‘Too hot to handle’: Pelosi predicts GOP won't trigger another shutdown  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi is vowing that the federal government will not shut down again, even as President Donald Trump ratchets up pressure for his border wall ahead of a fast-approaching deadline.

Rep. Bobby Scott learned of sexual assault allegation against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax a year ago from the accuser: Aides  —  Virginia Democratic Congressman Bobby Scott was made aware of allegations of sexual assault against now-Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax over a year ago by the alleged victim herself, ABC News has learned.

‘They Hate This Guy’: Matt Whitaker Braces for Showdown With Dems  —  'We don't know what we're up against with the House Judiciary Committee,' one Justice Department source told The Daily Beast.  ‘We have no idea.’  —  Betsy Woodruff  —  The Justice Department is bracing for impact.

Phoenix Police Refute Cindy McCain's Story of Human Trafficking at Airport  —  Phoenix police on Wednesday disputed Cindy McCain's account of human trafficking at an Arizona airport.  McCain had told local news station KTAR on Monday that she intervened at Sky Harbor International Airport …

Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?  —  Howard Schultz has a point: They don't deserve all the blame for America's wealth inequality.  —  I have found that when somebody or something is remorselessly mocked in my Twitter feed, there is usually something to be said in their defense.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Mistreatment Of Staff Scared Off Candidates To Manage Her Presidential Bid  —  At least three people withdrew from consideration to lead the senator's nascent campaign — in part because of Klobuchar's history of mistreating her staff.  —  At least three people …

Paul Erickson, Russian Agent Maria Butina's Boyfriend, Indicted for Fraud  —  The federal indictment in South Dakota alleges that he ran a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018 using a chain of assisted living homes.  —  Betsy Woodruff  —  Paul Erickson, the American political operative …

Virginia Police Sergeant Suspended After Antifa Ties Him to White Nationalism  —  A police sergeant in Virginia who was assigned to monitor the protests related to Gov. Ralph Northam was suspended Wednesday after being identified by an anti-fascist group as having an “affinity with white nationalist groups.”

What Robert Mueller Knows—and Isn't Telling Us  —  IT'S ONLY WEDNESDAY, but the increasingly sprawling investigations surrounding President Donald Trump this week have already sprawled even further.  News came Monday that federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York served …

Will There Be A Moderate Lane In The 2020 Democratic Primary?  —  If you follow politics through cable news, or via Twitter, you might get the impression that the Democratic Party is dominated by voters who are almost exclusively coastal, liberal, secular, well-educated and relatively young.

A Florida politician allegedly made a habit of licking men's faces.  She's now resigned.  —  It was supposed to be a fun, lighthearted alternative to typical government meetings, and one befitting a laid-back beach town.  The city commission of Madeira Beach, Fla. — a coastal community …

Sergei Millian, identified as an unwitting source for the Steele dossier, sought proximity to Trump's world in 2016  —  Around the time of President Trump's inauguration, two of his supporters met to toast the new administration at the Russia House, a Washington restaurant known among Russian diplomats …

Trump's Popularity Slumps to Record Low in January  —  (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images)  — A majority of voters in 12 states approved of Trump's job performance, while a majority disapproved in 27 states.  — Trump's best numbers came in Wyoming and West Virginia …

Some Texas Democrats want Beto O'Rourke to shun presidential bid, challenge John Cornyn instead  —  Beto O'Rourke appears to be close to jumping into the race for president, but some Texas Democrats hope he'll run for Senate instead.  —  That's not to say they would be terribly upset by their favorite son running for the White House.

The parking lot suicides  —  Veterans are taking their own lives on VA hospital campuses, a desperate form of protest against a system that they feel hasn't helped them.  —  Alissa Harrington took an audible breath as she slid open a closet door deep in her home office.

Escaping Our Ship of Fools  —  I generally avoid books written by radio or TV hosts.  They are typically slap-dash efforts—often dictated or ghost-written, padded, and calculated to cash in on sales to an uncritical fan base.  Accordingly, even though I regularly watch, and enjoy …

2020 General Election Survey - February 2019  —  From January 30th through February 1st, we conducted a national survey of 2020 general election likely voters to have an early baseline read of potential match-ups in the Fall of 2020, including the potential independent candidacy of Howard Schultz.

Bundeskartellamt prohibits Facebook from combining user data from different sources  —  Date of issue:  —  The Bundeskartellamt has imposed on Facebook far-reaching restrictions in the processing of user data.  —  According to Facebook's terms and conditions users have so far only been able …

Richard Burr on the Senate Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation, 2 years on  —  The investigation into Russian intelligence activities by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence turned two years old, without fanfare, last month.  —  For almost as long, the inquiry …

Ohio city to stop observing Columbus Day, make Election Day holiday instead  —  Officials in the city of Sandusky, Ohio, have decided that the city will no longer observe Columbus Day as a holiday, switching it for Election Day.  —  City commissioners made the change at a recent meeting, according to the Sandusky Register.

Brexit: May says she can get deal through with binding changes  —  Theresa May has promised EU leaders she can get the Brexit deal through Parliament if they give her legally-binding changes to it.  —  The UK prime minister - who also vowed to deliver Brexit “on time” - was speaking …

The Battle Over Trump's Tax Return Begins  — Political tax fight could halt health care, retirement work  — Outside groups are running ads pressuring Democrats to act  —  House Democrats are facing off with Republicans for a battle that could turn intensely personal for Donald Trump …

Consumer Protection Bureau Cripples New Rules for Payday Loans  —  Payday lenders won a major victory on Wednesday after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved to gut tougher restrictions that were to take effect later this year.  —  The industry has spent years trying to fend off the new rules …

‘It will take off like a wildfire’: The unique dangers of the Washington state measles outbreak  —  VANCOUVER, Wash. — Amber Gorrow is afraid to leave her house with her infant son because she lives at the epicenter of Washington state's worst measles outbreak in more than two decades.

Nellie Ohr: Ukrainian Lawmaker Was Fusion GPS Source  — Nellie Ohr told lawmakers in October that one of Fusion GPS's sources was a Ukrainian parliamentarian whose government has accused him of illegally meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.  — Ohr, a former Fusion GPS contractor …

A Deadly Welcome Awaits Syria's Returning Refugees  —  As the war in Syria dies down, the torture and mistreatment of returnees are ramping up.  —  As the Syrian war draws to an end and the barrel bombs stop terrorizing the country, Syrians are being encouraged to return home by the countries to which they have fled.

Republicans Split On Whether Blackface Is A Problem  —  Democrats overwhelmingly say it is.  —  Democrats lead the American public in condemning blackface, a new, national HuffPost/YouGov poll finds, putting the Democratic politicians who have admitted to wearing it perilously out of step …

Viral image falsely identifies U.S. congressman as El Chapo  —  “Why is Nancy and Beto with convicted Mexican drug lord El Chapo?”  —  That's the grammatically errant query posed in a viral Facebook post featuring a photo of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. House Rep. Beto O'Rourke …

France recalls ambassador to Italy over Rome's ‘repeated attacks’  —  France recalled its ambassador in Rome after what Paris described as “repeated, baseless attacks” from the ruling Italian parties.  —  “France has been, for several months, the target of repeated, baseless attacks …

Researchers say fears about ‘fake news’ are exaggerated  —  It's so widely accepted that it's verging on conventional wisdom: misinformation, or “fake news,” spread primarily by Facebook to hundreds of millions of people (and created by Russian agents), helped distort the political landscape …