Trump, in Interview, Calls Wall Talks ‘Waste of Time’ and Dismisses Investigations  —  WASHINGTON — A defiant President Trump declared on Thursday that he has all but given up on negotiations with Congress over his border wall and will proceed without lawmakers even as he dismissed any suggestions …

Booker tells lawmakers he is running for president and seeks their support  —  Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Thursday began calling members of Congress informing them he is running for president and is quietly making overtures to members for support, three congressional sources told The Hill.

Exclusive: Senate investigators told Trump Jr.'s mysterious calls weren't with his father  —  (CNN)Senate investigators have obtained new information showing Donald Trump Jr.'s mysterious phone calls ahead of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not with his father, three sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

Howard Schultz ‘freaked out’ by Democratic backlash to independent presidential run, rethinks effort  —  Howard Schultz on opposition to his potential presidential bid: Democrats need a little less caffeine  —  Howard Schultz is getting burned, like a bad cup of Starbucks coffee and it may force …

We Will Rise … The lines that divide us are nowhere near as strong as the ties that bind us.  When we join together and work together — we will rise.

On Wednesday, the Twitter mob came for me  —  In mid-January, waves of outrage swept over the Internet because of a confrontation on the Mall in Washington between a group of conservative high school students from Kentucky and an elderly Native American Marine Corps veteran.

Excerpts From Trump's Interview With The Times  —  President Trump spoke with The New York Times on Thursday, sitting in the Oval Office for an interview with two White House correspondents, Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman, and A. G. Sulzberger, the newspaper's publisher.

Trump enters the 2020 election cycle with a massive fundraising lead over Democrats  —  President Trump's campaign and affiliated committees raised more than $21 million in the final three months of 2018, entering the presidential election cycle with a massive head start just as a wide-open Democratic field begins to take shape.

Bezos' Investigators Question the Brother of His Mistress, Lauren Sanchez, in National Enquirer Leak Probe  —  Michael Sanchez is an outspoken Trump supporter with ties to Roger Stone and Carter Page.  —  Jeff Bezos' top personal security consultant has questioned his mistress' brother …

America colonisation 'cooled Earth's climate'  —  Colonisation of the Americas at the end of the 15th Century killed so many people, it disturbed Earth's climate.  —  That's the conclusion of scientists from University College London, UK.  —  The team says the disruption …

Trump Returns This Weekend to Mar-a-Lago, His Gilded Comfort Zone  —  WASHINGTON — After two months spent scorching the earth in Washington and complaining about being cooped up in the White House, President Trump is planning to return this weekend to the one place where he knows he will receive …

Fake FCC Comments Linked to Ex-Trump Campaign Director's Org, Boosted By Roger Stone  —  An organization run by a former Trump campaign statewide director is being investigated by the New York attorney general's office for its role in submitting potentially hundreds of thousands of fraudulent comments …

Trump Discusses ‘Fake News,’ and Its Repercussions, With New York Times Publisher  —  President Trump takes credit for popularizing the term “fake news.”  —  But the consequences?  Not his concern.  —  In lengthy and at times contradictory remarks on Thursday about the news media …

What Trump is asking friends about the shutdown and 2020  —  Over the past week, President Trump has asked friends and advisers how they think the shutdown has affected him politically and what he should be doing to recover his standing in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Trump to throw spotlight on abortion in State of the Union  —  President Donald Trump is telling conservative allies he wants to incorporate firm anti-abortion language into his State of the Union address Tuesday, and potentially include an anti-abortion figure among his list of invitees …

Freedom Caucus plots with GOP leaders to cause Dem misery  —  The House Freedom Caucus was created to make life hell for the majority.  Now, it's the Democrats' turn to suffer.  —  After last fall's 40-seat electoral disaster, the conservative hard-liners have agreed to a cease-fire …

Retired FBI agent: The Roger Stone raid was totally by the book  —  Trump may ask FBI to review policies after Stone raid  —  James A. Gagliano is a CNN law enforcement analyst and a retired FBI supervisory special agent.  He also is an adjunct assistant professor at St. John's University in Queens, New York.

Book Written by Detainee via WhatsApp Gets a Top Prize  —  SYDNEY, Australia — A stateless Kurdish-Iranian asylum-seeker detained by the Australian government won the country's highest-paying literary prize on Thursday.  But he could not attend the festivities to accept the award.

A domestic terrorist slaughtered 5 women in a Florida bank and hardly anyone noticed  —  It was a quiet, normal Wednesday at the SunTrust Bank branch in Sebring, Florida right up until about 12:30 p.m. or so.  A teller, Marisol Lopez, was behind the counter dealing with any customers.

‘Everything stays on the table’: 2020 Dems weigh killing the filibuster  —  Democrats have a lot of big ideas if they win back the White House and Congress in 2020.  But it's not clear they are willing to do a key thing needed to implement them: eliminating the filibuster.

House Democrat warns ethics committee about Steve King promoting white nationalism website  —  Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) alerted the House Ethics Committee to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) using his official government website to promote a white nationalist blog.  —  Ryan sent a letter to the committee …

Lawyer files complaint against heads of Egyptian rights groups after they meet Macron  —  A lawyer has filed a legal complaint against the heads of four of Egypt's human rights organizations for “threatening national security” a day after they discussed several thorny issues …

As court gag order looms, Trump adviser Roger Stone on media blitz  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone made multiple media appearances in Washington on Thursday, talking freely with reporters before he was set to appear in court on Friday and likely face a gag order from a judge.

State: All 366 on local list of potential noncitizen voters are citizens  —  By the time local elections officials downloaded a list of 366 registered voters the Texas Secretary of State's Office initially said may not be citizens, the office had called to tell them to disregard the list, Elections Administrator Kathy Van Wolfe said.

20 charged in Chinese birth tourism crackdown  —  SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Dongyuan Li's business was called “You Win USA,” and authorities say she coached pregnant Chinese women on how to get into the United States to deliver babies who would automatically enjoy all the benefits of American citizenship.

Democrats Must Reach Out to Moderates in 2020 — By Waging a Vicious Class War  —  The Democratic Party's leading lights — from Elizabeth Warren on the party's left flank, to Joe Biden on its right — are all telling versions of the same story: The American people are working hard, but their economy is hardly working.