Russia probe pushback: 5 times the pattern plays oout

President Donald Trump started his Friday with a provocative tweet: "Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a 'hot' Fake News story.

Trump flips on trade pact, weighs rejoining Pacific Rim deal

In a striking reversal, President Donald Trump has asked trade officials to explore the possibility of the United States rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, a free trade deal he pulled out of during his first days in office as part of his "America first" agenda.

Mulvaney gives big pay bumps to his hires at consumer agency

Budget director Mick Mulvaney testified before the Senate Budget Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 13. Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that Mulvaney, Trump's appointee to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given big pay raises to the deputies he hired to help him run the bureau. NEW YORK - Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump's appointee to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given big pay raises to the deputies he has hired to help him run the bureau, according to salary records obtained by The Associated Press.

POLITICSWisconsina s Cage-Match Supreme Court ElectionA November tune-up. Ed Kilgore

Center-left candidate Rebecca Dallet and conservative Michael Screnock will face off next week in a technically nonpartisan election for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. Scott Walker's fight with his state's judiciary over his efforts to avoid two state legislative special elections - which he has now abandoned - hasn't been the only Wisconsin news involving judges or elections.

Trump risks trade war to keeping political promise on tariffs

As he blitzed through the industrial Midwest as a presidential candidate, Donald Trump pitched himself as the savior of the "forgotten" men and women in communities where factories had been shuttered and jobs were moved overseas. Now, Trump is risking a trade war to fulfill a political promise to the voters who helped put him in the White House.

Analysis: Trump risks trade war to fulfill political pledge

As he blitzed through the industrial Midwest as a presidential candidate, Donald Trump pitched himself as the savior of the "forgotten" men and women in communities where factories had been shuttered and jobs were moved overseas. Now, Trump is risking a trade war to fulfill a political promise to the voters who helped put him in the White House.

Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill says drug giant is “stonewalling” her opioid investigation

The world's largest generic drug maker, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, has refused to fully cooperate with a Senate investigation into whether major opioid manufacturers contributed to the deadly drug epidemic, according to Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who is leading the Senate probe. Teva has answered some of McCaskill's questions, providing the Senate committee with general information about its efforts to track and report suspicious orders for its opioid prescriptions, according to a series of letters between McCaskill and the company.

Strzok, Page and the FBI texting scandal explained

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election has been clouded by revelations that two former members of his team sent negative text messages about President Trump. In the messages, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who were romantically involved, bash Trump and discuss concerns about being too tough on Hillary Clinton during an investigation into the use of her private email server.

A House-vs.-Senate GOP Split on Intel Memo

The clearest sign that the House Republican memo criticizing the FBI's surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide won't be a blow to special prosecutor Robert Mueller is the reaction of Republicans in the Senate. While President Trump claimed that the memo "totally vindicates" him, no Republican senator has since come forward and joined him in that view.

Fox’s Chris Wallace asks if GOP hurt its credibility by hyping…

Fox News aired the phrase "secret society" over 100 times over two days, then went silent after reports showed the text was a joke On Fox News Sunday , host Chris Wallace displayed a shocking lack of self-awareness when he asked his guest, Rep. Trey Gowdy , if "Republicans hurt their credibility on real issues of bias when they make such a big deal about secret societies and palace coups?" referring to the GOP hyping a text message between two FBI employees referencing a "secret society." Wallace ignored Fox News' role in hyping the texts, airing the term "secret society" over 100 times on Fox News over the course of two days, before stopping abruptly after it was reported the "secret society" reference was likely a joke.

the Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Moves on: Democrats flail and fail to …

Wednesday, while the media continued to focus on the fallout over the impotency of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in leading the Democrat's unnecessary government shutdown, Republican leaders in the Senate concentrated on the courts. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, moved forward with hearings on President Trump's judicial nominees - including consideration of the president's nominee to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Michael B. Brennan.

Sessions threatens to subpoena ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions in immigration fight33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – The FBI failed to save text messages sent from thousands of cellphones – apparently because of the same technical glitch that affected the retention of messages from two senior bureau officials who investigated both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, a Justice Department official said. The missing messages from senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page and senior counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok have sparked a political firestorm in recent days, as GOP lawmakers and the president have questioned how it could be that the bureau did not keep their potentially unflattering and revealing exchanges.

In ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Text, Peter Strzok Expressed ‘Concern’ About Joining Mueller Team

The FBI's top agent on the Trump-Russia investigation sent a text message last year that one top Republican senator says suggests he saw no evidence of Trump campaign collusion. The text message, which was sent by Peter Strzok, is "jaw-dropping," Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a radio interview on Tuesday.

FBI did not save officials’ texts during Trump probe

The FBI did not retain text messages exchanged by two senior officials involved in the probes of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for a five-month period ending the day a special counsel was appointed to investigate possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to a new congressional letter. The letter from Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray indicates the Justice Department has turned over to lawmakers a new batch of texts from senior FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

More texts turned over from FBI agent taken off of Mueller team

The Justice Department has turned over to Congress additional text messages involving an FBI agent who was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team following the discovery of derogatory comments about President Donald Trump. But the department also said in a letter to lawmakers that its record of messages sent to and from the agent, Peter Strzok, was incomplete because the FBI, for technical reasons, had been unable to preserve and retrieve about five months' worth of communications.

Deafening Silence From Crooked Hillary and Dirty Cop Comey After New DOJ, FBI Investigations Launched

The FBI is also investigating the Clinton Foundation for possible pay-to-play or other illegal activities while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Fired FBI Director James Comey's original Hillary Clinton statement was released to the public Thursday by Senator Ron Johnson .