GOP Lawmaker Tells Ocasio-Cortez Congress Isn't Just ‘Eating Bonbons’  — Leading House conservative addresses New York Democrat  — Two lawmakers mix it up at first meeting of Oversight panel  —  A leading House conservative backer of President Donald Trump decided …

Cliff Sims Is Proud to Have Served Trump  —  In August, 2016, Cliff Sims, the C.E.O. of an Alabama-based conservative news site, joined the Trump campaign.  He then followed Trump to the White House, where he worked as the special assistant to the President and as the director …

Tulsi Gabbard campaign in disarray  —  Tulsi Gabbard's presidential campaign hasn't officially launched yet but it's already melting down.  —  Two-and-a-half weeks after the Hawaii Democrat told CNN she had decided to run for the White House—an announcement that even her own staff didn't know was coming …

Trump sat down with Putin at G20 without US note-taker  —  Donald Trump sat down with Vladimir Putin for several minutes of conversation at the end of an evening event at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in November, with no translator or note-taker from the US side to record the dialogue between the leaders …

Kamala Harris is open to compromise on private insurers' role during ‘Medicare for all’ push  —  Kamala Harris backs ‘Medicare-for-all’ plan  —  (CNN)By stating she would eliminate private insurers as a necessary part of implementing “Medicare-for-all,” California Sen. Kamala Harris during …

‘Empire’ Star Jussie Smollett Tells Cops His Attackers Touted MAGA  —  4:00 PM PT — Chicago PD confirms to TMZ Jussie told them, in a follow-up interview, about the attackers yelling, “MAGA country.”  —  They add Jussie still had the rope around his neck when he made contact with cops at 2:42 AM.

Kushner driving effort to replicate criminal justice success with immigration reform  —  Jared Kushner ran a white board planning session last week at the White House with the Koch network and other people who worked with him on criminal justice reform.  The purpose: to see if the administration …

U.S. Intelligence Chiefs Contradict Trump on North Korea and Iran  —  WASHINGTON — A new American intelligence assessment of global threats has concluded that North Korea is “unlikely to give up” all of its nuclear stockpiles, and that Iran is not “currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons …

Mother Carrying Baby in Stroller Dies After Falling Down Subway Stairs  —  [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]  —  A young mother died on Monday night when she fell down a flight of subway stairs in Midtown Manhattan while carrying her baby daughter in a stroller, the police said.

Has Howard Schultz Really Thought This Through?  —  Howard Schultz is no longer CEO of Starbucks.  But as de facto founder (he took it over as a small coffee roaster and developed it into what we know as Starbucks) I imagine he is still a major shareholder.  Really he and Starbucks are inseparable.

Deep space radio waves baffle astronomers; aliens not ruled out  —  Aliens!  —  Astronomers can't rule out that possibility after an exciting new discovery.  A team in Canada recently stumbled upon ultra-brief repeating waves from deep space for only the second time in history.

Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them  —  Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a “Facebook Research” VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user's phone and web activity, similar to Facebook's Onavo Protect app …

Graham urges Trump to tie debt limit to border security funding  —  Manchin: Stop Washington's paychecks, stop shutdowns 01:16  —  Washington (CNN) — An influential Republican senator is urging President Donald Trump to up the ante in talks over his border wall: To push for an increase …

Phoenix restaurant says this is a photo of coal miners.  But I see offensive blackface  —  Opinion: Who determines what's offensive?  A photo in a downtown Phoenix restaurant raises this key question.  —  CONNECT  —  A few weeks ago, I attended a holiday party at a downtown Phoenix restaurant.

Exclusive: Clemson's Black Players Refused to Accept Donald Trump's Invitation to the McCookout  —  When Filet-O-Fish aficionado Donald Trump invited the Clemson Tigers to enjoy the White House's first Presidential Value Meal, most of Clemson's national championship football team members jumped …

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will not run for president  —  LOS ANGELES — Eric Garcetti will not run for president in 2020, he confirmed late Tuesday, saying that being mayor of Los Angeles is “what I am meant to do.”  —  Garcetti, who traveled extensively for months as he mulled a presidential run …

Labor Secretary's Role in Epstein Plea Deal Under DOJ Scrutiny  —  The Justice Department's inspector general wants lawmakers to give him the authority to investigate a decade-old plea deal in which Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta allegedly helped an accused sex offender skirt the harshest punishment for crimes against teens.

APNewsBreak: Infamy, zeal for carnage inspired Vegas shooter  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) — A high-stakes gambler who rained down a hail of gunfire, killing 58 people from his high-rise casino suite in Las Vegas wanted infamy and mass destruction, the FBI told the Associated Press Tuesday …

Chuck Schumer Wants A LITERAL LOSER To Deliver The Democratic SOTU Response  —  ShareTweetSubscribe to the Chicks!  —  Email address:  —  Leave this field empty if you're human:  —  WATCH: Chuck Schumer Wants A LITERAL LOSER To Deliver The Democratic SOTU Response  —  I'm sorry, but...what?

Why Trump is still beefing with ‘Da Nang Dick’  —  He's not a household name.  He's not running for president.  Yet Richard Blumenthal keeps getting under President Donald Trump's skin.  —  Every few months, the president unleashes on the Connecticut Democrat by ridiculing his military service record …

Schultz slammed by coffee mate  —  Howard Schultz has a problem with his base.  —  Not only are Democrats ripping the former Starbucks CEO's flirtation with an independent bid for president — now a fellow coffee mogul is, too.  —  “I first met Howard in 1984 and he's done a lot for coffee …

Trump's company plans to expand check of employees' legal status following report that it hired undocumented workers for years  —  President Trump's company plans to institute E-Verify, a federal program that allows employers to check whether new hires are legally eligible to work in the United States …

Why Did Soviets Invade Afghanistan?  Documents Offer History Lesson for Trump  —  WASHINGTON — One day in October 1979, an American diplomat named Archer K. Blood arrived at Afghanistan's government headquarters, summoned by the new president, whose ousted predecessor had just been smothered to death with a pillow.

APNewsBreak: Schneiderman used campaign cash for legal bills  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman used nearly $340,000 in political campaign funds to pay the law firm that represented him during an investigation of allegations that he physically abused several women …

Texas quietly informs counties that some of the 95,000 voters flagged for citizenship review don't belong on the list  —  County officials said the number mistakenly flagged is “significant.” … After flagging tens of thousands of registered voters for citizenship reviews …

Whitaker says Mueller's decisions will be reviewed.  It's unclear what that even means.  —  A Justice Department news conference — to announce criminal charges related to Chinese telecommunications conglomerate Huawei — has left a lot of lawyers scratching their heads.