Donald Trump and Sean Hannity Like to Talk Before Bedtime  —  Life inside the bunker of Fox News' resident Trumplegänger.  —  Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Pool via Bloomberg/Getty Images (Trump head); Rob Kim/Getty Images (Hannity head); NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images (phone)

White House Aide's Plan to Stop Leaks: Spy on His Co-Workers … A former National Security Council official now working for Attorney General Jeff Sessions explored ways to surreptitiously monitor the communications of White House staff for leaks or perceived political disloyalty to Donald Trump …

White House leakers leak about leaking  —  This White House leaks like there's no tomorrow.  —  The big picture: The leaks come in all shapes and sizes: small leaks, real-time leaks, weaponized leaks, historical leaks.  Sensitive Oval Office conversations have leaked, and so have talks in cabinet meetings and the Situation Room.

He Was a Tireless Critic of the Iran Deal.  Now He Insists He Wanted to Save It.  —  WASHINGTON — While many hands gripped the sword that undercut the Iran nuclear deal, no one outside the Trump administration was a more persistent or effective critic than Mark Dubowitz, the chief executive of a hawkish Washington think tank.

Trump says US will help penalized Chinese company  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — In a surprising overture to China, President Donald Trump said Sunday he would help a Chinese telecommunications company get “back into business,” saying too many jobs in China are at stake after the U.S. government cut off access to its American suppliers.

Qatari Investor Accused in Bribery Plot Appears With Michael Cohen in Picture Posted by Stormy Daniel's Lawyer  —  He's shown meeting with Cohen at Trump Tower shortly after the election. … Members of the Trump transition team appear to have met on December 12, 2016 with a group from Qatar …

Trying for House Gains, Democrats Bless Moderates and Annoy Liberals  —  CONWAY, Ark. — To many Democratic leaders, the path to power in Washington looks like Clarke Tucker.  —  He supports the Affordable Care Act, but not a single-payer system.  He signals misgivings about Nancy Pelosi as the next House speaker.

Michael Cohen's D.C. Consulting Career: Scattershot, With Mixed Success  —  Pitching himself as the president's lawyer to companies expecting a Clinton win, Mr. Cohen won AT&T and Novartis but was spurned by Ford and Uber  —  When Michael Cohen came knocking after the 2016 election …    SL 

‘Buckle up’: As Mueller probe enters second year, Trump and allies go on war footing … The grand jury witnesses arrive one by one at the windowless room in the federal courthouse on Constitution Avenue in downtown Washington.  They are struck first by how commonplace the setting feels …

All the problems at NBC News aren't just coincidence.  They're symptoms.  —  As months go, this has been a terrible one for NBC News.  Among the low points:  —  The ace reporter whose work the network's management couldn't seem to support adequately — Ronan Farrow — broke another huge story for the competitor he fled to.

Mueller's Investigation Crosses the Legal Line  —  It's unconstitutional under Morrison v. Olson—the decision, not the dissent.  —  Judge T.S. Ellis has expressed skepticism about the scope of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.  “What we don't want in this country is …    SL 

Trump is more popular than Dems want to admit  —  It's time for the Democrats to stop bashing President Trump.  —  It's not going to be easy, given his policies and personality.  It might even mean checking into a 12-step program.  But setting a winning agenda is like maneuvering an aircraft carrier.

Trump's decision to blow up the Iran deal is a massive attack on Europe  —  Few ideas are as holy in President Trump's international liturgy as the concept of national sovereignty.  His National Security Strategy speaks of a “beautiful vision—a world of strong, sovereign, and independent nations …

Jerusalem soccer team to be renamed ‘Beitar Trump’  —  Controversial sports team permanently rebrands itself in honor of US president recognizing Israel's capital and moving embassy  —  Jerusalem's largest soccer club announced Sunday that it has changed its name to “Beitar Trump Jerusalem …

Education Department Unwinds Unit Investigating Fraud at For-Profits  —  WASHINGTON — Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees.

Jake Tapper: ‘The very notion of empirical fact is being attacked and corroded’  —  Washington (CNN)CNN's Jake Tapper urged graduating students to be kind to one another and to be critical and independent thinkers in a commencement speech at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Liberals, You're Not as Smart as You Think  —  I know many liberals, and two of them really are my best friends.  Liberals make good movies and television shows.  Their idealism has been an inspiration for me and many others.  Many liberals are very smart.  But they are not as smart, or as persuasive, as they think.

Surest Way to Face Marijuana Charges in New York: Be Black or Hispanic  —  The police explanation that more black and Hispanic people are arrested on marijuana charges because complaints are high in their neighborhoods doesn't hold up to scrutiny.  —  They sit in courtroom pews …

Apple CEO Lauds Gun-Control Activists; Jabs at Google, Facebook  — Fearlessness a major theme of Cook address to Duke graduates  — Cook went to Duke's business school three decades ago  —  Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook waded into divisive political topics such as gun control …

Israel sends troop reinforcements to Gaza, West Bank ahead of US embassy opening  —  Army braces for efforts by hundreds of thousands of Gazans to breach border, and upsurge in unrest in West Bank and East Jerusalem  —  The Israeli army is deploying three additional brigades to Gaza …

The Senate Democrats who keep saying no to Trump nominees  —  A handful of Senate Democrats are committed to opposing President Trump's executive branch nominations at every turn — and the group bears an uncanny resemblance to the rumored 2020 frontrunners.

Axios of weasel  —  Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei are two of the three founders of the news site Axios.  Allen came out of Politico via the Washington Post; VandeHei had co-founded Politico after work at the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.  They are heavy hitters in the news business.

Paris knife attack: Suspect 'French citizen born in Russia's Chechnya'  —  The suspect in a deadly knife attack in central Paris on Saturday evening is a French citizen born in 1997 in Russia's republic of Chechnya, sources say.  —  Named by media as Khamzat Asimov, he was on a French watch list …