Washington – The U.S. economy slowed in the spring, and most analysts expect it to weaken further in the months ahead. Yet the main driver of growth — consumer spending — remains vigorous enough to keep the economy growing steadily if still modestly. Spending by households, which accounts for about 70% of economic growth, accelerated […]

A judge formally ended the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, but not without a final tribute to the women who spoke out against the financier. U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman took the procedural step of adding his initials to an order dismissing the indictment that charged the 66-year-old Epstein with conspiracy to […]

Struggling Democratic presidential candidates are facing the bad news that they are not among the 10 who have qualified for the next debate, a predicament that is likely to spell doom for their campaigns. Hours ahead of a midnight Wednesday deadline to qualify, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced she was dropping out of the […]

President Donald Trump says the U.S. plans to reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan to 8,600 and then will determine further drawdowns from there. Trump told Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show” on Thursday that the U.S. is “getting close” to making a deal with the Taliban, but that he’s not sure […]

The Justice Department’s inspector general says former FBI Director James Comey violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with President Donald Trump. The watchdog office says Comey broke FBI rules by giving a memo containing unclassified information to a friend with instructions to share the contents with a reporter. The office […]

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Wednesday retracted his story about supposed Russian ties to President Donald Trump’s finances and apologized for reporting it — just as Trump’s lawyer demanded. O’Donnell said, however, he still doesn’t know whether or not the story is true. His public pull-back unfolded quickly in the opening minute of “The Last Word,” […]

Impeach Trump? For Democrats, the answer is complicated. While more than 130 House Democrats — more than half the caucus — have come out in favor of an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, according to a tally by The Associated Press, those numbers don’t reflect the whole story. The number of Democrats who would […]

Authorities said Wednesday that they’ve dismantled a major drug-trafficking operation in northeast Kansas responsible for a college student’s fatal overdose in 2017, resulting in criminal charges against more than 50 people. Federal and local officials said they’ve been investigating trafficking in heroin, methamphetamines, the powerful opioid fentanyl and other drugs in the Manhattan area for […]

Beto O’Rourke’s campaign says it ejected a Breitbart News reporter from an event at a South Carolina college because it wanted to ensure that students felt “comfortable and safe.” Joel Pollak, the conservative web site’s senior editor-at-large, said a Benedict College campus police officer asked him to leave the site of a speech Tuesday by […]

Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand dropped out of the presidential race Wednesday, abruptly ending a campaign that once looked poised to ride strong #MeToo credentials to formidability but instead collapsed amid surprisingly low polling and major fundraising struggles. “I know this isn’t the result that we wanted,” the 52-year-old New York senator said in an online video […]