Outside the Beltway

European alliance and Russian goals edition.

Dan Coates, the Director of National Intelligence, has issued a strong warning that has received little attention.

Former Trump Campaign Director Paul Manafort has been hit with a new round of charges.

Donald Trump hinted that he’s considering a pardon for Muhammad Ali, but Ali doesn’t need a pardon.

Trump’s suggestion to include Russia again in a new G-8 makes me wonder about a couple of things.

As he headed to the G-7 Summit, President Trump threw our ostensible allies another curve.

The plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill appears to be running up against President Trump’s bizarre affinity for Andrew Jackson.

The actions of the Trump administration are helping Russian-EU relations (to the detriment of the US).

The arguments in favor of a permanent U.S./NATO base in Poland are not very convincing.

More than a decade ago, Donald Trump revealed one of his secrets to success. Exhaust your enemies. It explains much of what has happened since he took office.

Based on a strict reading of the Constitution, a sitting President probably does have the power to pardon himself. That doesn’t mean he should be allowed to get away with it without consequence.

Echoing the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration is arguing that it did not need Congressional authorization to attack Syria earlier this year.

President Trump’s attorneys have put forward a shockingly expansive view of the powers of the President.

A long-overdue overhaul of the way the United States vets those who access classified information is underway.

President Trump has issued another controversial pardon.

President Trump is claiming that he didn’t fire former F.B.I. Director James Comey because of the Russia investigation, even though he admitted the exact opposite just weeks after it happened.

In an early morning Tweetstorm, President Trump said he would not have hired Jeff Sessions if he knew he’d recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

The Republican Governor of Missouri is resigning amid growing accusations related to an extramarital affair, blackmail, and sexual assault.

The President’s constant attacks on the news media are meant for a single purpose, to undermine even accurate reporting about wrongdoing in his Administration.

With the President’s “Spygate” allegations standing largely discredited, his attorney and at the moment chief spokesperson Rudy Giuliani admits that the entire conspiracy theory was created to discredit the Mueller investigation.

Donald Trump chose to mark Memorial Day by talking about himself.

Poland makes the U.S. and NATO an offer they might want to consider refusing.

This President lies on a daily basis. It’s time to start calling him what he is.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a bombastic speech on Iran yesterday that reveals just how empty and dangerous the Trump Administration’s policy toward Iran actually is.

For decades, it was the preeminent brand in American journalism. Now its pieces are being sold at bargain rates.

Russia wasn’t the only nation that sent people to meet with Trump Campaign officials at Trump Tower back in 2016 regarding assistance to the Trump Campaign.

As expected, Gina Haspel was confirmed as C.I.A. Director yesterday despite her controversial record when it comes to torture.

The Mueller investigation turns one year old today and, despite the arguments of Trump and his supporters, there’s no sign that it will be coming to an end in the near future.

Backing up the nation’s intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a preliminary statement that it had concluded that Russia sought to aid Donald Trump’s campaign in the 2016 Presidential election.

President Trump’s latest financial disclosure finally acknowledges that he reimbursed Michael Cohen for the payoff to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has released a treasure trove of documents related to the June 2016 meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer, and they raise far more questions than they answer.

With a third Democrat crossing the aisle to support her, Gina Haspel now has the votes she needs to become the next C.I.A. Director.

Quietly, Mike Pence is seeking to create his own power base inside the GOP even as the White House pushes back.

The Generic Congressional Ballot has tightened in some recent polls, but on average the battle for control of Congress continues to favor Democrats.

President Trump’s decision to violate the terms of the nuclear deal with Iran could be a turning point in relations between the United States and its most important allies, and not in a good way.

While longtime supporters have turned on the legendary attorney over his support of Donald Trump, he’s been astonishingly consistent.

Mike Pence’s obsequiousness to his master knows no limits.

Gina Haspel faced some tough questions from Democrats regarding her role in the C.I.A.’s post-9/11 torture programs, but she’s likely to be confirmed anyway.

For Donald Trump and his supporters, “Fake News” means any news that doesn’t shower enough praise on him.

New documents reveal that the Limited Liability Company that paid off Stormy Daniels also received payments from a company linked to a Russian oligarch.

Some good news from North Korea.

As expected, President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran. There was no rational basis for doing so.

Rudy Giuliani is basically now suggesting that his client would be willing to set off a Constitutional crisis that would make Watergate seem like a picnic.

With the start of her confirmation hearings just days away, Gina Haspel’s nomination to be C.I.A. Director is by no means secure.

Seven years after deactivation, the U.S. Second Fleet will be patrolling the North Atlantic again.

The facts in the Stormy Daniels affair continue to move in a direction that doesn’t look good for the President.

Rudy Giuliani tried to clean up the mess he created for his client earlier this week. He failed miserably.

President Trump has told an astonishingly large number of lies since taking office.

In addition to his admissions about the Stormy Daniels matter, Rudy Giuliani also confirmed what we’ve known for awhile, that James Comey was fired because of the Russia investigation.