Trump Inaugural Committee Challenged Vendor Requests and Budgeting, Documents Show  —  In the weeks before his inauguration, top officials on President Trump's inaugural committee repeatedly sounded alarms about the budgets submitted by several vendors, according to correspondence, committee records and draft budgets.

7 Scenarios for How the Mueller Probe Might ‘Wrap Up’  —  THE BREAKING NEWS hit a snowy Washington on Wednesday: Newly installed attorney general William Barr appears to be preparing to announce the end of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.  —  But what would “Mueller wrapping up” actually mean?

American Democracy in Crisis: The Fate of Pluralism in a Divided Nation  —  The 2018 Election  —  Views of President Trump  —  After two years in office, the public's view of President Trump remains negative.  As of late December 2018, when this survey was conducted …

Self-proclaimed white nationalist planned mass terror attack, government says.  ‘I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on earth.’  —  A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist has been arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons …

Trump White House Is Forcing Interns to Sign NDAs and Threatening Them With Financial Ruin  —  Not even the interns are exempt from the legally dubious rite of passage practiced by the Trump White House.  —  Asawin Suebsaeng  —  When the Trump White House welcomed its newest batch …

Blackface, KKK hoods and mock lynchings: Review of 900 yearbooks finds blatant racism  —  In one of the most extensive searches of college yearbooks ever, we found blackface and Ku Klux Klan photos like Ralph Northam's far beyond Virginia.  —  The old yearbook photos capture the lighthearted moments …

Trump Said He Ordered His Administration To Withhold Wildfire Aid To California.  FEMA Says He Never Did.  —  The president tweeted that he was cutting off disaster assistance to wildfire survivors to punish California officials.  But no record of such an order exists.

Allies decline request to stay in Syria after U.S. troops withdraw  —  As the deadline approaches for the withdrawal of U.S. forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria, America's closest European allies have turned down a Trump administration request to fill the gap with their own troops, according to U.S. and foreign officials.

Senate investigators pursue Moscow-based former Trump associate  —  London and Moscow (CNN)Senate investigators want to question a Moscow-based American businessman with longstanding ties to President Donald Trump after witnesses told them he could shed light on the President's commercial …

Video Shows Brothers Linked To Jussie Smollett Attack Buying Items Allegedly Worn In Assault  —  CHICAGO (CBS) - CBS 2 has obtained video of two men linked to the attack on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett buying a red hat and ski masks from a store the day before the assault.

Road rage, hate crime or both: Shooting death of Muslim man could draw FBI scrutiny  —  Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana allows Indianapolis residents to share anonymous tips with law enforcement.  Here are a few things Crime Stoppers wants you to know before you call.  —  CONNECT11  —  TWEET11

“She Was Pitching Her Intimate Knowledge of the Mueller Probe”: Sarah Isgur Flores, Former Trumper, Talked to MSNBC Before Signing with CNN  —  The former Jeff Sessions spokesperson is now a power player at a network she once called the “Clinton News Network.”  How'd she close the deal?

Government report reveals CBO was scandalously off in Obamacare estimates  —  A new report from government actuaries has revealed that the Congressional Budget Office was scandalously off in its estimates of the impact of Obamacare's individual mandate, a miscalculation that has had significant ramifications …

The Obama Presidential Library That Isn't  —  The Obama Presidential Center promises to be a presidential library like no other.  —  The three-building, 19-acre “working center for citizenship,” set to be built in a public park on the South Side of Chicago, will include a 235-foot-high …

Facebook decided which users are interested in Nazis — and let advertisers target them directly  —  Facebook makes money by charging advertisers to reach just the right audience for their message — even when that audience is made up of people interested in the perpetrators of the Holocaust or explicitly neo-Nazi music.

“She Never Looks Back”: Inside Elizabeth Holmes's Chilling Final Months at Theranos  —  At the end, Theranos was overrun by a dog defecating in the boardroom, nearly a dozen law firms on retainer, and a C.E.O. grinning through her teeth about an implausible turnaround.

Scoop: McConnell recommends Kelly Craft to Trump for UN ambassador  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has spoken to President Trump and recommended U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft as the next UN ambassador, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

The Biggest Field Yet.  No Frontrunner.  A Divided Base.  Welcome to the 2020 Democratic Primary  —  Almost a year before the first votes of the 2020 -presidential contest, Democratic candidates are all over the map.  There's Elizabeth Warren in a drafty warehouse in Des Moines, Iowa …

Town says it's ‘taken action’ after marshal's encounter with young journalist  —  The Town of Patagonia says it has taken unspecified action after Marshal Joseph Patterson was video-recorded telling a pre-teen journalist that it was against the law for her to put his image on the internet during …

Migrant families still being separated at the border, report from Texas group says  —  The report comes roughly eight months since the government formally ended the policy.  —  Migrant families are still being separated by the Trump administration, sometimes over “uncorroborated allegations” …

Stop Using the Word “Collusion”—How to Frame the Critical Question at the Heart of Trump-Russia  —  Much of the discussion surrounding the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia in the months leading up to the 2016 election has been mystifying for the American public.

FBI's top lawyer believed Hillary Clinton should face charges, but was talked out of it  —  For most of the past three years, the FBI has tried to portray its top leadership as united behind ex-Director James Comey's decision not to pursue criminal charges against Hillary Clinton …

Obama political arm to merge with Holder-run group  —  President Obama's political organization is merging with Eric Holder's National Redistricting Action Fund, giving it control of the vaunted list of supporters, donors and volunteers that Obama and his team built over more than a decade.

Biden gets closer to a White House bid but serious concerns remain  —  As he weighs a decision, Biden is carefully considering how a campaign, and the president's likely attacks, would affect his family.  —  WASHINGTON — Joe Biden wants to be president.  —  And each day, he's closer to being ready to run for the office.