Shutdown's Economic Damage Starts to Pile Up, Threatening an End to Growth  —  WASHINGTON — The partial government shutdown is inflicting far greater damage on the United States economy than previously estimated, the White House acknowledged on Tuesday, as President Trump's economists doubled projections …

Pelosi gets revenge against one of the Dem rebels  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exacted revenge against one of her most outspoken detractors Tuesday night, blocking Rep. Kathleen Rice from landing a seat on the high-profile House Judiciary Committee.  —  Pelosi lobbied for other members …

Four U.S. troops reported among 16 dead in north Syria attack  —  BEIRUT (Reuters) - A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State killed U.S. troops in northern Syria on Wednesday, weeks after President Donald Trump said group was defeated there and he would pull out all American forces.

Exclusive excerpt: Chris Christie torches Jared  —  Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie settles scores in “Let Me Finish,” a memoir out Jan. 29 from Hachette Books, writing that President Trump “trusts people he shouldn't, including some of the people who are closest to him.”

The Register's editorial: Steve King should resign for the good of Iowa  —  Some may argue that 4th District voters are getting what they deserve.  But the entire state needs a healthy rural economy.  Low commodity prices and President Trump's tariffs have hit farmers hard.  —  CONNECT

Karen Pence Is Working At A School That Bans LGBTQ Employees And Kids  —  The school discriminates against LGBTQ people in its job application and says LGBTQ kids aren't welcome.  —  Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, started at a job this week teaching art at Immanuel Christian School in Northern Virginia.

Republicans Break Ranks Over Move to Lift Sanctions on Russian Oligarch's Firms  —  WASHINGTON — A group of 11 Republican senators broke ranks with their leadership and the administration on Tuesday to side with Democrats in a showdown over sanctions on Russia, underscoring the political sensitivity …

Trump and Putin Have Met Five Times.  What Was Said Is a Mystery.  —  WASHINGTON — The first time they met was in Germany.  President Trump took his interpreter's notes afterward and ordered him not to disclose what he heard to anyone.  Later that night, at a dinner …

T-Mobile announced a merger needing Trump administration approval.  The next day, 9 executives had reservations at Trump's hotel.  —  Last April, telecom giant T-Mobile announced a megadeal: a $26 billion merger with rival Sprint, which would more than double T-Mobile's value and give it a huge new chunk of the cellphone market.

New court filing indicates prosecutors have extensive details on Manafort actions not yet made public  —  Prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III have intensively scrutinized Paul Manafort's activities after President Trump's election — including after Manafort was criminally charged …

“He's not a guy who likes a plan”: How Trump takes his strategic cues from Mike Tyson  —  When a frustrated adviser once tried to convince President Trump to consider a strategic plan, the president launched into a story about his friend Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight boxing champion.

Trump Job Approval Sets New Record for Polarization  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The average 79-percentage-point difference between Republicans' and Democrats' job approval ratings of President Donald Trump during his second year in office is the largest Gallup has measured in any presidential year to date.

Facebook's ‘10 Year Challenge’ Is Just a Harmless Meme—Right?  —  If you use social media, you've probably noticed a trend across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter of people posting their then-and-now profile pictures, mostly from 10 years ago and this year.  —  WIRED OPINION

WeWork's CEO Makes Millions as Landlord to WeWork  —  Adam Neumann has bought properties and leased them to his co-working startup, sparking conflict of interest concerns  —  For more than two months after employees at International Business Machines Corp. moved into a Manhattan building managed …

‘The gang concept almost never works’: Senators struggle to end shutdown  —  A bipartisan Senate group is likely to run into resistance from Trump.  —  A bipartisan group of senators is trying to set up a gang to end the government shutdown.  But Senate leaders might as well be an anti-gang task force.

Most Border Wall Opponents, Supporters Say Shutdown Concessions Are Unacceptable  —  Partisan divide on whether shutdown is ‘very serious’ problem  —  With the partial shutdown of the federal government in its third week, both opponents and supporters of expanding the U.S.-Mexico border …

Why would William Barr take this job?  The answer should alarm Trump.  —  It was William P. Barr's confirmation hearing.  But it was Robert S. Mueller III's affirmation hearing.  —  President Trump had nominated Barr to be his new attorney general to shield him from Mueller's hoax of a rigged witch hunt.

Kelli Ward's husband accused of spitting on Martha McSally supporter  —  Former U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward's husband was accused of spitting in the eye of one of her former volunteers because the volunteer subsequently supported her former political foe, Martha McSally, police records obtained Tuesday show.

Sacklers Directed Efforts to Mislead Public About OxyContin, New Documents Indicate  —  A filing in a Massachusetts lawsuit contains dozens of internal Purdue Pharma documents suggesting the family was far more involved than the company has long contended.  —  Members of the Sackler family …

Abrams and Gillum are likely 2020 kingmakers  —  Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum — two of the Democratic Party's breakout candidates of 2018, despite losing their elections for governor of Georgia and Florida — are looking to parlay their near-success into the defeat of Donald Trump in 2020.

America has never worried about financing its priorities  —  There is nothing inherently socialist about government debt.  A government can issue debt to pay for whatever it likes.  It can pay to fight a war, to lower taxes for a preferred group, to soften the sharp edges of a recession.

Official Data Vastly Underestimates Russian Emigration - Report  —  At least six times more Russians are leaving the country than officially estimated, a comprehensive study conducted by the Proekt news outlet said on Wednesday.  —  Proekt's report highlights discrepancies between official data …

Democrats refuse to compromise on border wall funding to end the shutdown  —  As the partial government shutdown continues, President Trump tweeted about the new caravan heading for the southern border.  Veuer's Sam Berman has the full story. … CONNECT  —  America has a national security …

The Russians know exactly what Putin and Trump talked about, but we probably won't find out for decades  —  MOSCOW — The United States has no detailed record of President Trump's five face-to-face interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the past two years, The Washington Post reported last week.

Trump's tales about gagged women are misleading Americans about human trafficking, experts say  —  WASHINGTON—U. S. President Donald Trump has been painting a wildly inaccurate picture of human trafficking in his effort to sell a border wall that would not make a meaningful difference …

Trump blasts Democrats, points to border wall construction elsewhere in the world  —  President Trump lashed out Wednesday at Democrats as “a Party of open borders and crime” and pointed to a surge in construction of border walls by other countries as a standoff continued over his demand for funding a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.