A mysterious payment to Paul Manafort's lawyer reveals a hidden chapter of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign  — Recent court filings are shedding new light on a mysterious $125,000 payment to lawyers for Paul Manafort, paid by a firm that has not been identified until now.

Exclusive: In budget, Trump to ask Congress for $8.6 billion for border wall  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday will ask the U.S. Congress for an additional $8.6 billion to help pay for his promised wall on the U.S-Mexico border to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking …

Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Maduro Burned Aid Convoy  —  CÚCUTA, Colombia — The narrative seemed to fit Venezuela's authoritarian rule: Security forces, on the order of President Nicolás Maduro, had torched a convoy of humanitarian aid as millions in his country were suffering from illness and hunger.

Town by town, local journalism is dying in plain sight  —  WAYNESVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Five minutes late, Darrell Todd Maurina sweeps into a meeting room and plugs in his laptop computer.  He places a Wi-Fi hotspot on the table and turns on a digital recorder.

Ocasio-Cortez, at SXSW, blasts FDR, Reagan and capitalism, says political moderates are ‘meh’  —  U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed political moderates at the South by Southwest Conference & Festivals in Austin, Texas, calling their views “misplaced” as she defended her progressive politics in a room full of supporters.

National security adviser John Bolton says Trump is ‘as clear as clear can be’ on elimination of ISIS  —  White House national security adviser John Bolton told “This Week” Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz Sunday that President Donald Trump is “as clear as can be” when discussing the defeat of the Islamic State.

The Massage Parlor Owner Peddling Access to Trump Has Ties to Chinese Government-Linked Groups  —  Li Yang, the Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who created and operated a business that sold Chinese business executives access to President Donald Trump and his family at Mar-a-Lago, has yet another intriguing line of work.

Castro Hits Sanders: He Wants to Write a ‘Big Check’ for Everything But Reparations  —  Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro criticized his fellow opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) during a Sunday interview on CNN's State of the Union.  —  Castro was asked by CNN anchor Jake Tapper …

Justin Amash is the loneliest Republican in Congress  —  Washington (CNN)For most Republicans, life in the House minority is a big change.  But for Rep. Justin Amash, in a sense, it's more of the same.  —  “It's just a different set of people doing the wrong thing,” the Michigan Republican said in an interview with CNN.

House Republican explains decision to vote against anti-hate resolution  —  Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) in an interview airing Sunday explained his decision to vote against a House resolution this week broadly condemning bigotry.  —  Zeldin, who is Jewish, said he thought the measure …

Scoop: Trump lied to RNC donors about “Tim Apple” video  —  Republican donors in attendance called it one of Trump's weirdest lies ever.  On Friday night, under a tent erected over the pool at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, President Trump claimed the media were spreading “fake news” …

Ethiopian Airlines Crash Kills at Least 150; 2nd Brand-New Boeing to Go Down in Months  —  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — An Ethiopian Airlines flight carrying more than 150 people crashed early Sunday shortly after departing from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, en route to Nairobi, Kenya, the airline said, killing everyone onboard.

How Not to Lose to Donald Trump  —  Few could have predicted that President Donald Trump would be this good at surrendering the political advantage of a strong economy.  Not only is he now underwater in the three states that pushed him to victory in 2016—he's now unexpectedly vulnerable …

18 Real Attacks on the ‘Rule of Law’  —  Donald Trump, we are told over and over and over again, threatens the “rule of law.”  To pick a piece at random, I note that Joel Mathis of The Week recently wrote, “When we talk about Trump and the rule of law, mostly we talk about how he's flouting …

The Pros and Cons of Impeaching Trump  —  Real and reasonable arguments among congressional Democrats—and, indeed, among the public—range from the practical to the procedural.  —  The announcement last week that Representative Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee …

Exclusive poll: Young Americans are embracing socialism  —  Generation Z has a more positive view of the word “socialism” than previous generations, and — along with Millennials — are more likely to embrace socialistic policies and principles than past generations, according to a new Harris Poll given exclusively to Axios.

The Real Horror of the Anti-Vaxxers  —  This isn't just a public health crisis.  It's a public sanity one.  —  How many studies do you have to throw at the vaccine hysterics before they quit?  How much of a scientific consensus, how many unimpeachable experts and how exquisitely rational an argument must you present?