Trump, Wrecker of Reputations  —  On Attorney General William Barr's testimony and the coming constitutional crisis.  —  In the first year of the Trump Presidency, White House advisers often promised reporters that this would be the week when they would unveil Trump's plans for a massive investment in American infrastructure.

US job growth surges in April, beating expectations with 263,000 added  —  The U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs in April, soaring past Wall Street's expectations for an increase of 185,000 jobs, while unemployment fell to the lowest rate since 1969.  —  The unemployment rate dropped to 3.6 percent …

Mark Halperin Enlists Pals Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Michael Smerconish to Rehab His Career After Sexual Misconduct Scandal  —  The disgraced pundit has re-emerged from #MeToo hiding and has met with media friends for new punditry work—including a scrapped gig with the hosts of MSNBC's ‘Morning Joe.’

California Senate passes bill that would keep Trump off 2020 ballot unless he releases tax returns  —  The California state Senate on Thursday approved a bill to require candidates appearing on the presidential primary ballot — including President Trump — to release five years' worth of income tax returns.

On Twitter, news outlets amplify Trump's false statements: study  —  When a president speaks, what he says is, by journalistic norms, inherently newsworthy.  But when a president lies—on social media, at press conferences, and in speeches—news organizations have to reconsider old rules …

Inside Bernie Sanders's 1988 10-day ‘honeymoon’ in the Soviet Union  —  Bernie Sanders was bare-chested, towel-draped, sitting at a table lined with vodka bottles, as he sang “This Land Is Your Land” to his hosts in the Soviet Union in the spring of 1988.  —  The just-married socialist mayor …

Watergate had the Nixon tapes.  Mueller had Annie Donaldson's notes.  —  The notes, scribbled rapidly on a legal pad, captured the fear inside the White House when President Trump raged over the Russia investigation and decreed he was firing the FBI director who led it: “Is this the beginning of the end?”

The 2019 governor's race that has Trump's team sweating  —  Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin is a presidential phone-buddy and White House regular who's become one of President Donald Trump's loudest surrogates.  —  He's also one of the most unpopular governors in the country, facing a treacherous reelection in November.

William Barr's Justice Department Just Filed the Most Nakedly Political Brief in the Agency's History  —  On Wednesday afternoon, after Attorney General William Barr finished his truculent and mendacious testimony before the Senate, the Department of Justice filed perhaps the most embarrassing …

Ukrainian embassy confirms DNC contractor solicited Trump dirt in 2016  —  The boomerang from the Democratic Party's failed attempt to connect Donald Trump to Russia's 2016 election meddling is picking up speed, and its flight path crosses right through Moscow's pesky neighbor, Ukraine.

The Economy and the Election  —  For as long as I've covered politics, the conventional wisdom has been that presidents win re-election in good economic times and they lose when the economy stinks.  Ronald Reagan won re-election when the economy was booming.  Jimmy Carter lost when we sunk into economic “malaise.”

Senate Democrats ask NRA execs, PR firm for documents related to alleged self-dealing  —  Three Senate Democrats have asked current and former National Rifle Association executives and the organization's public relations firm to turn over letters, third-party audits, memos and other materials …

‘Bigger than WATERGATE’: Trump hails NYT report on FBI meeting with Papadopoulos  —  President Donald Trump on Friday called revelations that the FBI sent an undercover investigator to meet with an aide to his 2016 campaign “bigger than Watergate,” praising one of his most frequent media foes, The New York Times, for its reporting.

Allegations remain in forefront for Kavanaugh, 7 months after his confirmation  —  Washington (CNN)Seven months after he joined the US Supreme Court, the cloud of Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault allegations still hangs over Justice Brett Kavanaugh, recalled in media reports across …

Sarah Kliff of Vox to Join Investigations  —  Sarah Kliff, a versatile journalist who has used a variety of media to explain complex health legislation, will be based in Washington.  Read more in this note from Rebecca Corbett, Dean Murphy and Carolyn Ryan.

Obama saw the 2016 loss of Hillary Clinton as a ‘personal insult’  —  Former President Barack Obama was unhappy with Hillary Clinton and her failed “soulless campaign” in 2016, saying he saw her loss as a “personal insult.”  —  The new details come from a recently released update …

Cohen's prison reality: ‘The Situation’ and Shabbat services  —  NEW YORK (AP) — “The Situation” and the Fyre Festival fraudster are already there.  President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, is up next.  —  It's not reality TV.  It's a federal prison 70 miles …

Trump Hails Steel Tariffs in Defiance of GOP Request to End Them  — Republican senators urged him not to impose new auto tariffs  — Grassley says USMCA can't get a vote if metals tariffs remain  —  Republican senators said they warned President Donald Trump Thursday against imposing tariffs …