Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy  —  Exclusive: Trump ally met WikiLeaks founder months before emails hacked by Russia were published  —  Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort held secret talks with Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London …

White House prevents Gina Haspel from briefing Senate on Khashoggi murder  —  Mike Pompeo and James Mattis are due to give a briefing on US relations with Saudi Arabia to Senate on Wednesday  —  The White House is preventing the CIA director, Gina Haspel, or any other intelligence official …

‘Fox & Friends’ Fed Interview Script to Trump's EPA Chief, Emails Show  —  The president's favorite cable-news show shared its interview scripts and its oh-so-hard-hitting questions in advance with an embattled Trump official.  —  Former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt …

The Khashoggi killing had roots in a cutthroat Saudi family feud  —  Behind the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi lies a power struggle within the Saudi royal family that helped feed the paranoia and recklessness of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  Eventually, this rage in the royal court led …

The NRA Just Reported Losing $55 Million in Income  —  The gun-rights group has its biggest champion in the White House.  But its financial situation has worsened in the age of Trump  —  The nation's leading gun-rights organization saw its income drop by $55 million last year …

Tear gas used once a month at border under Obama  —  DHS data shows deployments dating back years  —  The same tear-gas agent that the Trump administration is taking heat for deploying against a border mob this weekend is actually used fairly frequently — including more than once a month during …

A Shadow Over Europe  —  Anti-Semitic stereotypes are alive and well in Europe, while the memory of the Holocaust is starting to fade, a sweeping new survey by CNN reveals.  More than a quarter of Europeans polled believe Jews have too much influence in business and finance.

Larry Kudlow says Trump feels betrayed by General Motors  —  President Trump believes that General Motors “turned their back on him” in announcing layoffs and plant closures, according to top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.  —  Why it matters: For Trump, politics is always personal.

‘I Always Respect Subpoenas’: Comey Says His Legal Team Is Looking At His Options  —  Former FBI Director James Comey said he won't ignore the House Judiciary Committee's subpoena compelling him to testify behind closed doors about his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails …

Active Shooter Reported At Walter Reed Military Medical Center  —  BETHESDA, Md. (WJZ) — Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger said that there is an active shooter reported at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.  —  “I am currently at Walter Reed Medical in Bethesda where we've been told there is an active shooter.

The Latest: US nixed FBI checks for teen migrant camp staff  —  TORNILLO, Texas (AP) — The Latest on a desert detention camp for migrant children (all times local):  —  A new government watchdog memo says the Trump administration waived rigorous background checks for all staff working …

The Art of the Bipartisan Takedown  —  Before saying that its opposition to Nancy Pelosi's House speaker campaign had nothing to do with her record, the nonpartisan group No Labels was exploring a primary challenge to her back home in San Francisco.  —  And she wasn't the only Democrat the centrist nonprofit wanted to go after.

Russia probe: House Democrats aim to unmask Trump Jr.'s blocked call  —  WASHINGTON - A blocked number in Donald Trump Jr.'s phone records may be among the first targets for Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee in January as they investigate possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Maybe They're Just Bad People  —  Not all Trump support is ideological.  —  Seven years ago, a former aide to Ralph Reed — who also worked, briefly, for Paul Manafort — published a tawdry, shallow memoir that is also one of the more revealing political books I've ever read.

Liberal Parents, Radical Children  —  The generation gap returns.  —  When I meet someone who runs an organization in a blue state, I often ask: Do you have a generation gap where you work?  The answer — whether the person leads a college, a nonprofit, a tech company …

Jordan, Meadows vying to defend Trump on key committees  —  An intense behind-the-scenes power struggle over who will become Donald Trump's top congressional defender is coming to a head as two Freedom Caucus leaders and their allies pressure senior Republicans to give them two top committee posts.

You Can Sleep With the Latest Sex Robots at This Brothel—But Only if They Say ‘Yes’  —  Here's something you rarely hear in the discussion of robots designed for the sole purpose of having sexual relations with humans: Is the sex consensual?  —  That's because it's one of the last question anyone thinks about.

Trump brags, ‘I blow Ronald Reagan away’  —  President Trump believes that his long list of achievements in office make him “far greater than Ronald Reagan.”  —  In a new book out Tuesday about his “enemies,” the president said that while he feels “I blow Ronald Reagan away,” the “fake news” …

House Republicans unveil giant tax package  —  House Republicans on Monday evening unexpectedly released a 297-page tax bill they hope to move during the lame-duck session of Congress.  —  The legislation would revive a number of expired tax provisions known as “extenders,” …

Dark Money Group Ending Spending Spent Nearly $3 Million in 2017 to Pay Its President  —  Ending Spending, Inc., a politically active nonprofit founded by members of the Ricketts family paid its president and general counsel $2.895 million in 2017, according to a tax return obtained by Citizens …

The Trial Over Trump's Census Citizenship Question Did Not Go Well for the Administration  —  The longer the trial went on, the more it undercut the administration's stated rationale for adding the question.  —  The deeper the Trump administration got into a three-week trial challenging …

Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google in May introduced a slick feature for Gmail that automatically completes sentences for users as they type.  Tap out “I love” and Gmail might propose “you” or “it.”

Farm bankruptcies on the rise in Upper Midwest  —  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The number of farms filing for bankruptcy is increasing across the Upper Midwest, following low prices for corn, soybeans, milk and beef, according to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Now that the stock market is down, Trump wants to take credit for oil prices  —  Tying his success to either is a bad idea.  —  President Donald Trump has found a new preferred metric for his presidency now that the stock market has become so tumultuous: oil prices.

Cuomo rules out presidential run  —  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Tuesday ruled out a potential bid for the presidency in 2020, saying that he has a “full plate” in his current role.  —  “I am ruling it out.  I ran for governor.  I have a full plate.  I have many projects.

Dear Beto and Julián, Please Don't Run for President  —  Are you planning to run for president on the Democratic ticket in 2020?  If not, why not?  Everyone else is.  Seventeen Republicans ran in 2016, and the nominating process winnowed them down to the least qualified and most deranged.

Meet New York City's highest-earning official.  He's a debt collector for predatory lenders.  —  In the 1960s, New York's loan sharks would send thugs with nicknames like “Jimmy Dimps” to beat up borrowers who fell behind on their payments.  —  Now predatory lenders have a quieter way of collecting debts …

California's privileged are hiring private fire crews to save their homes.  Regular firefighters aren't happy about it  —  When the Woolsey fire swept into the exclusive neighborhood of Bell Canyon, resident Yen Hsieh grabbed her late music teacher's 200-year-old cello …

Federal lawsuit challenges fairness of Georgia's elections  —  A federal lawsuit backed by former Democratic candidate for governor Stacey Abrams will attempt to overhaul the state's elections, alleging “gross mismanagement” after Georgians suffered long lines, uncounted ballots and purged registrations during this month's vote.

Christine Blasey Ford says some good came out of her ‘terrifying’ testimony against Kavanaugh  —  Months after publicly accusing Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her three decades ago, Christine Blasey Ford said that speaking out was “terrifying,” but she knew it was her “civic duty.”