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TOPLINE Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has asked former President Donald Trump to testify before a grand jury investigating a hush money payment to a porn star in the final stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign, according to the New York Times, in a strong signal that an indictment against the ex-president is near. KEY FACTS It’s not clear if Trump will accept the offer, though it’s rare for prospective defendants to testify, according to the Times report, which cited four unnamed sources “with knowledge of the matter.” The case centers around a $130,000 payment then-Trump fixer Michael Cohen...

Information suggesting that Chinese spy balloons traveled over the continental United States during the Trump administration was "discovered after" former President Donald Trump left office, a senior administration official told Fox News. A defense official on Saturday said Chinese spy balloons briefly traveled over the United States at least three times during the Trump administration. ...on Sunday, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital that "U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration" assesses that "PRC (People's Republic of China) government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know...

Russia's two most senior lawmakers on Sunday addressed a string of complaints about Russia's mobilisation drive, ordering regional officials to get a handle on the situation and swiftly solve the "excesses" that have stoked public anger. President Vladimir Putin's move to order Russia's first military mobilisation since World War Two triggered protests across the country and seen flocks of military-age men flee, causing tailbacks at borders and flights to sell out. Multiple reports have also documented how people with no military service have been issued draft papers - contrary to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's guarantee that only those with special...

The United States has determined that Russia is suffering "severe manpower shortages" in its six-month-old war with Ukraine and has become more desperate in its efforts to find new troops to send to the front lines, according to a new American intelligence finding disclosed Wednesday. Russia is looking to address the shortage of troops in part by compelling soldiers wounded earlier in the war to return to combat, recruiting personnel from private security companies and even recruiting from prisons, according to a U.S. official who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss the downgraded intelligence finding....

More than six months of war in Ukraine have led to huge losses of manpower and military equipment of the terrorist state of Russia. By the end of this year, the Russian Federation will run out of shells for artillery and armored vehicles, there are also very few guided missiles, and the state of military aviation does not allow for a full-scale air campaign. According to the Insider, due to Western sanctions, Russia cannot continue full-fledged industrial production of weapons and replenish supplies that are rapidly being depleted. It is noted that the Arsenal left in the Russian Federation since...

Russian forces could be just weeks away from seizing control of the key Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine — as Ukrainian officials continued to appeal for more heavy weapons and ammunition from the West. An unnamed senior US defense official told The Washington Post that the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which have seen some of the fiercest battles in recent weeks, could fall to Russia in the coming days. Russia has been making steady gains in the strategically important Donbas region — comprised of Luhanks and Donetsk — by pounding the area with heavy artillery day after day and...

The Fox News host Sean Hannity tried to sell Donald Trump on a novel way to heal the wounds of his presidency and the deadly Capitol attack: a pardon for Hunter Biden. The bizarre idea was referred to in texts released by the House January 6 committee, which on Thursday held its first primetime televised hearing. In one message, Hannity told Kayleigh McEnany, then White House press secretary, Trump “was intrigued by the pardon idea!! (Hunter)”.

BREAKING: The Pentagon estimates that Russia has lost nearly 1,000 tanks, 350 artillery pieces, three dozen bomber fixed wing aircraft and over 50 helicopters in Ukraine

New York (Knewz) — Vladimir Putin’s cancer surgery will force him to hand over power in the Ukraine war “for days,” a “Kremlin insider” told the Daily Mail. Putin will reportedly put hardline Security Council head and ex-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev in power while he is dealing with surgery. Patrushev, 70, has played a big role in the Ukraine war thus far and convinced Putin that Kyiv is overrun by neo-Nazis, the Daily Mail reports. A year and a half ago, General SVR reported that Putin is suffering from abdominal cancer and Parkinson’s. The Daily Mail reports that Putin has...

Growing number of Kremlin insiders 'feel Ukraine invasion was a 'catastrophic' mistake and fear Putin could use NUKES... but Vladimir is dismissing all criticism of his plan' Kremlin insiders said Ukraine invasion will 'doom' Russia to years of isolation They warn Russia will be left with a crippled economy due to global sanctions It comes as Russian force's death toll rose to 20,900 according to Kyiv estimates A growing number of senior Kremlin insiders are said to feel Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine was a 'catastrophic' mistake, and fear the Russian strongman could resort to using nuclear weapons as Moscow's...

Russian forces are planning to begin public executions in an effort to break the morale of Ukrainians resisting their invasion, according to a European intelligence official who spoke with multiple U.S. news publications. The unnamed official, who spoke to Bloomberg, said the Russian government has devised plans to erode the morale of the Ukrainian people, who for a week now have held out against a full-scale Russian invasion force. The plan reportedly includes cracking down on protests, detaining opponents of Russia, and even carrying out public executions. Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin also tweeted that a European official...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly signaled support for impeachment, saying the Democrats’ move could help the GOP get rid of President Trump and his movement. The New York Times initially claimed that McConnell was “pleased” that House Democrats had introduced an article of impeachment against Trump. Fox News adds that multiple sources have confirmed McConnell is “done” and “furious” with the President. The Kentucky Republican, according to Fox, “told associates that impeachment will help rid the Republican Party of Trump and his movement.” McConnell’s anger, according to the article, stems not only from the way President Trump handled the...

President Donald Trump's political advisers have bluntly told him he can't win the November election if the campaign is about him, and for weeks they unsuccessfully urged him to pivot to a new strategy focused on his general election opponent, Joe Biden. Trump finally appeared to heed the advice Tuesday, although the setting and the tone of the political broadside may not have been what his advisers had envisioned. Trump's remarks, which mentioned Biden 31 times, were monotone, and the backdrop — the White House Rose Garden — was a break from longtime presidential efforts to separate official and re-election...

One of President Trump’s few major Silicon Valley backers in the 2016 campaign reportedly expects to abandon him in 2020. According to a Thursday evening report in the Wall Street Journal, venture capitalist Peter Thiel likely will sit out the race this time around because he sees the chance of a Trump victory as slim. The Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter” reported that Mr. Thiel “has soured” on the president’s prospects in recent weeks because of the state of the economy and expected double-digit unemployment in November. Mr. Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal Holdings, spoke at the Republican...

President Donald Trump was briefed less and less with warnings about Russia's behavior toward the US because he would get angry when presented with intelligence about it, CNN reported on Wednesday. Early in Trump's presidency, officials learned to limit their verbal briefings on the topic and would often see their written materials ignored, former administration officials told CNN's Jim Sciutto. "The president has created an environment that dissuades, if not prohibits, the mentioning of any intelligence that isn't favorable to Russia," a former senior national security staffer told CNN. John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, who started in May,...

Sources reporting that #NYPD Commissioner and Chief Of Department are resigning and between 300 and 800 officers are retiring immediately. https://twitter.com/JGilliam_SEAL/status/1269775545409187840

The Washington Post has another Christmas present for the President and, as usual, it’s in the form of a lump of coal in his stocking. Since there apparently isn’t anything new on Russia, Russia, Russia to report, this time it’s a claim that Trump was grumpy over comments made by Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch during his confirmation process and “considered” pulling the nomination. For nearly eight months, President Trump has boasted that appointing Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court ranks high among his signature achievements.But earlier this year, Trump talked about rescinding Gorsuch’s nomination, venting angrily...

Sources are reporting on an email letter focused on unseating Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent by Senate Conservatives Action, a political action committee. The letter was signed by the former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccineli, who is now president of the PAC. NBC reported that political operative, pundit, and author Roger Stone circulated the letter, which NBC reported on but did not include a link to or a copy of the letter. BC reported. “It calls McConnell a creature of the swamp.’ Jim Clayton, who writes for Conservative News Daily, reported on Monday that he was sent the letter,...

Defense Secretary James Mattis was caught off guard by President Trump's announcement that he was banning transgender people from serving in the military, according to a New York Times report. Mattis, who was on vacation at the time of Trump's decision, only had one day's worth of notice before Trump tweeted his announcement of the policy, the paper reported. The report described him as "appalled." Sources close to the Defense secretary told the Times that Mattis was infuriated by the tweets, and saw them as an insult to transgender Americans currently serving in the military. On Wednesday morning, Trump wrote...

BREAKING NEWS: SOURCES TELL FOX NEWS TRUMP TO NAME EXXON MOBIL CEO REX TILLERSON SECRETARY OF STATE