Team Trump still isn't telling the truth about that 2016 Trump Tower meeting  —  First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.  —  WASHINGTON — For all the attention to Rudy Giuliani's …

Cohen, Trump's Ex-Lawyer, Investigated for Bank Fraud in Excess of $20 Million  —  Federal authorities investigating whether President Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, committed bank and tax fraud have zeroed in on well over $20 million in loans obtained by taxi businesses …

John Brennan's Choice to Confront Trump  —  Just before noon on January 20, 2017, John Brennan, the outgoing C.I.A. director, drove to the home of a former colleague to watch Donald Trump take the oath of office.  President Obama's most trusted intelligence advisers had come together …

Asia Argento, Who Accused Weinstein, Made Deal With Her Own Accuser  —  The Italian actress and director Asia Argento was among the first women in the movie business to publicly accuse the producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.  She became a leading figure in the #MeToo movement.

Here are the Lobbying Emails Cuomo Fought Hard to Keep Secret  —  ALBANY — In January 2016, as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was preparing his annual State of the State address, some high-placed state officials knew they had a problem.  —  A pair of business executives — partners in multimillion-dollar …

“A blue wave is obscuring a red exodus”  —  Dave Wasserman, the Cook Political Report's House analyst, says the most under-covered aspect of 2018 is that “a blue wave is obscuring a red exodus.”  Republican House members are retiring at a startling clip — a trend that senior White House …

Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court nominee, proposed graphic questions for Bill Clinton about the Lewinsky affair in 1998 memo  —  A memo just released by the National Archives reveals that Brett Kavanaugh laid out in explicit language the questions President Clinton should have been asked …

The Media Keeps Giving Trump the Benefit of the Doubt on Collusion  —  Throughout the Russia scandal, President Trump has acted flamboyantly guilty, most recently by comparing himself implicitly with Richard Nixon during Watergate, and dismissing informants as “rats.”

Trump Says He Has ‘Obliterated’ ISIS.  The Terror Group Seems Not To Have Noticed.  —  New reports estimate as many as 30,000 ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria about the same as a few years ago.  —  WASHINGTON While President Donald Trump claims he has “eradicated,” “wiped out” and even …

A leading Republican urges reform for Medicare and Social Security as deficits balloon after the GOP's tax cut  —  Rep. Steve Stivers , R-Ohio, has the toughest job in politics right now: trying to stop a Democratic “blue wave” at the polls this fall.  Stivers, chairman of the National …

Zephyr Teachout Is the Right Choice as Attorney General for Democrats  —  The office is a potential firewall against an out-of-control president and a historically corrupt New York State government.  —  The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher.

Korean Families, Separated for 6 Decades, Are Briefly Reunited  —  SEOUL, South Korea — For two hours on Monday, a 92-year-old woman held her son's hand and looked him in the eyes for the first time in more than 65 years, as family members from North and South Korea were permitted a rare chance …

Pope Francis: Letter to the People of God (full text)  —  Pope Francis has responded to new reports of clerical sexual abuse and the ecclesial cover-up of abuse.  In an impassioned letter addressed to the whole People of God, he calls on the Church to be close to victims in solidarity …

First lady Melania Trump warns of ‘destructive and harmful’ side of social media  —  As her husband continued to rip into his adversaries on Twitter, first lady Melania Trump on Monday warned that social media can be used in a “destructive and harmful” manner during remarks at a conference on preventing cyberbullying.

Congressman Alcee Hastings says ‘something is tragically wrong’ with Donald Trump's mind  —  U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings on stage at the Sunrise Civic Center Theater on Aug. 19, 2018, before he took over as emcee of a “Stronger Together” rally sponsored by 16 Broward County Democratic Clubs.

Northam calls Aug. 30 special session for legislature to redraw districts  —  Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is calling the General Assembly into special session on Aug. 30 to redraw legislative districts in the House of Delegates.  —  A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court …

Trump's Strange Tweet About Joseph McCarthy  —  People who have actually studied the disgraced Wisconsin senator describe a man who bears similarities to some of the president's most notable attributes.  —  “Study the late Joseph McCarthy,” President Donald Trump said Sunday on Twitter.  And he's right.

The NYT's Strange Insistence That Bruce Ohr Is a Big Nobody  —  He was actually associate deputy attorney general until recently.  —  Since late 2017, Justice Department official Bruce Ohr has emerged as a central character in the Trump dossier saga, including the contested way the dossier's allegations …

Chicago records 58 shootings in less than 3 days  —  Dozens shot in weekend of violence in Chicago  —  (CNN)In this city, someone gets shot an average of about once per hour.  —  That was the sobering reality in Chicago this weekend, when at least 58 people were shot between Friday afternoon …

Inside Trump's Judicial Takeover  —  How conservative operatives and Senate Republicans are helping the president pack the courts at a record pace  —  One evening last November, Don McGahn, the top lawyer in the Trump White House, walked onstage in an opulent ballroom at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington …