Exclusive: Manafort's former son-in-law cuts plea deal, to cooperate with government: sources  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The former son-in-law of Paul Manafort, the one-time chairman of President Donald Trump's campaign, has cut a plea deal with the Justice Department that requires him to cooperate …

U.S. Scrapped Training Exercise With South Korea Involving B-52s  —  South Korea expressed concern in advance of U.S.-North Korea summit, officials say  —  A training exercise involving U.S. B-52 bombers and South Korean planes was scrapped earlier this week after the South Korean government …

‘Bigger than Watergate’: Trump joins push by allies to expose role of an FBI source … President Trump's allies are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign to undercut the Russia investigation by exposing the role of a top-secret FBI source.  The effort reached new heights Thursday …

Trump Administration to Tie Health Facilities' Funding to Abortion Restrictions  —  WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to announce on Friday a new policy barring Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health organizations from providing or mentioning abortions at any facility …

Man firing gun and ranting about Trump shot by police inside Trump National Doral resort  —  A gunman ranting about President Donald Trump walked into the lobby of Trump National Doral Miami resort early Friday morning, draped an American flag on the counter and began firing.

LIVE COVERAGE: Confirmed injuries after Santa Fe High School shooting  —  A suspect is in custody following a shooting inside Santa Fe High School.  According to law enforcement agencies, it appears the shooter is a student.  There are confirmed injuries, but the number and extent are not yet known.

Sexpat Journalists Are Ruining Asia Coverage  —  Newsroom predators in foreign bureaus hurt their colleagues — and their stories.  —  Today, I'm known as a strong advocate in my social circles, promoting women's and minorities' voices in media.  But when I first moved to China seven years ago …

Bill Gates: Trump twice asked me the difference between HIV and HPV  —  Microsoft co-founder tells foundation meeting it was ‘kind of scary’ how much Trump knew about what Gates' daughter looked like  —  Bill Gates, the billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, has claimed Donald Trump twice asked …

Jay-Z Convinced Meek Mill to Cancel White House Visit with Trump  —  Meek Mill bailed on a visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Friday after a late-night call from Jay-Z ... TMZ has learned.  —  TMZ broke the story ... Meek agreed to travel to the White House to discuss prison reform.

Congressional Candidates, Not Mueller, Could Decide Trump's Future  —  For months, the political world has treated Robert S. Mueller III as the arbiter of President Trump's fate: Hopeful Democrats have theorized about the damage Mr. Mueller's investigation might inflict.

Jordan Peterson, Custodian of the Patriarchy  —  He says there's a crisis in masculinity.  Why won't women — all these wives and witches — just behave?  —  TORONTO — Jordan Peterson fills huge lecture halls and tells his audiences there's no shame in looking backward to a model of how the world should be arranged.

Here's What We Know About Aaron Schlossberg, The Racist New York Lawyer Who Berated People For Speaking In Spanish  —  Aaron M. Schlossberg, the Manhattan attorney who was caught in a viral racist rant against people speaking Spanish, has been caught on video and in photos being a bigot in at least four more instances over two years.

White House staff brace for personnel moves after leak  —  Changes are expected in the communications and press offices as soon as Friday amid the furor over leaked comments about terminally ill Arizona Sen. John McCain.  —  The leak of a White House press aide's flippant comments …

Sources Say Cohen Financial Records Not Missing, Just Restricted  —  Three sources told BuzzFeed News that Treasury Department officials have taken the highly unusual step of restricting access to suspicious activity reports.  —  Records pertaining to the financial activities …

Putin Three-Peat?  Russian Duma Gets Proposal To Scrap Presidential Term Limit  —  A proposal submitted to the Russian parliament would scrap the constitutional limit of two consecutive presidential terms, enabling Vladimir Putin to remain in power past 2024.

Did China Just Bribe Trump to Undermine National Security?  —  Did the president of the United States just betray the nation's security in return for a bribe from the Chinese government?  —  Don't say that this suggestion is ridiculous: Given everything we know about Donald Trump …

Millions flow to fast-growing lobbying firms with ties to the Trump administration  —  Editorial Page writer George Hager discusses how one becomes a lobbyist, what they do and why they matter in his answer to this reader question.  Have a question?  Send it using #askusatoday on Twitter or e-mail askusatoday@usatoday.com.

An Arizona PAC Appears to Have Blatantly Ripped Off Donors.  Now, the Feds Are Coming After It. … The Department of Justice on Thursday brought federal criminal charges against two Arizona men accused of using fake political groups to defraud thousands of unwitting donors out of millions of dollars.

Dems increase effort to avoid California catastrophe  —  The political arm of House Democrats is undertaking a late push to drive up voter turnout in a handful of marquee California congressional districts where the party now faces the possibility of not even having a Democrat make it onto the November ballot.

Is the Trump Tower meeting really proof of collusion?  —  If there is an Exhibit A in the case that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to fix the presidential election, it is the June 9, 2016, meeting in Trump Tower between three top campaign officials — Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort …

Support for Donald Trump a constant theme in Republican ads for midterms  —  USA Today's Craig Gilbert looks at 2018 GOP primary campaign ads and finds a lot of love for President Trump USA TODAY  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump has appeared in nearly four out of every ten GOP ads for Congress this year.

The Las Vegas Shooter Went On An Anti-Government Rant Weeks Before His Deadly Attack  —  Witnesses say Stephen Paddock went on an anti-government rant while trying to buy firearm paraphernalia weeks before killing 58 people on the Las Vegas Strip.  —  Just weeks before Stephen Paddock killed 58 people …

The Trump era is a renaissance of half-witted intolerance … In West Virginia, Republican Senate candidate Don Blankenship accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) of creating jobs for “China people” and getting donations from his “China family.”  (McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, was born in Taiwan.)