White House considers expanding travel ban to more countries  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering expanding its much-litigated travel ban to additional countries amid a renewed election-year focus on immigration issues by President Donald Trump, according to four people familiar with the deliberations.

On the day U.S. forces killed Soleimani, they launched another secret operation targeting a senior Iranian official in Yemen  —  On the day the U.S. military killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad, U.S. forces carried out another top secret mission against a senior Iranian military official in Yemen, according to U.S. officials.

With love and gratitude...  I ran for president to help forge another direction for our country.  I wanted to discuss things I felt needed to be discussed that otherwise were not.  I feel that we have done that.  —  I stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible effort to share our message.

Donald Trump Is Starting To Fixate On Bernie Sanders  —  President Donald Trump's reelection campaign is beginning to aggressively attack a rising threat to his power: Bernie Sanders.  —  The Trump campaign put out two statements centered on Sanders this week, and the Vermont senator …

AOC riles Dems by refusing to pay party dues, bankrolling colleagues' opponents  —  EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has already topped the fundraising charts in her short time in Congress, but the liberal darling won't donate a cent of her millions to Democrats' House campaign organization …

Bloomberg to fund sizable campaign effort through November even if he loses Democratic nomination  —  Exclusive: The former New York City mayor plans to continue paying hundreds of staffers and funding his digital operation to defeat Trump even if he's not the nominee.

Iraqi PM tells US to decide mechanism for troop withdrawal  —  BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S. secretary of state to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, according to a statement released Friday.

Trump's New National Security Team Made Fast Work of Iran Strike  —  White House advisers were cohesive and less inclined than their predecessors to push back against the president's wishes  —  WASHINGTON—President Trump and his senior national-security advisers waited anxiously …

U.S. Probes If Russia Targeting Biden in 2020 Election Meddling  —  U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are assessing whether Russia is trying to undermine Joe Biden in its ongoing disinformation efforts with the former vice president still the front-runner in the race …

The Fall of Donald Trump's Fixers  —  The mogul-turned-president has long relied on loyalists to push the limits in defense of his image, but Roy Cohn, David Pecker and Michael Cohen all wound up out in the cold  —  For decades, Donald Trump has depended on loyalists to take care of especially sensitive and difficult tasks.

Trump's unhinged rally rant underscores case for reining him in  —  At a rally in Ohio on Thursday night, President Trump drew deafening cheers by boasting about his order to assassinate Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, deriding Democrats with petty schoolyard taunts and mocking the very idea …

Firefox attacks: Homeland Security urges all users to update browsers immediately in rare warning  —  If you use Mozilla Firefox's web browser you'll want to drop what you are doing right now and update it.  That urging doesn't just come from Mozilla-it comes from the United State's Department …

‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Author Starts VC Fund Backed by Peter Thiel  — Narya Capital to finance “scientifically complicated” startups  — Eric Schmidt, Marc Andreessen are said to invest with Thiel  —  With backing from Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt, Marc Andreessen and other Silicon Valley kings …

Trump, red states ask Supreme Court to refuse Obamacare case before election  —  The Trump administration and Republican-led states are urging the Supreme Court to swat away Democrats' request to immediately review a lawsuit threatening Obamacare, which would ensure the politically fraught case …

The Most Popular Crook in America  —  Maryland Governor Larry Hogan repeatedly steered state transportation development money to projects that would increase the value of his real estate holdings, according to a lengthy investigation by Washington Monthly's Eric Cortelessa.

The 50 Greatest War Movies Ever Made A look back at a genre that has inspired a century of cinema.  —  Speaking to Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune in 1973, Francois Truffaut made an observation that's cast a shadow over war movies ever since, even those seemingly opposed to war.

She Was a Star of New York Real Estate, but Her Life Story Was a Lie  —  Faith Hope Consolo had the entire press fooled, including us.  Then a message came in.  —  Wrapped in furs, dripping with diamonds and with her blond hair perfectly coifed, Faith Hope Consolo cut a glamorous figure in the flashy …

Women Overtake Men as Majority of U.S. Workforce  —  Data reflect growth in services industries that employ higher numbers of women  —  WASHINGTON—Women held more U.S. jobs than men in December for the first time in nearly a decade, a development that likely reflects the future of the American workforce.

Virginia lawmakers ban guns at state Capitol  —  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia lawmakers voted Friday to ban firearms at the state Capitol, the first in what's expected to be many contentious gun votes in coming weeks.  —  Newly empowered Democrats who made up a majority …

US further restricts air travel to Cuba to increase pressure: State Dept.  —  U.S. charter flights will be restricted to all Cuban cities but Havana.  —  President Donald Trump is further tightening his administration's pressure campaign against Cuba as it unravels the historic opening implemented by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Dow falls amid lackluster jobs data after briefly topping 29,000 for the first time  —  Dow closes lower after hitting 29K for first time  —  Stocks fell on Friday, reversing from all-time highs, as investors digested weaker-than-expected jobs data to end a volatile week full of geopolitical concerns.

The Chaotic, Beautiful Larks of Elizabeth Wurtzel  —  About a decade ago, when the writer Elizabeth Wurtzel rounded forty, her work—previously a gale-force project of unbridled self-mythologizing—started to look backward and inward in a different way.  She began dealing more explicitly …

When did it become acceptable to kill a top leader of a country we aren't even at war with?  —  Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, served in the U.S. Senate from 2007 to 2013 and was secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1988.  —  Strongly held views are unlikely …

Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The idea of imposing a wealth tax on the richest Americans has elicited sharply divergent views across a spectrum of politicians, with President Donald Trump branding it socialist …

Journalist seeks to revive litigation over alleged surveillance by feds  —  A TV journalist known for against-the-grain reporting is unleashing a new flurry of litigation on Friday alleging she was subjected to illegal surveillance by U.S. officials while covering Obama administration controversies …

West Backs Off of Blaming Iran Despite Crash Evidence  —  President Donald Trump and other Western leaders appeared willing to afford reasonable doubt to Tehran, despite evidence it shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet.  —  WESTERN LEADERS BY consensus agreed Thursday that Iran shot …