Trump lawyer ‘paid by Ukraine’ to arrange White House talks  —  Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to fix talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump, according to sources in Kiev close to those involved.

Trump's FBI Spy Theory Is Completely Insane  —  In the face of widening evidence of Trump campaign culpability in the Russia investigation, Republicans have churned through a frequently mutating series of conspiracy theories to defend him.  The latest, and possibly final, such theory …

Jared Kushner Gets Security Clearance, Ending Swirl of Questions Over Delay  —  WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and adviser, has been granted his permanent security clearance, a person briefed on the matter said on Wednesday, ending a period of uncertainty …

N.F.L. Teams Will be Fined if Players Kneel During National Anthem  —  N.F.L. players will be allowed to stay in the locker room during the national anthem, but their teams will be fined by the league if they go onto the field and kneel, according to new rules adopted by owners on Wednesday …

Most Americans don't realize Robert Mueller's investigation has uncovered crimes  —  17 indictments and five guilty pleas so far.  —  A majority of Americans — 59 percent — say in a new survey that Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia and the 2016 campaign has not yet uncovered evidence …

State Department warns U.S. citizens in China after employee suffers possible sonic attack  —  BEIJING — The U.S. State Department is warning U.S. citizens in China that a government employee reported unusual “sensations of sound and pressure” and was later diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury …

The Risky Business of Speaking for President Trump  —  Flacks in this White House press office are getting enormous exposure — but potentially at a long-term cost to their credibility.  —  It was getting late on a Wednesday, and by 2018 standards the evening's news cycle felt almost serene.

EPA again blocks journalists from attending summit: 'They ain't doing the CNN stuff'  —  Journalists blocked from EPA event  —  The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday barred journalists for the second consecutive day from attending a national summit focused on water contaminants …

5 Key Takeaways From Tuesday's Primaries  —  It was a night for upsets and breakthroughs: In Georgia, a black woman was nominated for governor by a major party for the first time in any state.  In Kentucky, a math teacher defeated a Republican power broker.

Families of Sandy Hook victims, FBI agent file defamation lawsuit against right-wing radio host Alex Jones  —  Six families of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the scene, filed a defamation lawsuit today …

Exclusive: U.S. Government Can't Get Controversial Kaspersky Lab Software Off Its Networks … Federal agencies are so far unable to comply with a law banning Kaspersky Lab software from U.S. government networks by October, The Daily Beast has learned.  Multiple divisions of the U.S. government …

Trump can't block Twitter followers, federal judge says  — President Donald Trump cannot block users on his Twitter feed, a federal judge in New York City ruled Wednesday.  — The suit was filed in July 2017 by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University …

Exclusive: Bannon says Rosenstein could be fired ‘very shortly’  —  's former chief strategist Stephen Bannon predicts that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein  —  could be fired “very shortly,” in an interview that will be broadcast Wednesday evening in the United Kingdom.

Would you wear this muzzle around the office for private calling?  —  A new accessory called Bloxvox muffles your phone conversations in an open office.  Just don't share it.  —  Enlarge Image  —  Back in January of 2017 I discovered a product at CES called HushMe that I described as …

Prominent donor threatens GOP over DACA  —  CHICAGO — An influential, multi-millionaire GOP donor is threatening to choke off campaign resources to Republican congressmen who haven't engaged in the latest immigration battle in Congress.  —  Former Exelon chairman John Rowe …

Philip Roth, the Seminal American Novelist, Has Died  —  Philip Roth, the seminal American novelist whose book “American Pastoral” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, in 1998, has died, at the age of eighty-five.  His great subjects, as Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote in this magazine, in 2006 …

Deep in the Desert, Iran Quietly Advances Missile Technology  —  When an explosion nearly razed Iran's long-range missile research facility in 2011 — and killed the military scientist who ran it — many Western intelligence analysts viewed it as devastating to Tehran's technological ambitions.

The Rising Racial Liberalism of Democratic Voters  —  In response to both the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and the backlash in favor of Donald Trump in 2016, analysts and commentators have focused mostly on racial attitudes on the right.  Both scholarship and journalistic accounts …

The new AG itching to take on Trump  —  New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has jurisdiction over 20 Trump properties and is ready to step into Eric Schneiderman's void.  —  The man aspiring to be the new face of the resistance is a practicing Sikh who likes to call attention to his turban …

Sources: FBI Agents Want Congress To Issue Them Subpoenas So They Can Reveal The Bureau's Dirt  — Sources tell The Daily Caller several FBI agents want congressional subpoenas to testify about the agency's problems.  — The sources claim there is a demand within the agency to prosecute former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.

In an internal memo, the White House considered whether to simply ‘ignore’ federal climate research  —  White House officials last year weighed whether to simply “ignore” climate studies produced by government scientists or to instead develop “a coherent, fact-based message about climate science …

How the Mueller Investigation Could Play Out for Trump  —  If Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, finds evidence that Mr. Trump broke the law, he will have decisions to make about how to proceed.  We explain them.

S.C. community outraged by photo of county council candidate in blackface  —  BRANTLEY TOMLISON-USER SUBMITTED FACEBOOK.jpg  —  KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. (WACH) — A candidate for the Kershaw County Council is the talk of the town after a controversial photo began circulating on social media.

Trump Blames China's Xi Jinping for Sabotaging the Kim Jong Un Summit … President Donald Trump met his South Korean counterpart in the White House on Tuesday, publicly acknowledged his planned summit with Kim Jong Un may never take place, and called out China's ruler for sabotaging the denuclearization process.

What Changed?  The Same Media Who Excuse Bob Mueller Abused Ken Starr  —  Today's journalists routinely assert that it is “extreme,” “dangerous,” and possibly even criminal for the White House - or anyone else, for that matter - to criticize an investigation into the President.

Comey Rips Trump's ‘Attacks’ on the FBI: ‘How Will Republicans Explain This to Their Grandchildren?’  —  Former FBI Director James Comey came to the agency's defense this morning as President Trump continues to attack it over the informant used during the election.

That Viral “Odyssey” Post About Coachella Was Actually By A 28-Year-Old Man Who Catfished His Way Into The Site  —  Meet the real “Kaycie Allen.”  —  If you were on Twitter on April 22, you might remember this article.  —  “Sorry Not Sorry, My Parents Paid For My Coachella Trip,” …

Exclusive - Yulia Skripal: Attempted assassination turned my world upside down  —  LONDON (Reuters) - Yulia Skripal survived an assassination attempt that UK authorities blame on Russia.  But the daughter of one of Russia's most famous spies says she wants to return to her country “in the longer term”, despite the poisoning.

Greitens' team grilled woman about sexual practices, arousal, bathing suit preference  —  Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens' legal team grilled his alleged victim about whether she was aroused during the sexual encounter at the center of the scandal, according to testimony read aloud by Missouri lawmakers Wednesday.

A 30-year-old demanded notice for eviction from his parents' house.  ‘Outrageous,’ a judge said.  —  Michael Rotondo refuses to move out of his parents' house.  —  So much so that the 30-year-old argued for a half-hour with a judge in Upstate New York on Tuesday, saying that while he knew …

US firm that gave cash to Michael Cohen helped secure millions for Putin-linked oligarch  —  Files reviewed by Guardian shed new light on ties between Columbus Nova, Viktor Vekselberg and Kremlin-allied bankers  —  A company that paid Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's legal fixer …

There is no evidence for ‘Spygate’ — but there is a reason that Trump invented it  —  In the grand tradition of Gretchen Wieners, President Trump has a new catchphrase that he is trying on for size. … “Spygate” made its debut on Wednesday morning during Trump's “executive time,” …