Trump's lawyers, Senate GOP allies work privately to ensure Bolton does not testify publicly  —  President Trump's legal defense team and Senate GOP allies are quietly gaming out contingency plans should Democrats win enough votes to force witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial …

Sanders apologizes to Biden for surrogate's op-ed alleging he has a “big corruption problem”  —  Des Moines, Iowa — Senator Bernie Sanders apologized to former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday for an op-ed written by one of his campaign surrogates that claimed Biden has a “big corruption problem.”

‘Constitutional Nonsense’: Trump's Impeachment Defense Defies Legal Consensus  —  The president's legal case would negate any need for witnesses.  But constitutional scholars say that it's wrong.  —  WASHINGTON — As President Trump's impeachment trial opens, his lawyers have increasingly emphasized …

Devin Nunes' Ukraine lies are a betrayal.  Voters in his district deserve better  —  Kiev, Ukraine, is nearly 6,200 miles from Tulare, Calif. That's a long way from home for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, who now faces explosive allegations that he and his staff contacted shadowy Ukrainian figures …

Trump pushes his party to normalize corruption  —  With the impeachment trial of President Trump beginning in earnest, right-wing populism has come full circle.  Trump was elected on the theory that American politics had become corrupt and broken.  Now he is calling upon his party …

Richmond woman charged with wearing mask in public following gun-rights rally  —  A 21-year-old Richmond woman was charged Monday with wearing a mask in public following the gun-rights rally in Richmond.  —  Police said a Richmond officer warned Mikaela E. Beschler, of the 1100 block of North 34th Street …

CNN poll: 51% say Senate should remove Trump from office  —  Schumer: We will force votes on witnesses and documents  —  (CNN)About half of Americans say the Senate should vote to convict President Donald Trump and remove him from office in the upcoming impeachment trial (51%) …

Don Jr. Admits Meeting Lev Parnas: ‘I Thought He Was Israeli’  —  'IT'S FUNNY'  —  Presidential son Donald Trump Jr. admitted on Sunday to meeting indicted Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, claiming he and his father merely took fundraiser photos with the businessman whose involvement …

Denver Post Columnist Fired After Arguing There Are Two Sexes  —  A Denver Post columnist says he was fired after disputing the idea that there are more than two sexes.  —  Jon Caldara, president of the libertarian Independence Institute, announced that he has been fired from the Post …

The Loser President  —  Trump could lose by many millions of votes and still secure an Electoral College win—and Democrats aren't paying this the attention it deserves.  —  Elizabeth Warren electrified a December town hall meeting in Iowa when she answered a question about the Electoral College with a stirring call to action.

How Trump Twisted a Vague Iran Worry Into an Imminent Danger to ‘Four Embassies’  —  “There were definitely questions [at the time, internally] about whether he had just made it up on the spot,” recalled one White House official.  —  When President Donald Trump publicly claimed earlier …

Art preservationists want Frick Collection to buy Jeffrey Epstein's townhouse as part of museum expansion plan  —  Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan perv palace could soon be an art museum.  —  The convicted sex offender's posh Upper East Side mansion — a house of horrors where he allegedly abused dozens …