Rudy Giuliani is looking for a defense attorney, sources say  —  (CNN)Rudy Giuliani has been approaching defense attorneys for possible representation, according to three sources familiar with the matter.  —  The move by Giuliani, who is President Donald Trump's personal attorney …

No. 2 GOP senator: ‘Picture coming out of’ diplomat's testimony ‘not a good one’  —  Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said on Wednesday that it was difficult to draw “hard, fast conclusions” from a top U.S. diplomat's closed-door testimony but that the “picture” from initial reports was “not a good one.”

Matt Gaetz Says Storming Impeachment Hearings was Like ‘300’  —  Congressman Matt Gaetz sure is feeling himself after leading the blitz of House Republicans into private impeachment hearings — delaying them for hours — and he's glowing about scoring brownie points with POTUS.

Trump's War on the ‘Deep State’ Turns Against Him  —  The impeachment inquiry is in some ways the culmination of a battle between the president and the government institutions he distrusted and disparaged.  —  WASHINGTON — Nameless, faceless and voiceless, the C.I.A. officer who first triggered …

Cornyn: Not a bad idea to get U.S. troops out of the way if Turkey planned to ‘ethnically cleanse the Kurds’  —  The Texas Republican isn't happy about the abrupt U.S. withdrawal but lauded Trump's move, even if it left Kurdish allies unprotected.  —  WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn lauded …

Rep. Katie Hill says she had ‘inappropriate’ relationship with campaign staffer and is under House investigation  —  Rep. Katie Hill (D-Santa Clarita) is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee after allegations that she engaged in an affair with a congressional aide were made public last week.

MLB looking into longtime umpire Rob Drake's tweet  —  Longtime major league umpire Rob Drake tweeted that he planned to buy an assault rifle “because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!!  #MAGA2020”, according to a copy of the tweet obtained by ESPN.

Italy Did Not Fuel U.S. Suspicion of Russian Meddling, Prime Minister Says  —  Casting holes in a Trump conspiracy theory, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte revealed details of two visits to Rome by Attorney General William P. Barr.  —  ROME — Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy …

If Republicans don't stand by Trump, they risk losing their base forever  —  The Republican Party risks exile for longer than it has endured in the modern era if, in the absence of incontrovertible evidence of actual “high crimes and misdemeanors,” it deserts President Trump during the campaign to remove him from office.

MSNBC announces four all-star female moderators for November debate  —  The two-hour Democratic face off will take place on Nov. 20 in Georgia.  —  The fifth Democratic presidential primary debate in Georgia will have four moderators, MSNBC announced on Wednesday — and all of them are women.

Watch AOC ask Mark Zuckerberg if she can run fake Facebook ads, too  —  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) came prepared with questions for Mark Zuckerberg when he appeared on Capitol Hill on October 23, 2019.  Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images  —  Zuckerberg's answer on whether Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez …

Dropshipping journalism  —  No one working at Newsweek can tell me why it still exists  —  On March 20, Nancy Cooper, the editor in chief of Newsweek, sent an email to her editorial staff.  The subject was “What is a Newsweek story?”—an odd question at an eighty-six-year-old newsmagazine once considered …

Exclusive: Trump Wants To Pick Cuccinelli For DHS, But Worries Senate Would Balk  —  President Trump has told Republican allies in the Senate that he would like to nominate immigration hard-liner Ken Cuccinelli as his next Homeland Security secretary, but has said he does not believe Republican Senate leaders …

Trump lawyer: Trump can't be prosecuted for shooting someone  —  NEW YORK — Even if President Donald Trump shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, New York authorities could not punish him while he is in office, the president's lawyers argued Wednesday.

Scoop: Cyber memo warns of new risks to White House network  —  An internal memo on cybersecurity, obtained by Axios, warns that “the White House is posturing itself to be electronically compromised once again.”  —  The state of play: That's after at least a dozen top- or high-level officials …

How to Halt Global Warming for $300 Billion  — UN scientists say reclaiming wasteland could capture carbon  — Global effort would stall emissions growth for up to 20 years  —  $300 billion.  That's the money needed to stop the rise in greenhouse gases and buy up to 20 years …

Who is William Taylor?  Impeachment Star Witness Has Long Relationship with Burisma-Backed Think Tank  —  U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, who provided key testimony to the Democrats' controversial impeachment inquiry yesterday, has evidenced a close relationship with the Atlantic Council think tank …

Battleground: 7 in 10 say US ‘on the edge of civil war’  —  Partisan political division and the resulting incivility has reached a low in America, with 67% believing that the nation is nearing civil war, according to a new national survey.  —  “The majority of Americans believe …

UN expert: Iran continues to execute children, has 90 on death row  —  Javaid Rehman says 7 minors were put to death last year and 2 so far this year; killings come despite human rights law prohibiting death penalty for anyone under age 18  —  UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran executed seven child offenders …

Scoop: The grandees headed to Saudi Arabia's “Davos in the Desert”  —  Never mind the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi — there's money to be made.  That's the clear message sent by the list of grandees scheduled to attend the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later this month.