Mattis is out of the loop and Trump doesn't listen to him, say officials  —  On Iran, North Korea and other major issues, the defense secretary has been out of the loop  —  WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary James Mattis learned in May from a colleague that President Donald Trump had made the decision …

Harley, stung by tariffs, shifts some production overseas  —  MILWAUKEE (AP) — Harley-Davidson, up against spiraling costs from tariffs, will begin shifting the production of motorcycles headed for Europe from the U.S. to factories overseas.  —  The European Union on Friday began rolling …

Special counsel obtains Trump ally Erik Prince's phones, computer  —  Special Counsel Robert Mueller is digging deeper into Trump ally and Blackwater founder Erik Prince, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.  —  Prince, America's most famous private military contractor …

How an Affair Between a Reporter and a Security Aide Has Rattled Washington Media  —  The pearl bracelet arrived in May 2014, in the spring of Ali Watkins's senior year in college, a graduation gift from a man many years her senior.  It was the sort of bauble that might imply something …

Restaurant That Trump Called ‘Filthy’ Actually Has A Glowing Health Record  —  Not so “filthy” after all.  —  Despite President Donald Trump's dubious claim that a restaurant's exterior appearance will unfailingly mirror its interior cleanliness, the restaurant in Lexington …

Supreme Court sends back N.C. gerrymandering case, mostly rejects Texas map challenge  —  The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to Texas' congressional districts and said it is declining, for now, to wade into a dispute over a North Carolina redistricting plan that a lower court …

What's the Yield Curve?  ‘A Powerful Signal of Recessions’ Has Wall Street's Attention  —  You can try and play down a trade war with China.  You can brush off the impact of rising oil prices on corporate earnings.  —  But if you're in the business of making economic predictions …

I've Been Reporting on MS-13 for a Year.  Here Are the 5 Things Trump Gets Most Wrong.  —  The gang is not invading the country.  They're not posing as fake families.  They're not growing.  To stop them, the government needs to understand them.  —  There's one thing everyone can agree …

The left loses its cool  —  'When you're violent and cursing and screaming and blocking me from walking into a movie, there's something wrong,' said one top GOP official.  —  Two senior Trump administration officials were heckled at restaurants.  A third was denied service.

Fight for Russia probe documents splits top Republicans  —  Trump allies are blasting the Justice Department for withholding documents from Congress — even as key chairmen touted progress.  —  Top House Republicans are divided over whether the Justice Department and FBI are sufficiently cooperating …

In sign of detente, North Korea skips annual anti-US rally  —  PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — In another sign of detente following the summit between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, North Korea has decided to skip one of the most symbolic and politically charged events of its calendar …

Kander confirms bid for Kansas City mayor in a move already shaking up the ballot  —  Jason Kander, the former Missouri secretary of state whose growing nationwide profile as a Democrat led to speculation about his presidential ambitions, confirmed on Sunday his unexpected decision to run for mayor of Kansas City.

Why We Are Leaving the G.O.P.  —  When the obituary for the Republican Party is written, the year 1980 will be cited as the beginning of the end.  Reaganism was in full flower, but the big tent was already folding.  Republican leaders endorsed a constitutional ban on abortion at the convention that summer …

White Extinction Anxiety  —  Last week Pat Buchanan was on “The Laura Ingraham Show” to discuss the humanitarian crisis Donald Trump has created at the border by ripping children away from their parents.  —  He was not particularly sympathetic to these families' plights …

The Power of Nancy Pelosi  —  Can the Democrats' polarizing leader chart a path to victory in the 2018 midterm elections?  —  Nancy Pelosi sits in a black-leather booth at Americana, a burger bistro in downtown Des Moines, radiating optimism.  “We're in a very good place,” she says of Democrats' odds in November.

Black firefighter on inspection duty in Oakland hills gets videotaped, reported to police  —  A black firefighter conducting city-mandated inspections around homes in the Oakland hills was reported to police and, on a separate occasion, questioned and videotaped by a resident who found him suspicious …

Ted Cruz leads Beto O'Rourke by 5 points in Texas Senate race, UT/TT poll finds  —  Texas Republicans in top races, led by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Greg Abbott, are running ahead of their Democratic challengers, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

What did Peter Strzok do?  —  As former top FBI official Peter Strzok faces congressional requests to testify, it's worth examining who he is.  —  Strzok is the subject of what I see as one of the most damaging conclusions in the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general report …

Secret data: Most VA nursing homes have more residents with bed sores, pain, than private facilities  —  An analysis of internal documents shows residents at more than two-thirds of Department of Veterans Affairs nursing homes last year were more likely to have serious bed sores …

Trump's Race-Baiting Has Infested the GOP  —  Mike Huckabee's MS-13 tweet shows how the Republican Party has remade itself in the president's image.  —  Early Saturday morning, Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and the father of President Donald Trump's press secretary …

Robert Mueller Wants to Talk to Roger Stone's Comedian Frenemy … Bob Mueller has some questions for comedian Randy Credico, according to the comedian himself.  Credico told radio host Jimmy Dore on Sunday evening that the special counsel has reached out to him for a voluntary interview.

Where Is Barack Obama?  —  Barack Obama was six months into his post-White House life when Donald Trump found a new way to grab his attention.  It was a Tuesday morning deep in the mid-Atlantic summer, and, feeling a world away from the Pennsylvania Avenue grind, the former president was reading the New York Times on his iPad.

Trump as a Russian Target - Through the Eyes of a former CIA Russian Expert  —  Donald Trump would have been an active target of Russian intelligence since the moment they laid eyes on him for two reasons that come straight from the classical espionage textbook: He has influence …

'They're lucky we aren't executing them': National Guardsman faces punishment for Facebook post on migrants  —  With a steady pipeline of unsettling images and reports coming from the border related to the Trump administration's child separation policy, more than half a million Facebook users have opened their digital wallets to help.

Why This Immigration Psychodrama Will Also Pass  —  A month from now there will be a new manufactured news story that Donald Trump is savage, represents an existential danger, or is unhinged.  We will hear of another Trump official cornered and driven out from a liberal-owned Beltway or New York City restaurant.

Katie Arrington expected to make full recovery after car crash: 'She's a fighter' … Rep. Katie Arrington won the GOP primary for the 1st Congressional District just weeks before being involved in a serious car crash.  She is expected to make a full recovery.  Grace Beahm Alford/ Staff

Ryan & Sensenbrenner: We Choose Leah  —  By: House Speaker Paul Ryan (WI-01) & Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-05)  —  Over the last 18 months, we have passed more than 700 bills in the House of Representatives aimed at growing this economy, expanding opportunity, and putting …

The NSA's Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities  —  The secrets are hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack.

Majority of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy for the first time: CNBC survey  — Trump's economic approval rating surged 6 points to 51 percent, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey.  — Fifty-four percent say the economy is good or excellent …