Excerpts From Trump's Interview With The New York 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.

Ralph Northam yearbook page shows men in blackface and KKK robe  —  A photo from Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook shows two men, one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood, on the same page as the governor.  —  The photo, which The Virginian-Pilot obtained a copy …

Elizabeth Warren Apologizes to Cherokee Nation for DNA Test  —  Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who is running for her party's presidential nomination, has apologized to the Cherokee Nation for her decision to take a DNA test to prove her Native American ancestry …

Vice Media to Reorganize, Lay Off 10 Percent of Staff (Exclusive)  —  The cuts, which will impact around 250 people, are part of new CEO Nancy Dubuc's strategic plan to tighten spending and achieve profitability.  —  Vice Media is planning a reorganization that will include laying off …

Booker is running.  I've watched him for 20 years.  Here's what I've learned  —  It was inevitable, and now it's official: Sen. Cory Booker is running for president.  —  That means he's about to face brutal and unrelenting attacks from competing Democrats, wary Republicans, and probably a few dozen Russian bots.

Fake News About Abortion in Virginia  —  No, Democrats aren't trying to legalize infanticide.  —  Under current law in Virginia, third-trimester abortions are permitted when a woman's physician and two other doctors certify that continuing a pregnancy would result in a mother's death, or …

I've been a senator for three weeks.  Washington is worse than you've heard.  —  Rick Scott, a Republican, represents Florida in the U.S. Senate.  —  I've been a U.S. senator for three weeks now, and I can tell you that reports of hate and incompetence in Washington are severely understated.

McClatchy Follows Buzzfeed, Vice, and Others in Cutting Staff … This morning, Craig Forman, CEO of McClatchy Company, emailed all staff saying about 10 percent of the newspaper chain's staff would be offered voluntary buyouts.  All of the details were not immediately available …

There Are Not Enough Electoral Votes for Howard Schultz  —  Many Democrats and liberals are understandably freaking out over reports that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, a life-long Democrat, is considering an independent bid for the presidency in 2020.  The fears are well-placed.

Jussie Smollett Breaks His Silence After Vicious Attack: 'I'm OK'  —  “My body is strong but my soul is stronger,” the actor told ESSENCE exclusively.  —  Jussie Smollett is finally speaking out after the homophobic and racist attack he endured earlier this week.

John Roberts's Biggest Test Is Yet to Come  —  Two years ago, Chief Justice John Roberts gave the commencement address at the Cardigan Mountain School, in New Hampshire.  The ninth-grade graduates of the all-boys school included his son, Jack.  Parting with custom, Roberts declined to wish the boys luck.

Russian escort says she gave Trump info to Russian tycoon  —  MOSCOW (AP) — A Belarusian model who claims to have information on the ties between Russia and Donald Trump's election campaign says she has turned it over to Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska.

Graydon Carter Joins the Newsletter Brigade  —  The former editor of Vanity Fair is going digital.  —  Graydon Carter, the former editor of Vanity Fair, is starting Air Mail, an all-digital international news platform intended for worldly cosmopolitans, with Alessandra Stanley …

Michael Avenatti will not face criminal charges in 2018 domestic violence incident  —  Michael Avenatti, the Southern California attorney who has repeatedly sparred with Donald Trump over the president's alleged affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels, will not face criminal charges in connection …

How this amateur painting became a hilarious social media sensation  —  Florida schoolteacher Cindi Decker went to a painting class with a friend and came back with a vivid egret she'd painted on canvas.  —  Her teenage son snapped a photo of her holding it, and posted it on the social media site Reddit …

Trump Lost the Shutdown, But At Least God Made Him President, and He's Building That Wall  —  Shortly after 7 a.m. on Thursday, President Trump began doing what increasingly passes for his workday: looking at the television and tweeting about it.  “So great to watch & listen to all these people …

The right strategy to primary Trump  —  Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist, is executive director of Defending Democracy Together.  —  President Trump has never looked more vulnerable to a primary challenge.  —  According to a new Post-ABC News poll, 56 percent of Americans …

Roger Stone judge weighs gag order  —  A federal judge said Friday she's considering slapping a gag order on Roger Stone, the longtime Donald Trump associate who has been on a media blitz since being charged a week ago with lying to Congress and obstructing lawmakers' Russia investigation.

U.S. to withdraw from nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, says Russian violations render the Cold War agreement moot  —  The United States will pull out of a nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, the Trump administration announced Friday, ending a cornerstone Cold War agreement on grounds that Russian violations render it moot.

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.

Immigrants drove hours for fake, ICE-issued court dates on Thursday  —  Fearing deportation if they didn't show up, immigrants across the country traveled to ICE-issued court dates on Thursday only to find out those hearing dates were fake.  Some traveled for hours and hundreds of miles for nothing …

Sherrod Brown Gives America the Bird  —  It's time for another edition of Logo Watch, where we evaluate the graphic design choices of the growing Democratic field.  We begin today with . . . oh my.  Oh No. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING?  —  Sorry.  I just . . . I'm sorry.  Let's make it smaller.

No Heat for Days at a Jail in Brooklyn Where Hundreds of Inmates Are Sick and ‘Frantic’  —  More than a thousand inmates have been stuck in freezing cells at a federal jail on the Brooklyn waterfront that has had limited power and heat for at least this week, according to federal public defenders …