Officials rejected Jared Kushner for top secret security clearance, but were overruled  —  Jared Kushner was rejected for a top secret clearance by 2 career security specialists, but their supervisor overruled them and approved him, say sources.  —  WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner's application …

Roger Stone indicted on charges brought by special counsel  —  (CNN)Roger Stone has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, who alleges that the longtime Donald Trump associate sought stolen emails from WikiLeaks that could damage Trump's opponents …

Exclusive: White House preparing draft national emergency order, has identified $7 billion for wall  —  Washington (CNN)The White House is preparing a draft proclamation for President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency along the southern border and has identified more than $7 billion …

'Florida is Trump's state to lose'  —  The nation's biggest swing state looks even more like Trump Country heading into 2020.  —  Newly released Florida voter data suggest President Donald Trump will begin his reelection campaign as the favorite in a state that offers a windfall of 29 electoral votes.

Wilbur Ross says furloughed workers should take out a loan.  His agency's own credit union is charging nearly 9 percent  —  The Department of Commerce federal credit union is charging furloughed employees almost 9 percent interest on emergency loans to cover their missing paychecks …

If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were a conservative  —  If Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) were a conservative, all anyone would be talking about is how uninformed she is.  She would be facing trick questions from reporters designed to expose her lack of knowledge, and brutal sketches on …

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.

In Defense of the MAGA Hat  —  The primary offense of the Covington Catholic High School kids wasn't so much allegedly mobbing, mocking or getting in the face of a Native American drummer at the Lincoln Memorial.  —  It was wearing red Make American Great Again hats.

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 …

Mark Warner's Enablers  —  The Virginia senator gets too much respect for his Trump-Russia conspiracy theories.  —  Hand it to Sen. Mark Warner.  Of the many Russia-collusion theorists, how many get to claim “bipartisan” credentials?  —  That's one question that accompanied Thursday's supposedly big news …

A crisis of conservatism creates gridlock on both sides of the Atlantic  —  In the capital cities of the two great anglophone powers, public business has ground to a halt.  On one side of the Atlantic, federal workers are lining up to receive free food while the president holds the government to ransom.

A Rival Who Can Flummox Trump: A Powerful Woman Named Nancy Pelosi  —  WASHINGTON — When President Trump is battling a man, he tends to belittle his foe with nicknames like “Cryin' Chuck” and “Low-energy Jeb.”  When he is in a fight with a woman, he is known to lob insults like “horseface” and “ugly” and “dog.”

School-Safety Panel Said to Pull Punches, Fearing ‘Racist’ Tag  —  For fear of being labeled racist, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos stopped short of linking the Parkland, Fla., school massacre to lenient Obama-era discipline policies aimed at reducing suspensions and arrests of minority students …

Koch network tells donors it plans to stay out of 2020 race, once again declining to back Trump  —  The conservative Koch political network has told donors that it plans to once again stay out of the presidential race and will not work to help reelect President Trump in 2020 …

Davos is a microcosm of the world — and the outlook is grim  —  The atmosphere at the 2019 World Economic Forum reflects the global picture perhaps more genuinely than in years past, and the painting is not very pretty.  The mood here is subdued, cautious and apprehensive.

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.