‘All for nothing’: Trump's wall retreat bewilders allies  —  Before President Donald Trump finished speaking from the Rose Garden, putting a temporary end to the five-week government shutdown, a running group text between several of his former aides lit up with complaints.

Trump and His Associates Had More Than 100 Contacts With Russians Before the Inauguration  —  Among these contacts are more than 100 in-person meetings, phone calls, text messages, emails and private messages on Twitter.  Mr. Trump and his campaign repeatedly denied having such contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.

Huge Trove of Leaked Russian Documents Is Published by Transparency Advocates  —  A group of transparency advocates on Friday posted a mammoth collection of hacked and leaked documents from inside Russia, a release widely viewed as a sort of symbolic counterstrike against Russia's dissemination …

Bernie Sanders set to announce 2020 presidential run  —  WASHINGTON—Three years after fighting a surprisingly competitive Democratic primary race against Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is making another run for the White House.  —  Two sources with direct knowledge …

Pro-Trump Media Stars Despair After Trump Caves on Shutdown  —  ‘Trump is a broken man,’ lamented Mike Cernovich, while Ann Coulter called the president a ‘the biggest wimp.’  —  President Trump's top supporters among right-wing media despaired on Friday after he agreed to a three-week deal …

The Ex-Starbucks CEO Could Get Trump Re-elected  —  Before there was Jill Stein, there was Ralph Nader.  Before there was Nader, there was Ross Perot.  —  None won.  All argued that the Republican Party and Democratic Party were basically the same, and the only way to make real change was to ditch them both.

Yes, Venezuela Is a Socialist Catastrophe  —  In the age of A.O.C., the lesson must be learned again.  —  Conspicuous by its relative absence in much of the mainstream news coverage of Venezuela's political crisis is the word “socialism.”  Yes, every sensible observer agrees …

The digital winter turns apocalyptic  —  This week, as a long-predicted collapse seemed to hit digital media, we saw a few of the tried-and-true ways managers use to explain to employees why they're laying them off.  —  BuzzFeed chose the language of corporation-as-family …

CNN NEWSROOM  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  [14:30:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do not have the necessary space or resources to detain, house, vet, screen and safely process this tremendous influx of people.

4chan trolls flood laid off HuffPost, Buzzfeed reporters with death threats  —  The threats are part of a coordinated campaign organized on the far-right message board.  —  Shortly after he tweeted the news of his own layoff, Nick Wing checked his inbox at the Huffington Post and saw an email with a few pictures from a troll.

Lou Dobbs slams Trump's shutdown cave: “Illegal immigrants are surely pleased”  —  VIDEO ››› January 25, 2019 ››› MEDIA MATTERS STAFF  —  From the January 25 edition of Fox Business News' Lou Dobbs Tonight:  —  Loading the player reg...