‘Crazy to withhold security assistance’ to Ukraine for political purposes: Top US diplomat  —  In newly disclosed text messages shared with Congress, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine at the time writes to a group of other American diplomats that “I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

IRS whistleblower said to report Treasury political appointee might have tried to interfere in audit of Trump or Pence  —  An Internal Revenue Service official has filed a whistleblower complaint reporting that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted …

Trump Publicly Urges China to Investigate the Bidens  — President Trump said he had not personally asked President Xi Jinping of China to examine the Bidens, “but it's certainly something we can start thinking about.”  — The public statement came as the House begins an impeachment inquiry …

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Trump's call with Ukraine president manifests criminal and impeachable behavior  —  The House of Representatives has begun to gather evidence in an effort to determine if President Trump has committed impeachable offenses.  The Constitution defines an impeachable offense as …

Perilous times for President Trump: By 45%-38%, Americans support impeaching him over allegations related to Ukraine, poll finds  —  From the moment Donald Trump became a national political figure, he has been cloaked in controversy and shadowed by investigations.

White House Floats Potential DOJ Investigation Into ‘Joe Biden and His Family’  —  A tiny, largely unnoticed edit to a daily White House newsletter this week suggests the Trump administration is leaving open the possibility of siccing the Justice Department on Joe Biden.

Unfit for Office  —  On a third-down play last season, the Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith stood in shotgun formation, five yards behind the line of scrimmage.  As he called his signals, a Houston Texans cornerback, Kareem Jackson, suddenly sprinted forward from a position four yards behind the defensive line.

The New Way To Hack Democracy: The Political Operatives Who Fake Voter Outrage With Millions Of Made-Up Comments  —  Sarah Reeves sat on her couch in Eugene, Oregon, staring at her laptop screen in furious disbelief.  She was reading the website of a government agency, where her mother appeared …

Bob Woodward interviewed the ‘She Said’ authors at a book event.  Things got tense.  Then there was heckling.  —  It seemed like the perfect combination of three Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists: The Washington Post's Bob Woodward interviewing the New York Times's Jodi Kantor …

Trump seized on a conspiracy theory called the ‘insurance policy.’ Now, it's at the center of an impeachment investigation.  —  Just months after Trump's inauguration, conspiracy theorists pushed a fanciful and unsubstantiated narrative in which the DNC framed Russia for election interference.

If Republicans Ever Turn On Trump, It'll Happen All At Once  —  In the House, Democrats are inching ever closer to impeaching President Trump.  Some are even pushing for drafting articles of impeachment by Thanksgiving and, potentially, sending proceedings to the Senate by early next year.

Trump's video taken off Twitter after band Nickelback complains  —  US president receives copyright censure over video that took aim at political rival Joe Biden  —  A video posted by Donald Trump has been removed from Twitter following a copyright claim by the rock band Nickelback.

For the last time, Trump's every move is brilliant and calculated  —  “There are different ways to bake the cake, depending on what sort of cake you want.  Different flavoring, different temperatures, different ingredients yield different types of cake, and the president as the master baker …

Optimism about the economy falls to three-year low, CNBC All-America Economic Survey finds  — CNBC's All-America Economic Survey shows just 23% of Americans believe the economy will improve in the next year, the lowest level of optimism in three years.  — Fifty percent now disapprove …

Deaf Islamic convert is named as Paris police HQ attacker: IT worker who fell out with supervisor ‘after he refused to deal with women’ slaughters four colleagues, including female officer, with a knife - as police arrest Muslim wife  —  A deaf civilian police worker who had recently converted …

McCarthy calls for Pelosi to suspend impeachment inquiry  —  The speaker has “given no clear indication as to how your impeachment inquiry will proceed — including whether key historical precedents or basic standards of due process will be observed,” he wrote.

Facebook says Trump can lie in his Facebook ads  —  Last week, Facebook quietly changed the language of its advertising policies to make it easier for politicians to lie in ads.  —  On Tuesday, the Trump campaign launched a new ad on Facebook, which includes a claim that was ruled false by Facebook-approved third-party fact-checkers.

Book Alleging Biden Corruption in Ukraine Lifted Passages From Wikipedia  —  In more than a dozen instances, Peter Schweizer's book “Secret Empires” appears to have copied complete sentences or large parts of them from other sources.  —  A book that has fueled corruption allegations …

Former Senator Bob Corker shows restraint, says ‘nothing’ about Trump, impeachment  —  CHATTANOOGA — Former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker has thoughts on President Trump and the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry, but he didn't share them Thursday.  —  Through nearly an hour of speaking and then again …

Watch: Trump arrives to The Villages today amid impeachment probe  —  THE VILLAGES - The official subject of President Trump's visit to The Villages this afternoon is Medicare.  —  But his first large event before a friendly crowd since Congress began impeachment hearings last week could make it hard for him to resist sounding off.

Why Elizabeth Warren is getting such good press  —  It seems like every day a new story breaks about how Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) is climbing in the polls, releasing a new policy proposal, “winning” a primary debate or taking some other step toward becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.