EXCLUSIVE: Jared Kushner helped create a Trump campaign shell company that secretly paid the president's family members and spent $617 million in reelection cash, a source tells Insider … - Jared Kushner approved the creation of a shell company that spent almost half of the Trump campaign's $1.26B war chest …

US plans to shutter remaining consulates in Russia  —  (CNN)The Trump administration has informed lawmakers of its plan to shutter its two remaining consulates in Russia.  —  In a notification dated December 10, the US State Department told Congress it intends to close the consulate …

Lou Dobbs Airs Stunning Fact-Check of His Own Election Conspiracies After Company Threatens Legal Action  —  Fox Business host Lou Dobbs has recently taken to raising questions about voting machine companies, which have been cast as complicit in the supposed grand conspiracy to steal the 2020 election from President Donald Trump.

BUSTED?  Why the numbers behind Mitch McConnell's re-election don't add up  —  On a Thursday in August in Louisville, months before the 2020 election, a parade of cars filled with Kentucky Teamster representatives and labor groups, showed their fury at Mitch McConnell's constant blocking of critical COVID aid.

Russia is behind the broad, ongoing cyber spy campaign against the U.S. government and private sector, Pompeo says  —  Russia is behind the massive, ongoing cyber spy campaign against the federal government and private sector, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday …

Our Perspective on the DOJ Complaint  —  We would like to start by making three important points:  — We support the U.S. Government's commitment to protect American interests from foreign influence.  As the DOJ notes, Zoom has been fully cooperating with them in this matter.

8 Catholic Sisters Die of Covid-19 Within a Week at a Wisconsin Home  —  They were educators, music teachers and liturgists, living out their remaining years in a retirement residence after lifetimes of service.  —  They were educators, music teachers and community activists who served tirelessly for those living in poverty.

Judge skewers GOP over suit targeting newly registered voters in Georgia  —  The judge questioned the basis for the suit on several grounds, including legal standing, but she also expressed concern that segregating ballots could prompt some potential voters not to cast them.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Is Throwing Down Big Money to Fuel Pro-Trump Election Challenges  —  He says he's “not just some pillow guy” to be mocked.  He knows Trump is the chosen one because he's familiar with “numbers and charts” and soon even “Trump-haters” will see.  —  BEAST INSIDE

‘He called me kiddo’: Jill Biden says Wall Street Journal essay was ‘such a surprise’  —  Surprised the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed attacking Jill Biden's preference to use the title “Dr.”?  So was Jill Biden.  —  On Thursday's episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” …

William Barr: ‘One Standard of Justice’  —  The departing attorney general talks about John Durham, Robert Mueller, Hunter Biden, Mike Flynn and the flak he's taken from both parties.  —  The U.S. attorney general is meditating on one of his frustrations with the modern Justice Department …

How Biden's Covid bubble popped  —  Welcome to POLITICO's 2020 Transition Playbook, your guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history.  —  No bubble is impenetrable.  —  That's what the Biden team learned this week when Rep. CEDRIC RICHMOND (D-La.) …

Space Force troops to be called ‘guardians’  —  Service members in the year-old Space Force will be called “guardians,” Vice President Pence announced Friday.  —  “It is my honor, on behalf of the president of the United States, to announce that henceforth the men and women …

Pence Said Pfizer Vaccine Distribution Was Going ‘Strong.’ States Are Calling Bullshit.  —  First states heard they were getting less vaccine than expected.  Then the finger-pointing started.  —  As Vice President Mike Pence sat for his COVID-19 vaccine shot Friday morning …

New York City Will Change Many Selective Schools to Address Segregation  —  The pandemic prompted the mayor's most significant action yet on integration: a major shift in how hundreds of schools admit students.  —  Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Friday major changes to the way hundreds …

United Helps to Contact Passengers After Possible Covid-19-Related Death on Flight  —  The flight, United 591 from Orlando to Los Angeles, was diverted to New Orleans on Monday after a passenger had a medical emergency on board.  —  United Airlines said on Friday that it was working …

Blue Dress Proof  —  What it takes to get the media to believe a Democrat did wrong.  —  Bill Clinton artwork found at Jeffrey Epstein's home (Etsy screenshot)  —  For a damaging story about a Democrat to be true, DNA must be found on a blue dress.  There must be Blue Dress Proof™.

Proud Boys leader says he burned Black Lives Matter banner stolen from church during demonstrations in D.C.  —  The leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, said he participated in the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner that had been ripped from the facade of a historic Black church during unrest …

Fauci, NIH yet to get Covid vaccine despite role developing it  —  Federal and state officials have yet to allocate a single shipment of Covid-19 vaccine to the National Institutes for Health, despite the agency — and its leading infectious disease researcher Anthony Fauci …

If Trump pardons himself, Biden should un-pardon him  —  Ken Gormley is an expert on the Constitution, the presidency and the pardon power.  He is president of Duquesne University.  —  If President Trump makes the ill-advised decision to try to pardon himself before he leaves the White House in January …

Could Rudy Giuliani Face a Perjury Charge?  —  The president's lawyer swore to tell the truth, but...  Washington, DC, Bureau Chief  —  Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.

Was It Worth It?  —  People who work for President Donald Trump typically meet one of two fates.  They fail to show the unthinking loyalty he demands and get fired.  Or, maybe worse, they don't get fired—they endure the tantrums and turmoil and survive another day, binding themselves …

How the School Reopening Debate Is Tearing One of America's Most Elite Suburbs Apart  —  It was mid-August.  The playgrounds of Brookline, Massachusetts, had finally reopened, and so the news spread fast.  Sharon Abramowitz had resigned from the school committee.