Elizabeth Warren to propose new ‘wealth tax’ on very rich Americans, economist says  —  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will propose a new “wealth tax” on Americans with more than $50 million in assets, according to an economist advising her on the plan, as Democratic leaders vie …

Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel resigns after Halloween blackface photos emerge  —  Michael Ertel, the newly appointed Secretary of State of Gov. Ron DeSantis, has resigned after photos emerged of him posing as a Hurricane Katrina victim in blackface at a private Halloween party 14 years ago.

Michael Cohen subpoenaed by Senate Intelligence committee  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was subpoenaed Thursday to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in mid-February, according to a source close to Cohen.  —  It is not clear how Cohen will respond.

Wilbur Ross doesn't understand why furloughed federal workers need food banks  —  Commerce secretary suggests they should be able to take out bridge loans  —  Chuck Grassley reminds U.S. Olympic Committee about requirements for its tax exemption Senate sets up Thursday test votes on ending shutdown …

Trump's Disney Robot Obsession and Anthony Scaramucci's Dick Joke: Scenes From a White House Insider  —  They are who we thought they were.  —  Shortly after Donald Trump's election, a Disney crew was dispatched to the White House to record the new president's voice, which would be played through …

Fox News Poll: Voters see shutdown as bigger problem than border situation  —  Most voters consider the partial government shutdown a major problem or, even worse, an emergency, according to a new Fox News Poll.  —  After a 33-day stalemate over the funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall …

Benghazi hangs over U.S. decision to leave diplomats in Venezuela  —  The Trump administration's decision to leave U.S. diplomats in Venezuela — despite orders from the unstable country's ruling regime — is drawing criticism from former officials who say it endangers American lives.

Sen. Cory Gardner to break with Republicans on Trump's wall — it's the right thing to do  —  Colorado senator's spokesman says Gardner intends to vote for clean funding bill that would open the government with no border-security strings attached.  —  Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner's …

Six GOP Senators Buck Trump As Competing Shutdown Measures Fail  —  A pair of competing Senate bills to reopen the government failed to pass on Thursday, the latest non-starter attempts to fall short as the government shutdown stretches into its 34th day.  But a half-dozen Republicans defected …

The Unfinished Business of Bernie Sanders  —  He went from the rumpled bit player of the progressive movement to a legit presidential candidate and liberal kingmaker.  But now that Sanders wields such enormous power in Democratic politics, the question is, what's he going to do with it?

Pelosi: No Dem counteroffer on border security  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that House Democrats are not working behind the scenes to craft a counteroffer to President Trump's border wall demands as a strategy for ending the history-making partial shutdown.  —  “That's not true.

Shoot Someone In A Major US City, And Odds Are You'll Get Away With It  —  A shocking number of shootings go unsolved.  In some police departments, hundreds of cases aren't investigated at all.  A joint investigation by The Trace and BuzzFeed News. … Devon Little was shot …

Trump's Wall of Shame  —  It would stand as a lasting reminder of the white racial hostility surging through this moment in American history.  —  This is Jamelle Bouie's debut column.  —  The wall of Donald Trump's campaign and presidency has always operated both as a discrete proposal …

Michael Cohen's lawyer blasts Rudy Giuliani, accuses him of ‘witness tampering’  —  Michael Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, says Rudy Giuliani should be indicted for “witness tampering” following his comments on national television.  —  “Calling out a man's father in law and wife in order …

Nathan Phillips is a liar, not a victim  —  Days after Nathan Phillips' story of his confrontation with a group of students in Washington was thoroughly discredited, many on the left are still rallying behind him, pretending he was somehow a victim.  —  This, even after both the New York Times …

CNN's Jim Acosta is writing a book about Trump's war with the media  —  New York (CNN)CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is authoring a book about the Trump administration and its battles with the news media.  —  The Harper imprint of HarperCollins Publishers announced the book on Thursday morning.

This Time It's Russia's Emails Getting Leaked  —  The Russian oligarchs and Kremlin apparatchiks spared by Wikileaks in the past will not be so lucky this week, when transparency activists drop a massive archive of leaked docs.  —  Russian oligarchs and Kremlin apparatchiks may find …

California Republican Party gets even smaller: A GOP lawmaker defects to the Democrats  —  California Republicans suffered yet another loss Thursday when one of their Assembly members defected to the Democrats.  —  Democrats celebrated with a victorious news conference Thursday morning …

Group launches ‘Draft Ann Coulter’ for president  —  A political action committee that pushes for stricter immigration controls said Thursday it is launching a campaign to draft conservative writer Ann Coulter to challenge President Trump.  —  Americans for Legal Immigration PAC has been among …

Why do people such as Lindsey Graham come to Congress?  —  Back in the day, small rural airports had textile windsocks, simple and empty things that indicated which way the wind was blowing.  The ubiquitous Sen. Lindsey O. Graham has become a political windsock, and as such, he …

Older, right-leaning Twitter users spread the most fake news in 2016, study finds  —  The notion that fake news exists in its own universe turns out to be doubly true: One universe is the realm outside truth.  The other is its own seedy pocket of social media.

Ocasio-Cortez's misfired facts on living wage and minimum wage  —  “I think it's wrong that a vast majority of the country doesn't make a living wage, I think it's wrong that you can work 100 hours and not feed your kids.  I think it's wrong that corporations like Walmart and Amazon can get paid …

The political scientist Donald Trump should read  —  What Trump would do if he really wanted his wall.  —  It's not often I run across political science that genuinely changes my understanding of how American politics works.  But Frances Lee's research has done exactly that.  Twice.

Skripal poisoning: Trump admin yet to impose new Russia sanctions required by law  —  The European Union punished 4 Russians this week in connection with the Skripal poisoning, but the U.S. hasn't moved forward with its own penalties.  —  WASHINGTON — Nearly three months after deeming Russia …

Civil penalties for polluters dropped dramatically in Trump's first two years, analysis shows  —  Civil penalties for polluters under the Trump administration plummeted during the past fiscal year to the lowest average level since 1994, according to a new analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data.

Kamala Harris faces Democrats' Rocky Mountain divide  —  © Getty Images, The Hill photo illustration  —  If Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) wins her party's nomination to run against President Trump, she will have broken through one of the impenetrable barriers of modern politics.

Why the 2020 Democratic primary could turn into ‘Lord of the Flies’  —  Top party insiders see a real possibility that superdelegates could play a role at a brokered convention.  —  WASHINGTON — The 2020 Democratic presidential race has just begun, but party insiders and strategists …

‘Trump will handle this’: Florida man tried to force Iraqi family out of his neighborhood, police say  —  David Allen Boileau kept saying, “the U.S. needs to get rid of all of them,” meaning Middle Easterners, according to police, but for the time being he was focused on getting rid of the neighbors.

A judge's outrageous ‘mercy’ for teen who crippled cop  —  What on earth was Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Ruth Shillingford thinking Wednesday?  A gangbanger with a lengthy record is convicted of dragging an NYPD detective with a stolen car, and she gives him just one and one-third to four years behind bars?