Trump Names Richard Grenell as Acting Head of Intelligence  —  The move places a loyalist atop the intelligence agencies that the president has long battled.  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday named Richard Grenell, a vocal loyalist who quickly antagonized the German establishment …

Trump Offered Assange Pardon if He Covered Up Russian Hack, WikiLeaks Founder's Lawyer Claims  —  Lawyers acting for the WikiLeaks founder said Dana Rohrabacher, a former Republican congressman, had brought the message to London from Trump.  —  LONDON—President Trump offered to pardon Julian Assange …

Live Blog / Las Vegas Democratic debate live updates: Six candidates face off in Nevada  —  Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg will take the stage for the first time.  —  The ninth Democratic presidential debate kicks off Wednesday night in Las Vegas, with five veteran debaters and one newcomer facing off on the stage.

The Hidden History of Sanders's Plot to Primary Obama  —  Bernie Sanders got so close to running a primary challenge to President Barack Obama that Senator Harry Reid had to intervene to stop him.  —  It took Reid two conversations over the summer of 2011 to get Sanders to scrap the idea …

Republicans plead with Trump to leave Barr alone  —  Senate Republicans are mounting an urgent campaign to save Attorney General William Barr's job — fearful that his dismissal or resignation would deprive President Donald Trump of an effective enforcer of his agenda and hand the Senate a vacancy that's nearly impossible to fill.

The Hill's review of John Solomon's columns on Ukraine  —  On Nov. 18, 2019, The Hill announced it was reviewing John Solomon's opinion columns on Ukraine after State Department diplomats criticized several of those columns during House impeachment hearings.

Twitter Is Real Life  —  Elites just pretend it's not.  —  Mr. Warzel is an Opinion writer at large.  —  For the better part of a year I've been hearing the same refrain.  Friends, colleagues, peers, respected pollsters have cautioned: Twitter is not real life.

Bloomberg Bankrolls a Social-Media Army to Push Message  —  Campaign is hiring workers for $2,500 per month to promote Bloomberg to all their contacts  —  Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign is hiring hundreds of workers in California to post regularly on their personal social-media accounts …

Mike Pompeo and lawmakers spar over ‘deep state’ attacks in private Munich meeting  —  Congressional frustration with the perceived failure by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to defend State Department personnel from political attacks spilled over during a “heated” private meeting last weekend in Munich.

Mark Zuckerberg reportedly gets his armpits blow dried before speeches  —  It's not one of Facebook's better perks.  —  Communications employees at the social network routinely blow-dry CEO Mark Zuckerberg's armpits before big speeches, a new book claims.  —  Zuckerberg — who became famous …

POLITICO Playbook: The Dem ad campaign aimed at taking down Bernie  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  G'MORNING, and happy debate day.  —  A NEW CHAPTER in the Democrat-on-Democrat war inside the party will be on full display tonight in Las Vegas when the entire field goes to battle with MIKE BLOOMBERG.

Judges postpone emergency meeting to discuss Trump/Barr concerns  —  Source: Barr thought about resigning over Trump's interference  —  Washington (CNN)A group of federal judges hastily postponed an emergency meeting that was scheduled to take place Wednesday to discuss concerns …

What is the ‘boogaloo?’  How online calls for a violent uprising are hitting the mainstream  —  The movement says it wants a second Civil War targeting liberal political opponents and law enforcement.  —  An anti-government movement that advocates for a violent uprising targeting liberal political opponents …

Meet the Women Moderators of Tonight's Debate, Hallie Jackson and Vanessa Hauc  —  Hauc and Jackson tell InStyle about their careers (and how Hallie's priorities have changed now that she's 8 months pregnant) and how they're prepping for tonight's big event.  —  PIN  —  FB

Does Anyone Really Believe Free Market Fundamentalists Are ‘Running the Show’?  —  Let's hope not.  —  1 hr  —  Dear Reader,  —  “Conservative intellectuals launch a new group to challenge free-market ‘fundamentalism’ on the right.”  —Washington Post, February 18, 2020

China Expels Three Wall Street Journal Reporters  —  China's Foreign Ministry says move was punishment for a recent opinion piece published by the Journal  —  China revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters based in Beijing, the first time in the post-Mao era …

Neil Young Pens Open Letter to Donald Trump: ‘You Are a Disgrace to My Country’  —  Now an American citizen, Young rallies against the President  —  Neil Young has never hidden his contempt for Donald Trump, but now that he's officially an American citizen, he raising his voice even louder.

K.T. McFarland Says Mueller Interrogators Put Her Through ‘Hell’ and Left Her ‘Traumatized’  —  Longtime Republican politico K.T. McFarland said in a radio interview Wednesday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team pressured her for “20, 30, 40 hours of hell” to either cop a plea or implicate …

Why Rudy Giuliani's Twitter typos are a security fail  —  When one letter off leads you to malicious advertisements rather than the former cybersecurity czar's website.  —  Sometimes, typing the wrong letter for a website address means sending visitors to a 404 page.

How Jewish American pedophiles hide from justice in Israel  —  Tel Aviv — It's a tense stakeout, waiting for Jimmy Julius Karow to appear.  He is a wanted man and is considered dangerous.  Accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in Oregon in 2000, he fled to Israel before authorities …

Monkey menace at Taj Mahal could spoil Donald Trump's trip  —  The monkeys and other stray animals have attacked numerous domestic and foreign tourists till date inside the Taj Mahal.  All the efforts made by the local CISF unit and ASI staff, to control the monkeys, have gone in vain.  —  Agra

Trump Rewards Vulnerable Senators for Loyalty in Impeachment  —  President set to hold campaign rallies with GOP senators running in states that will be competitive in presidential election  —  RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.—Republican senators facing tight re-election battles remained loyal …