The Latest: McConnell: If House acts, Senate must have trial  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the House impeachment inquiry (all times local):  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says that if the House goes ahead and impeaches President Donald Trump …

Seven important and awful signs for Trump  —  The whistleblower complaint is so damning President Trump and his minions tried to conceal it from Congress and the public.  It is so damning that a long list of Senate Republicans claimed not to have read it or refused comment.

NRA Was ‘Foreign Asset’ To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals  —  The National Rifle Association acted as a “foreign asset” for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new investigation unveiled Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.

Joseph Wilson, Who Challenged Iraq War Narrative, Dies at 69  —  He contradicted a statement in President George W. Bush's State of the Union address.  A week later, his wife at the time, Valerie Plame, was outed as a C.I.A. agent.  —  Joseph C. Wilson, the long-serving American diplomat whose clash …

Revenge of the Intelligence Nerds  —  Trump has long worried that America's intelligence professionals would try to undermine him from the shadows.  All they had to do was play by the rules.  —  On his first day in office, in January 2017, Donald Trump paid a visit to the CIA.

The Inscrutable Mike Pence  —  PIETY AND POWER  —  Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House  —  After losing his first campaign for Congress, a penitent Mike Pence swore off the dark side of politics.  In a confessional essay in 1991, he wrote that “negative campaigning is wrong” and set out rules for himself for the future.

The Rot on The Hill  —  There are many things about life inside the Beltway (physical and metaphorical) that people in the rest of America might find strange.  The subway system has ads from defense contractors boasting about their new warplane in between ads for a new salad at Panera …

Four debunked talking points used to discredit the whistleblower complaint  —  To defend President Trump against the whistleblower allegations, Republicans in Congress are having to dodge or misstate some key facts.  Here are the most common talking points they are using to discredit the complaint and why those don't hold up.

Nancy Pelosi: An Extremely Stable Genius  —  When asked if it was possible that impeachment might backfire, the Speaker of the House insisted that politics has nothing to do with it.  “It doesn't matter,” she said.  “He has given us no choice.”  Before we begin to grapple with the gravity …

Chris Wallace Clashes With Fox News Colleague Over Trump Defenders' ‘Deeply Misleading’ Spin on Ukraine  —  The ‘Fox News Sunday’ host clashed with colleague Sandra Smith after she echoed White House talking points on the whistleblower complaint.  —  The first question Fox News host Sandra Smith asked …

Kamala Harris Calls For Formal Impeachment Inquiry Into Brett Kavanaugh  —  The presidential hopeful wrote that we must “get to work holding our leaders accountable” in the wake of a new sexual misconduct claim against the Supreme Court justice.  —  Presidential contender Sen. Kamala Harris …

Professor: Tom Brady's popularity is result of white supremacy  —  Scholar argues commercial Brady did reminiscent of Nazi propaganda  —  Tom Brady may be the most accomplished quarterback in the history of the National Football League and boast legions of fans, but it's safe to say that University …

Impeach him, anyway  —  Protesters demanding the impeachment of Donald Trump in New York on June 7, 2018.  Erik McGregor/LightRocket/Getty Images  —  The case for impeachment, even if it can't oust Trump.  —  In Federalist 65, Alexander Hamilton considers the problem of impeachment.

Kremlin says it hopes U.S. would not release Trump-Putin calls, like it did with Ukraine  —  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “we would like to hope that it wouldn't come to that in our relations.”  —  MOSCOW — Russia has voiced hope that the U.S. administration …

First on CNN: White House says lawyers directed moving Ukraine transcript to highly secure system  —  Washington (CNN)The White House is acknowledging for the first time that officials did direct the Ukraine call transcript be filed in a separate classified system.

We're Getting Ripped Off  —  In 2019, the average price of health insurance rose above $20,000 for families that obtain their coverage through work.  That's according to the latest survey of employer benefits from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which found that premiums increased by 5 percent for the second year in a row.

More than 300 former officials call Trump's actions concerning Ukraine ‘profound national security concern’  —  More than 300 former U.S. national security and foreign policy officials have signed a statement warning that President Trump's actions regarding Ukraine are a “profound national security concern” …