Ron Paul: The national drug war has failed

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark attended "secret meetings" Donald Trump held in the private residence of the White House, a top former aide said Friday on CNN.

Stephanie Grisham is uniquely positioned to understand the dynamics between the two halves of the White House during the Trump administration. When she served as White House press secretary and communications director, she worked in the West Wing under the chief of staff. But she then became chief of staff to First Lady Melania Trump, who has traditionally directed the East Wing, which is the White House's private residence.

On Friday, CNN reported that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has lost his patience with Republican House members demanding he appease them in return for electing him speaker down the line — and issued a threat to these members in a December meeting.

"The House Republican leader cast off his typically sunny demeanor during a December 8 meeting of the GOP conference to deliver a stern warning to his most raucous members: Quit trying to hold your vote for speaker over my head," reported Michael Warren and Melanie Zanona. "'He said, 'If any of you come to me and tell me that you're not going to vote for me unless I do something, I'm going to do exactly the opposite, even if I agree with you,'' said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who was there at the time. A second Republican member told CNN McCarthy punctuated his threat with, 'I mean it.'"

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday endorsed Jessica Cisneros' campaign to oust Rep. Henry Cuellar, a right-wing Democrat whose Texas home and office were raided this week as part of a sweeping federal investigation related to Azerbaijan and U.S. businessmen.

In an email, Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) team pointed to reporting that "the Department of Justice's Public Integrity unit is involved with the investigation—a unit that handles cases involving elected officials including campaign finance and corruption cases."