How Trump could lose by 5 million votes and still win in 2020  —  Analysis: The nation's two most populous states, California and Texas, are at the heart of Democrats' geography problem.  —  In the wake of President Donald Trump's tweets suggesting several nonwhite progressive congresswomen …

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 …

Alan Dershowitz Cannot Stop Talking Accused of a slew of terrible things, the defense has no intention of resting.  —  One morning in July, days after his onetime client Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on sex-trafficking charges, the famed attorney Alan Dershowitz was reminiscing as he drove the winding roads of Martha's Vineyard.

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 …

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.

Trump campaign and RNC spend more than $600,000 on law firm representing Hope Hicks  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee have paid more than $600,000 in legal fees to the law firm that represents Hope Hicks, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

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.

What I Would Ask Robert Mueller  —  If I were a member of Congress with five minutes to question Robert Mueller, I would ask short questions drawn from the report's executive summaries.  —  Volume One: Russia  —  Did you find that there were a series of contacts between the Trump campaign …

Why I Left Planned Parenthood  —  I believe abortion is about health care, not politics.  Many of my colleagues disagreed.  —  Dr. Wen is an emergency physician.  —  This week, I left my position as the president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood.

Mueller hearings to highlight ‘shocking evidence of criminal misconduct’ by Trump, Democrats say  —  The former special counsel is set to appear before the Judiciary and Intelligence committees Wednesday.  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House committees set to hear testimony next week …

Bernie Sanders defends staff compensation after complaints his campaign isn't paying $15 an hour  —  U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders defended his campaign's compensation package Friday after a Washington Post story highlighted concerns among staffers that they were not receiving the $15-an-hour wages Sanders champions on the campaign trail.

BuzzFeed Reaches Agreement to Voluntarily Recognize Union  — Employees had staged walkout in June to pressure company  — Agreement is part of wave of unioning at digital-media sites  —  BuzzFeed Inc. has agreed to voluntarily recognize its union, ending months of negotiations between management …

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Graydon Carter on Vanity Fair, Jeffrey Epstein and an Editor's Power  —  “I didn't invent the system.  I just lived by the system.”  —  Graydon Carter on Vanity Fair, Jeffrey Epstein and an editor's power.  —  During his 25-year run as editor in chief of Vanity Fair …

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 …

The Latest: UK foreign secretary: 2 vessels seized by Iran  —  TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Latest on developments related to tensions between the U.S and Iran (all times local):  —  British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt says two vessels have been seized by Iranian authorities in the Strait of Hormuz.

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.

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.

“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.

MSNBC's Chris Hayes: Trump Supporters Must Be ‘Confronted and Destroyed’  —  Several days later, the liberal media still hasn't moved past President Trump's controversial tweets, but are instead rallying around them in opposition.  MSNBC's All In host, Chris Hayes, took a leading position Thursday night …

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.

There's A New Movement Trying To Create An Intellectual Strain Of Trumpism.  It Just Doesn't Know What Exactly That Means.  —  WASHINGTON — Amy Wax, a law professor whose hard-right pronouncements have made her an object of outrage among students and led to censure at the University of Pennsylvania …

David Trachtenberg, No. 2 policy official, exits Pentagon  —  WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's No. 2 policy official is resigning Friday, leaving yet another hole in the department's leadership.  —  David Trachtenberg, the deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, is retiring …

16,000 Readers Shared Their Experiences of Being Told to ‘Go Back.’ Here Are Some of Their Stories.  —  “Go back to where you came from.”  —  These seven words are seared into the minds of countless Americans — a reminder that they haven't always been welcome in the country where they were born …

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 …

A Billionaire Makes His Case: 'I Don't See Myself as Rich'  —  San Francisco — Tom Steyer is a former hedge fund investor and a billionaire.  Those things could be a liability for a man running for president as a progressive.  But Mr. Steyer, who this month joined a field of — what is it now?

The Joy of Hatred  —  Trump and “his people” reach deep into the violent history of public spectacle in America.  —  The chanting was disturbing and the anger was frightening, but what I noticed most about the president's rally in Greenville, N.C., on Wednesday night was the pleasure of the crowd.