Politics

WASHINGTON — Nexstar Media Group, which recently announced plans to acquire Tribune Media and become the largest owner of TV stations in the country, has settled with the Justice Department as it investigates broadcasters’ sharing of competitive advertising rate information with rivals. Six other station groups, including Tribune Media, reached a settlement with the DOJ

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors said National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media, admitted that it made a $150,000 payment to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal “to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations” about Donald Trump in advance of the 2016 presidential election. AMI’s admission could bolster any case prosecutors make against Trump for violating

WASHINGTON — The FCC will review whether to modify or even eliminate a series of media ownership proposals, including a current ban on mergers among the four major broadcast networks. The review, mandated by Congress every four years, includes no specific policy proposals, but will take public comment on whether changes are warranted. The FCC will

WASHINGTON — As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg watched Focus Features and Participant Media’s “On the Basis of Sex” for the first time at a National Archives screening in Washington, D.C., she got big applause for how she described her wellbeing after suffering a fall last month. “I’m feeling just fine, and I am meeting my

Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of charges, including a campaign finance violation in which he implicated President Trump. In an appearance in a New York federal court before his sentencing, Cohen said that he was sorry for his crimes, explaining that when he served as

WASHINGTON — Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai made it through a 3.5-hour hearing before the House Judiciary Committee free of committing the company to new business practices or behavior. He didn’t even promise not to pursue a censored search engine in China, even as human rights groups have called on the company to abandon the project.

Time selected Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Philippine editor Maria Ressa, jailed Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Md. as the magazine’s Person of the Year, recognizing the journalists as “guardians” at a time of a “war on truth.” “In its highest forms, influence — the measure that has for nine

WASHINGTON — White House Chief of Staff John Kelly will leave his post toward at the end of the year, President Trump told reporters on Saturday. Kelly has long been rumored to be on his way out. At one point, Trump announced that Kelly would stay in his post through 2020, but that didn’t end

WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team said Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, lied about his contacts with Trump administration figures, breaching his plea agreement. “Manafort told multiple discernible lies — these were not instances of mere memory lapses,” Mueller’s team said in a filing on Friday. Much of the filing was

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, should get a “substantial term” in prison, even as he has been assisting with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The recommendations were outlined in a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in New

WASHINGTON — William Barr, Donald Trump’s choice for the next attorney general, earlier this year questioned whether the Antitrust Division’s motivation for attempting to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner was political. Barr, who served as attorney general under George H.W. Bush, has been a member of the Time Warner board of directors.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he will nominate William Barr as his next attorney general. Barr served in that post during George H.W. Bush’s administration from 1991 to 1993. “He was my first choice since day one,” Trump told reporters. Matthew Whitaker has been acting attorney general for the past month, but has faced

WASHINGTON — Jane Hinckley Halprin will serve as the FCC’s new administrative law judge, succeeding Richard Sippel, who has been in the post for 32 years. Halprin’s appointment could have an impact on Sinclair Broadcast Group. In July, the FCC referred Sinclair’s proposed merger with Tribune Media to the judge, on the claim that the

WASHINGTON — AT&T’s merger with Time Warner faced a new round of judicial scrutiny on Thursday as a three-judge panel weighed whether there were clear errors in a district court decision that cleared the way for the transaction. The panel — Judith Rogers, a Clinton appointee; Robert L. Wilkins, an Obama appointee; and David Sentelle,

WASHINGTON — George H.W. Bush was eulogized as a president who put country over party, humility over boastfulness, and who bridged divisions in the name of pragmatism and friendship, at a state funeral that at times implicitly presented a contrast to the current political moment. There was no reference to today’s toxicity in politics, as

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will gather with his former predecessors at Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday for the state funeral of George H.W. Bush, an event likely to emphasize the 41st president’s decency and grace at a time when politics has gotten more tribal and polarized. Prince Charles and other world figures are also

WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is recommending that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn get a lesser sentence, including one that does not include jail time, citing his cooperation with the ongoing investigation into possible collusion between Russian sources and the Trump campaign. “Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth

WASHINGTON — Michael Avenatti said he would not run for president in 2020, after considering what would have undoubtedly been a pugnacious bid to defeat Donald Trump. “After consultation with my family and at their request, I have decided not to seek the Presidency of the United States in 2020. I do not make this

WASHINGTON — George H.W. Bush’s casket was placed in the center of the Capitol Rotunda in a solemn ceremony on Monday evening to honor the 41st president, who died on Friday at 94. Family members, former Bush cabinet members, and senators and representatives gathered to mourn Bush. His son, former President George W. Bush, placed his

WASHINGTON — Nexstar Media Group’s proposed acquisition of Tribune Media, which would make it a broadcast giant with more than 200 stations, got a chilly reception from a key House Democrat expected to lead an antitrust subcommittee when the party takes control in the next Congress. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) said in a statement the

WASHINGTON — The FCC’s inspector general has found no evidence that chairman Ajit Pai concealed or covered up his contact with the White House regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed merger with Tribune Media. At issue was a conversation that Pai had with then-White House Counsel Don McGahn on July 17, the day after Pai proposed

Inimai M. Chettiar, J.D. is the director of the Brennan Center’s justice program, whose priority initiative is ending mass incarceration while keeping the country safe. She conceived and edited “Solutions: American Leaders Speak Out on Criminal Justice,” a collection of policy agendas from 2016 presidential candidates and other national leaders. Chettiar is a graduate of

Rudy Valdez is a Michigan-raised, Brooklyn-based filmmaker. He got his start as a camera operator on the Peabody Award-winning Sundance Channel series “Brick City,” and has worked as a cinematographer for such directors and producers as Sebastian Junger, Whoopi Goldberg, Geeta Gandbhir and Sam Pollard. Ten years in the making, Rudy’s directorial debut “The Sentence”

The first season of “Serial,” the explosively popular podcast from investigative reporters Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder, told the story of Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee, the 18-year-old high school student murdered and left in the woods of Maryland. Syed, her ex-boyfriend, was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to life plus 30

WASHINGTON — President Trump praised former President George H.W. Bush as a man whose “accomplishments were great from beginning to end,” even though he has had at times a chilly relationship with Bush’s sons, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “President George H.W. Bush led a long, successful and beautiful

WASHINGTON — Tom Hanks, among the honorees for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation’s inaugural Heroes and History Makers gala, didn’t hesitate when a reporter asked him whether he’d talk to President Donald Trump about caregivers for veterans. Of course. “In order to help our wounded veterans and the caregivers that are working so hard to take care of

WASHINGTON — Chris Dodd collected $3.4 million in base salary and bonus in his final year at the MPAA, and almost $500,000 in additional compensation, according to newly released documents submitted to the IRS. Dodd, the MPAA’s former chairman and CEO, who left the organization at the end of 2017, had base compensation of $3,164,703

WASHINGTON — The drumbeat of activity surrounding Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation continued on Thursday, as President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen plead guilty to making false statements to Congress about his attempts to secure a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen entered the plea in a New York federal

November 28, 2018 1:20PM PT WASHINGTON — Democrats nominated Nancy Pelosi to be the next Speaker of the House, but she will need to convince a significant number of dissenters to back her bid for leadership when elections are held as the next Congress convenes on Jan. 3. The closed-door vote among the Democratic caucus

November 28, 2018 12:46PM PT WASHINGTON — President Trump is not ruling out a pardon for Paul Manafort, who is facing lengthy jail time for fraud and other criminal charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. “It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table. Why would I take it off the