Jill Stein, the Green Party’s 2016 presidential candidate, says …

The Senate intelligence committee has asked for documents from former presidential candidate Jill Stein as part of its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, adding another new thread to the panel's investigation as it heads into 2018. Stein said in a statement overnight Tuesday that she was cooperating with the probe and is providing documents to the committee.

Top Spook Looks Back on 2016

Michael Morell, former acting head of the CIA, became a political animal in August 2016 when he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. This month, he came to grips with the consequences of that decision -- that it might have played into President Donald Trump's distrust of the intelligence community.

Trump criticizes FBI and says no pardon for Flynn ‘yet’AFP

US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at the FBI inquiry into possible collusion between Moscow and his campaign, and refused to rule out pardoning former aide Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with Russia. Trump said it was too early to discuss any pardon for his ex-national security advisor -- which would prompt a political firestorm.

Putin says U.S. hurts itself with – invented’ Trump collusion case

Russian President Vladimir Putin scoffed Thursday at allegations of collusion between U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, saying the reports have been "invented" by Trump's foes and have hurt the U.S. political system. He also mocked his most visible critic, Alexei Navalny, who is barred from challenging Putin in the March 18 presidential vote due to an embezzlement conviction, saying those like him want to plunge Russia into a destabilized quagmire.

F-22 Stealth Fighters Launch Flares, Chase Russian Jets Out Of Syria Deconfliction Zone

Two U.S. F-22 fighter jets chased Russian Su-25 planes out of the deconfliction zone in Syria on Wednesday using flares. Russian jets moved into the deconfliction zone east of the Euphrates River, but were quickly forced out by a pair of F-22 stealth fighters, which launched warning flares, a Pentagon official told The Washington Examiner on Thursday.

Russia steps up its claim on Venezuela’s oil

Czar Vladimir Putin is no fool, so why did he just hurl three and a half billion dollars into Venenozuela's economic black hole? Because he wants Venenozuela's oil, and all the money he throws at Maduro's regime allows him to claim it. So, while Castrogonia continues to supply its colony of Venenozuela with its repressive machinery, Grand Putinia is quickly becoming its sole financial lifeline.

For Trump adviser at center of Russia probe, a rapid rise and dramatic fall in his ancestral land

A brass band played, fighter jets streaked the clear blue sky and a red carpet adorned the airport tarmac on the day in May 2016 when Vladimir Putin came to Athens for a visit. "Mr. President, welcome to Greece," the Greek defense minister, Panos Kammenos, said in Russian as he smiled broadly and greeted a stone-faced Putin at the base of the stairs from the plane.

Blackwater founder discussed trade, terrorism with Russian banker, interview transcript says

Erik Prince, a supporter of the Trump campaign and the former head of the security firm Blackwater, told congressional investigators that he discussed trade relations and countering terrorism with a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in the Seychelles earlier this year, according to a newly-released transcript of the interview. Prince told investigators last week that Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told him during the Jan. 11 meeting that "he wished trade would resume with the United States in a normal way."

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.