Veselnitskaya, Russian in Trump Tower Meeting, Is Charged in Case That Shows Kremlin Ties  —  [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]  —  Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who in 2016 met with Trump campaign officials in Trump Tower …

Why Mike Pence Couldn't End the Shutdown  —  Mike Pence was set up to fail.  —  It seemed that way a lot over the past three weeks.  In the days ahead of the federal funding deadline in December, it was the vice president who told Senate Republicans that the president would back a short-term spending bill to keep the government open.

Bolton Walked Back Syria Statement.  His Disdain for Debate Helped Produce It.  —  WASHINGTON — John R. Bolton found himself last weekend in a familiar but dangerous spot for any White House aide: cleaning up after his boss, President Trump, announced the withdrawal of 2,000 troops from Syria …

Kellyanne Conway Corrects Sarah Sanders' Border Terrorist Claim: ‘Unfortunate Misstatement’  —  Kellyanne Conway said her colleague, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, made an “unfortunate misstatement” on illegal immigration at the border on Fox News.

Eminent Domain, Emergency Powers, and Trump's Wall  —  President Donald Trump claims he can use an “emergency” declaration to secure funding to use eminent domain to acquire land for his border wall, even without any additional congressional authorization.  The validity of this claim is dubious at best.

The Latest: Pence says Trump's wall claim was ‘impression’  —  WASHINGTON — The Latest on President Donald Trump's claim that his predecessors endorsed his idea of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border (all times local):  —  Vice President Mike Pence says President Donald Trump's recent claim …

Emergency Exit: Mark Harris trips alarm trying to evade Channel 9 in uptown  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After Republican 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris finished addressing Mecklenburg County Republicans at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center Monday night, reporters …

Trolls and Grifters: David Reaboi and Charlie Kirk Edition  —  “The crazies have started rolling into Kandahar like it's a f—king bathtub drain.”  —  It is axiomatic that while change creates opportunity, chaotic change creates the most dramatic opportunities for the most unsavory actors.

U.S. Still Leans Conservative, but Liberals Keep Recent Gains  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' assessment of their political ideology was unchanged in 2018 compared with the year prior when 35% on average described themselves as conservative, 35% as moderate and 26% as liberal.

U.S. envoy working on Qatar dispute resigns from State Department  —  Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine Corps general and former head of U.S. Central Command who has been working as an envoy for the Trump administration to resolve a dispute with Qatar, has resigned from his position with the State Department.

Supreme Court Receives New Filing in Apparent Mueller Case  —  A new U.S. Supreme Court filing suggests the public may soon get more information about a mystery case believed to be tied to the criminal investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

U.S. Carbon Emissions Surged in 2018 Even as Coal Plants Closed  —  WASHINGTON — America's carbon dioxide emissions rose by 3.4 percent in 2018, the biggest increase in eight years, according to a preliminary estimate published Tuesday.  —  Strikingly, the sharp uptick in emissions occurred …

U.S. Downgraded E.U.'s Diplomatic Status (but Didn't Say Anything)  —  BRUSSELS — The Trump administration downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Union's delegation to the United States last year without making a formal announcement or informing the bloc about the change, a European official said on Tuesday.

Corey Stewart, the firebrand Virginia Republican, will leave politics in December  —  Corey A. Stewart, the Republican firebrand whose fights to crack down on illegal immigration and preserve Confederate monuments reflected the nation's increasingly polarized political landscape …

'It's Just Too Much': A Florida Town Grapples With a Shutdown After a Hurricane  —  MARIANNA, Fla. — A federal prison here in Florida's rural Panhandle lost much of its roof and fence during Hurricane Michael in October, forcing hundreds of inmates to relocate to a facility in Yazoo City, Miss., more than 400 miles away.

Second body found in West Hollywood home of Democratic donor Ed Buck  —  A man's body was found early Monday in the West Hollywood home of prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck, authorities said.  —  Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's West Hollywood station responded …

I Gave a Bounty Hunter $300.  Then He Located Our Phone  —  T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T are selling access to their customers' location data, and that data is ending up in the hands of bounty hunters and others not authorized to posses it, letting them track most phones in the country.

Romney gets chilly reception from GOP senators after Trump attack  —  Sen. James Lankford will occasionally take issue with President Donald Trump's tactics and rhetoric.  But he's not sure what Mitt Romney was thinking with his biting condemnation of the president before he was even sworn into office.

The next juicy White House memoir comes out in 3 weeks, and ABC scored the first interview with its author  —  President Trump is curious — and White House aides, alumni and reporters are anxious — ahead of the Jan. 29 publication of the tightly embargoed “Team of Vipers,” a delicious, unsparing memoir by former Trump aide Cliff Sims.