Conservative Lawyers Say Trump Has Undermined the Rule of Law  —  WASHINGTON — The annual convention of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group, has long been a glittering and bustling affair.  In the Trump era, though, the group has become more powerful than ever …

Fox News backs CNN in lawsuit against Trump White House  —  Fox News is supporting CNN's lawsuit against the Trump administration over the White House's revocation of Jim Acosta's press pass and plans to file an amicus brief in the case, according to a statement from the network's president Jay Wallace.

Top Dems Launch Investigation of Acting Attorney General's Involvement in Company Charged with Bilking Consumers of Millions of Dollars  —  “On November 7, 2018, President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and put in his place Matthew G. Whitaker to serve as Acting Attorney General,” the Members wrote.

Scientists acknowledge key errors in study of how fast the oceans are warming  —  A major study claimed the oceans were warming much faster than previously thought.  But researchers now say they can't necessarily make that claim.  —  Scientists behind a major study that claimed the Earth's oceans …

Five days of fury: Inside Trump's Paris temper, election woes and staff upheaval  —  The president's post-election outbursts during his Paris trip include a testy call with the British prime minister and threats to fire aides.  — Josh Dawsey, Philip Rucker -  · - 1 hour ago -  ·

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Says Decision On Nielsen Happening ‘Shortly’  —  WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump expects to make a decision on the future of his Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen “shortly,” he told The Daily Caller in an exclusive Oval Office interview Wednesday.

France says Trump should have shown ‘decency’ on Paris attacks anniversary  —  PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, who attacked his French counterpart in a series of tweets on Tuesday, should have shown “common decency” instead since the country was mourning the anniversary …

The Best of the Biggest U.S. Airports  —  The first WSJ U.S. Airport Rankings uses 15 metrics to determine which of the 20 largest airports treat travelers better  —  Call it the Mile-High Miracle: Denver International Airport is the best airport in the U.S. in the first-ever Wall Street Journal U.S. Airport Rankings.

Marco Rubio, Trumpified  —  The Florida senator is promoting false conspiracy theories for partisan gain.  —  Senator Marco Rubio wasn't very pleased with yesterday's edition of this newsletter.  —  “Left wing commentators have no shame just making things up,” he tweeted, along with a link to the newsletter.

Trump meddles in McCarthy-Jordan leadership brawl  —  On the eve of Kevin McCarthy's long-awaited defeat of his nemesis, Rep. Jim Jordan, President Donald Trump is jumping into the fray to play peacemaker.  —  Trump has privately urged the House majority leader to strike a deal …

DC Neo-Nazi Who Called Pittsburgh Murders A ‘Dry Run’ Arrested; Has Deep Ties To ‘Alt Right’  —  Jeffrey Clark wasn't shy about being a white supremacist.  But it was only after his family reported him that authorities arrested him on gun charges.  —  WASHINGTON Jeffrey Clark …

Divided We Stand The country is hopelessly split.  So why not make it official and break up?  —  The year is 2019.  California's new governor, Gavin Newsom, recently elected on a platform that included support for the creation of a single-payer health-care system, now must figure out how to enact it.

Democrat Josh Harder Defeats GOP U.S. Rep. Denham in California House Race  —  (LOS ANGELES) — First-time candidate Josh Harder defeated four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham Tuesday in California's farm belt, giving Democrats their fourth pickup of a GOP House seat in California.

The Latest: Palm Beach machines overheat, miss recount votes  —  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on Florida's election recount (all times local):  —  The Palm Beach County elections supervisor says aging equipment has overheated, causing mismatched results in the recount of ballots in Florida's U.S. Senate race.

Public Wants Congress to be a Check on Trump  —  Few support re-electing the president in 2020; not too keen on Pelosi, McConnell as leaders  —  West Long Branch, NJ - Nearly 6-in-10 Americans say they would like to see someone other than Donald Trump elected president in 2020 …

Federal prosecutors reviewing altered election documents tied to Florida Democrats  —  TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Department of State last week asked federal prosecutors to investigate dates that were changed on official state election documents, the first voting “irregularities” it has flagged in the wake of the 2018 elections.

The Latest: Israel says shot Gaza angler was close to fence  —  JERUSALEM (AP) — The Latest on the cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers (all times local):  —  The Israeli military says a Gaza fisherman killed by Israeli fire in northern Gaza Strip was illegally advancing toward …

After lynching comments, Google donates $5000 to Cindy Hyde-Smith  —  U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) was caught on tape “joking” about her willingness to attend a lynching at a campaign event in November.  “If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row,” Hyde-Smith said on November 2.

Oregon's junior senator wants to be able to run for president without giving up his U.S. Senate seat.  —  U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is openly mulling a run for president.  But a bid for the White House carries risks: By state law, he would have to give up his Senate seat to run.

SNL mocked my appearance.  Here's why I didn't demand an apology.  —  Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, is a Republican representative-elect from Texas.  —  The past couple of weeks have been unusual for me, to say the least.  After a year of hard campaigning for Congress in Texas …

NeverTrump's Billionaire Leftist Benefactors  —  Just hours after Jeff Sessions resigned as attorney general last Wednesday at the president's behest, #TheResistance found its newest target for destruction: Sessions' interim replacement, Matthew Whitaker.  —  Negative coverage …

Forget Impeachment.  Mueller's Real Threat to Trump Is in 2020.  —  Even before the new Democratic House arrives in Washington, the narrative has already been set: Angry Trump-hating Democrats are going to risk their party's standing by forcing their leaders to impeach President Trump.

Trump Campaign Paid Millions to Trump Businesses During Midterms  —  The president's fundraising was unprecedented.  —  Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign raised and spent an unprecedented sum of money during the midterm elections.  But much of that cash wasn't used …

Meet the Native American Woman Who Beat the Sponsor of North Dakota's ID Law  —  In the end, the Native American tribes of North Dakota could not save their preferred candidate, Senator Heidi Heitkamp, from a double-digit loss.  —  But, galvanized by anger over the state's voter ID law …

Pelosi swats at Moulton and guarantees she'll be speaker  —  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi swiped at her critics Wednesday, vowing in no uncertain terms to vanquish her opponents and become speaker in the next Congress.  —  The California Democrat brushed aside Rep. Seth Moulton's …

Yes, It Was A Blue Wave  —  Welcome to FiveThirtyEight's weekly politics chat.  The transcript below has been lightly edited.  —  sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): So we're here today to talk about the midterm elections and the BLUE WAVE ... or blue trickle?  Which is it, team!?!

Betsy DeVos set to bolster rights of accused in rewrite of sexual assault rules  —  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is set to release a sweeping overhaul of how colleges and universities must handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment, giving new rights to the accused including …

A Week After the Midterms, Trump Seems to Forget the Caravan  —  WASHINGTON — For weeks before the midterm elections, President Trump warned ominously about the threat from a caravan of migrants streaming from Central America toward Mexico's border with the United States.

U.S. military edge has eroded to ‘a dangerous degree,’ study for Congress finds  —  The United States has lost its military edge to a dangerous degree and could potentially lose a war against China or Russia, according to a report released Wednesday by a bipartisan commission that Congress created …

Why we're still waiting for election results from Florida and Georgia — and why newly counted ballots favor Democrats  —  It's been a week since Election Day, and we're still awaiting results from Florida and Georgia, where nationally prominent races are too close to call.