Cell signal puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting  —  A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump's former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign …

Trump Iraq Visit Is Called a Political Rally  —  WASHINGTON — During his surprise visit to American troops in Iraq and Germany this week, President Trump singled out red “Make America Great Again” caps in a sea of military fatigues, signed a “Trump 2020” patch and accused Representative Nancy Pelosi …

Dems' New Year's resolution: Stiff Trump on the wall and reopen the government  —  House Democrats — increasingly convinced they're winning the shutdown fight with President Donald Trump — are plotting ways to reopen the government while denying the president even a penny more for his border wall when they take power Jan. 3.

Nation's oldest living veteran Richard Overton dies in Austin at age 112  —  AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - The nation's oldest living veteran, Richard Overton, has died in a rehab facility in Austin, Texas.  —  He was 112 years old.  —  Family says Overton was admitted to the hospital last week with pneumonia.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller Seized Russian Trolls' ‘Nude Selfies’  —  The special counsel turned over reams of material from the email and social media accounts of accused Russian trolls.  —  Special Counsel Robert Mueller has collected at least three million pages of material from the email …

Blue Light Floods NYC Sky as Transformer Explodes in Queens  —  A transformer explosion in Queens sent an eerie blue light flooding into the nighttime sky over New York City Thursday night, startling residents.  —  Con Edison says a couple of transformers tripped offline at the substation …

The Inevitability of Impeachment  —  Even Republicans may be deciding that the president has become too great a burden to their party or too great a danger to the country.  —  Ms. Drew is a journalist based in Washington who covered Watergate.  —  An impeachment process against President Trump now seems inescapable.

If You Only Get Your News From CNN, You Have No Idea This Story Happened  —  A left-wing billionaire gave $100,000 towards an online misinformation campaign that mimicked Russian interference operations — but if you only get your news from CNN, then you have no idea that happened.

Inside Facebook's Secret Rulebook for Global Political Speech  —  Under fire for stirring up distrust and violence, the social network has vowed to police its users.  But leaked documents raise serious questions about its approach.  —  MENLO PARK, Calif. — In a glass conference room …

Fox News Hits Trump for Turning Troop Visit Into ‘Campaign Rally’  —  ‘Military men and women, I believe, deserve way more respect than that,’ Fox News' Julie Banderas said Thursday.  —  Matt Wilstein  —  The hits keep coming from Fox News to President Trump.

Has the GOP retreated into a world of make-believe?  The shutdown debate will tell us.  —  I know it's a tiresome discussion.  I know that most people would rather not be having it.  I also know that the government shutdown is an appalling hardship for hundreds of thousands of government workers …

Trump bragged to service members in Iraq about a 10 percent raise they haven't been given  —  Speaking to members of the military during his surprise trip overseas this week, President Trump spoke about the raises they received.  —  “You haven't gotten one in more than 10 years — more than 10 years,” he said Wednesday.

More Americans blame Trump for government shutdown: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More Americans blame President Donald Trump than congressional Democrats for the partial U.S. government shutdown, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday found, as lawmakers returned …

New York City Traffic Deaths Set to Hit 100-Year Low  —  City officials credit traffic initiatives for reducing road deaths, on pace to fall for fifth consecutive year  —  The number of annual traffic fatalities in New York City is on course to fall beneath 200 for the first time in a century, transportation officials say.

Saudi King Shakes Up Cabinet, Keeping Power in Son's Hands  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon — King Salman of Saudi Arabia shook up the kingdom's cabinet on Thursday, naming new ministers and security chiefs but keeping the levers of power firmly in the hands of his son and designated heir, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

EXCLUSIVE: Read Desperate Emails From People Scammed by A.G. Matt Whitaker's Business Associates  —  When current acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker joined the advisory board of a Florida patent firm in 2014, he was quoted in a company press release saying he “would only align myself with a first class organization.”

The impact homelessness and the opioid crisis are having on San Francisco streets  —  See the opioid crisis plaguing San Francisco  —  San Francisco (CNN)Outside the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in downtown San Francisco, a woman urinates on the sidewalk and smokes a crack pipe.

Furious Iraqi lawmakers demand US troop withdrawal  —  President Donald Trump's surprise trip to Iraq may have quieted criticism at home that he had yet to visit troops in a combat zone, but it has infuriated Iraqi politicians who on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

The Justice Department deserves better than these guys  —  Justice Department employees and ordinary Americans concerned about the preservation of our constitutional system have a quandary: Stay with the devil they know at the Justice Department or go with the devil they don't.

Father whose son died in custody knew bringing him would ease entry into U.S.  —  Word spread through the impoverished village in the western highlands of Guatemala: Migrants traveling with a child are likely to make it past the Border Patrol and into the United States.

Silicon Valley will be a target from left, right and center in 2019  —  The best and worst tech moments of 2018  —  Joshua A. Geltzer, formerly senior director for counterterrorism and deputy legal adviser at the National Security Council, is executive director and visiting professor of law …

Trump DOJ Lawyers Won't Work Amid Shutdown.  Judges Say They Must  — U.S. argues its lawyers barred from working without pay  — Some judges pushing back and ordering government to proceed  —  Some U.S. judges are pushing back against Justice Department efforts to halt lawsuits involving …

Mizzou Official Claims Tall Men Asking Out Short Women Could Constitute Sexual Misconduct  —  Getting up the courage to ask someone out on a date can already be nerve-racking, but now that college campuses have completely gone off the deep end, that fear will be intensified.

Silent night: City records no murders for five days and counting Christmas week  —  All is calm, all is bright.  —  The city has gone five straight days with no homicides, making for a remarkably peaceful Christmas week.  —  The most recent reported slaying in our city of 8.5 million people was Friday.

Trump administration to release hundreds of immigrant families from detention  —  But with border nonprofits already stretched to capacity, many families will probably end up dropped off en masse at bus stations.  —  Hundreds, or even thousands, of migrant families are set to be released …

You Can't Understand The Brutal Reality Of Gun Violence Until You Hear It From Doctors  —  The NRA tried to push doctors out of the gun debate.  They responded with raw accounts from the front lines of the crisis.  —  Christmas Eve, for Dr. Mary Brandt, will forever be associated with saving …

For Bernie Sanders, Holding Onto Support May Be Hard in a 2020 Bid  —  WASHINGTON — Some of his top congressional supporters won't commit to backing him if he runs for president again — and two may join the 2020 race themselves.  A handful of former aides might work for other candidates.