a thousand low-lying tropical islands risk becoming “uninhabitable” by the middle of the century — or possibly sooner — because of rising sea levels, upending the populations of some island nations …

At Least 5 Injuries in Superior Explosion  —  The Superior Fire Department says there are no fatalities in the explosion at the Husky oil refinery, at least 5 Injuries have been reported.  —  The explosion happened at about 10:06 a.m. at the refinery, which is in the city's East End.

A soldier just got authorization to wear a beard because of his Norse pagan faith … When the Army authorized beards for religious soldiers in early 2017, the move was a response to years of requests — and a lawsuit — from Sikh soldiers seeking to both serve and adhere to the tenets of their faith.

Twitter Tolerates Russian Trolls Over Pornbots, EU's Ansip Says  —  EU is seeking ways to stem disinformation on the internet  —  Twitter Inc. seems to tolerate Russian troll accounts more than pornbots, the European Union's digital policy chief told reporters.

Kanye West Doesn't Care About Black People  —  Last year Panama Jackson, a man who, in the 14 years that we've known each other, has become one of my best friends, published a piece about his mother's support of Donald Trump, and revealed how that ruined his relationship with her.

I Am Woman, Hear Me Apologize: My Quest To Stop Saying 'I'm Sorry' All The Damn Time  —  I made two New Year's resolutions for 2018:  —  1. Curse more.  —  2. Apologize less.  —  I made the first resolution to help liberate my words I had already decided to wildly split infinitives …