Outside the Beltway

The House Intelligence Committee’s report is being touted as vindication by the Trump Administration and its supporters. It’s not.

A Federal Judge in California has placed the Stormy Daniels civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and Michael Cohen on hold due largely to the ongoing criminal investigation pending against Cohen.

Michael Cohen will invoke his rights under the Fifth Amendment in response to any questions asked in discovery in the civil suit filed against him by Stormy Daniels. That’s really the only option he has.

As expected, a Republican won the Special Election in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, but it’s not a win Republicans should really be celebrating.

With just over six months to go before the 2018 elections, the storm clouds are starting to gather for the Republican Party.

The Democratic National Committee has filed a lawsuit alleging a wide-ranging conspiracy to influence the 2016 election. As a legal document, it appears to be little more than a political stunt.

The highest ranking Democrat in the Senate has introduced a bill that would effectively decriminalize marijuana nationwide and leave it up to each state to decide how far they wish to go with regard to cannabis regulation. It’s a huge step in the right direction.

Barbara Bush, only the second woman in history to be the wife and mother of a U.S. President, has died at the age of 92.

Some Republicans are suggesting that Paul Ryan should be pushed out as Speaker before the November elections.

Mark Zuckerberg’s second day before Congress was somewhat more contentious than the first, but at the end of the day it’s still unclear that more regulation is the answer to the issues raised by recent Facebook “scandals.”

John Boehner is now pro-weed. The world just keeps getting weirder, man.

Paul Ryan won’t be running for re-election this year, opening up both a Congressional seat and a leadership spot.

Late last week, Hawaii became the seventh state and eighth major American jurisdiction to legalize assisted suicide.

In a move apparently connected to the Stormy Daniels affair, Federal authorities have raided the office of longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

Republicans are raising the fear of impeachment to motivate a base that could become disaffected heading into November.

President Trump’s call for National Guard troops isn’t going over well even with Republican Governors.

Yet more troubling news about the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

Old-fashioned notions of journalistic neutrality are chafing young reporters in the Age of Trump.

The woman who wounded three people at the video company before killing herself posted insane rants all over social media.

New York and nearly two dozen other jurisdictions have filed a lawsuit seeking to bar the Trump Administration from asking about citizenship in the 2020 Census.

He cooperated with the FBI. He was arrested by ICE.

Stephon Clark died after being shot eight times in the back and side by police in Sacramento. So far, the authorities haven’t acted.

If you recall your grade school civics, you already knew this.

California has pushed back quickly against the Trump Administration’s decision to include a question regarding citizenship in the 2020 Census.

Normally attorneys would be jumping at the chance to represent the President of the United States. With Donald Trump, the lawyers are distancing themselves from him as fast as they can.

Critics warn this move would lead to a drastic undercount of Hispanic voters, impacting Congressional districting, federal programs, and more.

Organizing protests was the easy part. The hard part for those who would seek to expand gun regulations is yet to come.

President Trump is not being bold on drugs. Instead, he is just recycling old, failed idea.

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal is suing the publisher of the National Enquirer for the right to tell her story of an alleged affair with President Trump in 2006.

The Supreme Court appears ready to strike down a California law requiring Crisis Pregnancy Centers to provide information on abortion.

We don’t yet have enough information to assign blame here. Naturally, that’s not stopping anyone.

Attorneys for the Defendants in the lawsuit filed by Stormy Daniels, including the President, have removed the case to Federal Court and are claiming that Daniels owes $20 million for her alleged breaches of a settlement agreement.

Conor Lamb’s win in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District has set off an inevitable debate inside the Democratic Party about how to approach the upcoming midterm elections.

A new bombshell allegation in the Stormy Daniels affair.

Lizbeth Mateo, an attorney and immigrant rights activist, will serve on a California board helping disadvantaged students.

The Stormy Daniels/Donald Trump story will break open wide on 60 Minutes next weekend.

By all accounts, Gina Haspel is exceedingly well qualified to be the next C.I.A. Director, but she has a troubling past that the Senate will need to at least force her to answer questions about.

Ending an investigation that was flawed and tainted with partisanship from the start, the House Intelligence Committee has abruptly concluded its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

What the heck is going on in Kentucky and Tennessee?

Maryland’s legislature is considering a law that would require candidates for President to release their tax returns. It’s probably not Constitutional.

The Federal Government has fired another shot in the ongoing war over so-called “sanctuary cities.”

The Eagles had an all-time hit with this song in 1978. Alas, this isn’t it.

POLITICO buries the lede in making the case for “Donald Trump’s bubble presidency.”

Responsible governance from the Golden State?

Once again, the Administration is walking back the President’s statements on a controversial issue.

President Trump appeared to change positions on several gun control ideas, but he probably doesn’t mean it.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case pitting the First Amendment against the right of states to regulate elections.

A Federal Judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to invalidate Federal laws against marijuana use and possession.

Despite the activism we’ve seen in the wake of the school shooting in Florida, it’s unlikely that we’ll see significant Congressional action on guns.

As with any such discretionary power given to police, it will surely be abused. But the Parkland shooting was yet another in a long line of situations where obvious “red flags” were ignored until it was too late.