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 …

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 …

Trump in Iraq on first visit to troops in troubled region  —  AL-ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq (AP) — President Donald Trump made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Wednesday, leaving behind a partially shuttered U.S. government to greet American troops helping hold off extremists in a country where thousands of Americans died during the recent war.

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 …

Dow gives back 282-point gain as Wall Street's wild ride continues  —  Stocks rose sharply in volatile trading on Wednesday as surges in retail and energy shares helped Wall Street regain the steep losses suffered in the previous session.  —  The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 657 points higher …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

How Much of the Internet Is Fake?  Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually.  —  In late November, the Justice Department unsealed indictments against eight people accused of fleecing advertisers of $36 million in two of the largest digital ad-fraud operations ever uncovered.

Bad headlines for Trump also means ratings slump for Hannity  —  NEW YORK (AP) — The drumbeat of bad news for President Donald Trump hasn't been good for his most prominent backer in the media.  —  While Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity will end 2018 as cable news' most popular personality …

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 …

As national Women's March leaders face claims of anti-Semitism, Chicago group says it won't host January march, citing costs  —  Women's March Inc. co-President Tamika Mallory, shown in 2017, has praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on social media.

Larry Eisenberg, 99, Whose Limericks Were Very Well Read, Is Dead … Dr. Eisenberg, who died on Tuesday at 99, was for more than a decade one of the most prolific contributors of reader comments on nytimes.com — and, by extension, on the internet as a whole.

USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll: What do Democrats want in 2020?  Someone new - and Biden.  But definitely not Hillary  —  Former Vice President Joe Biden hints at a 2020 run, saying he thinks he's “the most qualified person” in this Country to be president.  Veuer's Justin Kircher has the story.  —  CONNECT

The Worst of MSNBC in 2018  —  The Washington Free Beacon presents its sixth annual look at the worst MSNBC had to offer over the previous year.  —  In the second year of the Trump administration, there were Russia conspiracies galore (John Heilemann asked if Devin Nunes was a “Russian agent” …

‘Deportation bus’ candidate reports to jail following indictment  —  State senator and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Michael Williams turned himself into Hall County jail Wednesday, days after news broke that he had been indicted on charges that included insurance fraud.