The Catastrophic Performance of Bill Barr  —  I was willing to give Bill Barr a chance.  Consider me burned.  —  When Barr was nominated, I wrote a cautious piece for this magazine declining to give him “a character reference” and acknowledging “legitimate reasons to be concerned about …

F.B.I. Sent Investigator Posing as Assistant to Meet With Trump Aide in 2016  —  WASHINGTON — The conversation at a London bar in September 2016 took a strange turn when the woman sitting across from George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign adviser, asked a direct question: Was the Trump campaign working with Russia?

Facebook bans far-right leaders including Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos for being “dangerous”  —  The bans are a sign that the social network is more aggressively enforcing its hate speech policies under pressure from civil rights groups.  —  Facebook said on Thursday …

Someone Did Get to Look at Trump's Tax Returns: Deutsche Bankers  — A trip to Weisselberg's office but no photocopies allowed  — Ivanka served as point person and suggested personal guarantee  —  Donald Trump doesn't want anyone to see his tax returns.  Not the public.  Not Congress.

Bernie Sanders personally spearheaded campaign strategy to take on Joe Biden  —  Sanders: Dems must campaign on policy issues, not attacks  —  (CNN)The decision by Bernie Sanders' campaign to immediately engage with Joe Biden — in a series of public remarks, tweets and emails to supporters …

Baltimore Mayor Pugh resigns after month on leave amid investigation into her business deals  —  Pictures of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh through the years  —  Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh resigned Thursday, apologizing for the harm she has caused to the city's image and the mayor's office amid …

Stephen Moore Withdraws as Trump's Federal Reserve Board Pick After Anti-Women Remarks Unearthed  —  The former Trump campaign advisor's views on women and other subjects sparked criticism from lawmakers, including Republicans.  —  Stephen Moore withdrew himself from consideration to sit …

Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Unlikely, Untested, Unprecedented Presidential Campaign  —  As Pete Buttigieg addressed supporters off a back porch in Marshalltown, Iowa, the Devil was whispering his name.  “Pete,” the Devil hissed into a microphone.  “You're sooo smart, Pete.”

Authorities: Alleged Russian spy whale is refusing to leave and seeking Norwegians' devotion  —  BERLIN — An alleged Russian spy whale is refusing to leave a Norwegian port city, in what appears to be a high-profile defection after a week of global attention on the unnamed beluga.

Maduro Announces Plan to ‘Improve Everything’ and ‘Correct Mistakes’ Through National Dialogue  —  Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has called for a weekend of national dialogue as opposition demonstrations have rocked the South American nation this week.

Exclusive: Foreign government leases at Trump World Tower stir more emoluments concerns  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department allowed at least seven foreign governments to rent luxury condominiums in New York's Trump World Tower in 2017 without approval from Congress …

Trump administration pushed to strip mention of climate change from Arctic policy statement  —  The Trump administration sought to remove references to climate change from an international statement on Arctic policy that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to endorse next week …

Gayle King pushes out Norah O'Donnell at ‘CBS This Morning’  —  Norah O'Donnell is officially out as co-host of CBS's struggling morning show — thanks to Gayle King.  —  Sources close to CBS say that the new anchor lineup for “CBS This Morning” has been set and it doesn't include O'Donnell because King …

Surviving a stroke  —  CNN National Security Analyst Michael Hayden, a retired four-star US Air Force general, formerly headed the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.  His daughter-in-law, Jessica Powley Hayden, helped him to focus his thoughts and put them on paper.

Beto O'Rourke Blew It  —  Reacting to losing to Ted Cruz by running for president is like failing to land a role in a community theater production and deciding to take your talents to Broadway.  —  Margaret Carlson  —  BEAST INSIDE  —  Beto O'Rourke has flamed out.  It's not just me saying it.

Did House Speaker's office attempt to frame activist?  DA asks for special prosecutor to investigate  —  Casada's chief of staff: ‘Black people are idiots’  —  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Did Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada's office try to frame a young activist who had challenged …

Health insurance deductibles soar, leaving Americans with unaffordable bills … Soaring deductibles and medical bills are pushing millions of American families to the breaking point, fueling an affordability crisis that is pulling in middle-class households with health insurance as well as the poor and uninsured.

Washington's Biggest Lobbyist, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Gets Shut Out  —  Chilly relations with both the White House and congressional Democrats leaves the chief advocacy group for American corporations struggling to adapt  —  A month before his inauguration, and shortly after he had finished …