In Ukraine Phone Call, Alarmed Aides Saw Trouble  —  WASHINGTON — No one bothered to put special limits on the number of people allowed to sit in the “listening room” in the White House to monitor the phone call because it was expected to be routine.  By the time the call was over 30 minutes later …

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.

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.

Democrats are taking a big impeachment risk.  It's not what you think.  —  House Democrats appear to be coalescing behind a strategy of narrowly focusing their impeachment inquiry on the latest explosive revelations involving President Trump's corrupt pressure on the Ukrainian president to interfere in a U.S. election on his behalf.

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 …

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 …

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” …

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.

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 …

October Democratic debate to take place on one night  —  (CNN)The CNN/New York Times Democratic presidential debate in October will occur on one night, the Democratic National Committee told campaigns Friday.  —  “To address several inquiries we have received we are writing to let you know that …

We hear you.  You're angry.  Here's what we are doing about it.  —  We took appropriate action because there is nothing more important in journalism than having readers' trust.  —  CONNECT  —  The Des Moines Register staff has heard from hundreds of people in the past few days upset …

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.

Trump, the TV president, finally meets a media story he can't control  —  Donald Trump's presidency would have been impossible without his reality-TV fame from NBC's “The Apprentice.”  —  And he is skilled at dominating the visual medium that still matters so much — even in our digital age …

A D.C. police union is holding its holiday party at President Trump's hotel.  Some members are furious.  —  An umbrella group for D.C. police unions rented out President Trump's hotel for its annual holiday party — and now faces sharp criticism from some of its own members …