Trump complains about a unfaira treatment of Flynn

Lobbing new criticism at the special counsel's Russia investigation, President Donald Trump said Monday he feels "very badly" for former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who last week pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about reaching out to the Russians on the president's behalf. "I think it's a shame," Trump said of Flynn's situation, adding that it's "very unfair" and that Flynn had "led a very strong life."

Flynn’s guilty plea confirms he talked Russian sanctions, misled FBI

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to misleading the FBI about conversations he had with Russia's ambassador to the United States. His guilty plea marks an escalation of the special counsel's probe into Trump campaign ties to Russia, and also corroborates anonymously-sourced media reports about Flynn's contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

A top senator just introduced a slew of new names into the Senate’s Russia probe

The Senate Judiciary Committee's top Democrat sent letters to several members of President Donald Trump's campaign team on Wednesday. Those entities had not previously been known to be of interest to the Judiciary Committee, which is also investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to undermine Hillary Clinton's candidacy.

Trump is making America work for himself

Don't like skipping work to take your child to the doctor? Republicans have done away with the Children's Health Insurance Program, which protected 9 million children whose families' insurance policies don't cover them because of a legal glitch. Never mind that the U.S. ranks 26th among developed nations on infant mortality.

Putin Peace Plan Gets Boost as Syria Opposition Unites for Talks

Syria's fragmented opposition agreed to form a single bloc to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad at a meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh, giving a boost to a Russian-led diplomatic drive to end the 6 1/2-year civil war. "We have agreed with the other two branches" of the opposition "to send a united delegation to take part in direct negotiations in Geneva" comprising 50 members, Bassma Kodmani, a leader of the High Negotiations Committee, the main anti-Assad group, said early Friday after two days of talks, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reported.

McClatchy: Manafort Flight Records Show 18 Trips to Moscow

Flight records reveal Paul Manafort made at least 18 trips to Moscow and another 19 to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev while working as a consultant for Vladimir Putin allies, oligarchs, and pro-Kremlin parties before he joined President Donald Trump's campaign, according to a McClatchy exclusive report Thursday . It is those connections he potentially brought to the campaign years later that have the attention of Robert Mueller's FBI special counsel investigators looking into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election.

‘A long winter’: White House aides divided over scope, risks of Russia probe

President Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam, on Nov. 11. Six months into a special counsel's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, White House aides and others in President Trump's close orbit are increasingly divided in their assessments of the expanding probe and how worried administration officials and campaign aides should be about their potential legal peril, according to numerous people familiar with the debate. Some in the West Wing avoid the mere mention of Russia or the investigation whenever possible.

Revenge Is a Rotten Way to Run a Country

President Donald Trump chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on Nov. 11, 2017. Looking back at the last tumultuous year, to me, one of the saddest aspects of the Trump candidacy and presidency is that both in part were built from one of the basest of human impulses: revenge.

Sessions denies lying on Russia, pleads hazy memory

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday displayed a hazy memory of the Trump campaign's discussions about and dealings with Russians in the 2016 election, denying he ever lied to Congress about those contacts but blaming the chaos of the race for fogging his recollections. During more than five hours of testimony to Congress, Sessions sought to explain away apparent contradictions in his earlier accounts by citing the exhausting nature of Donald Trump's upstart but surging bid for the White House.

Sessions Defends Himself In House Testimony

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a raised voice and defiant tone, strongly defended himself Tuesday against allegations that he had misled members of Congress about his knowledge of communications between Russians and associates of President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign. "In all of my testimony, I can only do my best to answer all of your questions as I understand them and to the best of my memory," Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee.

Sessions facing Congress amid new Russia probe details

In this Nov. 6, 2017, file photo, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks to members of the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition in Indianapolis. Sessions returns to Capitol Hill amid growing evidence of contacts between Russians and associates of President Donald Trump, bracing for an onslaught of lawmaker questions about how much he knew of that outreach during last year's White House campaign.

WikiLeaks urged the Trump campaign to challenge the results of…

WikiLeaks encouraged Donald Trump's campaign to contest the results of the 2016 election if he lost to Hillary Clinton, according to private messages sent to the then-candidate's eldest son, Donald Trump, Jr. Despite his surprise election victory, Trump still cast doubt on the legitmacy of the election, hinting at possible voter fraud without providing any evidence back it up. The self-described radical transparency organization WikiLeaks told Donald Trump Jr. on Election Day that it would be "much more interesting" if his father challenged the election results if he lost to Hillary Clinton, instead of conceding victory, The Atlantic reported on Monday.

Trump distances himself from remarks on Putin over election meddling

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday attempted to clear up confusion over whether he accepts Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials of meddling in the U.S. election last year. At a news conference in Vietnam, Trump distanced himself from remarks he made on Saturday in which he suggested he believed Putin when he said there had been no Russian meddling in the election that took him to the White House.