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 …

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?

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.

'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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Trump Is Coming Off as Putin's Poodle, But That Actually Undermines Russia's Main Goal  —  Trump isn't as useful to Putin as one might think.  —  The broad consensus among U.S. and Western commentators is that Vladimir Putin “owned” Donald Trump at the U.S.-Russia summit in Helsinki this week.

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” …

Paramount Television President Amy Powell is fired over inappropriate comments  —  Paramount Television President Amy Powell has been fired after making inappropriate comments, the movie and TV studio's Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos told staff Thursday.  —  In a memo obtained by The Times …

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.”

Here Are The Victims Of The Missouri Duck Boat Accident  —  At least 17 people are dead after a tourist duck boat sank during a sudden storm Thursday near Branson, Missouri.  —  Nine members of an 11-person family group from Indianapolis, Indiana, aboard the vessel are among the victims, Gov. Mike Parsons said Friday.

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.

NY Times Denies Reporter Broke Into Corey Stewart Staffer's Home: His Claim ‘Is Entirely False’  —  GOP Senate nominee Corey Stewart claimed New York Times reporter Stephanie Saul broke into one of his staffer's homes for a story; the newspaper of record responded by calling the allegation “entirely false.”

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.

Senate Republicans drop bid to block Trump from helping Chinese telecom giant ZTE  —  Bowing to White House demands, Senate Republicans have backed off their attempt to reimpose U.S. sanctions on the Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, a congressional source said Friday.

Seb Gorka in Talks to Be Salem Radio's New Host, as Network Plots a ‘Coup’ Against Its Trump Critics … Salem Radio Network, a national right-wing news and talk radio operation that's home to prominent conservative voices such as Hugh Hewitt and Lou Dobbs, is looking to bring on Sebastian Gorka …

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.

Russian operatives blasted 18,000 tweets ahead of a huge news day during the 2016 presidential campaign.  Did they know what was coming?  —  On the eve of one of the newsiest days of the 2016 presidential election season, a group of Russian operatives fired off tweets at a furious pace, about a dozen each minute.