What the Arab world needs most is free expression  —  I received this column from Jamal Khashoggi's translator and assistant the day after Jamal was reported missing in Istanbul.  The Post held off publishing it because we hoped Jamal would come back to us so that he and I could edit it together.

Rod Rosenstein Defends Mueller Probe as ‘Appropriate and Independent’  —  In interview, deputy attorney general says investigation has revealed widespread Russian effort to meddle in 2016 election  —  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended the special counsel's investigation …

New Vanderbilt poll finds Bredesen with narrow edge over Blackburn in Senate race  —  A look at the several polls detailing the race of Marsha Blackburn and Phil Bredesen for U.S. Senate Michael Schwab, The Tennessean  —  Democratic nominee Phil Bredesen has a slight edge over Republican Marsha Blackburn …

Forecasting the midterms: Uncertainty with a chance of finger-pointing  —  Ahead of the November 6 elections, CJR invited writers to spotlight stories that deserve closer scrutiny, in their states and beyond, before voters cast their ballots.  Read dispatches from “States of the Union” here.

Trump threatens to call US military to close southern border as 4,000-strong migrant caravan pushes north  —  President Trump warned Thursday he will “call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER” with Mexico if officials there don't stop the northward flow of a growing migrant …

Heidi Cruz Didn't Plan for This  —  A whole new world—that is what Ted Cruz wanted to give her.  —  It was the spring of 2001, and Heidi Nelson was planning her nuptials to the man she'd met just over a year earlier.  On Christmas break from Harvard Business School, she'd encountered …

Revealed: Russian billionaire set up US company before Trump Tower meeting  —  Aras Agalarov, who attended the meeting with Donald Trump Jr in June 2016, formed a shell company with an accountant who has had clients accused of money laundering and embezzlement

State Department provided ‘clearly false’ statements to derail requests for Clinton docs, ‘shocked’ federal judge says  —  In a combative exchange at a hearing Friday in Washington, D.C., a federal judge unabashedly accused career State Department officials of lying and signing “clearly false” …

Senate Truce Collapses as G.O.P. Rush to Confirm More Judges Begins Anew  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats struck a deal last week with Republicans that saw the quick confirmation of 15 more conservative judges in exchange for a rapid flight to the campaign trail.

POLITICO race ratings: Democrats blaze Midwestern path  —  Seven states — all currently led by GOP governors — are considered toss-ups.  —  Democrats are poised to chip away at Republican statehouse dominance in next month's midterm elections, with wins appearing likely in some of the biggest states in the industrial Midwest.

MN-01: “Owns”  —  Paid for by the NRCC and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. www.nrcc.org

Did Facebook's faulty data push news publishers to make terrible decisions on video?  —  “It will probably be all video.”  —  In June 2016, Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's VP for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, spent several minutes of a panel at a Fortune conference talking about how Facebook was witnessing video overtake text.

De León has run against Feinstein from the left, but much of his support comes from Republicans, new poll finds … Senate candidate Kevin de León has campaigned as the progressive alternative to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, but with the election just weeks away …

How the Anti-Trump Resistance Is Organizing Its Outrage  —  Carolyn Eberly is an unlikely warrior.  A former chemist from Waxhaw, N.C., she works at the local library, plays volleyball and wears her blond hair pulled back in a big clip.  Her husband has always followed politics …

McCaskill demands Hawley's office investigate hidden-camera videos of her campaign  —  JEFFERSON CITY  —  U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill's campaign is demanding Attorney General Josh Hawley open a fraud investigation into hidden-camera videos released this week by a nonprofit run by conservative activist James O'Keefe.

GOP congressman tells incarcerated woman he has it worse because of attack ads  —  Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), who is locked in a toss-up re-election race against Democrat Abigail Spanberger, met with members of an addiction support group during a recent visit to the Chesterfield County Jail.

Trump Believed His Stormy Daniels ‘Horseface’ Tweet Was Politically Brilliant  —  The president workshopped it before tweeting it out.  And he doesn't care about the angry reactions.  —  Donald Trump caught various West Wing officials off-guard on Tuesday when he decided to describe …

Is Fraud Part of the Trump Organization's Business Model?  —  A new investigation shows a pattern in different projects around the country and the world.  —  What, exactly, is Donald Trump's business?  The Trump Organization is unusual in that it doesn't appear to do the same thing for very long.

The Proud Boys, The GOP And ‘The Fascist Creep’  —  Gavin McInnes spoke at a GOP club, then his followers violently attacked leftist protesters.  Modern American fascism finds its foot soldiers.  —  NEW YORK — Gavin McInnes, the founder of the violent neo-fascist gang the Proud Boys …

The 2018 Midterms Are All About Trump  —  In its final stages, the tumultuous 2018 midterm election appears to be moving in contradictory directions, with Democrats and Republicans alike finding legitimate reasons for optimism amid the daily flurry of new polls.

Nikki Haley at the Council for National Policy  —  Inside the conference rooms of power: the former US ambassador to the United Nations speaks about working with Trump  —  Nikki Haley's surprising resignation on October 4 as US ambassador to the United Nations fueled rumors about the underlying reasons for its suddenness and timing.

Trump's Focus on a Washington Building Project Draws Scrutiny  —  WASHINGTON — Nearly two years before he would begin his presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump arrived in Washington to show off his plans for a luxury hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue under a deal he had reached to lease the site from the General Services Administration.

Romney tests his clout in the midterms  —  A sleepy Utah Senate race was always a small playing field for a former presidential nominee.  Now, Mitt Romney is going national again.  —  After spending most of the past year quietly tending to his own race, Romney is using his formidable national profile …

McGahn exits as White House counsel  —  White House counsel Don McGahn departed the Trump administration on Wednesday, leaving the counsel's office without a head as the midterms approach and the prospect of a deluge of subpoenas from a new House Democratic majority looms.

Biden on Democrats impeaching Trump: “I hope they don't”  —  Former Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview with “CBS This Morning” co-host Norah O'Donnell that if Democrats retake the House of Representatives, he hopes “they don't” impeach President Trump.  —  “I hope they don't.

Cosmologist Martin Rees gives humanity a 50-50 chance of surviving the 21st century  —  But he's still an optimist.  —  Martin Rees is Britain's astronomer royal, a professor at Cambridge University, and one of the leading cosmologists in the world.  In a 2003 book, titled Our Final Hour …