Homeland Security Secretary Was Close to Resigning After Trump Berated Her  —  WASHINGTON — Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, told colleagues she was close to resigning after President Trump berated her on Wednesday in front of the entire cabinet for what he said was her failure …

White House official mocked ‘dying’ McCain at internal meeting  —  A White House official mocked Sen. John McCain  —  's brain cancer diagnosis at an internal meeting on Thursday, a day after the Arizona Republican announced his opposition to President Trump  —  's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel.

My journey to North Korea with the secretary of state … The State Department normally craves elaborate planning and procedures for everything.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's 13-hour visit to North Korea had little of that.  —  I had a view of the improvisational quality of his trip because …

The smear that killed the ‘reset’  —  Putin needed an American enemy.  He picked me.  —  From the beginning of the Obama administration, we knew we wanted to reboot our relationship with Moscow.  I coordinated Russia policy from the National Security Council, and Russia …

Who is paying Michael Avenatti?  —  So exactly who is paying Michael Avenatti?  And is he a lawyer, an opposition researcher, a journalist, or a campaign operative?  —  He wants to make the discussion all about where Michael Cohen, President Trump  —  's personal attorney, got his money but …

About That FBI ‘Source’  —  Did the bureau engage in outright spying against the 2016 Trump campaign?  —  The Department of Justice lost its latest battle with Congress Thursday when it allowed House Intelligence Committee members to view classified documents about a top-secret intelligence source …

Cohen's $600,000 deal with AT&T specified he would advise on Time Warner merger, internal company records show  —  Three days after President Trump was sworn into office, the telecom giant AT&T turned to his personal attorney Michael Cohen for help on a wide portfolio of issues pending …

Lawmakers weigh Plan B to protect Mueller's work  —  WASHINGTON — If Congress can't protect special counsel Robert Mueller's job, perhaps it can protect his work.  —  That's the thinking among several lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who are discussing ways to safeguard the special counsel's investigation …

Top White House official in charge of pandemic response exits abruptly … The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization …

Trump to Drop Call for Medicare to Negotiate Lower Drug Prices  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump will lay out on Friday a broad strategy to reduce prescription drug prices, but in a break from one of his most popular campaign promises, he will not call for Medicare to negotiate lower prices …

How the Online Left Fuels the Right  —  I think I know what it feels like to be “red-pilled,” the alt-right's preferred metaphor for losing one's faith in received assumptions and turning toward ideas that once seemed dangerous.  —  For me, it happened over several visits to the West Bank.

Tell us how this ends … So what's next with Iran?  Even if you think President Trump has made a big mistake in withdrawing from the nuclear agreement, as I do, that's not the end of the story.  Where does this bumpy road lead?  —  What's distressing about the Iran question is that nobody …

Florida Insider Poll: Doubts about Bill Nelson beating Rick Scott grow  —  Among more than 200 experts and veterans of Florida politics surveyed in the latest Tampa Bay Times Florida Insider Poll, nearly six in 10 this week said they expect Florida's Republican governor to unseat the three-term Democratic Senator.

Blankenship wants to ‘make sure’ Morrisey doesn't win Senate bid  —  Ex-coal CEO Don Blankenship, who lost the GOP primary bid in West Virginia this week, is actively plotting how to undercut state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's Senate candidacy.  —  Greg Thomas, an adviser …

Loyalty, unease in Trump's Midwest  —  Voters gave Trump a chance.  Some remain all in.  Others have grown weary of the chaos.  —  After eight years of displeasure with the presidency of Barack Obama and faced with a choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Dennis Schminke of Austin …

The Wipeout of Obama's Legacy  —  President Obama's legacy is rapidly vanishing.  The decision by President Trump to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran is the biggest blow, but it's only the latest.  The elimination of the individual mandate and canceling the yearly bailout …

Who Is Anna Wintour Asking Us to Forgive in Her Editor's Letter?  —  Anna Wintour is our Fashion Pope, the infallible ruler of Vogue, fashion's Vatican.  Both because of her reputation — which is the stuff of pop-culture legend — and the reality of her power, she's not someone anyone in the industry dares cross.

At Sean Hannity properties in low-income areas, an aggressive approach to rent collection … PERRY, Ga. — For years, Fox News host Sean Hannity has poured his fortune into a surprising side venture: a vast portfolio of rental properties in working-class neighborhoods.

Adviser for pro-Trump group caught saying Nazis should have done more  —  An adviser for the pro-Trump group America First Policies was caught on camera saying, 'The only thing the Nazis didn't get right is they didn't keep f*cking going!'  —  Former Trump campaign adviser Juan Pablo Andrade …

Let Them Eat Trump Steaks  —  In general, Donald Trump is notoriously uninterested in policy details.  It has long been obvious, for example, that he never bothered to find out what his one major legislative victory, the 2017 tax cut, actually did.  Similarly, it's pretty clear that he had no idea …

House Democrats Release 3,500 Russia-Linked Facebook Ads  —  ON THURSDAY, DEMOCRATS on the House Intelligence Committee published more than 3,500 Facebook and Instagram ads linked to the Russian propaganda group Internet Research Agency, making it the largest trove of these ads the public has seen to date.