The Hill reports: President Trump has tapped Rep. John Ratcliffe to serve as his next Director of National Intelligence (DNI), reviving an appointment of the Texas Republican that previously derailed last year. Trump had initially appointed Ratcliffe to serve as his intelligence chief last July, but the Texas congressman withdrew from consideration weeks later amid media scrutiny that he padded …

The New York Times reports: Stocks tumbled for a seventh consecutive day on Friday, with the S&P 500 index falling about 0.8 percent, bringing its loss for the week to more than 11 percent. It was the worst weekly decline for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis. In early October that year, the S&P 500 fell about 18 percent. The …

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports: A revolution-minded, conspiracy-bent militia group named the Oath Keepers is recruiting law officers in Hood County to take up arms in what the founder predicts will be a “bloody civil war” against the U.S. government. A national director of the Las Vegas-based Oath Keepers, John D. Shirley, moved to rural Hood County in 2015 and …

Roll Call reports: National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, who was appointed to President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force on Thursday, said Friday he believed the administration’s handling of the response to COVID-19 would be a boon for his 2020 campaign. “I think the way he’s handling this will have a very positive effect on his reelection campaign,” Kudlow told …

Newsweek reports: On Friday, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, saying that he doesn’t “even believe in evolution.” This comes amid the two trading jabs following Ocasio-Cortez’s reaction to a tweet aboutMike Pence leading the response to the coronavirus. Trump’s administration has continued to downplay the severity of the outbreak, tweeting that the …

Raw Story reports: Mike Huckabee bizarrely claimed President Trump could “suck the virus” out of coronavirus patients’ lungs and deposit what’s left in the ocean — and he simultaneously disgusted and baffled everyone who saw it. The former Arkansas governor made the outlandish claim Friday morning on “Fox & Friends,” complaining that Trump didn’t get enough credit for actions he’s …

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports: A Wisconsin appeals court Friday struck down an Ozaukee County judge’s ruling that thousands of people had to be quickly removed from the state’s voter rolls because they are believed to have moved. The appeals judges also unanimously overturned a finding that state election officials were in contempt of court for not taking people off …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump is locked in a tough reelection battle, yet the Republicans looking to succeed him are already circling. They’re visiting early primary states, reaching out to major donors, and — in one instance — even running commercials in Iowa. But perhaps the most overt display of ambition is on display this week here at the Conservative …

ABC News reports: A 19-year-old was taking a video of herself with a gun when she allegedly shot her 10-year-old nephew by accident, according to Texas authorities. Caitlyn Smith, 19, has been arrested as her nephew recovers, Deputy Thomas Gilliland, spokesman with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC News on Thursday. She recorded herself holding the gun, and then …

Just in from Civitas Polling: The second Civitas Poll tracking the North Carolina Democratic presidential primary shows former vice president Joe Biden has taken the lead outside of the margin of error over former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). This poll was conducted Wednesday, February 26 through Thursday, February 27, after the CBS News …

CNN reports: A federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Trump administration from sending asylum seekers to Mexico to wait for their immigration hearings in the US, a major blow to the administration as it has increasingly relied on the program to send thousands of migrants back to Mexico. The ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals applies across …

NBC News reports: Bernie Sanders has leapfrogged Elizabeth Warren in her home state, according to a poll released Friday, days before the Massachusetts Democratic primary. In the poll by WBUR, NPR’s Boston affiliate, Sanders got 25 percent of support from the state’s Democrats, while Warren, who has represented the state in the Senate since 2013, got 17 percent. Massachusetts is …

Fox News reports: House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy boldly predicted Friday that Democrats will lose the majority in the House of Representatives this cycle with Bernie Sanders at the top of their ticket, saying the party has “surrendered to the socialists.” In an interview with Fox News on the sidelines of CPAC outside Washington, McCarthy weighed in on the warnings …

The Buffalo News reports: The Buffalo Diocese, awash with lawsuits alleging child sex abuse by priests, nuns and others, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, marking another chapter in a scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in Western New York since early 2018. The Buffalo Diocese already is named as a defendant in 260 cases, more than …

The Hill reports: Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) on Friday said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was told to “stand down” and not appear on five Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the coronavirus. Garamendi told MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson that Anthony Fauci was scheduled to do all five major Sunday talk shows, but says Fauci …

The Daily Beast reports: Former Vice President Joe Biden conceded Friday that he was never arrested while trying to visit Nelson Mandela in South Africa, as he’d said on the campaign trail. “I guess I wasn’t arrested,” Biden told CNN’s New Day in a Friday interview. “I was stopped. I was not able to move where I wanted to go.” …

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the 2016 vice presidential nominee, is endorsing former vice president Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, hoping to give him a boost before Saturday’s South Carolina primary and Virginia’s primary on Super Tuesday. “It is sad to have a President who no one holds up as a role model for America’s …

Reuters reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the Trump administration’s response to the spreading coronavirus and faced contentious questions from Democrats about an attack that killed Iran’s most powerful general. Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee expressed frustration that the panel was afforded only two hours to question Pompeo, who until Friday had gone months without a public …

The New York Times reports: Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because “they think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about.” Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists, Mr. Mulvaney played down concerns about the …

Fox News reports: Among all voters, all six Democratic candidates tested top the president in trial ballots. Trump trails Biden and Bloomberg by 8 points and Sanders by 7. Those are the only leads outside the poll’s margin of error. Warren (+3 points), Buttigieg (+3) and Klobuchar (+1) are barely ahead. And in each instance, there are enough undecided/third-party voters …