Conspiracy theories may get a lot of traction on social media, but they don’t fare nearly as well in federal court. The Democratic National Committee learned that the hard way yesterday after having their lawsuit against Donald Trump’s campaign over Russian collusion dismissed for being “entirely divorced from the facts.” Not only did the DNC

With Donald Trump’s choice for Dan Coats’ replacement as director of national intelligence getting pushback, is the White House looking to pick a parallel fight? The Daily Beast reports that the administration has demanded a list of all its top intelligence leaders, a curious request as Coats prepares to exit the ODNI. It might be

New York’s attempt to get around the IRS and target Donald Trump has come to a temporary — and surprisingly early — halt. A federal judge issued a temporary injunction that forbids the state to use its new TRUST Act to supply Trump’s state tax records to congressional committees that request them. Judge Carl Nichols

Or just a return to the status quo ante? Despite Donald Trump’s attempts to reset the relationship between Pyongyang and Washington via personal diplomacy, North Korea has returned to conducting missile testing, albeit only short-range ballistic missiles at the moment. In the wake of new launches this morning, NBC’s Richard Engel tells Today that it’s a product

It seems as though it was just yesterday when the White House was bragging about the progress being made in their trade talks with China. Oh, wait — it actually was yesterday. Their readout bragged about new commitments for increased agricultural purchases and greater cooperation on achieving an “enforceable” trade agreement. Today? Er … not so much:

Did the man who gave Hillary Clinton a pass for mishandling classified material commit the same misconduct? Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton announced yesterday that a new trove of material from a FOIA demand shows that the FBI had to retrieve several memos written by James Comey as FBI director and retained at his home after

Democrats ate the GOP’s lunch on health-care messaging in 2018’s midterms. The Trump administration might be preparing better for the 2020 election. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar rolled out a new initiative today that would allow for prescription purchases from Canada, addressing a key Democratic talking point on the cost of health care:

If Mike Pompeo and John Bolton agree on something, how likely would Donald Trump to go in the opposite direction? The smart money would normally go against it, but according to Josh Rogin’s sources, that’s precisely what will happen this week on Iran. Trump has decided to extend sanctions waivers on Iran again after Treasury

Is a trade deal with China just around the corner? The White House announced this morning that an “enforceable trade deal” is now in sight after “constructive” talks with China in Shanghai. In a key concession, China has agreed to open its market for more American agricultural imports, which would be a huge win for

To be fair, the same Emerson poll shows that the alternative face of the Democratic Party doesn’t fare much better. Among Democrats, both Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez get majorities seeing them favorably, and the other three “Squad” members also get double-digit positive overall favorability ratings. When it comes to the general electorate, however, fortunes

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law which is aimed at forcing President Trump to reveal his tax returns. The bill requires every candidate to release five years of past tax returns in order to compete in the state’s primaries. From KPIX 5: While the law is aimed at Trump, it would apply

Jerrold Nadler might not think so, but voters might have a very different idea. As House Democrats scatter for the six-week-long August recess, the House Judiciary chair told CNN’s Jake Tapper that impeachment has no deadline, even with an election cycle about to kick into high gear. Tapper sounded skeptical on that point, and for

Did this interview get John Ratcliffe the job as ODNI? Naah, but it likely didn’t hurt either. Just a few hours before Donald Trump announced Ratcliffe as the replacement for Dan Coats, whose “retirement” had been rumored for weeks, the House Judiciary and Intelligence member demanded aggressive investigations into the Obama administration’s role in key leaks

It’s not great news for the White House, but it could have been a lot worse. The US economy’s growth slowed to 2.1% in the second quarter, down a full point from Q1. However, with economists predicting a recession right around the corner, the growth is still substantial enough to look positive: Real gross domestic

North Korea isn’t the only country testing out their missile capabilities. CNN’s Barbara Starr reported yesterday afternoon Iran also sent a missile into the air on Wednesday. Iran late Wednesday test fired a medium range ballistic missile that traveled 1,000 km. While the Shabaab-3 missile did not pose a threat to shipping or US bases,

Just more presidential venting at Big Tech? Not exactly. Donald Trump took swipes at both Apple and Google over their work in China, and not just rhetorically. Google, a favorite target for populists on both sides of the political aisle, has long been criticized for their work in enabling oppression of speech in China, but

Frankly, I’m surprised it took as long as it did for a Republican on the House Judiciary to get to this obvious point. Rep. John Ratcliffe went to the heart of an assumption made by Robert Mueller, his report, and House Democrats on the approach taken in regard to Donald Trump, especially on obstruction. The

Maybe this was a case of projection rather than hate all along. Georgia state representative Erica Thomas claimed she’d been told to “go back where she came from” in a supermarket disagreement by a “white man,” and claimed it to be a hate crime. This took place shortly after Donald Trump’s tweets about AOC Plus

North Korea is testing out two kinds of missiles. The launches happened along the eastern coast of North Korea early this morning – something which appears to have seriously alarmed South Korea. Reuters reports the United Nations could get involved, too. The South’s National Security Council said it believed the missiles were a new type

Pens and phones, once established as precedent, tend to persist. The Trump administration got a perhaps surprising win in federal court earlier today on its decision to impose a de facto “safe third country” policy on asylum regardless of whether an agreement exists for that purpose. Judge Timothy Kelly declined to issue an injunction against the

The budget ‘deal’ being touted by President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will do nothing to solve the federal government’s fiscal issues. It’s more likely this ‘compromise’ is going to make problems even worse, especially once the debt markers are called in – whenever that happens. One of the (if not the) biggest

You have to get all the way to the end of this clip to get to the faceplant here from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), one of Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team — but it’s worth it. Jeffries attempts to walk Robert Mueller down a primrose path to endorsing an obstruction charge, complete with a handy chart

When we recently looked at Congressman Richard Neal’s refusal to request President Trump’s New York State tax returns (and the subsequent primary challenge he drew), Neal seemed to be making a good point. The state tax returns would only be a course of last resort if they failed to obtain the federal returns, and it

The budget deal is another win for the so-called swamp in Washington, DC. It’s another double-cross by ‘conservative’ politicians proving once again their alleged betrothal to the ideal of fiscal sanity is as much of a sham as the marriage of Catherine of Aragon to King Henry VIII. A better example could be the ‘marriage’

Thelma & Louise? Did the Wall Street Journal actually watch that film? With all due respect to the WSJ and editor Bill McGurn, this looks more like a satirical rendition of National Lampoon’s Vacation — which would have worked much better, too.  The wacky score under this clip could easily have been replaced by Lindsay Buckingham’s “Holiday

Try to guess which DC think tank issued a warning that Donald Trump’s emphasis on the rule of law is winning the debate over immigration. Heritage Foundation? The Cato Institute? Surprise — it’s the hard-left Center for American Progress, as the Daily Beast reports today. By hailing unencumbered migration and demonizing immigration enforcement, CAP’s Tom

Spain has a problem with Great Britain’s decision to seize the Iran oil tanker off Gibraltar earlier this month. Although the situation is all very “he said, she said,” it does paint a rather interesting diplomatic picture on what may have led up to the July 4th raid. EL PAÍS in Spain reports the kerfuffle

As we discussed here recently, New York State passed a special law aimed squarely at Donald Trump (which is likely an unconstitutional bill of attainder) that would allow the release of President Trump’s New York State tax returns. Beyond the constitutional questions, there was one other small hitch in this scheme. The law wouldn’t allow

This is a follow-up to a story that Allahpundit covered on Friday. While the subject of plastic waste that doesn’t decompose winding up in our oceans and landfills is a serious one, not all of the proposals to address the situation are as serious as others. As AP noted, the President was asked about a

Does this sound kind of … swampy? Only if it works. Concerns began percolating upward about the award of a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Amazon by the Pentagon over the past week, with allegations of impropriety in the bidding process. On Thursday, Donald Trump injected himself into the controversy, declaring that he might