To say you are optimistic about Afghanistan opens you to charges of being hopelessly naive. I can hear the retorts in my head: Do you need reminding that there is a raging Taliban insurgency in the south that has taken nearly 6,000 lives this year? Don’t you know that your country produces 93 percent of the world’s opium? Are you not aware of the corruption in the government, the still-powerful warlords, the rampant poverty in the provinces, the illiteracy rate, the persistent oppression of women, the suicide bombings that kill children?...

The NATO chief’s recent statements are only the latest in his two-pronged campaign to bring the transatlantic military alliance on the same page on the question of China. In one respect, he is attempting to convince Washington its NATO allies can still be an asset to the United States far away from the European continent. Simultaneously, Stoltenberg has the unenviable task of convincing all 27 European Union NATO members, with divergent geopolitical environments and security priorities, that they should view China as a “systemic challenge....

More than 100,000 ordinary moms will spend this Mother’s Day at the Mall–as in Lincoln and Jefferson, not Baby Gap. Even more–perhaps a million in all–will march in local demonstrations against gun violence in more than 60 cities. Their message to Congress: give us new gun laws, or suffer in November. The emergence of guns as a key issue for suburban women–“soccer moms” like Betsy Storm–marks a pivotal moment for the gun-control movement....

Of 1,018 U.S. adults asked by Gallup what living man they admire most, 18 percent responded with the commander-in-chief. Trump ranked above his predecessor Barack Obama, 15 percent, and President-elect Joe Biden, 6 percent. In a year where his work grew to heightened prominence amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 3 percent opted for Dr. Anthony Fauci. Among Republican respondents, 48 percent opted for Trump. Obama was the top choice for Democrats at 32 percent....

The assertion is the most direct indication from the House select committee that it’s determined Trump and his inner circle illegally sought to overturn the election. The committee also said there is also evidence linking Trump and his allies to rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol while Congress was certifying the election. Lawyers for the committee made the claims Wednesday in a filing as part of an ongoing lawsuit from Trump adviser John Eastman that seeks to block the probe’s efforts to compel him turn to over documents....

Trump issued a statement on Wednesday criticizing McConnell for supporting the bill and calling him an “old crow,” while McConnell again said that the upcoming 2022 midterm elections would likely be “about the future and not the past.” The former president has repeatedly criticized McConnell since leaving office and ratcheted up that criticism as McConnell came out in support of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. McConnell was one of just 19 Republicans who voted to approve the bill in August when it passed in the Senate....

Trump will be at the Adams County Fairgrounds in Mendon, Illinois, in support of GOP candidates he’s endorsed in the Midwestern state. Parking opened at 8 a.m. CT, with entrance to the venue as well as the entertainment commencing at 2 p.m. The former president is scheduled to deliver his remarks at 7 p.m., while the event will be broadcasted live on the Right Side Broadcasting Network’s social media channels....

Outtakes of video that Trump made the day after his supporters ransacked the Capitol, on January 7, 2021, were shown during a primetime hearing of the committee on Thursday night. They showed that Trump had difficulty saying the rioters “broke the law” and was unwilling to admit the election had ended more than two months after Election Day. “To those who broke the law, you will pay. You do not represent our movement, you do not represent our country and if you broke the law … I can’t say that,” Trump said during the outtakes....

“He will give out words, but there’s nothing behind it and that was revealed last night,” Woodward told MSNBC’s Morning Joe. The veteran journalist and author said he became familiar with these behaviors while writing his book Rage, for which Trump granted Woodward 18 recorded interviews. The book, released earlier this month, revealed that Trump had purposefully downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic to the American people. More than 200,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U....

On Monday, Fauci—director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief science adviser for President Joe Biden—said he supported the possible creation of a federal mandate that would require domestic air travelers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. “When you make vaccination a requirement, that’s another incentive to get more people vaccinated,” Fauci said during a Monday morning appearance on the MSNBC news program Morning Joe....

There is no dispute that the witness with the most material knowledge of the facts surrounding the alleged shakedown of Ukraine is Donald J. Trump. Indeed, he claims that his July 25th call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was “perfect” and that he did nothing wrong. The problem for Trump is that his lies and obfuscation cannot withstand a vigorous cross-examination of the facts. These inconvenient facts include use of his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to wage a concerted campaign to pressure Ukraine into publicly announcing investigations into the Bidens; Trump’s documented lack of interest in corruption in Ukraine as opposed to singling out the Bidens for his own political gain; Trump’s direction to withhold the appropriated funds from Ukraine; and his public admissions about seeking election assistance from foreign governments....

“If Liz Cheney loses tonight, the Fake News Media will do everything within their power to play it down and pretend that it was not a referendum on the Unselects - That it was no big deal,” Trump wrote Tuesday afternoon on his social media platform Truth Social. “Actually, it would be a very big deal, one of the biggest!” Cheney, a vocal critic of the former president since the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, is up against a formidable reelection this year....

The former president on Thursday lashed out in a post to his Truth Social network after the DOJ signaled it would appeal a judge’s approval of a special master that has said it will slow its investigation of Trump’s alleged hoarding of classified documents. The appeal is the latest in the legal wrangling following the FBI’s court-approved search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August. “So now the FBI & Biden Department of ‘Justice’ leakers are going to spend Millions of Dollars, & vast amounts of Time & Energy, to appeal the Order on the ‘Raid of Mar-a-Lago Document Hoax,’ by a brilliant and courageous Judge whose words of wisdom rang true throughout our Nation, instead of fighting the record setting corruption and crime that is taking place right before their very eyes,” Trump said in the post....

“We love you Prez Trump. Happy Valentine’s Day. MP?” read a banner flown by a plane over Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence and members-only holiday resort in Florida. The author of the message was a long-time Trump supporter from San Antonio named only as Marie by CBS12 News. She told the station that she wanted to remind Trump that he is loved. The former Republican president has had a testy week. The Senate voted to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial, where he was accused of inciting rioters who stormed the Capitol building in Washington D....

The civil suits filed by Capitol Police officer Marcus Moore and Metropolitan Police Department Officers Bobby Tabron and DeDivine K. Carter are the latest in a number of legal complaints against the former president in connection to the attack at the Capitol. Trump became the first president in history to be impeached twice for allegedly inciting the riot after spending weeks falsely claiming the 2020 Election was rigged against him....

Trump initially announced his intent to nominate Rowland, 57, back in June 2018. But the vote on her appointment stalled, along with several others, even though she sailed through her Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and got a “well qualified” rating from the American Bar Association. She was unanimously approved by a voice vote on July 31 and now awaits her judicial commission. A magistrate judge since 2012, Rowland was previously a partner in a Chicago law firm and spent a decade working in the federal public defender’s office....

Trump opened his speech at a Friday night rally in Las Vegas by memorializing Abe, who died after being shot during a speech in Japan on Friday morning, while the song known for its refrain of “I’m proud to be an American” played loudly in the background. The former president’s tribute was at times difficult to decipher due to the music, which played for approximately 30 seconds as Trump spoke....

Questions about the state of the president’s health had been swirling since Trump’s positive diagnosis for COVID-19 in October. Trump was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment. After a three-day-long stay, Trump returned to the White House causing some observers to point out that Trump had not followed the self-quarantine guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). White House spokespeople have not divulged when Trump last tested negative for the coronavirus....

The attack followed Barr’s Fox News appearance on Friday, during which he said the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid was likely “reasonable” based on the available evidence. Barr also said if Trump mass-declassified secret documents, as he has claimed, that would be “almost worse than taking the documents.” FBI investigators searched Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida private members club, on August 8 and removed 20 boxes of documents. The former president is being investigated for potentially breaking several federal laws, including the Espionage Act, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail....