Accused Russian spy Maria Butina appears to reach plea deal  —  Washington (CNN)Accused Russian spy Maria Butina appears to have reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors.  —  Butina is accused of trying to infiltrate Republican political circles and party leaders during the 2016 campaign …

CREW Sues FBI for Giuliani Leak Records  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  —  The FBI is in violation of the law for failing to turn over documents related to the FBI's investigation into the leak of information to Rudy Giuliani in October 2016 that then-FBI Director James Comey was going to reopen …

Who Will Be Trump's Next Chief Of Staff?  It Doesn't Really Matter.  —  President Donald Trump is in the market for a new chief of staff, but his management style, reluctance to change, and relationship with his past two top aides suggest it might not ultimately matter much whom he selects.

Supreme Court declines to review rulings that blocked efforts to end Planned Parenthood funding  —  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review lower court decisions that blocked efforts in two states to end public funding to Planned Parenthood, refusing for now to get involved in state battles over abortion rights.

Meet the Bottomless Pinocchio, a new rating for a false claim repeated over and over again  —  It was President Trump's signature campaign promise: He would build a wall along the nation's southern border, and Mexico would pay for it.  —  Shortly after becoming president, Trump dropped the Mexico part …

Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They're Not Keeping It Secret  —  Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds.  They say it's anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is.  —  The millions of dots on the map trace highways …

YouTube Bans Proud Boys Founder Gavin McInnes  —  YouTube banned Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes on Monday, marking the latest social-media blow for the man who started the far-right men's group.  McInnes had amassed more than 220,000 subscribers on YouTube before the ban …

Pelosi, rebels discussing term limits for party leaders  —  Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and a group of House Democratic rebels are discussing a proposal to impose term limits on both party leaders and committee chairs, according to four Democratic sources.  —  Pelosi has been in private talks …

TIME Announces 2018 Person of the Year Shortlist on Today Show  —  The shortlist of candidates for TIME's 2018 Person of the Year was unveiled Monday on NBC's Today show.  Since 1927, TIME has identified the Person of the Year, recognizing the person or group of people who most influenced …

Bloomberg: Democrats are looking for a ‘middle-of-the-road’ strategy  —  As he continues to mull a 2020 presidential bid, Michael R. Bloomberg, a former New York mayor and onetime Republican, said Monday that he thinks Democrats are looking for a “middle-of-the-road” strategy and want a president who would govern pragmatically.

Paul Ryan's long con  —  He betrayed his promises and left a legacy of debt and disappointment.  —  House Speaker Paul Ryan's legacy can be summed up in just one number: $343 billion.  —  That's the increase between the deficit for fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2018 — that is …

Former Bloomberg Executives to Be Charged in Construction Fraud Scheme  —  More than 18 months ago, the Manhattan district attorney's office opened yet another investigation into fraud in the city's $62 billion construction industry, this one involving Bloomberg L.P., the financial information …

Talk About Pizzagate  —  The former Clinton campaign chairman is among the victims still recovering from a vile conspiracy theory that ended in gunfire  —  WASHINGTON — John Podesta has given it a lot of thought and believes the best way to deal with the trolls is to ignore them.

Want to avoid legal trouble?  Start by not cheating on your wife and don't cavort with murderous strongmen or their lobbyists  —  Legal trouble for President Trump is coming from all sides.  There's evidence Paul Manafort was still communicating with the White House this year.

An insane amount of people turned out to vote in the midterm elections  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump solved a problem that no other president before him could: Getting people to vote in a midterm election.  —  Whether they were voting for or against his agenda, it is now clear that voters turned out in record numbers in 2018.

Elizabeth Warren, other key Democratic senators investigate Fox News bonus payments to Trump aide Bill Shine  — Four Democratic senators are requesting the White House to hand over documents proving Trump communications advisor Bill Shine is not breaking federal ethics laws as he continues to get paid millions in bonuses by Fox.

Why ‘No Hate Here’ signs are actually pretty hateful  —  My walks with my dog take me to a quiet off-street, with middle-class houses made expensive because they're inside the Beltway.  Their owners are mostly youngish attorneys who work as assistant-deputy-director-somethings in some government department or other.

Cambridge Analytica's Real Role in Trump's Dark Facebook Campaign  —  Now new data has opened a small window into Trump's social media machinery, and in particular the role played by the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica.  —  Donald Trump's Facebook campaign was crucial to his 2016 success …

The Remarkable Tale of the Corporate Lobbyist Sworn In as a Temporary U.S. Senator  —  Late last month, two former policymakers and lobbyists teamed up for an op-ed in the Washington Post.  It was, as the genre goes, fairly mundane: a description of a problem or a threat …

Google to Accelerate Closure of Google+ Social Network  —  Move comes day before Google CEO Sundar Pichai to testify before Congress for the first time.

The Real Roots of American Rage  —  I. An Angry Little Town  —  Soon after the snows of 1977 began to thaw, the residents of Greenfield, Massachusetts, received a strange questionnaire in the mail.  “Try to recall the number of times you became annoyed and/or angry during the past week,” the survey instructed.