George Nader, Witness in Mueller Probe, Hit With New Charges of Sex Trafficking  —  The key cooperator faces additional child-porn charges in a new indictment to be unsealed Friday.  —  George Nader, who was a key witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation …

Scoop: John Delaney's staffers have asked him to drop out  —  On July 9, John Delaney's senior team sat him down and told him to drop out of the presidential race by mid-August, according to three sources close to the campaign.  —  Why it matters: He's been running for president for 721 days.

Trump took heat from Melania and Ivanka over racist chants at rally  —  Washington — CBS News has learned President Trump took a lot of heat from his family over the racist chants at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Wednesday.  He heard from first lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka and Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump officials pressing to slash refugee admissions to zero next year  —  The Trump administration is considering a virtual shutdown of refugee admissions next year — cutting the number to nearly zero — according to three people familiar with the plan.  —  During a key meeting …

Labor fight roils Bernie Sanders campaign, as workers demand the $15 hourly pay the candidate has proposed for employees nationwide  —  Unionized campaign organizers working for Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential effort are battling with its management, arguing that the compensation and treatment …

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema pushes program to streamline removal of migrant families without valid asylum claims  —  TUCSON — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is pushing for the implementation of a pilot program along the U.S.-Mexico border that aims to more quickly screen and remove migrant families without valid legal claims …

New Hampshire Lawmaker: 'Owning Slaves Doesn't Make You Racist'  —  GOP state Rep. Werner Horn told HuffPost that human beings have always owned other human beings, and “it's never been about race.”  —  New Hampshire state Rep. Werner Horn (R) doesn't think American slavery was racist …

How the Ilhan Omar Marriage Smear Went From Fever Swamp to Trump  —  The curious journey of the unproven rumor that Omar married her brother to get him citizenship—from an obscure Somali diaspora forum to the president.  —  When Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar …

LAPD informant infiltrated left-wing activists during Trump protests, records show  —  The Los Angeles Police Department ordered a confidential informant to monitor and record meetings held by a political group that staged protests against President Trump in 2017, a move that has drawn concern …

Congressional Republicans shame themselves with their silence on Trump's racism.  —  Days after President Donald Trump's racist declaration that four congresswomen of color — three of them American-born — should “go back” where they came from, the response from most members of the party of Lincoln continues to be ... nothing.

Defenders of a Racist President Use Jews as Human Shields  —  Trump's bigoted attack on four congresswomen of color has nothing to do with fighting anti-Semitism.  —  Sebastian Gorka, a onetime adviser to Donald Trump, wore a medal from the Vitezi Rend, a Hungarian group historically aligned with Nazism …

Prosecutors weighed DOJ policy blocking indictment of a sitting president in closing Trump hush-money probe  —  WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors' decision to end an investigation into hush money payments to women claiming affairs with Donald Trump relied at least in part …

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Are Pressuring Amazon to Sell Books on Gay Conversion Therapy  —  WASHINGTON — A group of House Republicans is urging their members to pressure Amazon to resume selling a set of controversial gay conversion therapy books, after the platform announced this month …

Store clerk fired after telling customers to ‘go back to their country’ in viral video  —  In the midst of a national controversy about President Donald Trump's inflammatory tweets towards minority congresswomen, a store clerk at an Illinois convenience store has been fired after he was caught …

Trump's Electoral College Edge Could Grow in 2020, Rewarding Polarizing Campaign  —  Re-election looks plausible, with an even bigger loss in the national popular vote.  —  President Trump's approval ratings are under water in national polls.  His position for re-election, on the other hand, might not be quite so bleak.

“I'm Winning”: Donald Trump's Calculated Racism  —  On Tuesday, President Trump convened his Cabinet in the White House.  First to speak after a long, rambling, and inaccuracy-filled monologue by Trump himself was Ben Carson, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Trump's Base Isn't Enough  —  Buried beneath the blustery bravado of Donald Trump's openly racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color were clear signs of electoral anxiety.  —  Trump insists he is producing great results for the country, especially on the economy.

Trump Can't Just Walk Away From ‘Send Her Back’  —  There's a reason the president can't bring himself to condemn a bigoted chant.  —  Last Sunday, President Donald Trump suggested that four Democratic congresswomen of color, three of whom were born in the U.S., “go back” to their ancestors' countries.

Anxious Democratic Governors Urge 2020 Field Not to Veer Too Far Left  —  WASHINGTON — After claiming governorships from Republicans in seven states last year, including in crucial presidential battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Michigan, Democratic governors should have good reason to celebrate.

Tulsi Gabbard Raised Negative $20 for Her House Campaign  —  The number raises questions about whether Gabbard will return to Congress should her presidential campaign come to an end.  —  As she runs for the Democratic nominee for president, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) also faces a primary challenge for her seat in the House.

Pete Buttigieg hires former Goldman Sachs executive as national policy director  —  KEY POINTS  — Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg has hired a former Goldman Sachs vice president and Google executive to run his policy shop, his campaign announced Thursday.

The Southern Path to a Democratic Win in 2020  —  The lion's share of discussion about the states Democrats need to win to take back the White House in 2020 has focused on the trio of Midwestern states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.  Those states do indeed present the clearest path …

The Movement to Impeach Donald Trump Is Far from Over  —  On Wednesday afternoon, Representative Al Green, who since 2005 has represented Texas's Ninth Congressional District, stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and read from a resolution to impeach Donald Trump.

Palm Beach sheriff opens internal affairs investigation into handling of Jeffrey Epstein  —  The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office has opened an internal affairs investigation into whether it properly handled the case of multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, the part-time Palm Beach resident accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.

Safe Deposit Boxes Aren't Safe  —  When Philip Poniz opened Box 105 at his local Wells Fargo, he discovered it was empty — and that he was totally unprotected by federal law.  —  In the early 1980s, when Philip Poniz moved to New Jersey from Colorado, he needed a well-protected place to stash his collection of rare watches.

Trump Is Betting That Indecency Can Win in America  —  In the deeply disturbing moments after Donald Trump invoked a three-minutes-of-hate session toward Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Wednesday night, and the crowd erupted with chants of “Send Her Back!  Send Her Back!”, a protester yelled something inaudible, and caused a commotion.

Department Of Justice Announces the Release of 3,100 Inmates Under First Step Act, Publishes Risk And Needs Assessment System  —  The Department of Justice today announced three major developments related to the implementation of the First Step Act of 2018 (FSA):

Dems decry Omar resolution defending Israel boycott: ‘Dead on arrival’  —  High-profile Democrats are decrying a controversial resolution from Rep. Ilhan Omar affirming the right to boycott Israel, even as they rally behind her and three other first-term congresswomen attacked by President Trump.

‘An abomination’: Jon Stewart blasts Rand Paul for blocking 9/11 victims bill  —  “Pardon me if I'm not impressed in any way by Rand Paul's fiscal responsibility virtue signaling,” Stewart said.  —  Comedian Jon Stewart, an outspoken advocate for 9/11 first responders, blasted Sen. Rand Paul …

Angela Merkel stands in ‘solidarity’ with congresswomen attacked by Trump  —  (CNN)German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that US President Donald Trump's racist comments about four Democratic Congresswomen “undermine America's strength” and that she stands in “solidarity” with the women.

Donald Trump Hates America  —  The rest of us can love America well.  —  So apparently Donald Trump wants to make this an election about what it means to be American.  He's got his vision of what it means to be American, and he's challenging the rest of us to come up with a better one.

NBC News poll: Biden, Sanders and Warren lead 2020 field  —  The poll also shows President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked upward in the past 10 months.  —  Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the pack of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, with Sens. Bernie Sanders …

Matthew Rosenberg and Glenn Thrush Join Political Investigations  —  We are excited to announce that Matthew Rosenberg and Glenn Thrush will be turning their considerable talents to political investigations.  Read more in this note from Patrick Healy and Paul Fishleder.

Allies play hard to get on U.S. proposal to protect oil shipping lanes  —  DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) - The United States is struggling to win its allies' support for an initiative to heighten surveillance of vital Middle East oil shipping lanes because of fears it will increase tension with Iran, six sources familiar with the matter said.

Catholics in Iowa went to church.  Steve Bannon tracked their phones.  —  Steve Bannon and the conservative group CatholicVote used cell-phone location data for people who had been inside Roman Catholic churches in Dubuque, Iowa, in 2018 to target them with get-out-the-vote ads, ThinkProgress has learned.