Israeli Operatives Who Aided Harvey Weinstein Collected Information on Former Obama Administration Officials  —  In June, 2017, Ann Norris, a former State Department official, received an e-mail containing an unusual proposal.  Norris is married to Ben Rhodes, a former foreign-policy adviser …

Giuliani: I'm ‘focused on the law more than the facts right now’  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that he is still getting up to speed on the facts of the President's legal situation, but the payment to Stormy Daniels did not require him to have a full accounting of the details at hand.

Inside Melania Trump's complicated White House life: Separate schedules, different priorities … Donald and Melania Trump's remarkably separate daily routines begin with him getting up around 5:30 a.m., watching cable news shows and tweeting.  —  The first lady wakes in her own bedroom a bit later …

Gina Haspel, nominee to head CIA, sought to withdraw over questions about her role in agency interrogation program  —  Gina Haspel, President Trump's nominee to become the next CIA director, sought to withdraw her nomination Friday after some White House officials worried that her role …

The Liberal Media Can Have Ideological Diversity Without Conservatives  —  Donald Trump's election exposed the irrelevance of conservative intellectuals — and thereby, the incoherence of many a liberal publication's mission statement.  —  During the 2016 primaries, the right-wing intelligentsia mobilized in opposition to Trump.

Trump's GOP ‘warriors’ lead charge against Mueller  —  Trump has hailed a quartet of aggressive House Republicans whom Democrats say are trying to ‘sabotage’ the Russia probe.  —  They have demanded thousands of documents central to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

The Man Who Bought New York  —  Money hasn't made Stephen Schwarzman universally beloved.  Who cares?  —  Last May, a familiar routine took place on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  —  Katy Perry ascended the red carpet at the annual Costume Institute gala looking like the bride …

House Democrats Plan to Release 3,000 Russian-Linked Facebook Ads  —  Lawmakers on House Intelligence Committee could release trove of ads as soon as this week  —  Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are preparing to release 3,000 Russia-linked Facebook ads, according to people familiar …

George Conway, Spouse of Top Trump Counselor, Takes White House to Task on Twitter  —  WASHINGTON — In legal circles, George T. Conway III is perhaps best known as the lawyer who argued a securities case before the Supreme Court and won with an 8-to- vote, or for his behind-the-scenes work …

He Makes a Joke.  She Isn't Laughing: ‘Lingerie’ Comment in Elevator Leads to Uproar Among Scholars  —  He says he was joking when he asked to be let off an elevator at the ladies' lingerie department.  A female scholar who was attending the same annual meeting of the International Studies Association …

Inside Scott Pruitt's “miserable” bunker  —  President Trump is unhappy about a report in The Atlantic which says a member of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's press team has been shopping negative stories about Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to multiple outlets.

Boy regains consciousness after parents sign papers to donate his organs  —  A 13-year-old boy who suffered severe brain trauma in an accident regained consciousness after his parents signed paperwork to donate his organs.  Trenton McKinley of Mobile, Alabama, suffered the injury two months ago …

Republicans fear a Roy Moore redux in West Virginia  —  Republicans in D.C. are panicking over Tuesday's West Virginia Senate primary.  —  The problem: Don Blankenship, a coal baron who's spent time in prison, is running a demagogic campaign in which he's repeatedly invoked the Chinese heritage …

Stoneman Douglas Shooter Was Assigned To Controversial Broward Discipline Program, Officials Now Say  —  Broward school district officials admitted Sunday that the confessed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gunman was assigned to a controversial disciplinary program …

How Buzzfeed's ‘Data-Monster’ Leveraged User Data To Fuel Super PACs, Target Voters  — BuzzFeed created dozens of native political ads for anti-Trump super PACs in 2016 that were “based off mounds and piles and troves of data and information” it had collected on its own users, according to former BuzzFeed vice president.

96-Year-Old Secretary Quietly Amasses Fortune, Then Donates $8.2 Million  —  Even by the dizzying standards of New York City philanthropy, a recent $6.24 million donation to the Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side was a whopper — the largest single gift from an individual to the social service group in its 125-year history.

Don't Scuttle the Iran Nuclear Deal  —  By 1931 Winston Churchill had fought more election battles than any other member of the British Parliament.  He ruefully calculated that “one day in 30” of his adult life had been consumed by “arduous and worrying” campaigning.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Mark Murray, NBC News senior political editor  —  How/where are you celebrating your birthday and with whom?  “I'm actually spending my actual birthday with Chuck Todd & Co. on the West Coast, as Chuck moderates a California gubernatorial debate on Tuesday.

Nikki Haley says she won't defend Trump's ‘communication style’  —  U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley  —  said on Sunday that she won't defend President Trump  —  's “communication style.”  —  “First of all, he has his communication style,” Haley told CBS's “Sunday Morning.”