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.

Bernie Sanders leads the Iowa Poll for the first time, just weeks before the Iowa caucuses  —  U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders leads the Democratic field three weeks ahead of Caucus Day in Iowa — narrowly overtaking his closest competitors, who remain locked in a tight contest just behind him.

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.

Trump Allies Explore Buyout of Conservative News Channel One America News Network  —  Hicks Equity Partners, a family investment firm tied to Republican National Committee co-chair Thomas Hicks Jr., is pitching GOP donors on possible deal  —  Allies of President Trump are pursuing an effort …

Trump angered by House ally's push to limit his authority on Iran  —  Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and staunch Trump ally, pushed other Republicans to vote in favor of limiting the president's authority in the military confrontation with Iran, drawing ire from the president …

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 …

Texas governor to reject new refugees, first under Trump  —  HOUSTON (AP) — Texas will no longer accept the resettlement of new refugees, becoming the first state known to do so under a recent Trump administration order, Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday.  —  Abbott's announcement …

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.

Stephanie Grisham: Trump's Press Secretary Who Doesn't Meet the Press  —  A presidency in crisis, a nation on the brink of war — and a White House press secretary who was largely out of sight.  —  It's not every day that the White House press secretary is offered $200,000 to appear on camera …

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.

BREAKING: Iranian National With Machete, Pick Ax Detained on Bridge Near Mar-a-Lago  —  Authorities in and around President Donald Trump's home, Mar-a-Lago, in Florida are no doubt used to dealing with threats and crazy people.  —  But with the uptick in tension because of trouble with Iran …

Farewell to Rock's Greatest Drummer (and Randian)  —  Neil Peart, the Canadian drummer and leader of the Seventies hard-rock band Rush, has died.  Peart had battled brain cancer for three years.  —  I saw Peart and his band perform at the now-demolished New Haven Coliseum during Rush's Power Windows tour …

U.S. Probes If Russia Is Targeting Biden in 2020 Election Meddling  — Intelligence and law enforcement are weighing the possibility  — Move by Kremlin would echo the 2016 attacks on Hillary Clinton  —  U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are assessing whether Russia …

Swiss Back Channel Helped Defuse U.S.-Iran Crisis  —  The U.S. sent an encrypted fax via the Swiss Embassy in Tehran urging Iran not to escalate, followed by a flurry of back and forth messages  —  BERN, Switzerland—Hours after a U.S. strike killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani …

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 …

Feces from a giant kettle of vultures is disrupting CBP communications on the US-Mexico border  —  Global Economic Disruptions  —  Globalization, automation, and inequality—oh my!  —  A US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) radio tower near the Texas-Mexico border has become home to some 300 vultures …

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.

‘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 …

Sultan Qaboos of Oman dies aged 79  —  Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman, the Arab world's longest-serving ruler, has died aged 79, state media say.  —  Last month he returned home after undergoing medical checks and treatment in Belgium.  There were reports he was suffering from cancer.

Column: Call Trumpism what it is: a cult  —  The comparisons have come hard and fast, at least since 2015.  Trump is like Silvio Berlusconi, like Adolf Hitler, like Boris Johnson.  A 2018 film called “The Trump Prophecy” took the evangelical route, comparing Trump to Cyrus the Great …