‘Stop Sanders’ Democrats Are Agonizing Over His Momentum  —  WASHINGTON — When Leah Daughtry, a former Democratic Party official, addressed a closed-door gathering of about 100 wealthy liberal donors in San Francisco last month, all it took was a review of the 2020 primary rules to throw a scare in them.

White House officials concerned about being exposed by Mueller report  —  Some of the dozen-plus officials interviewed by Mueller are concerned about president's “wrath” if they are seen as a source of damaging information in Thursday's report.  —  WASHINGTON — Some of the more than one dozen current …

Poll: Roy Moore leading Alabama GOP field  —  Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore leads the field of potential Republicans vying for the chance to challenge Sen. Doug Jones (D), a year and a half after Moore lost what was supposed to be an easy election in a deep-red state.

Mark Zuckerberg leveraged Facebook user data to fight rivals and help friends, leaked documents show  —  Facebook's leaders seriously discussed selling access to user data — and privacy was an afterthought.  —  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg oversaw plans to consolidate the social network's power …

Pete Buttigieg Was An Effective Mayor — With A Gaping Blind Spot  —  South Bend residents describe a technocratic leader who struggled to see beyond spreadsheets.  —  Like many residents of South Bend, Indiana, Laura Jensen has known Pete Buttigieg for years.

15 Months of Fresh Hell Inside Facebook  —  Scandals.  Backstabbing.  Resignations.  Record profits.  Time Bombs.  In early 2018, Mark Zuckerberg set out to fix Facebook.  Here's how that turned out.  —  THE STREETS OF Davos, Switzerland, were iced over on the night of January 25 …

How the far right spread politically convenient lies about the Notre Dame fire  —  The news out of Paris was not actually about a conflict between the West and Islam.  But why let facts stop you?  —  As a conflagration spread through the ancient timbers of Notre Dame Cathedral's attic on Monday …

Bernie's Fox News Town Hall Was a Ratings Smash.  More Dems May Follow Him There.  —  At least three Democratic presidential campaigns have indicated interest in participating in a Fox News town hall or have begun discussions about doing one.  —  Gideon Resnick

The Daily 202: Tax returns show 2020 candidates gave to charity, but not a ton  —  THE BIG IDEA: Former congressman Beto O'Rourke (D-Tex.) released 10 years of tax returns last night.  He and his wife reported $1,166 of charitable giving from a total income of $370,412 in 2017, the most recent year for which they released a return.

Gina Haspel Relies on Spy Skills to Connect With Trump.  He Doesn't Always Listen.  —  WASHINGTON — Gina Haspel was trying to brief President Trump early in her tenure as the C.I.A. director, but he appeared distracted.  Houseflies buzzing around the Oval Office were drawing his attention, and ire.

Mick Mulvaney's Master Class in Destroying a Bureaucracy From Within  —  The C.F.P.B. was created to protect Americans from predatory lenders after the financial crisis.  President Trump's new chief of staff took it apart on his way to White House.  —  One rainy afternoon early in February 2018 …

How the Kavanaugh Hearings Changed American Men and Women  —  Around five or six hundred traumatic public events ago — which is to say last fall — Republicans declared Democrats would live to regret that they pushed for women accusing now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault or misconduct to be heard.

Biggest U.S. Health Insurer Wades Right Into ‘Medicare for All’ Fight  — UnitedHealth shares reverse early gains, are down 4.2 percent  — Company reported earnings that beat estimates earlier Tuesday  —  The U.S.'s biggest health insurer sharply criticized the “Medicare for All” …

Behind the Obama administration's shady plan to spy on the Trump campaign  —  In Senate testimony last week, Attorney General William Barr used the word “spying” to refer to the Obama administration, um, spying on the Trump campaign.  Of course, fainting spells ensued, with the media-Democrat complex in meltdown.

Trump's Trade War With China Doesn't Look Like a Win  —  Prevailing against a fast-growing country run by autocrats isn't so easy.  —  In March 2018, President Donald Trump uttered his famous declaration that “trade wars are good and easy to win.”  A little more than a year later …

Michele Bachmann Exalts ‘Biblical’ Trump: We Will Never See A ‘More Godly’ POTUS  —  President Trump's existence on a moral spectrum that includes hush payments to porn stars alongside proclamations of born-again Christian values has left some of his evangelical supporters nursing a case of cognitive dissonance.

9 Takeaways From the Clearest Glimpse Into the 2020 Money Race So Far  —  Bernie Sanders is the money leader.  Elizabeth Warren is spending big.  Pete Buttigieg emerged out of nowhere.  And (almost) everyone is buying gobs of Facebook ads.  —  The Democratic challengers to President Trump raised tens …

Woman who assaulted Kellyanne Conway skates  —  Prosecutors in Montgomery County, Maryland — the bastion of leftism and Trump hatred I call home — have dismissed charges against the woman who assaulted Kellyanne Conway in a restaurant where Conway was celebrating her birthday.

White Man Gets 10 Years in Prison for Trying to Hire Hit Man to Lynch Black Neighbor  —  A white man in South Carolina has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hit man to kill his black neighbor, hang him from a tree and leave a burning cross in his yard, prosecutors said.

‘Fear Is a Very Powerful Force’: How the White House Whistleblower Exposed a National Security Scandal  —  When Donald Trump and his advisers arrived at the White House for their first real day of work on January 21, 2017, they inherited over 1,800 civil service employees who have more-or-less permanent jobs …

Why isn't Dan Crenshaw following his own advice with Ilhan Omar?  [Opinion]  —  Last week, the shocking image of two burning twin towers from the 9/11 attacks appeared on the cover of the New York Post, along with a caption calling out Rep. Ilhan Omar.  —  “Here's your something,” it read.

GOP congressman warns fellow Republicans: Be careful messing with Ocasio-Cortez  —  A Kentucky Republican congressman is warning his colleagues that if they mess with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, they could be inviting trouble.  —  “A lot of Republicans are making a mistake picking on her,” said Rep. James Comer.

Adam Schiff Says ‘Individual 1’ Donald Trump Should Be Prosecuted—And He's Not Giving Up  —  Adam Schiff was angry.  It was late March, and Attorney General William Barr had just released his summary of the special counsel's Russiagate report, deflating many Democrats' hopes for impeachment.

Egyptian President Sissi wins approval from lawmakers to stay in office until 2030  —  CAIRO — Egyptian lawmakers on Tuesday approved sweeping changes in the country's constitution to extend President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi's rule and give him unprecedented powers, cementing his authoritarian grip …

This Time Is Different  —  Why U.S. Foreign Policy Will Never Recover  —  It is a truth universally acknowledged that a foreign policy community in possession of great power must be in want of peace of mind.  Climate change, the Middle East, terrorism, trade, nonproliferation …

Biden, at Hollings Funeral, Talks About How ‘People Can Change’  —  CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Tuesday remembered Ernest F. Hollings as “a giant in this state and nation” who evolved to “write the great story of our times.”

Male scientists are often cast as lone geniuses.  Here's what happened when a woman was.  —  The sexist backlash against the woman involved with the black hole image, explained.  —  Just after the Event Horizon Telescope project announced last week that its astronomers had managed to capture …