The Trump Organization Planned To Give Vladimir Putin The $50 Million Penthouse In Trump Tower Moscow  —  President Donald Trump's company planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the company negotiated the luxury real estate development during …

Mueller could hit Manafort with retrial, new charges  —  Special counsel Robert Mueller's office is considering retrying former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on a slew of federal charges that resulted in a hung jury over the summer.  —  At a hearing in federal court Friday morning …

Acting AG Appears to Have Misled FTC Over Actions at Miami Firm  — FTC emails show Whitaker denied communicating with customers  — Officials also expressed surprise at AG's hiring of Whitaker  —  New documents released by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission suggest …

Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros  —  Sheryl Sandberg asked Facebook's communications staff to research George Soros's financial interests in the wake of his high-profile attacks on tech companies, according to three people with knowledge of her request …

California's late votes broke big for Democrats.  Here's why GOP was surprised  —  California Democrats took advantage of seemingly minor changes in a 2016 law to score their stunningly successful midterm election results, providing a target for GOP unhappiness that is tinged with a bit of admiration.

Louisiana School Made Headlines for Sending Black Kids to Elite Colleges.  Here's the Reality.  —  T.M. Landry, a school in small-town Louisiana, has garnered national attention for vaulting its underprivileged black students to elite colleges.  But the school cut corners and doctored college applications.

Certification in limbo in N.C. House race as fraud investigation continues  —  Mounting evidence of voter fraud in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District could indefinitely delay the certification of a winner, as state election officials investigate whether hundreds of absentee ballots were illegally cast or destroyed.

Six Officials Reprimanded for Hatch Act Violations Following CREW Complaints  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  —  Six White House Officials Reprimanded for Violating Hatch Act Following CREW Complaints  —  Washington — Six Trump White House officials including Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah violated …

House Democrats to unveil political reform legislation as ‘H.R. 1’  —  House Democratic leaders are set to publicly unveil on Friday the outline of a broad political overhaul bill that will include provisions for public financing of elections, voting rights reforms and new ethics strictures for federal officials.

Marriott Announces Starwood Guest Reservation Database Security Incident  —  Marriott has taken measures to investigate and address a data security incident involving the Starwood guest reservation database.  On November 19, 2018, the investigation determined that there was unauthorized access …

On the Trump-Mood Beat — But Why?  —  “Let's start with the state of Donald Trump,” Fox News's Chris Wallace said at the outset of the president's latest on-camera interview, on Nov. 17, in the manner of a support-group facilitator pausing for a little check-in before an unpacking of recent events.

Bret Stephens' 2018 midterm analysis is quietly getting worse  —  In the aftermath of election night 2018, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote a column arguing that the Democrats had kind of blown it.  Under the headline “The Midterm Results Are a Warning to the Democrats,” …

The China hawk who captured Trump's ‘very, very large brain’  —  A day before President Donald Trump departed for the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, several top officials gathered in the Oval Office to strategize about Trump's highly anticipated meeting there with China's president.

Scott to oppose Farr nomination to federal bench in NC, ending chances of confirmation  —  Sen. Tim Scott said Thursday he will oppose the nomination of Thomas Farr to the federal bench, assuring the controversial pick will not be confirmed.  —  The South Carolina Republican was the deciding vote …

Senator Soundbite: 100 Media Interviews, 0 Accomplishments … American Bridge launched its first ads of the 2019 election cycle to show Washington's “Senator Soundbite” John Kennedy what he can expect should he decide to run for Louisiana Governor.  Kennedy says he will make his decision by December 3.

GOP governors call out Trump after midterm drubbing  —  SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Republican governors are warning President Donald Trump that he and the GOP need to make a sharp course correction after their midterm shellacking to avoid losing again in 2020.  —  While the president has hailed …

‘Enemy’ or ‘mother’?  Chinese party members occupy homes  —  ISTANBUL (AP) — The two women in the photograph were smiling, but Halmurat Idris knew something was terribly wrong.  —  One was his 39-year-old sister; standing at her side was an elderly woman Idris did not know.

Franken Wades Into A Comeback In The #MeToo Era  —  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Nearly a year after he resigned his U.S. Senate seat amid sexual misconduct allegations, Al Franken is testing whether he can make a comeback in the #MeToo era.  —  The former “Saturday Night Live” …

Democrat Claire McCaskill Angry with Her Party as She Departs Senate  —  Sen. Claire McCaskill is leaving the Senate after losing her re-election bid to state Attorney General Josh Hawley by 6 points earlier this month, but the Missouri Democrat isn't heading out on a whimper.

‘Danger never went away’: Ukrainian cities feel cornered by Russia  —  Cranes stand idle in Mariupol and Berdyansk as the fear of open warfare rises  —  Ukrainians in the industrial cities and resort villages along the coast of the Sea of Azov knew a showdown with Russia was coming.