Trump's Lawyer Said There Were “No Plans” For Trump Tower Moscow.  Here They Are.  —  Trump's lawyer claims the Moscow tower was barely more than a notion.  “There were no drafts.  Nothing in the file.”  Documents obtained by BuzzFeed News tell a different story.

Pelosi has edge over Trump on budget negotiations, CBS News poll shows  —  Seven in 10 Americans don't think the issue of a border wall is worth a government shutdown, which they say is now having a negative impact on the country.  But partisans don't want their own side to budge …

Gay valedictorian banned from speaking at Covington graduation ‘not surprised’ by D.C. controversy  —  A gay student who was barred by the Covington diocese from speaking at his 2018 graduation, is “not surprised” by the Covington Catholic High School video.

U.S. Uninsured Rate Rises to Four-Year High  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. adult uninsured rate stood at 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to Americans' reports of their own health insurance coverage, its highest level since the first quarter of 2014.

A “go big” idea to end the shutdown  —  A new immigration idea has been circulating over the past 24 hours at senior levels inside the White House and on Capitol Hill: Give a path to green cards to the 700,000 current DACA recipients, three sources familiar with the conversations tell Axios.

Federal Employees Going Through ‘a Little Bit of Pain’ but Border Wall Is ‘Bigger Than’ Them Says Lara Trump  —  The 800,000 furloughed federal employees and 400,000 working without pay due to the government shutdown over $5 billion dollars in funding for a wall on the U.S. southern border are going through …

Pete Buttigieg joins the Democratic race for the 2020 presidential nomination  —  South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has signaled for months that he would try to leap from local to presidential politics, announced Wednesday that he will join the burgeoning cast of Democratic candidates in the 2020 race.

Gawker 2.0 Implodes as Its Only Reporters Quit  —  The new site's only two full-time writers exited Wednesday in protest of editorial director Carson Griffith's offensive remarks about everything from race to penis size.  —  Gawker 2. is blowing up on the launchpad just two weeks after the site's …

‘Nobody Is Going to Believe You’  —  Over the past two decades, Bryan Singer's films—The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie, Superman Returns, four of the X-Men movies—have earned more than $3 billion at the box office, putting him in the top tier of Hollywood directors.

The Trump-Era Overcorrection  —  It was like a scene out of left-wing protest literature: a group of white, parochial-school boys in “Make America Great Again” gear taunting an American Indian protester, jeering and laughing, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after attending the anti-abortion March for Life.

Biden's Paid Speech Buoyed the G.O.P. in Midwest Battleground  — A speech by Joe Biden in October helped Fred Upton, a vulnerable Republican, win re-election in Michigan.  — Mr. Biden, who earned $200,000 for the speech, stunned Democrats and elated Republicans by praising Mr. Upton …

Hundreds of IRS employees are skipping work.  That could delay tax refunds.  —  Hundreds of Internal Revenue Service employees have received permission to skip work during the partial government shutdown due to financial hardship, and union leaders said Tuesday they expected absences to surge …

Bill Clinton Is Writing a Book About His Post-Presidential Life  —  Former President Bill Clinton is writing a new book about his post-presidential life, according to people familiar with the project, which was also confirmed by his spokesman.  —  While Mr. Clinton has been out of public office …

Week 5: Shutdown votes set up political test for Senate  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate leaders agreed to hold votes this week on dueling proposals to reopen shuttered federal agencies, forcing a political reckoning for senators grappling with the longest shutdown in U.S. history …

‘Knock them in the teeth.’ How Trump turns crises into leverage.  —  The 800,000 federal workers who are expected to miss their second paycheck in the coming days are the most extreme example yet of a negotiating tactic President Trump has used repeatedly since taking office.

Here's a better chant for Trump's base than ‘build the wall’  —  “Border security” is a phrase being thrown around a lot in the great standoff over the government shutdown.  The question that should be asked, however, is how best to achieve it.  —  President Trump continues to sell …

The Wheels of Justice Are Grinding to a Halt  —  FBI agents have lost irreplaceable sources.  Joint Terrorism Task Force officers can't get into the bureau's computer systems.  Federal investigations are being stymied by a lack of resources.  The partial government shutdown, now in its 33rd day …

U.S. ramping up probe against Julian Assange, WikiLeaks says  —  Federal prosecutors have formally approached people in the U.S., Germany and Iceland and pressed them to testify against Assange, according to WikiLeaks.  —  American federal prosecutors have been pressing witnesses in the U.S …

Who is the prototypical rich person?  —  I recommend this op-ed by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.  Not because I agree with its recommendation of super high tax rates on the rich, but because it makes clear the perspectives and motives of the Left.  —  In the standard economic approach …

White House Economist Says Economy May Not Grow In First Quarter  —  Kevin Hassett says growth could be ‘very close to zero’ if shutdown continues  —  WASHINGTON—The Trump administration's top economist said Wednesday that the U.S. economy may not grow at all in the first quarter if the partial government shutdown continues.

WH Bashes Media: 'Never Seen People So Happy To Destroy A Kid's Life'  —  During an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Tuesday evening White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders doubled down on the White House's support for the Covington Catholic student by slamming the media for its coverage of the incident.

For two years, Trump has been undermining American democracy.  Here's a damage report.  —  Can U.S. democracy survive when between 35 and 45 percent of the population cheers a president who behaves like an autocrat?  —  When Donald Trump took office two years ago, I and many others began sounding …