Poll: 60 percent disapprove of Trump, while clear majorities back Mueller and Sessions  —  President Trump's disapproval rating has hit a high point of 60 percent, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that also finds that clear majorities of Americans support the special counsel's …

Sources: NBC Threatened Ronan Farrow if He Kept Reporting on Harvey Weinstein  —  Ronan Farrow had already left NBC News.  But a top lawyer at the network threatened to smear him if he continued to pursue the Hollywood mogul, multiple knowledgeable sources say.  —  Lachlan Cartwright

Rudy Giuliani Is Putting Together a ‘Counter-Report’ to Question Robert Mueller's ‘Legitimacy’  —  It's being done with the explicit blessing of Trump who is ‘happy’ that this is part of his legal team's ‘strategy,’ the president's lawyer says.  —  President Donald Trump's legal team is crafting a …

Concern in White House over shortage of lawyers, press aides  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Increasingly convinced that the West Wing is wholly unprepared to handle the expected assault from Democrats if they win the House in November, President Donald Trump's aides and allies are privately raising alarm …

‘Tough decisions have to be made’: House Republicans prepare for pain  —  Party officials begin deciding which GOP lawmakers to save and which ones to cut loose.  —  With a massive field of vulnerable House incumbents to defend and limited resources to go around, Republicans are readying …

Neil Armstrong movie ‘First Man’ omits the American flag being planted on the moon, and star Ryan Gosling defended the decision  — The upcoming Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man” omits the American flag being planted on the moon.  — Star Ryan Gosling defended the decision …

DOJ's Bruce Ohr kept Mueller deputy ‘in the loop’ about anti-Trump dossier, sources say  —  Embattled Justice Department official Bruce Ohr had contact in 2016 with then-colleague Andrew Weissmann, who is now a top Robert Mueller deputy, as well as other senior FBI officials …

How Much Hotter Is Your Hometown Than When You Were Born?  —  As the world warms because of human-induced climate change, most of us can expect to see more days when temperatures hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) or higher.  See how your hometown has changed so far and how much hotter it may get.

Trump cancels pay raises for federal employees  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump told lawmakers on Thursday he wants to scrap a pay raise for civilian federal workers, saying the nation's budget couldn't support it.  —  In a letter to House and Senate leaders, Trump described the pay increase as “inappropriate.”

While Washington mourns McCain, Trump leaves town  —  Supporters at the raucous rally didn't seem to mind that Trump had been snubbed by the McCain family.  —  As Washington prepared a last hero's welcome for Sen. John McCain Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump left town.

Trump Defends His Handling of McCain's Death  —  Opinion  —  Iran's Fake News Is a Fake Threat  —  If the Iranians were any good at social media trolling, it might be something to worry about.  —  August 31, 2018  —  Mark Gongloff  —  Nafta's Dying.  What Comes Next?

Why Mark Penn Is Sounding Trumpy  —  The longtime Clinton strategist insists his objection to the Mueller investigation is about principle, not opportunism.  His critics beg to differ.  —  Mark Penn recently moved into a brand new office on Washington, D.C.'s I Street …

I Worked With Avital Ronell.  I Believe Her Accuser.  —  The humanities are ablaze.  This month The New York Times reported that the Title IX office had found Avital Ronell, a professor of German and comparative literature at New York University and a superstar in literary studies …

Democrats, Beware of Falling in Love With Fundamentally Flawed Candidates  —  From Andrew Gillum to Keith Ellison, the party's heart is pulling harder than political reality.  —  BEAST INSIDE  —  The thing about political waves is that they sweep in sturdy and rickety boats alike.

Judge Rules Against Alex Jones and Infowars in Sandy Hook Lawsuit  —  A Texas judge denied the motion by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought against him and his Infowars operation by the parents of a Sandy Hook shooting victim, in a ruling released on Thursday.

Why a conservative social network would fail  —  Twitter and Facebook CEOs Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg, in their wildest dreams, would love the Donald Trump Jr. notion of “one of the two Silicon Valley conservatives” would start up a conservative social network.

Trump: ‘When you get good ratings, you can say anything’  —  leaned into his attacks against the news media Thursday night at a rally in Indiana, blasting news outlets for what he said was unfair coverage driven by ratings.  —  After mocking a protester who was escorted out at the beginning of his rally …

Critics say Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can't hang with the intellectual heavyweights ... in Congress  —  Male politicians aren't told to put training wheels back on after a fact check.  —  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't just a House hopeful; she's an emerging Democratic star who's been barnstorming …

Trump Won't Say When He Learned of Cohen's Stormy Daniels Payment  — Timing could affect president's risk of campaign finance woes  — 'I don't want to get into it,' the president tells Bloomberg  —  President Donald Trump refused Thursday to say whether he knew before the 2016 election …

I Helped Create Insider Political Journalism.  Now It's Time For It To Go Away.  —  Traditional political journalists were the last people to notice in 2016 that the world had changed.  Candidate Donald Trump took advantage of a stubborn refusal to recognize the power of right-wing ideology …

Poll Shows NFL Fan Interest Remains Lower, Stark Divisions Over Anthem Protests  —  Fewer people, in particular Republicans, are following the NFL closely than they did four years ago, according to new WSJ/NBC News poll  —  With less than a week until the 2018 NFL season kicks off …

Fact-checking Republican attack ads in tight House races  —  Attack ads are our bread and butter at The Fact Checker — and, boy, are we swimming in butter this week.  —  The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), has been running a series …

SJWs Lose It After Peter Dinklage Cast As ‘Filipino.’ There's Just One Problem.  —  Backlash over Peter Dinklage's casting as Hervé Villechaize — star of “Fantasy Island” — has highlighted one of the great problems with identity politics and social justice: they actually reduce people to perceived identities.

Exclusive: Chief U.S. spy catcher says China using LinkedIn to recruit Americans  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States' top spy catcher said Chinese espionage agencies are using fake LinkedIn accounts to try to recruit Americans with access to government and commercial secrets, and the company should shut them down.

This is the new GOP: Angry and afraid  —  One of the unpleasant surprises of your 50s (among many) is seeing the heroes and mentors of your 20s pass away.  I worked for Chuck Colson, of Watergate fame, who became, through his work with prisoners, one of the most important social reformers of the 20th century.

Homeland Security staffer with white nationalist ties attended White House policy meetings  —  Ian M. Smith, a Department of Homeland Security analyst who resigned this week after he was confronted about his ties to white nationalist groups, attended multiple immigration policy meetings at the White House …