Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump Discussing Payment to Playboy Model  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model …

Manhattan Madam Kristin Davis — Subpoenaed by Robert Mueller  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  Kristin Davis, the Manhattan Madam who went to prison and was connected to former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, is being subpoenaed in the Robert Mueller investigation ... TMZ has learned.

Trump floats season suspension for NFL players protesting anthem  —  President Trump took to Twitter Friday to call out the NFL on their national anthem policy.  —  The NFL National Anthem Debate is alive and well again - can't believe it!  Isn't it in contract that players must stand at attention, hand on heart?

'I Couldn't Stop Laughing.  It's So Ridiculous.' A Surreal Week of Excuse-Making at the White House.  —  It's the end of the week in Washington, and there are some things that we know to be true: It's 83 degrees and partly cloudy, with 47 percent humidity.  At 11:30 a.m., Donald Trump's …

Bad Debts, Fraud Claims Trail Boyfriend of Alleged Russian Agent  —  Paul Erickson, a smooth-talking U.S. political activist, was romantically involved with alleged Russian agent  —  They both had secrets.  —  Maria Butina worked clandestinely as an agent of the Russian government …

Four reasons we've reached a tipping point on Trump  —  As a preliminary matter, I'm delighted to be back from vacation and back in the United States.  Easily forgotten during the coverage of the incompetent and intellectually corrupted officials who populate this administration are the honorable men …

James Gunn Fired as Director of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’  —  The move comes after controversial tweets from the filmmaker were resurfaced.  —  James Gunn is exiting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.  —  The move comes after conservative personalities resurfaced old tweets Thursday …

Why I Needed to Pull Back From Twitter  —  The viciousness, toxic partisan anger and intellectual dishonesty are at all-time highs.  —  WASHINGTON — I woke up last Sunday morning feeling anxiety in my chest as I checked the Twitter app on my phone, scrolling down to refresh, refresh, refresh.

GOP congressman said blacks have ‘entitlement mentality’ and view themselves as victims  —  GOP rep. defends prior comments on ‘slut’ women  —  (CNN)Republican Rep. Jason Lewis has a long history of racist rhetoric about African-Americans, pushing claims of a “racial war” …

Senate candidate Corey Stewart says New York Times reporter broke into aide's apartment  —  Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Corey Stewart has accused a New York Times reporter of breaking into the apartment of a campaign aide, saying the “far left media” was trying to undermine his campaign against Sen. Tim Kaine in Virginia.

So, Here's A Giant List Of All The Dumb Stuff I've Ever Done (Don't Worry, I'll Keep Updating It)  —  This week, in the space of 24 hours, I went from a nice person with good intentions who differs politically from liberals but doesn't bend the truth to a racist, sexist, bigot homophobe …

The Sliming of Ben Shapiro  —  The progressive mob doesn't have a monopoly on truth.  —  I've got some questions for my progressive readers.  When you think of Colin Kaepernick, do you define him by his quiet kneeling and many thoughtful interviews?  Or do you define him by the socks he wore once, dehumanizing cops as pigs?

Kimberly Guilfoyle Did Not Leave Fox News Voluntarily, Sources Say: Scoop  —  Sources have told HuffPost about the host's departure from the network.  —  Three sources tell HuffPost that longtime Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle did not leave the cable news network voluntarily.

Exclusive: U.S. open to lifting sanctions off aluminum giant Rusal - Mnuchin  —  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury is open to removing Russian aluminum producer Rusal from a U.S. sanctions list, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday, adding the objective was “not to put Rusal out of business.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates is leaving the Atlantic  —  Ta-Nehisi Coates is leaving his position as a national correspondent for the Atlantic, a publication where he has emerged as one of the country's top reporters and thinkers.  He has not signed on with a competing publication.

Iran has laid groundwork for extensive cyberattacks on U.S., say officials  —  Iran has positioned cyber weapons to hit private firms and infrastructure, but there is no suggestion an attack is imminent, say U.S. officials.  —  ASPEN, Colo. — Iranian hackers have laid the groundwork to carry …

Henry Kissinger: ‘We are in a very, very grave period’  —  It was not hard to entice Henry Kissinger to meet for lunch.  Though he is 95, and moves very slowly, the grand consigliere of American diplomacy is keen to talk.  He hops on and off planes to see the likes of Russia's Vladimir Putin …

Republicans soften ZTE ban in concession to Trump  —  Republicans have agreed to water down legislation designed to punish Chinese telecom company ZTE, delivering a victory to President Donald Trump, according to a person close to negotiations in Congress.  —  Lawmakers reconciling House …

Whoopi Goldberg: Jeanine Pirro ‘Cursed’ Us Out in Front of ‘The View’ Audience … “Unless you were under a rock yesterday, you know all about Jeanine Pirro's appearance here on the show,” Whoopi Goldberg said Friday morning on The View, putting an extra bit of snark on the Fox News host's name.

McConnell issues Supreme Court ultimatum  —  The Senate GOP leader is vowing to squeeze Democrats with a vote on Brett Kavanaugh right before the midterms if they don't back down on their demand for documents.  —  Mitch McConnell has a warning for Democrats demanding copious documents …

How I miss Obama  —  How I miss Barack Obama.  —  And I say that as someone who worked to defeat him: I was a foreign policy adviser to John McCain in 2008 and to Mitt Romney in 2012.  I criticized Obama's “lead from behind” foreign policy that resulted in a premature pullout from Iraq and a failure to stop the slaughter in Syria.

“There Is a Reason We Tried to Kill This”: After Helsinki, the Deep State Fears Trump Cannot Be Saved  —  As John Bolton grapples with the fallout from the president's harrowing performance in Finland, the analysts and experts who comprise the national-security apparatus brace themselves for what might come next.

Neo-Confederates reach out to their ‘Russian friends’ in new project  —  In late 2014, before Russian hackers had stolen emails from Hillary Clinton or accused Russian agents had met with Republican higher-ups, a small conference gathered in Moscow's Izmailovo Alfa Hotel.