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WASHINGTON -- He's the true dark Joker, and I don't mean Joaquin Phoenix. The actor can't hold a candle to the president, a character whose lethal whims we fear in the new year.

Has Hollywood gone Washington, or has Washington gone Hollywood? That is the question.

The Academy Award nominations bestowed the biggest kiss on "Joker," a ...Read more

Joe Biden is picking up speed in Iowa and New Hampshire polls as the clear Democratic primary front-runner, yet President Donald Trump just threw a wrench -- or a drone -- at his foreign policy record. The president's assassination of Iran's top military commander in Iraq cracked open a messy egg in the Middle East, even as he awaits a Senate ...Read more

Hard rain's falling here in Washington as 2019 ends and the Newseum is closing to underline the dreary moment in time.

The showy museum of journalism, with the First Amendment emblazoned on its frontispiece, is over now, slinking into the shadows while a miscreant, proud hater of the press remains president of the United States.

That's pure ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- On the cusp of House impeachment, ye olde Capitol may quake on the cornerstone George Washington laid in 1800.

Inside, scores of hungry reporters run to catch sleepless members of Congress, finding politicians blessed with iron stamina. We try to stay cool under the chandeliers, operating on coffee and a shared sense that here and...Read more

WASHINGTON -- They kept it simple and solemn in the House late in fall: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

These are twin articles of impeachment now facing President Donald J. Trump, just announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Democratic chairmen, notably Reps. Adam Schiff of Los Angeles (House Intelligence Committee) ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Wise women elders are our nation's saving grace at a moment when democracy is in peril from the president. Thankfully, a critical mass has aged gracefully into power.

It's high irony, little noted, that women in high government posts are the principals opposing the forces of President Donald Trump.

A female senator, 70, is ...Read more

The turkey, Benjamin Franklin felt, should be America's national bird.

Philadelphia's dear old sage is making a comeback this holiday for other reasons as we baste the bird for Thanksgiving -- or impeachment.

You can't turn a corner in the Capitol without hearing someone speak Franklin's adage, "A republic, if you can keep it."

That's what ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- On the ides of November, one woman's voice hushed the noise of the House.

An imperfect world rarely gives us perfect opposites. Marie Yovanovitch and Gordon Sondland are such a pair, called on different days to appear in the House impeachment inquiry.

The woman, an expert career diplomat, faced unrest and crossfire in hardship ...Read more

The week in Washington began quietly, but you can feel the rustle of a gathering storm as the public phase of the House's impeachment inquiry opens Wednesday.

All the capital's main players are taking their places onstage for a grave turn of events that harkens back to Watergate. Congress, the White House, the Justice and State Departments, the...Read more

WASHINGTON -- When the country is divided and in crisis, as we are now, it's remarkable how one brave person can point the way forward.

In civil war or Civil War, that person may be unknown or wanted by law. Like the current whistleblower, legendary Harriet Tubman played a major role in saving American democracy.

The Underground Railroad ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- On an October night, we saw a scene straight out of Americana. A president went to a World Series baseball game and got booed by the ballpark. The crowd chanted, "Lock him up," as if to remind President Donald Trump he faces impeachment in November.

The extraordinary third-inning moment was what Abraham Lincoln called a "public ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- You may wonder what the House and Senate, under that good-looking Capitol Dome, are truly like. Here's the way it is: They're like any unhappy American family but multiplied by 535.

In these times of sound and fury, strife and stress, with an impeachment inquiry hanging over the House, divided government is at work in a ...Read more