Rep. Duncan Hunter to plead guilty in campaign finance scandal, leave Congress  —  Longtime congressman says he wants to spare his family the spectacle of a trial, which was to start Jan. 22  —  After years of denials and claims he was the target of a political witch hunt, Rep. Duncan Hunter …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Speaks Out on Trump, Putin and a Divided Europe  —  'I don't trust anyone at all'

Trump Is Making the Al Capone Tax-Evasion Defense Against Impeachment  —  “The fact that they have long wanted to impeach the president suggests those Democrats view the Trump-Ukraine matter as just the latest, and perhaps the best, chance to get the president,” argues fiercely pro-Trump columnist Byron York today.

The useful idiot from Louisiana  —  A few weeks ago, I wrote about Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) showcasing the “typical shell game” of Republicans on impeachment: Eliminate the importance of the “quid pro quo,” muddy the waters of the president's motive and distort the impeachment process itself.

Georgia governor set to buck Trump on Senate appointment  —  In defiance of Trump, Brian Kemp has begun informing fellow Republicans that he will appoint business exec Kelly Loeffler to the soon-to-be-vacant seat.  —  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has been getting pressure about his prospective Senate pick.

GOP impeachment report claims Trump did nothing wrong  —  President Trump committed “no quid pro quo, bribery, extortion, or abuse of power,” Republicans on the House committees investigating the Ukraine controversy have concluded in a 110-page report reviewed by Axios ahead of its formal release.

California Gov. Newsom to campaign in Iowa for Kamala Harris  —  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will travel to Iowa to campaign for Sen. Kamala Harris as she tries to rebound amid a critical stretch in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

‘Free, Melania’ offers new details about the life of a private first lady  —  Adapted from Kate Bennett's “Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography” set for release Tuesday.  —  Washington (CNN)First lady Melania Trump, like those before her, has battled the vast juxtaposition between public perception and private citizen.

Trump campaign to blacklist Bloomberg News  —  President Trump's 2020 campaign announced Monday it will no longer allow reporters from Bloomberg News to obtain credentials to cover Trump campaign events.  —  The big picture: Campaign manager Brad Parscale described the decision …

Lisa Page Speaks: 'There's No Fathomable Way I Have Committed Any Crime at All'  —  STRIKING BACK  —  The former FBI lawyer and ongoing Trump target breaks two years of silence in this exclusive interview.  And she has quite a lot to say.  —  It's not often that you interview a subject who has no interest in being famous.

What Trump has actually done in his first 3 years  —  A big tax cut, unprecedented environmental degradation, Wall Street unleashed, and a whole lot of judges.  —  The scandals, the leaks, the outrages, and the bizarre tweets of the last three years can distract from an important fact …

The Latest: Justices weighing dismissal of guns case  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Supreme Court arguments about a New York City gun ordinance (all times local):  —  The Supreme Court is trying to figure out whether to dismiss its first case about guns rights in nearly 10 years.

Trump administration quietly releases Lebanon military aid  —  1 of 3  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has quietly released more than $100 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of unexplained delay.  —  That's according to two congressional staffers …

Ukraine scandal: I know why Trump top dogs — Mulvaney, Pompeo, Perry & Bolton — won't bark  —  Because it would be so easy for these people to clear the president, it's hard to escape the conclusion that their silence is part of a cover-up.  —  One of Sherlock Holmes' most famous cases …

State lawmakers acknowledge lobbyists helped craft their op-eds attacking Medicare-for-all  —  Emails show opponents are mobilizing at local level to try turn Americans away from big health care changes.  —  Lobbyists either helped draft or made extensive revisions to opinion columns published …

Wealthy Mercer family spent millions on conservative causes in 2018 as they distanced themselves from Trump  — Republican megadonors Robert and Rebekah Mercer donated over $12 million to a variety of conservative causes last year despite distancing themselves from being associated with President Donald Trump.

When a crusading Maltese journalist was murdered, her sons vowed justice.  Almost miraculously, it's happening.  —  In a life that was anything but ordinary, this seemed a routine enough moment.  —  Daphne Caruana Galizia climbed into the rented gray Peugeot parked outside her home on Oct. 16, 2017, headed for the bank.

Meet The Chinese Diplomat Who Got Promoted For Trolling The US On Twitter  —  BEIJING, China — The most interesting diplomat in the world these days may well be Zhao Lijian, the combative, bombastic, frankly Trumpy voice of the People's Republic of China on Twitter.

The Fascism to Come  —  In 2016, not long after Donald Trump's black swan victory, I wrote a column in the Daily News asking people to stop comparing the reality TV demagogue to Adolf Hitler.  My argument was rather simple: Trump is abhorrent, but to liken him to a murderous Nazi minimized …

False Idol — Why the Christian Right Worships Donald Trump  —  On the morning of September 29th, six weeks before the 2016 election, Donald Trump was in a conference room at Trump Tower in New York talking to leaders of the religious right about sex-reassignment surgery.

300+ Trump ads taken down by Google, YouTube  —  60 Minutes finds over 300 video ads for President Trump were taken down, mostly over the summer, for violating company policy  —  How to handle political ads on social media has become a growing concern as the 2020 U.S. presidential election approaches.

Trump Is the Founders' Worst Nightmare  —  The very conduct that necessitates presidential impeachment also supplies the means for the demagogue to escape it.  —  Mr. Bauer served as a White House counsel under President Barack Obama.  —  Donald Trump's Republican congressional allies …

Linda Sarsour backs Bernie Sanders, but not his support for Israel  —  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Last month, Bernie Sanders wrote about his support for Israel, calling the nation an “enormous achievement” and “a democratic homeland for the Jewish people.”  —  A few weeks later Linda Sarsour …