Exclusive: Robert Mueller met with Trump's pollster  —  Washington (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller sought information directly last year from one of Donald Trump's campaign pollsters who is also a former business associate of Paul Manafort's.  —  Mueller's team met with pollster Tony Fabrizio …

Test of steel prototype for border wall showed it could be sawed through  —  NBC News obtained a photo showing results of a test on a steel wall prototype.  —  President Donald Trump has repeatedly advocated for a steel slat design for his border wall, which he described as …

Prosecutors Examining Ukrainians Who Flocked to Trump Inaugural  —  WASHINGTON — Hours after he was sworn in as America's 45th president, Donald J. Trump and his wife, Melania, swayed together to a rendition of the Frank Sinatra classic “My Way,” as hundreds of their wealthiest …

Before Trump, Steve King Set the Agenda for the Wall and Anti-Immigrant Politics  —  Before Trump, Steve King Set the Agenda for Anti-Immigrant Politics  —  The Iowa congressman, who has been denounced as a white supremacist, wrote the playbook on white identity politics and many of the issues that are ascendant in the G.O.P.

Democrats will object to Senate adjourning amid shutdown  —  Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) plans to object to the Senate adjourning for the week Thursday afternoon amidst a 20-day government shutdown, according to Senate sources.  —  Kaine and his fellow Senate Democrats want to ratchet up pressure …

Progressives Fought for Key Committee Spots, but Centrist New Dems Came Out on Top  —  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez failed in her long-shot bid for a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, according to an announcement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday evening.

‘The story keeps changing’: Trump falsely asserts he never promised Mexico would directly pay for the border wall  —  It was a foundational promise of Donald Trump's historic presidential campaign: Mexico would pay for his 2,000-mile border wall.  But as he desperately fights for $5.7 billion …

Pompeo Speech Lays Out Vision for Mideast, Taking Shots at Obama  —  CAIRO — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out his vision for America's role in the Middle East on Thursday, telling a university audience in Cairo that “the age of self-inflicted American shame is over” …

Trump White House urging allies to prepare for possible RBG departure  —  The White House is reaching out to political allies and conservative activist groups to prepare for an ailing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's possible death or departure from the Supreme Court — an event that would trigger …

I worked in the Justice Department.  I hope its lawyers won't give Trump an alibi.  —  Erica Newland is a counsel for the nonprofit group Protect Democracy and a former attorney adviser in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.  —  President Trump said Thursday that he will …

Mnuchin defends plan to ease sanctions on Russian oligarch's companies before Congress  —  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon to defend the Treasury Department's plans to lift sanctions on companies tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska …

Q13 FOX staffer fired after TV station airs altered Trump video  —  A staffer at local FOX affiliate Q13 has been fired after the station aired what appears to be a doctored video of President Trump's Tuesday night speech from the Oval Office.  —  A staffer at local FOX affiliate Q13 …

Harry Reid: Renewed But Ready to Rumble?  —  Harry Reid retired a little more than two years ago after serving decades in elected office, lastly as a U.S. senator who helped President Barack Obama get the Affordable Care Act through Congress.  —  He's been out of the limelight since, undergoing cancer treatment.

Ocean Warming Is Accelerating Faster Than Thought, New Research Finds  —  Scientists say the warming of the world's oceans is accelerating more quickly than previously thought, a finding with dire implications for climate change given that the vast majority of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases ends up stored there.

Gillibrand reps lease 5,000 square foot Troy building  —  Kenneth C. Crowe II and and Diego Mendoza-Moyers January 10, 2019  —  Campaign representatives for Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand signed a lease for a 5,000 square foot space in downtown Troy, according to a local Democratic operative …

The ‘doomsday’ scenario: Here's what happens if the shutdown drags on  —  Economists warn that a catastrophe is in the making if the partial government closure continues for weeks or months.  —  The country would face an economic hellscape if the government shutdown lasts “months or even years …

I Was Sexually Harassed on Bernie Sanders's 2016 Campaign.  I Will Not Be Weaponized or Dismissed.  —  Last week, my experience, and that of some of my female co-workers, became the focus of a New York Times story on the sexual harassment and sexism that took place in the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign.

The Saudi engine of repression continues to run at full speed  —  One hundred days after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pressing ahead with anti-dissident campaigns and remains in regular contact with Saud al-Qahtani, the media adviser whom …

What Real Border Security Looks Like  —  Republicans and Democrats should agree to build an Israeli-style “smart fence.”  —  ON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER — Other than the Korean Peninsula's DMZ, there's probably no border in the world as fraught with the potential for sudden violence as this one, known locally as the Blue Line.

For Owners of Amazon's Ring Security Cameras, Strangers May Have Been Watching Too  —  The “smart home” of the 21st century isn't just supposed to be a monument to convenience, we're told, but also to protection, a Tony Stark-like bubble of vigilant algorithms and internet-connected sensors working ceaselessly to watch over us.

Farm Country Stood by Trump.  But the Shutdown Is Pushing It to Breaking Point.  —  DENVER, Colo. — In Georgia, a pecan farmer lost out on his chance to buy his first orchard.  The local Farm Service Agency office that would have processed his loan application was shut down.

Trump Campaign in Legal Jeopardy Over Manafort's Sharing Data with Russian Agent  —  According to a court filing earlier this week, former 2016 Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort shared presidential campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian citizen with ties to Russian intelligence.

House passes bills to fund Transportation Dept., HUD, Agriculture  —  The Democratic-led House passed a standalone spending measure Thursday to provide funding for the Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and other agencies.  —  The House voted 244-180 to approve the clean funding measure.

The Great Issue of Our Time...  ...is whether, as a people, we are too dumb to sustain a democracy.  This question arises often; for me, most recently, upon seeing this Daily Mail headline: “Twitter user stuns the internet with math that proves one 18-inch pizza has more in it than TWO 12-inch helpings.”

“I Felt Dirty”: Former Employees Of The Veteran Crowdfunding Trump's Wall Say He Pushed Fake News To Get Rich  —  “He never wanted the truth.  It was all just for clicks, and the more inflammatory, the better,” a former employee said.  “I felt dirty writing the stuff.”

Kamala Harris Ready To Enter Race For President, Sources Say  —  She's Finalizing Plans For Bay Area Rally To Announce Candidacy  —  Sen. Kamala Harris has decided to run for president in 2020 and will announce her candidacy on or around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, probably at a campaign rally in Oakland …

No to an Emergency  —  President Trump says he is considering declaring an emergency at the border to unlock military funds to build a fence (a.k.a. wall).  —  It's not clear how serious he is, although anonymous White House aides have been quoted saying they believe this will be his ultimate way out of the shutdown fight.