Why are Republicans accused of racism?  Because we're silent on things like this.  —  Tim Scott, a Republican, represents South Carolina in the U.S. Senate.  —  Over the past two years, Republicans have focused on spreading opportunity, and it has paid dividends: From the creation …

GoFundMe Border Wall Campaign Implodes, Turns to Kris Kobach and Sheriff Clarke  —  The wall won't build itself.  —  A decorated veteran who raised more than $20 million to finance construction of a wall along the southern U.S. border has announced that he will instead use the money to finance …

Exasperated Democrats try to rein in Ocasio-Cortez  —  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is already making enemies in the House Democratic Caucus — and some of its members are mounting an operation to bring the anti-establishment, democratic socialist with 2.2 million Twitter followers into the fold.

Tulsi Gabbard says she will run for president in 2020  —  (CNN)Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said Friday she will run for president in 2020.  —  “I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week,” the Hawaii Democrat told CNN's Van Jones during an interview slated …

Exclusive: Trump team should be allowed to ‘correct’ final Mueller report, says Giuliani  —  Rudy Giuliani says President Trump's legal team should be allowed to “correct” special counsel Robert Mueller's final report before Congress or the American people get the chance to read it.

Abrams goes to DC to discuss potential 2020 Senate bid  —  Stacey Abrams met with leading Senate Democrats in Washington this week to discuss a potential 2020 challenge to U.S. Sen. David Perdue as she weighs her next step.  —  The Democrat met separately on Thursday with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer …

Evaluating Trump's economic policies, 2 years in  —  How have Trump's economic policies fared during the first two years of his term?  Paul Solman sits down with the president's top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, to discuss recent stock market volatility, the Federal Reserve, tariffs …

The International Crisis of Donald Trump  —  While Washington melts down over the government shutdown, the worst-case scenario for the President's foreign policy has actually happened.  —  Congressional committees, like the priorities of the politicians who run them, change with the times.

‘Could you make these guys essential?’:  Mortgage industry gets shutdown relief after appeal to senior Treasury officials  —  After an intense lobbying campaign by the mortgage industry, the Treasury Department this week restarted a program that had been sidelined by the partial government shutdown …

Trump Organization Hires Lawyer to Oversee Responses to Democrats' Investigations  —  Company retains Stefan Passantino, who worked until last year in the White House Counsel's Office  —  The Trump Organization has hired a lawyer who formerly worked in the White House Counsel's Office …

Families of Sandy Hook shooting victims win legal victory in lawsuit against InfoWars, Alex Jones  —  Six families of victims killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School won a legal victory Friday in their fight against controversial radio and internet personality Alex Jones.

Trump's Ambassador Finds Few Friends in Germany  —  Since arriving in Berlin as U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell has flouted diplomatic conventions and attempted to interfere in domestic politics.  He has since become politically isolated in the German capital.  —  Photos

Trump Sold $35 Million Of Real Estate In 2018  —  Donald Trump sold an estimated $35 million worth of real estate while serving in the White House last year, according to a Forbes analysis of local property records and federal filings.  Although the president delegated day-to-day management …

APNewsBreak: US approved thousands of child bride requests  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of requests by men to bring in child and adolescent brides to live in the United States were approved over the past decade, according to government data obtained by The Associated Press.

CNN requests KUSI for local view on the border, declines our reporter after finding out wall works  —  SAN DIEGO (KUSI) - Thursday morning, CNN called the KUSI Newsroom asking if one of our reporters could give them a local view of the debate surrounding the border wall and government shutdown.

The Shutdown Has Foggy Bottom in a Funk  —  While diplomats file for unemployment benefits and seek school lunches for their children, Mike Pompeo is making unpaid workers organize a big ambassadors' conference in D.C.  —  Diplomats are filing for unemployment benefits.

Most Americans Call Shutdown ‘Embarrassing’ As It's Set To Become Longest In History  —  Three-quarters of Americans say the government shutdown, now tied for the longest in U.S. history, is “embarrassing for the country,” including a majority of Republicans, a new NPR/Ipsos Poll finds.

Why Jim Yong Kim's move has shaken up the World Bank  —  The day after suddenly announcing that he was ditching the presidency of the World Bank for a Wall Street private equity firm, Jim Yong Kim made an appearance before staff to muster an explanation.  —  In the packed atrium …

When you read Kamala Harris's book, you'll come away with one thought  —  President Trump has ruined certain words for me forever.  I can't hear the phrase “both sides” without suffering the PTSD that comes from remembering how he gave aid and comfort to the “very fine people,” …

Why is Congress so dumb?  —  We lawmakers dumped our in-house experts.  Now lobbyists do the thinking for us.  —  In a year of congressional lowlights, the hearings we held with Silicon Valley leaders last fall may have been the lowest.  One of my colleagues in the House asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai …

Freedom Caucus members tell Trump to back off wall emergency  —  A core group of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus is urging President Donald Trump against the explosive step of declaring a national emergency to build his wall.  —  Multiple Republicans in the conservative group …

EXCLUSIVE: Transcripts of Lisa Page's Closed-Door Testimonies Provide New Revelations in Spygate Scandal  —  Transcripts of two closed-door testimonies by Lisa Page, the former assistant general counsel at the FBI, have provided new insights into the actions of the FBI, DOJ, and others …

A new migrant caravan is forming in Central America, with plans to leave next week  —  MEXICO CITY — Another migrant caravan is forming in Honduras, with plans to set out next week on a journey that will once again test the immigration policies of Mexico and the United States.

A Seattle TV station aired doctored footage of Trump's Oval Office speech.  The employee has been fired.  —  On Tuesday night, an estimated 43.3 million Americans hunkered down to watch President Trump make an Oval Office pitch for his border wall.  With the federal government shutdown stretching …

Trump wants to bypass Congress on Medicaid plan  —  The Trump administration is quietly devising a plan bypassing Congress to give block grants to states for Medicaid, achieving a longstanding conservative dream of reining in spending on the health care safety net for the poor.

EXCLUSIVE: The Rock slams snowflakes as ‘looking for reasons to be offended’  —  THE world's biggest movie star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has body slammed Britain's growing snowflake culture.  —  He “laid the smackdown” on PC softies in an exclusive chat with the Daily Star.

US official says troop withdrawal from Syria has started  —  BAGHDAD (AP) — After days of back and forth over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pullout American troops from Syria, a U.S. military official said Friday the process of withdrawal has begun, declining to comment on specific timetables or movements.

Why Trump's Unusual Leadership Style Isn't Working in the White House  —  Donald J. Trump's highly personal management style as a businessman — impetuous, impolitic, sometimes immature — worked.  At the very least, it wasn't publicly discredited very often.  —  Mr. Trump ran his own private company.

Will the Media Be Trump's Accomplice Again in 2020?  —  We have a second chance.  Let's not blow it.  —  “Pocahontas” won't be lonely for long.  —  As other Democrats join Elizabeth Warren in the contest for the party's presidential nomination, President Trump will assign them their own nicknames …

Federal work at Superfund sites suspended during shutdown  —  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The government shutdown has suspended federal cleanups at Superfund sites around the nation and forced the cancellation of public hearings, deepening the mistrust and resentment of surrounding residents …

Harris schedules first South Carolina visit  —  California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is all but certain to join the presidential race in the coming weeks, will make her first visit this year to an early nominating state on Jan. 25.  —  Harris will attend the 37th annual Pink Ice Gala in Columbia …

Tornillo, the Texas tent camp that housed thousands of migrant children, will close: HHS  —  A massive tent camp in Texas that at one point housed some 2,800 migrant teenagers who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone will close, the Trump administration announced Friday.