News

ABC News reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday his own Justice Department may be fair game for criticism amid Republican complaints of anti-Trump bias in the FBI. Sessions, speaking to law enforcement officials in Norfolk, Virginia, said the department’s mission is to identify and correct “mistakes of the past” and eliminate political bias “in either direction” from its investigations …

USA Today reports: Well, this can’t be cheerful news for President Trump and first lady Melania Trump: Stormy Daniels, the ex-porn star with whom he allegedly had an affair in 2006 and then reportedly paid off before the 2016 election, is set to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! following Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Kimmel tweeted out the news …

“The laundry list of salacious & flat-out false reporting about Mrs. Trump by tabloid publications & TV shows has seeped into ‘main stream media’ reporting. She is focused on her family & role as FLOTUS – not the unrealistic scenarios being peddled daily by the fake news.” – Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for Melania Trump. Grisham is likely reacting to this …

Politico reports: The White House on Friday recognized International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a message that specifically mentioned the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, a year after coming under a barrage of criticism for omitting any specific mention of Jews when marking the day in January 2017. “Tomorrow marks the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the …

USA Today reports: Former Florida governor Jeb Bush warns that Republicans are in for a beating in the fall elections if congressional races focus on the rhetoric and character of President Trump. Bush lambasted Trump’s erratic leadership style, obsession with Twitter and “racist” comments that could cost Republicans control of Congress in November if they can’t distance themselves from the …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Cathy Stepp’s daughter says her mother wore a fake nose and sunglasses to try to help her pass a 2011 driving test after she failed her initial attempt. Stepp had her daughter, Hannah, introduce her to staff on Jan. 11 after President Donald Trump appointed the former Wisconsin Department of Natural …

Vogue reports: Cecile Richards is stepping down from her position as president of Planned Parenthood after more than a decade at its helm. Richards, 60, has become the de facto face of the reproductive rights organization, and has navigated major wins (such as getting 55 million women covered for birth control under the Affordable Care Act) and major obstacles (like …

Newsweek reports: UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has angrily shot down rumors she was having an affair with President Donald Trump, calling the speculation “disgusting” and “highly offensive.” Haley’s comments to Politico’s Women Rule podcast on Thursday come after Michael Wolff, author of an explosive tell-all book about Trump’s first year in office, hinted at the affair last week on HBO’s …

Politico reports: U.S. President Donald Trump apologized for retweeting the ultra-nationalist far-right group Britain First, saying in a TV interview he knew “nothing” about the organization at the time. “If you’re telling me they are horrible racist people, I will certainly apologize if you’d like me to do that,” Trump told ITV Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan. “I know …

The BBC reports: A discount on Nutella has led to violent scenes in a chain of French supermarkets, as shoppers jostled to grab a bargain on the sweet spread. Intermarché supermarkets offered a 70% discount on Nutella, bringing the price down from €4.50 (£3.90) to €1.40. But police were called when people began fighting and pushing one another. “They are …

The Hill reports: “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough broke down laughing on air Friday over Fox News host Sean Hannity’s coverage of a report that President Trump attempted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. On his show Thursday night, Hannity first blasted the New York Times report of Trump’s attempted firing, which was blocked by White House counsel Don McGahn, …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to use his maiden speech to the World Economic Forum on Friday to promote his tax cuts, deregulation and trade policies to chief executives, bankers and political leaders. Trump, who flew into the sanctum of the global elite at the Swiss ski resort of Davos on Thursday, will deliver the event’s main …

The Washington Post reports: The emailed response from the Guggenheim’s chief curator to the White House was polite but firm: The museum could not accommodate a request to “borrow” a painting by Vincent Van Gogh for President and Melania Trump’s private living quarters. Instead, wrote the curator, Nancy Spector, another piece was available, one that was nothing like “Landscape With …

Bloomberg reports: Billionaire Democratic donor George Soros on Thursday took aim at President Trump and tech giants during an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “I consider the Trump administration a danger to the world,” Soros said. “But I regard it as a purely temporary phenomenon that will disappear in 2020, or even sooner.” “I give President …

The Washington Examiner reports: First lady Melania Trump arrived in Florida on Thursday after canceling her scheduled trip to Davos, Switzerland. A law enforcement source confirmed to CNN that Trump had arrived in West Palm Beach, Fla., where the president’s Mar-a-Lago club is located. Melania Trump had planned to travel to Davos with the president, but pulled out of the …

Politico reports: Bernie Sanders convened his top political advisers in Washington on Saturday for a planning meeting that included a discussion of the feasibility and shape of a possible 2020 presidential campaign, half a dozen senior Democrats familiar with the gathering confirmed to POLITICO. The top-line message the Vermont senator received from the operatives gathered during the government shutdown was …

The New York Daily News reports: An event planner who landed a job in the Trump administration apologized Wednesday for calling a White House correspondent “Miss Piggy” during a Twitter spat. Lynne Patton, who heads a regional Housing and Urban Development office overseeing New York and New Jersey, called April Ryan of the American Urban Radio Networks “Miss Piggy” in …

InStyle has the quote: “I’ve always felt very secure and confident with myself in knowing what I could do and what I could not. And so it’s not something that interests me. I don’t have the DNA for it. Gayle — who knows me as well as I know myself practically — has been calling me regularly and texting me …

The Washington Post reports: In November, The Washington Post and our polling partners at ABC News asked Americans if they believed that Trump was biased against black people. Did his words and actions outweigh his repeated assertions that he’s the “least racist person” you’ll ever meet? At that point, 50 percent of Americans said that Trump held a racial bias …

CNBC reports: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he spends little time thinking about dollar weakness over the short term, walking back his comments that sent the U.S. currency reeling amid fears of a trade war. Speaking during a CNBC-moderated panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mnuchin said dollar weakness in the short term was “not a concern …