First Run News

WASHINGTON — President Trump is defending the hush money payments made by his former lawyer to two women during his 2016 campaign as ‘‘a simple private transaction.’’ He tweeted Monday that if there was wrongdoing, it’s lawyer Michael Cohen’s ‘‘liability’’ and not his. Federal prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that Cohen ‘‘acted with the intent to influence the 2016 presidential election’’ and at the direction of Trump when he brokered deals to stop women from going public about their alleged affairs with Trump. Trump has argued that the payments — which he first denied k

JOAN VENNOCHI If Warren wants to run for president, she should.  Editorial The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule is chilling and cruel, and letters from Massachusetts officials show how the policy would hurt immigrants.  Opinion | Laurence H.

JOAN VENNOCHI If Warren wants to run for president, she should.  Editorial The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule is chilling and cruel, and letters from Massachusetts officials show how the policy would hurt immigrants.  Opinion | Laurence H.

JOAN VENNOCHI If Warren wants to run for president, she should.  Editorial The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule is chilling and cruel, and letters from Massachusetts officials show how the policy would hurt immigrants.  Opinion | Laurence H.

JOAN VENNOCHI If Warren wants to run for president, she should.  Editorial The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule is chilling and cruel, and letters from Massachusetts officials show how the policy would hurt immigrants.  Opinion | Laurence H.

Magistrate Judge Page Kelley give specify a reason for recusing herself from Jasiel Correia’s criminal case.  Longtime operative who is currently Vice President Pence’s chief of staff will leave the White House instead.  They suggested almost-certain prison time for President Trump if it’s proved that he directed illegal hush-money payments to women who claim to have had affairs with him..  Nick Ayers had been expected to replace John Kelly.  The New Jersey Democrat says he’s still undecided on whether to run for president in 2020.  Federal prosecutors said Trump directed the payments

For the first time, federal prosecutors in New York on Friday said that MORE directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to make two illegal payments during the 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors in the U.S.

Former FBI director MORE testified to House lawmakers this week that the counterintelligence investigation into possible conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign began by examining four Americans. While Comey steadfastly denied the probe was focused on a political campaign and declined to identify who the four individuals are, he did note MORE was not among them. “I was briefed sometime at the end of July that the FBI had opened counterintelligence investigations of four individuals to see if there was a connection between those -- an

Allegations of election fraud in a closely divided North Carolina House race are raising the prospect of a congressional inquiry that could leave the fate of the seat hanging in the balance for weeks, or even months. Democratic House leaders this week said they may refuse to seat Republican MORE, who holds a slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready, when the party takes over the majority on Jan.

Prosecutors on Friday made a series of bombshell filings in the cases of Michael Cohen and MORE. Federal prosecutors in New York said that Trump directed Cohen, his former personal attorney and “fixer,” to steer money to pay off two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump in order to prevent negative information from surfacing that would hurt his chances in the 2016 election. Meanwhile, special counsel MORE described Cohen’s cooperation in his sprawling Russia investigation as useful and ongoing and in a separate filing accused Manaf