A Strategy Emerges to Counter House Democrats: Dare Them to Impeach  —  WASHINGTON — As the White House and Congress escalate their constitutional showdown, President Trump and his team are essentially trying to call what they see as the Democrats' bluff.  The message: Put up or shut up.

Decision to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. sets off a Republican firefight  —  The Senate Intelligence Committee's decision to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. has ignited an internal Republican firefight over the fate of the committee's Russia probe, as the panel's GOP chairman showed no signs of backing …

Giuliani Plans Ukraine Trip to Push for Inquiries That Could Help Trump  —  WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev …

Trump and Kim battled subordinates ahead of spike in tensions  —  President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shattered more than a year of relative tranquility Thursday with the U.S. seizure of a North Korean vessel and the isolated regime's launch of two short-range ballistic missiles.

Judge fast-tracks fight over congressional subpoena of Trump financial records  —  NYT reporter calls Trump business losses ‘unbelievable’  —  Washington (CNN)Congress and Donald Trump's fight over his financial records is now on the fast track.  —  Judge Amit Mehta plans next week to weigh …

Trump cheered Patriots to Super Bowl victory with founder of spa where Kraft was busted  —  The FBI has opened a public corruption investigation into Republican donor and South Florida massage-parlor entrepreneur Li “Cindy” Yang, focusing on whether she illegally funneled money from China …

Alabama bill would criminalize false rape accusations  —  A bill making it a crime to falsely accuse someone of a sexual crime was first read in the Alabama House of Representatives last week.  —  The bill, introduced by Rep. Dickie Drake, R-Leeds, would make falsely reporting a sex crime …

FBI's Steele story falls apart: False intel and media contacts were flagged before FISA  —  The FBI's sworn story to a federal court about its asset, Christopher Steele, is fraying faster than a $5 souvenir t-shirt bought at a tourist trap.  —  Newly unearthed memos show a high-ranking government official …

Colorado students walk out as school shooting vigil turns political  —  A vigil held Wednesday evening to recognize the victims and heroes of the shooting earlier this week at a Colorado high school turned into a political protest after some students in attendance expressed frustration with the tone and focus of the speeches.

US hikes tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing vows retaliation  —  BEIJING (AP) — President Donald Trump's latest tariff hike on Chinese goods took effect Friday and Beijing said it would retaliate, escalating a battle over China's technology ambitions and other trade tensions.

Three Production Companies Say They Won't Film in Georgia Over Abortion Law  —  David Simon's Blown Deadline Productions, Killer Films CEO Christine Vachon and Mark Duplass pledged to no longer shoot in the state as long as the law exists.  —  Georgia, no stranger to threats of boycotts due …

Let's Talk About How to End Sexual Violence  —  That's the most important conversation right now.  —  Ms. Hill is a professor at Brandeis University.  —  Last month, Joe Biden called me to talk about his conduct during Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1991.

It turns out Trump's business success was a media-made myth  —  President Trump has finally proved, beyond any doubt, that there is such a thing as #FakeNews.  —  In the 1980s and 1990s, the media conspired to perpetrate a vast fraud on the American people.

Americans' support for impeaching Trump rises: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of Americans who said President Donald Trump should be impeached rose 5 percentage points to 45 percent since mid-April, while more than half said multiple congressional probes of Trump interfered …

Mayor Pete blindsides Kamala Harris in California  —  LOS ANGELES — California Democrats, especially those with ties to the influential LGBTQ and Hollywood communities, are finding themselves torn between a home-state senator they love, Kamala Harris, and an out-of-state suitor who has suddenly captured their attention, Pete Buttigieg.

Beto's Long History of Failing Upward  —  His band didn't catch on, his alt-weekly flopped and he lost his highest-profile race.  Inside the long, risk-free rise of Beto O'Rourke.  —  Michael Kruse is a senior staff writer for Politico.  —  AMES, Iowa—The presidential run of Beto O'Rourke …

US B-52 bombers land in Qatar over unspecified Iran threat  —  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — B-52 bombers ordered by the White House to deploy to the Persian Gulf to counter unspecified threats from Iran have arrived at a major American air base in Qatar, the U.S. Air Force acknowledged Friday.

Trump's Most Nakedly Corrupt Tweet Yet  —  The impact of the Trump kleptocracy is wide-ranging across American business and its allies in Washington.  —  It used to be that I was concerned that the media was paying too much attention to Donald Trump's tweets; now I'm concerned that they're not paying enough.

One out of every 11,600 people in San Francisco is a billionaire  —  Statistics like this throw into sharp relief the challenge for Silicon Valley and its leaders in 2019.  —  If you want to run into a celebrity, you go to Hollywood.  If you want to run into a billionaire, you should move to San Francisco.