Did a Queens Podiatrist Help Donald Trump Avoid Vietnam?  —  In the fall of 1968, Donald J. Trump received a timely diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels that led to his medical exemption from the military during Vietnam.  —  For 50 years, the details of how the exemption came about …

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker Incorrectly Claims Academic All-American Honors  —  Claim from Whitaker's University of Iowa football days listed on résumé and government documents  —  Matthew Whitaker, the acting U.S. Attorney General, has incorrectly claimed …

Trump Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq to See American Troops  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump visited American military forces in Iraq on Wednesday, a surprise trip and the first visit to troops stationed abroad in a combat zone by a commander in chief who has made withdrawing the United States from foreign wars a signature issue.

The Path to the Presidency Could Be Harder for White Democrats in 2020  —  Before Barack Obama's election in 2008, the relationship between white racial views and partisanship wasn't as clear-cut as one might think.  Yes, Republicans won the large majority of white voters who believed black disadvantage …

Huckabee Defends Trump: It's Not Like He's 'Boiling The Little Girl's Rabbit'  —  After President Trump was roasted for appearing to mock a 7-year-old girl for still believing in Santa Claus earlier this week, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) raised eyebrows when he took it upon himself to defend Trump …

Ivanka Trump wears a summer dress and a bizarre full straw visor hat  —  Ivanka Trump rang in the holiday on Tuesday by heading out for a stroll near her family's Palm Beach, Florida estate on Christmas Day with husband Jared Kushner.

Federal workforce starts to feel pinch of prolonged shutdown  —  The partial government shutdown entered its fifth day Wednesday with no signs of a breakthrough and hundreds of thousands of federal workers about to feel the pinch of a protracted standoff.  —  President Donald Trump …

Trump's frustration with Mnuchin rising after failed attempt to calm markets, source says  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump's frustration with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is ratcheting up further after markets suffered their worst Christmas Eve drop ever following Mnuchin's attempts …

More than 4 million children endured lockdowns last school year, a groundbreaking Washington Post analysis found.  The experience left many traumatized.  —  Locked behind their green classroom door, MaKenzie Woody and 25 other first-graders huddled in the darkness.

CBP Shares Additional Information about Recent Passing of Guatemalan Child  —  An eight year-old Guatemalan national, previously apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, died shortly before midnight on December 24 at Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Brown seeks Obama meeting as he considers presidential run  —  Sen. Sherrod Brown hasn't decided whether he's running for president — but he's checking off a lot of the boxes that come along the way.  —  The Ohio Democrat is reaching out to fellow senators and party officials in early primary and caucus states.

President Trump's Retreat on the Environment Is Affecting Communities Across America  —  In California, where over a third of the nation's vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts are grown, farm workers are being sickened by a pesticide that the Obama administration tried to ban.

Russia Warns United States: Don't Interfere in Saudi Royal Succession  —  Russia has warned the U.S. against any attempts to influence Saudi Arabia's royal succession, and offered its official support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  The prince is under international pressure …

Ruth Bader Ginsburg released from hospital after cancer surgery  —  Washington (CNN)Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday and is recuperating at home after undergoing surgery, according to a court spokesperson.

Maria Butina and the Criminalization of Citizen Diplomacy  —  Prosecuting Butina endangers NGO activists in both Russia and the US.  —  30-year-old, flame-haired Maria “Red Sparrow” Butina plead guilty this month to one act count of conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent.

I thought fraud in reporting was done for.  I was wrong.  —  Nearly 30 years ago, the Cold War's end opened Germany's border to the formerly Soviet-dominated east.  Asylum seekers from poor and war-torn nations poured across it.  A violent backlash from ultra-right-wing Germans ensued.

Russia Considers Constitution Changes as Putin Faces Term Limits  — Speaker of parliament suggests discussing amendments  — Analysts see Kremlin effort to allow Putin to extend rule  —  The speaker of Russia's parliament raised the possibility of changing the constitution …

After Mattis, Trump needs a very different kind of defense secretary  —  President Trump's decision to replace Defense Secretary James Mattis on Jan. 1 - rather than allowing him to stay on the job until Feb. 28, as the retired Marine general requested when he resigned Thursday - was the right move.

A Gutted I.R.S. Makes the Rich Richer  —  With enforcement enfeebled, as much as 20 percent of potential tax revenues go uncollected.  —  The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher.  It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.

Internet billionaire Reid Hoffman apologizes for funding a group behind disinformation in Alabama race  —  Internet billionaire Reid Hoffman apologized on Wednesday for funding a group linked to a “highly disturbing” effort that spread disinformation during last year's Alabama special election …

Vagrants not charged for wild subway melee with cop … The bums get a break for Christmas.  —  Five vagrants who sparred with an NYPD officer during a wild melee in a Manhattan subway station were released on Monday night without charges.  —  The five homeless men, who flailed at the officer …