Trump pressed aides on Venezuela invasion, US official says  —  BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — As a meeting last August in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Donald Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela …

‘I would have done something’: Jordan rebuts claims he knew of abuse  —  The Freedom Caucus leader gives his first interview about a news report suggesting he ignored sexual abuse by a colleague decades ago.  —  Rep. Jim Jordan emphatically denied allegations that he intentionally overlooked …

In a Fox-Inspired Tweetstorm, Trump Offers a Medley of Falsehoods and Misstatements  —  WASHINGTON — The string of insults, misstatements, exaggerations and outright falsehoods emanating from the White House began just after sunrise.  —  In the space of a few hours, President Trump …

Counter-terror police investigate Amesbury substance after pair fall ill  —  Counter-terror police are investigating a “major incident” in Amesbury after two people were exposed to an unknown substance which left them in a critical condition.  —  Samples of the substance are being sent …

Donald Trump's talking points on Crimea are the same as Vladimir Putin's  —  A few days ago, reporters on Air Force One asked President Trump if he would accept Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.  They had good reason to do so.  As Trump prepares for his July 16 summit meeting …

Leading contender to be Trump's Supreme Court pick faces questions from social conservatives  —  An intensifying debate over Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a front-runner in President Trump's search for a Supreme Court nominee, gripped Republicans on Tuesday, with conservative critics highlighting past rulings …

Democracy Dies in the Blinding Light of Day  —  Despite being one of the United States's founding statesmen and its second president after independence from Britain, John Adams was quite skeptical of democracy.  “Democracy never lasts long,” Adams reflected in an 1814 letter.

Pruitt directly asked Trump to replace Sessions with him  —  (CNN)Embattled Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt directly appealed to President Donald Trump this spring to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and let him run the Department of Justice instead, according to three people familiar with the proposal.

Black Oregon legislator says campaigning in own district triggered 911 call  —  A black Oregon state representative says one of her constituents called police on her Tuesday while she was canvassing alone in a neighborhood she represents.  —  Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat who is running …

Results Matter: PRESIDENT TRUMP Tops Obama in Approval Numbers at Same Point in His Presidency  —  President Trump's approval rating on his second Independence Day is at 48% with likely voters.  —  And that is with 90% negative coverage from the far left mainstream media.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinds guidance safeguarding the right of refugees, asylum seekers to work in the U.S.  —  Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday rescinded a 2011 Justice Department guidance mandating that asylum seekers and refugees have a “right” to work in the U.S.

I left the Republican Party.  Now I want Democrats to take over.  —  “Should I stay or should I go now?”  That question, posed by the eminent political philosophers known as The Clash, is one that confronts any Republican with a glimmer of conscience.  You used to belong to a conservative party with a white-nationalist fringe.

The patriotism gap  —  Gallup conducts an annual poll on American patriotism.  Participants are asked how proud, if at all, they are to be Americans.  —  This year's poll found a low ebb in patriotism, with 47 percent of Americans checking the “extremely proud” box.  That's down from a high of 70 percent in 2003.

Vote Leave broke electoral law, Electoral Commission expected to say  —  The official Brexit campaign is expected to be found guilty of four charges of breaking electoral law, the BBC has been told.  —  The draft of an investigation into Vote Leave concludes it broke spending limits and failed to comply with some of the rules.

A Frosty Summer for Alan Dershowitz on Liberal Martha's Vineyard  —  CHILMARK, Mass. — For years, Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer and professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, has been a garrulous fixture in this handsome, gray-shingled town on Martha's Vineyard.

Teen Taken at U.S. Border Tells of ‘Icebox’ Cages With 60 Girls  — Affidavits by kids, parents tell of conditions in detention  — 17 states have sued to block U.S. family separation policy  —  A 15-year-old girl who was forcibly separated from her mother after fleeing to the U.S …

Merkel warns against trade war as Trump takes aim at cars  —  Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday warned US President Donald Trump against unleashing an all-out trade war after he threatened to impose steep tariffs on cars from the European Union.

Remembering U.S. Secret Service Agent John R. Barletta  —  It is with heavy hearts that Young America's Foundation shares that President Reagan's longest-serving Secret Service agent and close friend, John R. Barletta, passed away Tuesday afternoon.  —  John Barletta is a widely known …

Attorney: Strzok may not comply with House subpoena  —  (CNN)Embattled FBI agent Peter Strzok may not comply with a House Judiciary Committee subpoena requiring that he appear for a second round of questioning early next week, his lawyer told CNN's Chris Cuomo on Tuesday.

“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”  —  Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens:  —  He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have.  I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly …

Next Slide  —  It's unconstitutional for the state of Tennessee to continue revoking driver's licenses from people who can't pay court costs, a federal judge determined Monday.  —  The ruling from U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger will have broad national and state ramifications …

Immigrant Mothers Were Moved Outdoors During Kirstjen Nielsen's Secretive Visit to Detention.  They Shouted for Help to No Avail.  —  Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen made a series of secretive visits to South Texas immigrant detention centers on Friday.

Pfizer raises prices on 100 drugs—again—despite backlash from public, lawmakers  —  Many Pfizer rivals vowed to limit such price hikes and Trump recently suggested cuts.  —  Despite public and political pressure, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer keeps raising the prices of its drugs …

Poland Purges Supreme Court, and Protesters Take to Streets  —  WARSAW — Poland's government carried out a sweeping purge of the Supreme Court on Tuesday night, eroding the judiciary's independence, escalating a confrontation with the European Union over the rule of law and further dividing this already riven nation.

Alan Diaz, AP photographer behind Elian image, dies at 71  —  MIAMI (AP) — Retired Associated Press photojournalist Alan Diaz , whose photo of a terrified 6-year-old Cuban boy named Elian Gonzalez earned him the Pulitzer Prize, has died.  He was 71.  —  Diaz's daughter, Aillette Rodriguez-Diaz, confirmed that he died Tuesday.

Victim of Norwalk assault gets 18 months for not retreating  —  STAMFORD — A Bridgeport man who was assaulted by three juveniles while he was at work in Norwalk will have to spend 18 months in jail for stabbing one of the attackers.  —  “I was defending myself,” Jeffrey Sumpter, 21 …

New Poll: 49% believe Trump is racist  —  New polls from Quinnipiac University show that 39% approve of Trump's immigration policies while 49% believe the President is racist, versus 47% who believe he isn't racist.

3-Year-Old Refugee Girl Killed by Mass Stabber During Her Birthday Party Loved Disney Princesses  —  The 3-year-old whose birthday was being celebrated when a man allegedly went on a stabbing spree in Idaho Saturday, attacking six children and three adults, has died.

Where American Politics Can Still Work: From the Bottom Up  —  Civic coalitions are succeeding at revitalizing old towns where governmental efforts have failed.  —  LANCASTER, Pa. — Last week I wrote about why political parties across the industrial world are fracturing from the top down.