William Barr is leading attorney general candidate in Trump discussions  —  Former attorney general William P. Barr is President Trump's leading candidate to be nominated to lead the Justice Department — a choice that could be made in coming days as the agency presses forward with a probe …

Making President Trump's Bed: A Housekeeper Without Papers  —  At the president's New Jersey golf course, an undocumented immigrant has worked as a maid since 2013.  She said she never imagined she “would see such important people close up.”  —  BEDMINSTER, N.J. — During more than five years …

Stocks drop again with Dow's two-day slide now totaling more than 1,000 points  —  Stocks fell sharply on Thursday as continuing fears over U.S.-China trade relations and concern over a possible global economic slowdown kept investors on edge.  —  The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 451 points …

Elizabeth Warren Stands by DNA Test.  But Around Her, Worries Abound.  —  WASHINGTON — The plan was straightforward: After years of being challenged by President Trump and others about a decades-old claim of Native American ancestry, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would take a DNA test …

The White House Has No Plan for Confronting the Mueller Report  —  Nobody knows how the White House plans to respond to the Mueller report—including the people who work at the White House.  —  The special counsel is reportedly nearing the end of his probe.  Sentencing memos are dropping.

Republican officials had early warnings of voting irregularities in North Carolina  —  BLADENBORO, N.C. — When GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger lost his primary by a narrow margin in May, he suspected something was amiss.  —  The congressman turned to a group of friends and family who had gathered …

General McChrystal Told Pompeo To ‘Muddle Along’ In Afghanistan, Leaked Audio Reveals  —  Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, recently told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he did not know what to do in Afghanistan but offered his “best suggestion” …

Nancy Pelosi says funding for Trump's ‘immoral, ineffective, expensive’ border wall is off the table  — Nancy Pelosi called for a yearlong continuing resolution on funding for homeland security.  — Pelosi dismissed a compromise of exchanging border wall funding for a DACA solution.

Trump aide's appearances on RT channel are focus for Russia inquiry  —  Ted Malloch, a Trump campaign adviser, has been questioned about his relationship with the Kremlin-controlled broadcaster  —  Robert Mueller is allegedly examining a Trump campaign adviser's appearances …

Fox Business Network Apologizes for Louie Gohmert Spreading Anti-Semitic George Soros Conspiracy  —  The openly anti-Semitic attack initially went unchallenged by host Stuart Varney, who later issued an apology.  —  Matt Wilstein  —  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Thursday morning managed …

Trump could've ruined Bush's funeral.  Bush didn't let him.  —  By including the current president, the late president preempted his successor's proclivity for draining the dignity out of solemn occasions.  —  Rick Wilson is a Republican political consultant, a Daily Beast columnist and the author of …

Kamala Harris aide resigns after harassment, retaliation settlement surfaces  —  A longtime top staff member of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris resigned Wednesday after The Sacramento Bee inquired about a $400,000 harassment and retaliation settlement resulting from his time working for Harris at the California Department of Justice.

In potential blow to Manafort, Supreme Court unlikely to change double jeopardy rule  —  A presidential pardon could keep Trump's former campaign chairman out of federal prison, but it would not free him from being prosecuted on similar state charges.  —  WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court …

Ecuador: Enough UK guarantees for Assange to leave embassy  —  QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's president says Britain has provided sufficient guarantees for Julian Assange to leave his government's embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been living under asylum since 2012.

Documents Point to Illegal Campaign Coordination Between Trump and NRA  —  The National Rifle Association spent $30 million to help elect Donald Trump — more than any other independent conservative group.  Most of that sum went toward television advertising, but a political message loses …

The Wisconsin power grab is part of a bigger Republican attack on democracy  —  The GOP's turn against democracy may be a greater threat to the American experiment than President Trump.  —  The Wisconsin Republican Party is nullifying the results of the 2018 election.

People aren't paying their credit cards and more accounts are being shut down, and it could be a sign that ‘economic clouds are darkening’  — Credit-card delinquencies, application rejections, and involuntary account closures are all on the upswing, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

An escaped inmate kicked down a sleeping woman's door.  But she had a gun.  —  The prisoners had been planning their escape for days.  —  Bruce McLaughlin Jr. and Timothy Dill put the jailbreak into motion sometime after 2 a.m. Tuesday.  It was the graveyard shift at the jail in Pickens County …

After a lot of conversation, reflection and prayer, I've decided that a 2020 campaign for president is not for me.  I've been overwhelmed by advice and encouragement from people from all over the country, known and unknown.  Humbled, in fact.  But knowing that the cruelty of our elections process …

Kushners' Beachfront Strip Eligible for Trump's Poor-Area Tax Perks  —  The opportunity zones in the new tax law are supposed to attract investment to low-income areas.  But some of these neighborhoods aren't exactly struggling.  —  Pier Village promotes itself as a “jewel on the New Jersey coast.”

How Trump's approval rating has evolved, according to data scientist Donald Trump  —  Late Wednesday night, President Trump tweeted a celebratory image. … Polling from Rasmussen Reports has Trump at 50 percent approval, the tweet notes, something Trump credits to his hard work.

Trump hotel feud erupts between Lewandowski and Florida senators  —  MIAMI — It was supposed to be a friendly introduction between Republicans at the Trump International Hotel in Washington on Wednesday night, when the president's former campaign manager and the Republican leader of the Florida Senate met.

Trump Plans Major Rollback of Sage Grouse Protections to Spur Oil Exploration  —  WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday published documents detailing its plan to roll back Obama-era protections for the vast habitat of the greater sage grouse, a chickenlike bird …

Trump's EPA proposes loosening coal rules despite climate warnings  —  The Trump administration unveiled yet another rollback Thursday for a major Obama-era climate rule — proposing to ease restrictions on future coal power plants even as the industry shows little interest in building any.

Chris Cuomo Nabs Viewers for CNN in Cable-News' Toughest Time Period  —  CNN has learned that there's nothing wrong with a little attitude.  —  In just six months, the network's new 9 p.m. program, “Cuomo Prime Time,” has become the most-watched show on the AT&T-owned cable-news network.

‘Death is waiting for him’  —  On the day he pleaded for his life in federal immigration court, Santos Chirino lifted his shirt and showed his scars.  —  Judge Thomas Snow watched the middle-aged construction worker on a big-screen television in Arlington, Va., 170 miles away from the immigration jail where Chirino was being held.

2 New Yorkers Erased $1.5 Million in Medical Debt for Hundreds of Strangers  —  [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]  —  If a slim, yellow envelope with a Rye, N.Y., return address lands in your mailbox this holiday season, don't throw it out.  It's not junk.

Five-Year Trends Available for Median Household Income, Poverty Rates and Computer and Internet Use  —  American Community Survey Releases New Data for All Communities Nationwide  —  DEC. 6, 2018 — Today, the U.S. Census Bureau announced the release of the 2013-2017 American Community Survey …