APNewsBreak: White House pulls nomination to lead ICE head  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday sent paperwork withdrawing the nomination of longtime border official Ron Vitiello to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to three people with knowledge of the move.

A photo of me and Joe Biden went viral.  I want him to take ownership for his actions.  —  Sofie Karasek is a survivors' rights advocate and progressive organizer.  —  Two days before my photograph was taken with then-Vice President Joe Biden, as I stood on the 2016 Oscars stage with Lady Gaga …

In New Documents, Cohen Says Trump “Instructed” Him To Lie  —  WASHINGTON — Attorneys for Michael Cohen, President Trump's former fixer, submitted documents to lawmakers Thursday night accusing Trump and his team of lawyers of instructing Cohen to lie to Congress about when negotiations ended to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Elizabeth Warren will back ending the Senate filibuster  —  Interviewer chases Warren as she runs to catch train  —  (CNN)Sen. Elizabeth Warren is set to call Friday for eliminating the filibuster, publicly endorsing for the first time a drastic change to Senate rules that would allow Democrats …

Trump Is Already Plotting His Post-White House Tell-All Memoir  —  The president is ‘excited’ about penning a dishy book.  So much so that he keeps talking about the scores he plans to settle.  —  As he navigates turbulent domestic and international affairs, President Donald Trump …

Trump is floundering disastrously on multiple fronts.  Stop pretending he's in control.  —  Because so many of us got it so wrong in 2016, there's a tendency among many commentators to reflexively assume President Trump possesses some kind of hidden sway over the political environment that we're all missing.

Barr invited to meet DoJ officials on day he submitted memo critical of Mueller  —  Revealed: The attorney general, then a private lawyer, called the special counsel's obstruction of justice inquiry into Trump ‘fatally misconceived’  —  William Barr was invited to meet justice department officials …

White House maneuvers to block release of Trump's tax returns  —  The White House could attempt to block the release of President Trump's tax returns to Democrats, senior officials signaled on Thursday, an unprecedented step that might lead to a constitutional challenge and catapult the issue into federal court.

If Biden Runs, They'll Tear Him Up  —  The old Democratic Party was warm, like him.  The new one rising is colder, less human and divisive.

Critical Carlos reads ‘Healthy Holly’  —  Inside the children's book that has landed Baltimore's mayor in a political scandal  —  Hi, I'm Critical Carlos, and I want you to read books like I do!  Reading is good for your brain and helps us all learn.  If you read enough books, then one day …

That Noise?  The Rich Neighbors Digging a Basement Pool in Their $100 Million Brownstone  —  The extremely loud and incredibly expensive renovations that have shattered a formerly quiet residential block in Manhattan.  —  In the middle of West 69th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue …

Accused of money laundering in Russia, former NC congressman's bank loses license  —  A Russian bank owned by former North Carolina Congressman Charles Taylor has been accused of money laundering and lost its license, according to Bloomberg News.  —  The Commercial Bank of Ivanovo …

Donald Trump reacts to Barbara Bush quotes  —  President Trump said he was not surprised by former first lady Barbara Bush's attacks on him, as posthumously quoted in a new biography.  —  “I have heard that she was nasty to me, but she should be.  Look what I did to her sons,” …

The unspoken Barr memo travesty: Using two spaces after a period |  The Angry Grammarian  —  The attorney general of the United States has just executed a cover-up so brazen, so grotesque, so audacious, that it was done in plain view.  Right under our noses.  —  He put two spaces after his periods.

Stacey Abrams torn between running for president, Senate  —  The Georgia Democrat met Thursday with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who continues to recruit her for a Senate bid.  —  Stacey Abrams is doing everything a would-be presidential candidate would do: a nationwide book tour …

What the heck does Steve King do all day?  —  Shunned by his party's leadership, bounced from congressional hearings, removed from key parts of the legislative process, and serving in the House minority — the Republican from Iowa has less to do than any congressman in recent history.

Saudi Arabia arrests more activists, including 2 US citizens  —  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia detained eight people, including two dual U.S.-Saudi citizens, in a new round of arrests in the kingdom targeting individuals supportive of women's rights and those with ties to jailed activists …

Conservatives Hated the Fairness Doctrine.  Now They Want One for Social Media.  —  Serious conservatives should reject Senator Hawley's unserious new “fairness doctrine.”  —  About a dozen or so years ago, leading into the 2008 presidential election, conservatives were beating the drum …

Trump's next possible Fed nominee can't understand basic policy issues  —  Nein, nein, nein.  —  That should be the Senate's response if President Trump actually nominates his friend Herman Cain, the former pizza magnate turned failed Republican presidential candidate, to the Federal Reserve Board, as Trump said he plans to do.

So Yale Law School endorses anti-religious bigotry now?  —  What starts in the ivory tower of academia — including blatant discrimination against religious groups and students — won't stay there for long.  —  CONNECT  —  What happens at our nation's elite law schools rarely stays there.

Is Bill de Blasio Running for President in 2020?  Sure Looks Like It  —  He has traveled to three early presidential primary states, held $5,000-a-plate events for donors and hired a small-dollar fund-raising consultant.  —  He spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee …

Making Jail a Last Resort  —  The Democratic presidential candidates should look at what a growing number of prosecutors are doing to end mass incarceration.  —  Ms. Bazelon is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of the forthcoming “Charged: The New Movement to Transform Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration.”

Appeals court narrows path for disclosure of grand jury info in Mueller report  —  A federal appeals court on Friday tossed an obstacle in the way of grand jury information in special counsel Robert Mueller's final report being released directly to the public, but the decision may not slow disclosure of that material to Congress.