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 …

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.

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 …

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.

Democrats won't commit to same-day release of Nevada results  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) — Democrats won't commit to releasing the unofficial results of Saturday's Nevada caucuses on the day of the vote, as they emphasize accuracy over speed in the aftermath of the chaos surrounding the Iowa caucuses.

Bolton: Testimony wouldn't have changed impeachment outcome  —  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday denounced the House's impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump as “grossly partisan” and said his testimony would not have changed Trump's acquittal …

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.

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.

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.

In speech, Mulvaney says Republicans are hypocritical on deficits  —  Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Wednesday night that the Republican Party is hypocritical when it comes to deficits, according to audio of an overseas speech obtained by The Washington Post.

The Republicans' 2020 plan to turn every Democrat into a ‘Bernie Bro’  —  The Republican Party is putting Bernie Sanders at the center of every 2020 campaign, with senior GOP strategists confident the socialist front-runner for the Democratic nomination is the ticket to a November sweep, whether he is the nominee or not.

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 …

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 the Taliban Want  —  I am convinced that the killing and the maiming must stop, the deputy leader of the Taliban writes.  —  Mr. Haqqani is the deputy leader of the Taliban.  —  When our representatives started negotiating with the United States in 2018, our confidence that the talks would yield results was close to zero.