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 …

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 …

‘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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

‘Our most fundamental values are under attack’: Democrats issue bleak July Fourth statement  —  Happy Fourth of July - or maybe not.  —  The Democratic National Committee's annual Fourth of July statement reflects its long-standing tensions with President Donald Trump.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

“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 …

Rare US independence declaration found in UK archive  —  London (AFP) - A rare parchment copy of the US Declaration of Independence found at a British archive among the papers of an aristocrat who supported the rebels has been authenticated, officials said.  —  The manuscript was discovered …

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.

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 …

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 …

Senate intel committee concludes Putin personally approved meddling to aid Donald Trump  —  A new assessment issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday concurred with previous reports that President Vladimir Putin personally approved Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

USCIS is Starting a Denaturalization Task Force  —  The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is creating a new task force.  Its goal: to examine what they say are bad naturalization cases, according to Director L. Francis Cissna's June announcement.

Difficult Decision Looms on Rescuing Thai Boys From Cave  —  Should rescuers try to scuba dive with victims through flooded caves or wait months until waters recede?  —  A still photo taken from a video made available by the Royal Thai Navy shows some of the dozen boys trapped …

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.