Obama, Trump Tie as Most Admired Man in 2019  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Barack Obama and Donald Trump are tied this year as the most admired man.  It is Obama's 12th time in the top spot versus the first for Trump.  Michelle Obama is the most admired woman for the second year in a row.

I ignored warnings from friends and family not to marry my husband.  Was I making a big mistake?  —  When I was 20, a man I barely knew proposed without a ring  —  I said yes.  —  Our friends were alarmed about our fast decisions to marry and move from Tennessee to New York City.

Explosive new revelations just weakened Trump's impeachment defenses  —  If Mitch McConnell is going to pull off his scheme to turn President Trump's impeachment trial into a quick and painless sham with no witnesses, the Senate majority leader needs the story to be covered …

Suspect in Monsey Stabbings Did Searches for ‘Hitler,’ Charges Say  —  Officials said the suspect, who is charged with hate crimes, also expressed anti-Semitic views in his journal.  —  Federal prosecutors on Monday filed hate crimes charges against the man accused of bursting …

How Big Companies Won New Tax Breaks From the Trump Administration  —  As the Treasury Department prepared to enact the 2017 Republican tax overhaul, corporate lobbyists swarmed — and won big.  —  The overhaul of the federal tax law in 2017 was the signature legislative achievement of Donald J. Trump's presidency.

Biden Rebounds, Warren Slows, Sanders Rolls: The Latest on the 2020 Money Race  —  An early look at fourth-quarter fund-raising shows Joseph R. Biden Jr. bouncing back, Elizabeth Warren lagging her previous benchmark and Bernie Sanders continuing to haul in cash.

This is what it is like to be attacked by the president  —  James Comey is a former FBI director and deputy attorney general.  —  What's it like to be personally and publicly attacked by the president of the United States?  Like many others in and out of government, I have some experience.

This Firearms Instructor Is Reportedly The Hero Who Killed Texas Church Gunman With Single Head Shot  —  On Sunday, during what would otherwise likely be a quiet worship service at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, an armed gunman entered the church and after talking …

Ivanka Trump Is a Senior Adviser to the President.  She Should Be Asked Tough Questions.  —  The morning after Donald Trump became only the third president in U.S. history to be impeached, his senior adviser Ivanka Trump — who also doubles as his eldest daughter — sat down for a rare interview with CBS …

DNC rejects Yang's request for new polls ahead of next debate  —  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is rejecting a recent request from tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang to commission new early-state polling ahead of the January presidential primary debate to make up for the lack of surveys during the holiday season.

Google's holiday gift to Devin Nunes  —  In November, Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) was in the spotlight — the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, which was leading the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.  He used his star turn to push “fantastical conspiracy theories” about Democrats.

Pelosi's half right constitutional claim leaves the House all wrong  —  Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe penned an editorial column over the weekend in support of the refusal of Speaker Nancy Pelosi to submit House articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.

Republican Telemarketer Stiffed the Feds Out of $411K.  The Trump White House Gave Him a Job.  —  Shannon Burns spent years dodging creditors and fighting off lawsuits.  He found an angel at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  —  BEAST INSIDE  —  In the final two months of 2016 …

Axios AM  —  Subscribe  —  Happy Monday!  — Situational awareness: A Chinese scientist who set off an ethical debate with claims that he had made the world's first genetically edited babies was sentenced to three years in prison because of his research.  (AP)

Seattle public school students barred from returning until they get vaccinations  —  Thousands of students in Seattle have 10 days to get vaccinated or they will not be allowed to go to school.  This comes after Washington state had two measles outbreaks this year, one forcing a state of emergency.

Wisconsin Elections Commission deadlocks, keeps voters on the rolls for now  —  MADISON - The Wisconsin Elections Commission deadlocked Monday over whether to remove the voter registrations of more than 200,000 people in response to a judge's order.  —  The commission's inability to reach …

3 years in, no sign of Trump's replacement for Obamacare  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — As a candidate for the White House, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would “immediately” replace President Barack Obama's health care law with a plan of his own that would provide “insurance for everybody.”

Pompeo to visit Ukraine as Senate weighs impeachment trial  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Ukraine this week, making his first trip to the country at the heart of President Donald Trump's impeachment.  —  As the Senate weighs options for a trial …

White House Expands Use of Cyber Weapons but Stays Secretive on Policies  —  Congress remains largely in the dark despite bipartisan criticism of President Trump's stance  —  WASHINGTON—In his three years in office, President Trump has overseen an escalation in the U.S. military's deployment …

Sunbelt Set to Gain Congressional Seats, Data Show  —  Americans are moving to states with warm weather, strong job growth and cheaper housing  —  WASHINGTON—New state population totals released Monday offer fresh signs of how the Sunbelt will gain political power after the 2020 census.

The Worst Political Predictions of 2019  —  If you took the sum of political knowledge available at the end of 2018 and projected the course of 2019, the resulting spaghetti models could go in millions of directions.  —  Perhaps Robert Mueller's findings would devastate President Donald Trump.

Pete Buttigieg Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down In Iowa  —  Pete Buttigieg is barreling toward an Iowa Caucus victory, and there's not a damn thing anyone's tweets can do about it.  —  The month of December has given the South Bend Mayor his biggest challenges yet, including intense media questions …

Greta Thunberg: 'I wouldn't have wasted my time' talking to Trump about climate change  —  “He's not listening to scientists and experts, so why would he listen to me?,” she said.  —  LONDON - Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg said on Monday that talking to U.S. President Donald Trump …

Mark Meadows accused of timing retirement to help elect wife's friend  —  Rep. Mark Meadows' shock retirement — revealed just 30 hours before the filing deadline in North Carolina — has roiled some Republicans in the state who suspect he timed his announcement to benefit a friend of his wife.

Woman accused of assaulting 3 Jewish women arrested again day after release  —  A Brooklyn miscreant accused of slapping three Orthodox Jewish women last week struck again on Sunday and was busted for assaulting another woman.  —  A day after she was released without bail on charges stemming …

“We're Facing A Severe Threat”: Veterans Are Being Targeted Online.  Meet The Millennial Vet Protecting Them  —  Kristofer Goldsmith has battled PTSD and a less than honorable discharge.  Now he's exposing how veterans are being targeted online.  —  On Nov. 13, US Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor …

Why This Veteran Is Suing One of the Joint Chiefs for Sexual Assault  —  Twenty-eight-year veteran Kathryn Spletstoser couldn't get the military to take her claims against a decorated Air Force general seriously.  Now she's making those claims in court.  —  Army Lt. Col. Kathryn Spletstoser just wanted to fade into retirement.

The Year UFOs Became a Little More Legit  —  We didn't find ETs in 2019, but the U.S. government did become a little more chatty about flying saucers.  —  Not long ago, the world received what seemed like an otherworldly revelation: The Pentagon had been secretly running a UFO research project …

Trump's ‘Failures’  —  It is popular on the NeverTrump Right and everyone on the Left to claim that President Trump has “failed” as we head into an election year.  But his supposed failures are instructive.  —  Take the wall.  True, Trump certainly in the last three years has not come close …

Who's Watching the CIA?  A Hawk Named Hudson  —  Raptor shows up just as intelligence officers are finishing reports  —  LANGLEY, Va.—The President's Daily Brief is among the U.S. government's most closely held intelligence reports, its highly classified contents intended only for President Trump …

Bill Barr Thinks America Is Going to Hell  —  And he's on a mission to use the “authority” of the executive branch to stop it.  —  Ms. Stewart is the author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.”  Ms. Fredrickson is president emerita of the American Constitution Society.