Secret Files Show How Trump Moscow Talks Unfolded While Trump Heaped Praise On Putin  —  As a candidate, Donald Trump had a lot of praise for Vladimir Putin — and no business, he kept insisting, in Russia.  These documents tell a different story.  —  When Michael Cohen …

Trump's State of the Union Address Unlikely to Bring Harmony  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump is to deliver what aides called a message of bipartisan unity on Tuesday night in his first address to Congress in the new era of divided government, but any hope of harmony was dispelled long before he left the White House.

The plan to keep Trump's taxes hidden  —  The new House Democratic majority is widely expected to test one of Donald Trump's ultimate red lines by demanding the president's personal tax returns — and the Trump administration has been gearing up for months to fight back hard.

Elizabeth Warren apologizes for calling herself Native American  —  Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Tuesday that she was sorry that she identified herself as a Native American for almost two decades, reflecting her ongoing struggle to quiet a controversy that continues to haunt her as she prepares to formally announce a presidential bid.

Choose a Different Hill to Die On  —  The Worst Thing We Read Yesterday™  —  Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost the Georgia governor's race last year, is scheduled to give the official Democratic Party response speech after President Donald Trump's State of the Union address tonight …

Customs And Border Protection Apologized After An Agent Questioned A BuzzFeed News Reporter About Trump Coverage  —  A top official of the Customs and Border Protection apologized Tuesday to a BuzzFeed News reporter who was aggressively questioned by an agent about articles regarding President Donald Trump …

Confidential Memo: Company of Trump Inaugural Chair Sought to Profit From Connections to Administration, Foreigners  —  The memo outlines how Colony, the company founded by Tom Barrack, an investor who chaired the inaugural, aimed to exploit its connections to Donald Trump.

Woman Alleging Sexual Assault By Virginia's Lt. Gov. Hires Washington Law Firm  —  A California woman who has accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assaulting her 15 years ago, has hired the same law firm that represented Christine Blasey Ford in her allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

How the trail runner attacked by a mountain lion in Larimer County killed the animal  —  Necropsy: Jogger suffocated mountain lion in life-or-death struggle west of Fort Collins  —  The bloodied Colorado trail runner who fought off a rare mountain lion attack pummeled the young cat with a rock …

How I Get It Done: Merchants of Truth author Jill Abramson  —  In her new book Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts, out February 5, Jill Abramson chronicles the upheaval that has rocked the media industry over the past decade, as told through the stories of four outlets …

‘I trusted you!’  Trump voters seethe after realizing they're getting screwed by the GOP's tax plan  —  Multiple supporters of President Donald Trump over the past couple of weeks have taken to Twitter to air their grievances about the president's signature tax cut plan.

Firms Recruited by Paul Manafort Are Investigated Over Foreign Payments  —  WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in recent weeks have been interviewing witnesses about the flow of foreign money to three powerful law and lobbying firms that Paul Manafort recruited seven years ago to help improve …

Senate passes Middle East policy bill that rebukes Trump  —  The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would impose new sanctions on Syria, weaken a global campaign to boycott Israel and rebukes President Donald Trump's push to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

GOP Leadership Instructs Lawmakers to Play Up Gruesome Murders and Rapes by Immigrants  —  House Republican lawmakers are being encouraged by their party's leadership to play up gruesome murders, rapes, and other crimes committed by undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Fox Guest Warns: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Trying to ‘Assimilate Us’ to ‘Latin American Values’  —  “Instead of us assimilating them, they are assimilating us,” Peter Morici said of Ocasio-Cortez and her likeminded colleagues.  —  A week after former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw faced intense backlash …

Sarah Sanders: Corruption in Trump's inauguration has ‘nothing to do with the White House’  —  White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday said that any corrupt activities surrounding President Donald Trump's inauguration had “nothing to do with the Trump White House.”

Cory Booker confirms he has a girlfriend  —  Sen. Cory Booker says he's boo'd up.  —  The New Jersey Democrat and 2020 White House hopeful is confirming that he has a girlfriend.  —  Booker was asked about his noted bachelordom by co-host Charlamagne tha God during a Tuesday interview …

McClatchy upgrades CEO's housing stipend to $35K a month amid buyouts  —  BuzzFeed, HuffPo, Gannett, Vice.  This has already been a ruthless year for layoffs in digital journalism.  On Friday morning, McClatchy President and CEO Craig Forman emailed employees to let them know 450 staffers across …

Top Nancy Pelosi Aide Privately Tells Insurance Executives Not to Worry About Democrats Pushing “Medicare for All”  —  Less than a month after Democrats — many of them running on “Medicare for All” — won back control of the House of Representatives in November, the top health policy aide …

Top Progressive Firm Tells Dems to Leave Starbucks Alone  —  SKDKnickerbocker lists Starbucks as a client.  And they want to separate the company from the presidential ambitions of its former CEO.  —  One of the top Democratic firms in the country is privately urging top officials in the party …

MAGA all-stars visit border to plot private wall project  —  It could have been an outtake from a hard-right reboot of “Ocean's 11” for the Trump era: a gathering of some of President Donald Trump's most notorious and outspoken supporters, who descended last week on the Mexican border town of McAllen, Texas.

Klobuchar heads to Iowa as she nears 2020 decision  —  Sen. Amy Klobuchar is heading to Iowa this month, another sign the Minnesota Democrat is closing in on a 2020 launch.  —  Klobuchar is to headline the Feb. 21 Ankeny Area Democrats Winter Banquet and Fundraiser in the first caucus state …

Pope Francis confirms priests' abuse of nuns included “sexual slavery”  —  Nuns have suffered and are still suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and bishops, and even being held as sexual slaves, Pope Francis confirmed on Tuesday.  The abuse was so severe in one case …

Northam says he doesn't know how a racist photo got on his yearbook page.  This yearbook staffer explains why that's not likely  —  Childhood friend defends Northam: I believe him  —  (CNN)As Virginia's governor struggles to explain how a racist photo ended up on his personal yearbook page …

PayPal Bans Anti-Muslim Fanatic Laura Loomer  —  They're not the first platform to say they've had enough.  —  PayPal banned far-right figure Laura Loomer on Tuesday, making her the latest right-wing figure to be banished from the online payment and funding platform.