Inside the frantic decision to open a Trump obstruction probe before Mueller got the job  —  Washington (CNN)In the hectic eight days after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and top FBI officials viewed Trump as a leader who needed to be reined in …

Trump ally who served on voter integrity panel expresses concern about fraud in North Carolina  —  Kris Kobach, an ally of President Trump who served on a voter integrity panel, expressed worry Thursday that Republican fraud might have tainted a North Carolina congressional election …

Trump to Pick Nauert to Replace Haley as UN Ambassador, Sources Say  — Nauert has been State Department spokeswoman, Fox News anchor  — Maintaining North Korea sanctions, defending Israel key jobs  —  President Donald Trump has decided to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert …

Rex Tillerson makes rare public appearance in Houston  —  Russia interfered with the 2016 U.S. elections, former Secretary of State and Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson said during a Thursday evening visit to Houston.  —  Making his first public appearance in nearly nine months …

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 …

White House chief of staff John Kelly expected to resign soon  —  Washington (CNN)John Kelly is expected to resign as White House chief of staff in the coming days, two sources familiar with the situation unfolding in the West Wing tell CNN.  —  Seventeen months in, Kelly and President Donald Trump …

Deval Patrick knew when to call it quits on a presidential bid.  Other politicians take note  —  Running for president is hard.  —  Deciding not to run?  That can be even harder.  —  Over the last year, two-term former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has explored the possibility …

Kevin Hart Refuses to Apologize, Despite Academy Ultimatum, for Past Anti-Gay Comments  —  It appears the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may be looking for a new host for the upcoming Oscars ceremony very soon.  —  In a new Instagram video, Kevin Hart, who was tapped to emcee …

Trump is not capable  —  Weekday nights Fox News Channel star, Tucker Carlson, can be found merrily berating hapless guests, grilling liberal pundits, and defending America's working and middle classes.  Puckish and pugilistic, the 49-year-old insists the Washington elites among whom he grew up despise America's “normal people.”

Missouri Secretary of State begins investigation into Josh Hawley  —  Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has launched an investigation into a complaint that Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley used public resources in his successful bid for the U.S. Senate.

Reporters At Bloomberg News Are Worried About Michael Bloomberg's Potential Presidential Run  —  Reporters at Bloomberg News are on edge after their boss announced that if he chooses to run for president in 2020 — a decision he will have to finalize relatively soon — it could mean the end of the news outlet's political coverage.

CNN's New York offices evacuated due to bomb threat  —  (CNN)CNN's New York offices and studios have been evacuated due to a phoned bomb threat, the company said.  —  Several fire alarm bells rang inside CNN's New York newsroom, signaling an evacuation shortly after 10:30 p.m.

Michigan G.O.P. Starts Limiting Power of Incoming Democratic Leaders  —  LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Republicans, following the tactics of conservative lawmakers in Wisconsin, moved on Thursday to start limiting the power of the incoming Democratic secretary of state and set the stage …

At ‘60 Minutes,’ Independence Led to Trouble, Investigators Say  —  For decades, “60 Minutes” has reigned at the top of television news, bringing in hundreds of journalistic awards, not to mention weekly ratings for CBS that are the envy of the industry.  The success has allowed “60 Minutes” …

Documents Point to Illegal Campaign Coordination Between Trump and the 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 …

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 …

Isabel Wilkerson on Michelle Obama's ‘Becoming’ and the Great Migration  —  The former first lady's long-awaited new memoir recounts with insight, candor and wit her family's trajectory from the Jim Crow South to Chicago's South Side and her own improbable journey from there to the White House.

U.S. Tax Dollars Help to Starve Children  —  The famine in Yemen could become the worst the world has seen in a generation.  —  ADEN, Yemen  —  He is an eight-year-old boy who is starving and has limbs like sticks, but Yaqoob Walid doesn't cry or complain.

With at least 16 members running, Congress will be another staging ground for 2020 presidential race  —  There's a famous joke in Washington that most Senators look in the mirror and see a future president.  —  That's never really borne out in reality.  The unwieldy cast of GOP presidential …

A Mysterious Imposter Account Was Used On Facebook To Drum Up Support For The Migrant Caravan  —  Days before the migrant caravan left Honduras, a fake Facebook account was used to try to bolster its numbers.  The social media giant has since deactivated the account but has refused to provide information about who created it.

No deal on infrastructure without addressing climate change  —  Chuck Schumer,a Democrat from New York, is Senate minority leader.  —  Now that Democrats will soon control one branch of Congress, President Trump is again signaling that infrastructure could be an area of compromise.

We're now seeing the Trump economy  —  I'm old enough to remember when President Trump boasted about the stock market.  No more.  As of this writing, the Dow Jones industrial average is sharply down, again, the fall triggered this time by the arrest in Canada of Huawei Technologies' chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou.

Prosecutors Looking at Turkey Lobbying by Michael Flynn's Ex-Firm  —  Federal grand jury focusing on persons linked to former national security adviser's now-defunct company  —  WASHINGTON—Federal prosecutors are scrutinizing Turkey's U.S. lobbying and the companies that backed …