A Real Attorney General  —  Bill Barr gets smeared for refusing to duck and cover like Loretta Lynch.  —  By The Editorial Board  —  Washington pile-ons are never pretty, but this week's political setup of Attorney General William Barr is disreputable even by Beltway standards.

A Former Alt-Right Member's Message: Get Out While You Still Can  —  If you remember Katie McHugh, it's probably because of the tweets.  —  A short selection: “British settlers built the USA.  ‘Slaves’ built the country much as cows ‘built’ McDonald's.  Amateur...”

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.”

Michael Bennet, Senator From Colorado, Is Running for President  —  DENVER — Michael Bennet, the moderate, studious Democratic senator from Colorado known for his work on education and immigration reform, announced his candidacy for president on Thursday.  —  He joins a field so packed …

Trump attacks Biden despite Kushner directive to lay off Dem field  —  Kushner told campaign officials to not attack 2020 Dems — but that rule doesn't seem to apply to the candidate himself.  —  As the 2020 Democratic presidential field began to form earlier this year …

Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions That Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies  —  WASHINGTON — It was a foreign policy role Joseph R. Biden Jr. enthusiastically embraced during his vice presidency: browbeating Ukraine's notoriously corrupt government to clean up its act.

With Maduro Still in Power, Questions About the U.S. Role in Venezuela  —  WASHINGTON — Nobody said regime change was going to be easy.  —  President Trump's top advisers woke up Tuesday believing that a rebellion in the Venezuelan military that day would galvanize a popular uprising …

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 …

How conservatives rationalize their surrender to Trump  —  Former FBI director James Comey has published in the New York Times the most insightful analysis I have read of how President Trump corrupts those who work for him — such as Attorney General William P. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.

POLITICO Playbook: What Trump is saying behind closed doors about the Democratic field  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  TIGER COMING TO TOWN ... Trump administration sources tell us that TIGER WOODS is coming to the White House on Monday for a ceremony to celebrate his Masters win.

U.N.C. Charlotte Student Couldn't Run, So He Tackled the Gunman  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In an alert that flashed across computer and phone screens all over campus, the instructions were spare but urgent: “Run, Hide, Fight.  Secure yourself immediately.”  —  But Riley Howell could neither run nor hide.

Emails show Trump admin had ‘no way to link’ separated migrant children to parents  —  “What you are requesting,” said a top ICE official, “is not something that we are going to be able to complete in a rapid fashion.”  —  LOS ANGELES — On the same day the Trump administration …

Nellie Ohr's ‘Hi Honey’ emails to DOJ about Russia collusion should alarm us all  —  First came the text messages between FBI lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, which gave us a painful glimpse at potential political bias inside America's most famous crime-fighting bureau.

Hillary Clinton: 'China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns?'  —  At a news conference in July 2016, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump famously called for Russia's assistance in finding Hillary Clinton's missing emails.

Conservative Host Ben Shapiro Target of Death Threats, FBI Makes Arrest  —  9:15 PM PT — We've learned 3 agencies — the FBI, Secret Service and Kent PD — teamed up to nab the suspect Wednesday during a traffic stop in Kent, WA.  —  The man is being held in a federal detention center …

Military sexual assaults rise by almost 38%; alcohol involved in nearly two out of three  —  At the Marine Corps' Mountain Warfare Training Center near Lake Tahoe, commanders are training troops for a more capable, high tech enemy like Russia, North Korea or China.

Covington Catholic teen Nick Sandmann sues NBC for $275 million  —  Attorneys for Nicholas Sandmann filed a $275 million lawsuit Wednesday against NBCUniversal over its coverage of the Kentucky teen, accusing the network of creating a “false narrative” driven by its “anti-Trump agenda.”

Stephen Moore: Trump's Fed pick underpaid ex-wife's alimony for years  —  New finding may present an additional obstacle for Moore's selection for a position on the world's most powerful central bank  —  Stephen Moore, Donald Trump's embattled pick for the Federal Reserve board of governors …

Former security clearance chief denies White House aides pressured him  —  The former official who oversaw security clearances for the first two years of the Trump administration acknowledged to lawmakers behind closed doors that he had issued clearances over the objections of lower-level staffers …