CNN reports: President Donald Trump told special counsel Robert Mueller in writing that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks, nor was he told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son, campaign officials and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, according to two sources familiar with the matter. One source described the President’s answers without …

NPR reports: President Trump is expected to extend the deployment of thousands of U.S. troops to the U.S.-Mexico border into January rather than withdrawing the personnel in the middle of December, Pentagon officials tell NPR. The move would further extend the rare deployment of active-duty troops at the Mexico border, rather than just National Guard personnel. The deployment orders for …

CNBC reports: It’s been a year in the making, but CVS Health finally closed Wednesday on its acquisition of Aetna, creating a new health-care powerhouse. The merger combines CVS’ pharmacies with Aetna’s insurance business, blurring traditionally distinct lines in hopes of lowering costs. CVS also has one of largest pharmacy benefits managers through CVS Caremark and a major Medicare Part …

The Guardian reports: The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has said that downgrading US ties with Saudi Arabia over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi would be a mistake for national security and would not push Saudis in a better direction at home. After repeated calls from members of Congress for a strong US response, Pompeo and the defense secretary, …

USA Today reports: The Senate again blocked an expedited vote on legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired. Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.; Chris Coons, D-Del., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., urged brisk debate on the legislation in an effort to prevent President Donald Trump from firing Mueller. Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah objected to the request, …

The Hill reports: Conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi said Wednesday that he won’t be pursuing a pardon from President Trump after rejecting a plea deal offer from the special counsel that would have allowed him to avoid prison. “My decision to reject the special counsel offer was not made anticipating a pardon, I have no reason to believe or anticipate that …

The Catholic Crux reports: Fully automated and autonomous lethal weapons systems must be banned now before they become a reality in tomorrow’s wars, a Vatican representative said. The development of robotic weapons or “killer robots” will provide “the capacity of altering irreversibly the nature of warfare, becoming more detached from human agency, putting in question the humanity of our societies,” …

Slate reports: President Trump signaled in a Wall Street Journal interview that he is expecting to place tariffs on all Chinese imports, including potentially the iPhone and other Apple products, if negotiations at the upcoming G20 summit with President Xi Jinping fall through. “I can make it 10 percent and people could stand that very easily,” Trump said of price …

The Daily Beast reports: President Donald Trump, who built his political rise on promoting far-right birther claims against President Barack Obama, does in fact have a joint defense agreement with leading birther conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, The Daily Beast has confirmed. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s attorney handling special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, said in a brief phone interview morning that the …

Buzzfeed News reports: Author Margaret Atwood announced Wednesday that she is writing a sequel to her highly-acclaimed book The Handmaid’s Tale which was published in 1985. Atwood said the forthcoming book, titled The Testaments, will be published in September 2019. Atwood said the sequel will be set 15 years after the final scene in The Handmaid’s Tale featuring the book’s …

ABC News reports: A man who suffered a heart attack shortly after Hawaii mistakenly issued an alert about a ballistic missile has filed a lawsuit against the US state. The false missile alert and the state’s failure to cancel it in a timely manner was a substantial factor in causing James Sean Shields’s heart attack on January 13, the lawsuit …

The Daily Beast reports: Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on the Mueller investigation by sharing an image of figures such as Barack Obama, the Clintons, and special counsel Robert Mueller himself behind bars for “treason.” The image, posted by a Trump fan page called the Trump Train, was retweeted by the president Wednesday morning. It’s captioned “Now that …

Politico reports: For the last two years, congressional Republicans have persuaded President Donald Trump to delay the fight to fund his border wall, convincing him he would pay a steep political price for such a high-stakes legislative brawl. Trump is done waiting. Nine days ahead of a deadline that could trigger a partial government shutdown, with no solution in sight, …

Via press release from hate group leader Tony Perkins: Losing John, so full of life and potential at 26, would be a tragedy in any circumstance. But in this young missionary’s case, the world didn’t just lose a warm and engaging soul. It also lost sight of the kind of conviction that drives Christians to take risks like his. In …

ABC News reports: Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter and a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, defended her use of a private email account while transitioning to an administration job, insisting to ABC News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday “there’s no connection between” her situation and Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. “All of my emails are stored and preserved. There …

The New York Times reports: A lawyer for Paul Manafort, the president’s onetime campaign chairman, repeatedly briefed President Trump’s lawyers on his client’s discussions with federal investigators after Mr. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel, according to one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers and two other people familiar with the conversations. The arrangement was highly unusual and inflamed tensions …

Click Orlando reports: A 36-year-old Florida man is accused of stabbing a woman with a fork over an undercooked baked potato, police said. Action News Jax reports Kenneth Crumpton was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He remained in the Nassau County Jail on a $25,002 bond Tuesday. Police said the woman had multiple stab …

CNBC reports: Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will win Mississippi’s Senate election, holding a GOP seat despite comments that stoked racial tensions in the state and sparked backlash from donors, NBC News projects. The GOP senator will defeat Democratic former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy in the special election runoff, the final 2018 congressional race. Hyde-Smith will serve the remainder of GOP …

The Washington Post reports: In a wide-ranging and sometimes discordant 20-minute interview with The Washington Post, Trump complained at length about Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. “Jay” Powell, whom he nominated earlier this year. When asked about declines on Wall Street and GM’s announcement that it was laying off 15 percent of its workforce, Trump responded by criticizing higher interest …

CNN reports: Democrat Xochitl Torres Small has defeated Republican Yvette Herrell in one of the nation’s last outstanding House races, New Mexico’s secretary of state certified Tuesday afternoon. The official result brings the total number of Democratic gains in the House to 39 seats, with one race outstanding, according to CNN’s count. Herrell claimed victory in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional …