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 …

Trump slams Fed chair, questions climate change and threatens to cancel Putin meeting in wide-ranging interview with The Post  —  President Trump placed responsibility for recent stock market declines and this week's General Motors plant closures and layoffs on the Federal Reserve during an interview Tuesday …

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.

Trump's critics were dead wrong about the caravan after all  —  It's been about three weeks since CNN reporter Jim Acosta repeatedly told President Trump at a news conference that the migrant caravan is “hundreds and hundreds of miles away” and “not an invasion.”

‘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 …

Trump's rage-tweets and spin over General Motors layoffs ring hollow  —  When White House counselor Kellyanne Conway tried Tuesday to respond to the news that General Motors will eliminate thousands of jobs, her usual talent for effortlessly shameless spinning seemed to have deserted her.

What the U.S. and China want from trade talks  —  President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive at their meeting later this week with lists of demands and possibly concessions to calm trade tensions between the U.S. and China.  —  But an outcome is less than assured.

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 …

Your Dog May Not Be a Genius, After All  —  New study finds that canines are not exceptional in the animal world  —  If you are convinced your dog is a genius, you may be disappointed in the conclusions of a study just published in the journal Learning and Behavior.The study finds that dogs …

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.

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 …

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” …

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.

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.

A Business With No End … Part I: Zooming Out  —  Recently, one of my students at Stanford told me a strange story.  His parents, who live in Palo Alto, Calif., had been receiving mysterious packages at their house.  The packages were all different shapes and sizes but each was addressed to …

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.”

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.

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 …

U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Total Dips to Lowest Level in a Decade  —  Number from Mexico continues to decline, while Central America is the only growing region  —  The number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in more than a decade, according …

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 …

White House criticizes its climate report as “not based on facts”  —  White House press secretary Sarah Sanders criticized the new climate report that the Trump administration published on Black Friday, saying its conclusions were “based on the most extreme model scenario” and were not based on “facts.”

Jim Jordan, Mark 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.

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.

New Proud Boy Rules: Less Fighting, Less Wanking  —  The far-right outfit is trying to escape its violent rep with new prohibitions on head punches, self-love, and cargo shorts.  —  The new leaders of the far-right Proud Boys “fraternity” are scrambling to improve the group's image …

Driver tried to hit men leaving LA synagogue: cops … LOS ANGELES — Authorities arrested a motorist suspected of trying to run down two men leaving a Los Angeles synagogue, and detectives are investigating the case as a hate crime, police officials said Monday.