In Push for 2020 Election Security, Top Official Was Warned: Don't Tell Trump  —  WASHINGTON — In the months before Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to resign, she tried to focus the White House on one of her highest priorities as homeland security secretary: preparing for new and different Russian forms …

‘This is risky’: Trump's thirst for Mueller revenge could land him in trouble  —  Team Trump's bellicose tweets and public statements in the last few days could expose the president to fresh charges of witness intimidation and obstruction of justice.  —  Special counsel Robert Mueller may be done …

Trump complained about his follower count in White House meeting with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey  —  President Trump on Tuesday met privately with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, a huddle at the White House between one of the site's most prolific users and an executive who's faced criticism for the way Twitter has handled the president's tweets.

A Giant Bird Killed Its Owner.  Now It Could Be Yours.  —  There will be colorful macaws, lithe lemurs and cackling Kookaburras for sale at an event billed by organizers as “the dispersal of the animal estate of Marvin Hajos.”  But the animal that is likely to get the most attention is the giant bird that killed Mr. Hajos this month.

Student slated to attend Western Michigan University beheaded in Saudi Arabia  —  A Saudi Arabian man who was arrested as a teenager as he was getting ready to fly to America to begin his studies at Western Michigan University was beheaded by the government Tuesday, according to a report from an official press agency.

In a Crowded Field, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke Stake Out Similar Turf  —  NASHUA, N.H. — The question was the same: Why should you be the Democratic nominee for president?  —  The answers helped illustrate why Beto O'Rourke is stalling and Pete Buttigieg is surging in the first months of the campaign.

“Trump's Furious with Don”: Inside the President's Mar-a-Lago Meltdown  —  The president is raging against his former staff and wants to sue Don McGahn—but staff think he and his lawyers blew it.  “You didn't have to send me in there,” said one witness.  But Giuliani says: Nothing to see here!

Trump offers alternate argument for citizenship question on 2020 census  —  President Donald Trump wrote online Wednesday that “the American people deserve to know who is in this country,” breaking with the Justice Department in its defense of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's efforts to place …

How the Intercept Is Fueling the Democratic Civil War  —  Captain Mark Kelly, the former astronaut, has a picture-perfect political résumé: the Space Shuttle commander and veteran of the U.S. Navy became a gun control advocate after his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, was shot and suffered a severe brain injury.

Trump camp descends on Pennsylvania as alarms grow over 2020  —  Senior Trump 2020 advisers are headed to Harrisburg on Wednesday to meet with Pennsylvania GOP officials amid mounting concerns about the president's prospects in the critical battleground state.

Mueller fails to detonate for endangered Republicans  —  DENVER — The Mueller report is no “Access Hollywood” tape.  —  While the 2016 bombshell sent Republicans sprinting away from then-candidate Donald Trump, special counsel Robert Mueller's explosive findings that the president …

Trump Is Wasting Our Immigration Crisis  —  The system needs to be fixed, but “the wall” is only part of the solution.  —  SAN DIEGO — On April 12, I toured the busiest border crossing between America and Mexico — the San Ysidro Port of Entry, in San Diego — and the walls being built around it.

Pipe bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc describes Trump rallies as ‘new found drug’  —  (CNN)The Florida man who pleaded guilty to mailing explosive devices said in a letter to a federal judge that attending a rally for President Donald Trump “became like a new found drug.”

Officers at scene of Beto O'Rourke's 1998 DWI crash say they believe he tried to flee  —  Until now, O'Rourke, who denies trying to flee the wreck, was the only person present at the scene of the collision to speak out publicly about what happened that night.

Lobbyist's crusade to change Title IX in Missouri stems from his son's expulsion  —  After his son was accused and subsequently expelled from Washington University in St. Louis last year through the school's Title IX process, a leading Jefferson City lobbyist launched a campaign to change the law for every campus in the state.

Elizabeth Warren has the wrong answer to America's student debt problem  —  TRAILING IN the polls, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is running ahead of the Democratic presidential pack in terms of policy specifics.  We hope other candidates will emulate her willingness to lay out an agenda.

Navy SEALs Were Warned Against Reporting Their Chief for War Crimes  —  Stabbing a defenseless teenage captive to death.  Picking off a school-age girl and an old man from a sniper's roost.  Indiscriminately spraying neighborhoods with rockets and machine-gun fire.

‘Fat Sex Therapist’ compares fitness trainers to Nazis, children's dieting to sexual assault  — A “Fat Sex Therapist” recently gave a talk at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, in which she compared personal trainers to Nazis.  —  “I truly believe that a child cannot consent to being on a diet …

Steve King says he understands how Jesus Christ felt after months of criticism in the House  —  Rep. Steve King addresses recent quotes on white supremacy and western civilization during a town hall event in Iowa  —  U.S. Rep. Steve King said that after facing months of criticism for comments …

Straight talk on race becoming a must for white candidates  —  After touring the National Lynching Memorial recently, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper spoke of the “shame” he felt that some white people “kind of looked the other way during these lynching incidents.”

House asks judge to halt Trump border wall funding  —  The House of Representatives has asked a federal judge to block President Donald Trump's plan to build a border wall using Defense Department funds.  —  On Tuesday, House lawyers requested that U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden issue …

It's time to call out Disney — and anyone else rich off their workers' backs  —  Abigail Disney is the president of Fork Films, founder of Peace is Loud and co-founder of Level Forward.  —  This past weekend, I seem to have struck a nerve with a Twitter thread about wage inequality …

Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort is now in federal prison  —  Sentenced in two separate cases in March, Manafort is serving 7.5 years for fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy.  —  WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort is now in federal prison.

Minorities, older adults boost Biden atop 2020 Democratic field: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Vice President Joe Biden leads all other candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and draws his strongest levels of support from minorities and older adults …

Sundown on Deadwood David Milch, battling Alzheimer's, finally finishes his TV Western.  —  Deadwood creator David Milch says he always had faith that his HBO Western would someday get to wrap up its story, even as more than a dozen years have passed since its surprise cancellation in 2006.

When Tech Elites Lose Their Religion  —  If they no longer have faith in the digital empire they've created, who will?  —  Remember the “digital divide”?  That's a media-friendly bit of alliteration, going back to the 1990s, used to describe the unequal distribution of digital access.

Did Trump Obstruct Justice?  Mueller Didn't Say, but Left a Trail to the Answer  —  The special counsel stopped short of declaring whether acts by the president were illegal attempts to impede the investigation.  But his report is a detailed map to conclusions.

President Donald Trump renews threat to close portions of southern border  —  President Donald Trump threatened anew to shut down a portion of the southern border on Wednesday after reports that a group of Central Americans traveling north had been partially detained by Mexican officials.

Trump tweet about impeachment confuses political conclusions with legal ones  —  Whether Trump broke any criminal laws is formally irrelevant to whether the House has the constitutional authority to impeach him.  —  It seems increasingly likely, notwithstanding (or perhaps because of) …

Meet the Other Resistance: The Republican One  —  President Trump is overwhelmingly popular with his base, but a handful of dissident Republicans think they know how to defeat him in a primary contest.  Are they wrong?  —  William F. Weld is not likely to become our 46th president.

Federal judge bars media from court proceeding on upcoming trial on opioid epidemic in Cleveland  —  CLEVELAND, Ohio — A federal judge on Tuesday barred two reporters from his courtroom in Cleveland, right as he was set to hold a conference on issues pertaining to an upcoming trial for lawsuits …

Months later, Trump closes in on U.N. nomination  —  Kelly Knight Craft's nomination could come next week, launching a tough confirmation process.  —  President Donald Trump is expected to formally nominate Kelly Knight Craft next week to be the new United States ambassador to the United Nations …