Russia investigation

The retiring senator is threatening to block advancement of judicial nominees.

A Democratic takeover of the House will change things.

Plus: Patrick Mahomes already looks like a star. And what's with Rudy Giuliani doing one job when he's listed as having a million of them?

Plus: Patrick Mahomes already looks like a star. And what's with Rudy Giuliani doing one job when he's listed as having a million of them?

Trump's former campaign manager pleads guilty to two different conspiracy counts before his second trial.

When Christopher Steele was hired to compile his “dossier” on Donald Trump in 2016, he already had an extensive history of presenting private intelligence analysis to U.S. policymakers. The former British spy had for years been funneling reports on Russia and Ukraine to senior State Department…

Exaggerating the threat from Moscow.

Huh?

Lanny Davis, Michael Cohen, and the Steele dossier.

Hey, is that the Rubicon?

On the special counsel, presidential pardons, and impeachment, the most important decisions will be rendered not by judges or senators but by the American people

Trump's anger about the Mueller investigation will make any meeting counterproductive.

The Justice Department has charged 12 Russian officials with hacking the DNC. Matt Tait helped shine a light on their meddling in 2016.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Schumer-led effort calls on Trump to refuse Putin's request to interview Americans.

Anchor Chris Wallace even attempted to hand the Russian head of state a hard copy of the recent indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers in the Mueller probe.

Donald Trump’s atrocious performance in Helsinki shows that nothing positive he might do is worth the downside.

The Donald Trump presidency somehow reaches a new low.

The indictment does much to confirm that Russians meddled in the 2016 election.

The disgraced FBI agent's high-minded self-defense is hard to take seriously, but Republicans present no evidence that he did anything to stop Trump.

Former FBI official to testify before the House judiciary and oversight committees.

His relationship with James Comey could present problems.

The special counsl uncovered evidence that Manafort had attempted to tamper with potential witnesses.

Trump former campaign manager attempted to tamper with witnesses, according to a new court filing.

White House press secretary faced several questions Monday after the NYT reported that Trump's legal team said he did dictate the statement.

In many ways, Thursday’s classified Justice Department briefing was the culmination of a year’s work for House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes. For months, Nunes has been demanding that the Justice Department turn over information documenting how and why they first began to investigate…

President Donald Trump persists in vulgarly describing long-time Cambridge professor Stefan Halper as a “spy.” Not so, insists official Washington—not because the old don wasn’t working to get secret information as part of an FBI counter-intelligence operation, but because spy is the wrong word.…

The Justice Department and House Republicans achieve détente Thursday.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Analyzing a former Trump aide’s claim.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Last week, for the first time in months, it looked like President Donald Trump and his legal team might be inching back toward a strategy of cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. According to presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani,…

The special counsel is everything we want in a public servant, but Americans need to see a conclusion.

The vice president calls for an end to the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling.

Michael Cohen's alleged misdeeds are lamer than collusion—and worse.

Gaming out Congress's role in continuing the investigation—if it comes to that.

The House speaker credits Trump administration's pressure campaign for progress with Kim regime.

Also, the president should think long and hard before sitting down with the special counsel.

How that might have been the act that got us the special counsel investigation.

Constitutional concerns were at the center of some conservatives' opposition.

There remains a divide within the Trump administration about the goals and aims of the planned tariffs on Chinese imports. In the new issue of the magazine, I explore this tension between free-traders and protectionists within the White House, but I start by looking at the public comments, required…

It's time for the FBI to release them.

When outgoing FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired on the eve of his retirement last month, many Democrats protested that he was being cheated out of his pension for purely political reasons. But the administration’s official line—that McCabe had been fired for “lack of candor” after lying…

Former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele used to be Mr. Chatty when it came to the allegations of Russia-Trump collusion he had assembled. In the months before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Steele talked with the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Yahoo News,…

President Trump announced on Twitter Wednesday afternoon that he was firing Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin and plans to nominate Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson to head the department. Shulkin is the third Trump Cabinet official to be fired.

As special counsel Robert Mueller prepares for a potential climactic interview with President Trump, his team continues to bore into potential links between Russian intelligence and Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. In new court documents filed Wednesday, Mueller is asserting the…

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, Jonathan V. Last and Michael Warren discuss the 60 Minutes interview of Stormy Daniels, March Madness and why Duke losing is good for America, the Russia investigation, and JVL's night at the Playboy Mansion.

The House Intelligence Committee voted on party lines Thursday to begin the declassification process for a GOP-led report that Republicans say caps the panel’s yearlong investigation into 2016 Russian election interference.

Top lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian election interference on Tuesday marked the end of a critical portion of their probe focused on election security, and offered up a preview of the panel’s recommendations to counter foreign meddling in the midst of the 2018…

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe—sacked on the eve of his retirement after allegedly leaking information to a reporter and then misleading investigators about it—has acquired a pair of wildly divergent reputations. In Trumpworld, McCabe is a hack whose partisan actions during the Clinton…

The House Intelligence Committee majority announced Monday that, having found no evidence of collusion between Trump and the Russians, they are wrapping up the information-gathering part of their Russia probe. “We will now be moving into the next phases of this investigation,” said Rep. Mike…

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said Monday that they did not find any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Kremlin in a more than yearlong probe of 2016 Russian election interference.

Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide recently subpoenaed by the Mueller probe, said Monday he would refuse to testify before the special counsel’s grand jury or turn over requested communications with other members of the Trump campaign.

Michael Warren is on vacation this week, and Andrew Egger is filling in for him on White House Watch. Michael will be back in the saddle on March 12.

Say what you will about Paul Manafort (and you can say a lot): He’s no quitter. Pundits proclaimed Manafort’s goose cooked last week after his former business partner and co-defendant Richard Gates fessed up to the battery of crimes of which special counsel Robert Mueller has accused them,…

Last week’s latest indictments by special counsel Robert Mueller added dozens of new counts to the charges already leveled against former Trump campaign manager, lobbyist Paul Manafort and his disloyal deputy Rick Gates, who pleaded guilty late last week. Manafort, arraigned Wednesday morning,…

Donald Trump’s job approval rating may be heading downward.

Reporting on the Mueller indictment, the New York Times headlined its article, in typical Gray Lady fashion, “Moscow’s Hand Swirled in U.S., but Whether It Tipped Election Is Unclear.” Presumably, an election victory due to the machinations of a foreign “hand” can hardly produce a legitimate…

Update, 9:36 p.m.: Manafort attorney Jason Maloni emails in the following statement "on behalf of Paul Manafort:

Special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians on Friday for their efforts to interfere with the U.S. political process. In the days since, President Donald Trump has taken to Twitter, pushing back hard on suggestions that his campaign colluded with the Kremlin, denying that he said Russia…

We have reached a point—in fact, we probably reached it a while ago—where it is no longer useful to speak of “the Russia scandal” as though there exists a fixed, agreed-upon definition of it.

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, editor in chief Stephen F. Hayes discusses what the recent Mueller indictments mean. Also, Charlie and Steve discuss America's best and worst presidents, in honor of Washington's birthday.

Donald Trump spent a big chunk of the Sunday before Presidents Day tweeting—about the Mueller investigation, the “fake news” media, and NASCAR. But in one tweet, Trump highlighted new poll numbers. And they weren’t even his own!

“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.” That, of course, was President Barack Obama's rather lame joke, delivered during the third presidential debate of 2012. He was ridiculing Mitt Romney’s assertion that Russia is America’s…

The Russia-probe indictments announced Friday certainly sound quite ominous. The Russia-based Internet Research Agency “had a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election.” Derogatory information was posted online against various…

In his first public indictment of 2018, special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday announced charges against 13 Russian nationals and three organizations for conspiring in secret to destabilize America’s political institutions.

Two of the top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are calling on former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice to explain an “unusual email” she sent on the day of President Trump’s inauguration.

If ever a snare were set for a conspiracy theorist, it would most certainly be the "Steele dossier" released for public consumption by BuzzFeed in January of last year, alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. It has the perfect ingredients for a conspiracy: opposition…

On Tuesday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD noted multiple media outlets were were confirming the existence of a second anti-Trump "dossier" authored by Cody Shearer, a longtime associate of the notorious Sidney Blumenthal, who as a very checkered history of finding himself at the center of Clinton scandals…

The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to publicly release a Democratic memo intended to counter a now-public Republican document that alleges surveillance abuses against a former Trump campaign adviser.

The House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote Monday on publicly releasing a memo that Democrats say rebuts a Republican document alleging surveillance abuses that was released Friday.

Donald Trump says the House Intelligence committee memo on the FBI’s application to surveil an associate of his campaign “totally vindicates” him in the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The memo, authored by Republican Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes, does…

Republicans and Democrats are at odds over the Trump administration's decision Monday to hold off on new sanctions that target Russia’s intelligence and defense sectors.

The Word of God Online has some fake news it would like to share.

The House Intelligence Committee is set to meet Monday evening amid a heated a party-line battle over a secret, GOP-drafted memo that Republicans want released publicly. A committee aide told THE WEEKLY STANDARD ahead of the meeting that a vote on releasing the memo publicly is “possible.”

Donald Trump very nearly had the special counsel investigating him fired, until the top White House lawyer told the president he would resign rather than give the order to the Justice Department. That’s the gist of the latest bombshell story from the New York Times, which reports President Trump…

Special counsel Robert Mueller spent much of 2017 making quiet progress in his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but that has changed in the new year. Mueller’s team has interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, will soon meet with former White House strategist Steve…

The pace of all things Trump and Russia is accelerating. Every day comes news of either campaign or administration workers having been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, or new revelations about the content of intra-office FBI text messages—or the news that many such messages…

The House Intelligence Committee is now home to dueling memos over alleged surveillance abuses related to the 2016 election. Democrats on the committee have crafted their own secret document in response to a Republican-drafted memo that outlines alleged FBI misconduct against the Trump team, as…

Top House Republicans met Saturday amid mounting calls for the release of a memo about alleged surveillance abuses by federal officials, a document that Democrats describe as a partisan stunt meant to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller.

Another week means another round of questions about Russian interference for associates of the Trump campaign. Fox News reports that on Tuesday, former White House adviser Steve Bannon will testify before the House Intelligence committee. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is also…

Like any dutiful Washington swamp creature, I’ve spent the last few days holed up with Fire and Fury. Which is not, if you’ve been in news-cycle hibernation, the new fragrance from Ivanka. Rather, it is a book by Michael Wolff about life inside Mar-a-Lago North, aka the Trump White House.

Earlier this week, Senator Dianne Feinstein released some 315 pages of closed-door testimony by Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Fusion GPS was the firm paid by Democrats to compile the dossier alleging ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

After striking a conciliatory tone on immigration reform in a meeting with lawmakers Tuesday, President Trump returned to tougher line on Wednesday, insisting that any legislation reinstating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program must also include funding for a border wall.

After striking a conciliatory tone on immigration reform in a meeting with lawmakers Tuesday, President Trump returned to tougher line on Wednesday, insisting that any legislation reinstating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program must also include funding for a border wall.

Following the recent protests across Iran and the impending deadlines related to the nuclear deal, President Trump faces a few big choices this week—and on some of them, his staff in the White House still isn’t quite sure what he’s going to do.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling is continuing to tighten, with NBC News reporting Monday that Mueller has informed the White House that he will seek an interview with the president.

Capitol Hill Republicans are working to keep the focus of the Russia story on the dossier created by an opposition research firm hired by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, Fusion GPS. The dossier was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. Senate Judiciary…

Your must-read of the day comes from the New York Times, and it’s full of interesting details about special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. Michael Schmidt reports that Mueller has learned a lot of new information about the nature of Donald Trump’s decision-making in his first few months as…

Michael Wolff couldn’t have asked for better publicity. His new book, Fire and Fury, doesn’t officially come out until January 9, but its salacious revelations about the infighting within the Trump campaign, transition, and administration dominated the political news cycle Wednesday, including the…

As we prepare for 2018—which absolutely, positively, has to be better than 2017—we’ve followed the example of the great Chris Wallace and asked the TWS staff for predictions for next year along four vectors: politics, sports, entertainment, and foreign policy.

President Trump told reporters Sunday evening that he is not considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, whose investigation into Russian election meddling has been a constant irritant to the White House. At the same time, however, Trump and his allies are stepping up their campaign to…

Covering the Trump presidency has not always been the media’s finest hour, but even grading on that curve, the month of December has brought astonishing screwups. Professor and venerable political observer Walter Russell Mead tweeted on December 8, “I remember Watergate pretty well, and I don’t…

Before Rod Rosenstein began his testimony before the House Judiciary committee on Wednesday, a Justice Department source told me the deputy attorney general would be “calm and very well versed in the law.” Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, Rosenstein has overseen the FBI’s…

In May, when deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” we welcomed the news. So did the president. “As I…

The White House is currently insisting that President Donald Trump did not know in January that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russia, a felony for which he has pleaded guilty. But the administration’s own public statements, taken together,…

In the months since Robert Mueller began sniffing around the White House for evidence of electoral misbehavior, President Donald Trump has watched warily to see whether the special counsel would sift through his personal finances. In July, he told the New York Times such an action would amount to…

Here’s what most folks are overlooking on the issue of Michael Flynn’s guilty plea on Friday: Mueller’s exchange for Flynn’s cooperation may not primarily concern what the former national security adviser admitted to lying to the FBI about. Perhaps Mueller is looking to pin down President Trump or…

Former national security adviser Mike Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to knowingly making false statements to the FBI, making him the senior most Trump administration official to be charged in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging probe.

Special counsel Robert Mueller in mid-October issued a subpoena against the Trump campaign to obtain Russia-related documents from over a dozen campaign officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.