President Donald Trump is weighing at least four people to serve as his next chief of staff, after plans for an orderly succession for departing John Kelly fell through. The high-profile hiring search comes at a pivotal time as the president looks to prepare his White House for the twin challenges of securing his re-election and fending off inquiries once Democrats gain control of the House next year. Trump's top pick for the job, Nick Ayers, is out of the running and Trump is now soliciting input on at least four individuals, including Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Get More

Top House Democrats on Sunday raised the prospect of impeachment or almost-certain prison time for President Donald Trump if it's proved that he directed illegal hush-money payments to women, adding to the legal pressure on the president over the Russia investigation and other scandals. "There's a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time," said Rep. Adam Schiff, the incoming chairman of the House intelligence committee. "The bigger pardon question may come down the road as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump." Get More

China raised the pressure on the United States and Canada as a bail hearing for a top Chinese technology executive was set to resume Monday in Vancouver, British Columbia. A headline in a Communist Party newspaper called Canada's treatment of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, "inhumane." The Global Times editorial published in Monday's edition followed formal protests by the Chinese government to both Canada and the United States over the weekend. Meng was detained on Dec. 1 while changing planes in Vancouver. The U.S. wants her extradited. It alleges Huawei used a Hong Kong shell company to evade U.S. trade curbs on Iran. Get More

A disturbing video shows a group of police officers trying to pull a 1-year-old child from the arms of his mother, who is lying on the floor of a social services office in Brooklyn. The NYPD called the video "troubling" and said the encounter was under review. "No mother should have to experience the trauma and humiliation we all witnessed in this video,” Public Advocate and Attorney General-elect Letitia James said. Get More

The conservative writer and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi filed a lawsuit on Sunday accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of blackmailing him to lie about President Donald Trump in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, NBC News reported. The suit, which seeks $350 million in actual and punitive damages in U.S. District Court in Washington, was filed six days after Corsi entered a formal complaint with the Justice Department alleging prosecutorial misconduct by Mueller. Corsi, 72, the former Washington bureau chief of the conspiracy website InfoWars, accuses Mueller's office of having illegally leaked secret information from the grand jury investigating Russian election interference. Get More at NBC News

French President Emmanuel Macron is preparing to speak to the nation Monday at last, after increasingly violent and radicalized protests against his leadership and a long silence that aggravated the anger. Many protesters only want one thing: for him to declare "I quit." That's an unlikely prospect. Instead Macron is expected to announce a series of measures to reduce taxes and boost purchasing power for the masses who feel his presidency has favored the rich. He's being forced to act after four weeks of "yellow vest" protests that started in struggling provinces and spread to rioting in the capital that has scared tourists and foreign investors and shaken France to the core. Macron met Monday morning in his presidential palace with local and national politicians, unions and business leaders to hear their concerns. In the evening, he will give a national televised address, his first public words in more than a week. Get More

Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said he was shocked by security camera footage showing Kareem Hunt shoving and kicking a woman in a Cleveland hotel, and that it was a collective decision by the organization to cut their star running back within hours. Get More

Authorities are investigating the dissemination of anti-Semitic pamphlets in Pittsburgh neighborhoods, including the one in which a gunman killed 11 people in a synagogue in October. A spokesman said police and the city department of public safety "are taking this matter very seriously and will follow every investigative avenue." Police said Sunday morning the material was found in neighborhoods including Squirrel Hill, where a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27 and killed 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Get More

Key pieces of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation appear to be falling into place. In three court filings Friday, prosecutors for the first time connected President Donald Trump to a crime involving hush money payments to a porn actress. They revealed new details about outreach from Russia early in Trump's presidential campaign. They detailed how they say two central figures, lawyer Michael Cohen and onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort , were continually tripped up by lies. Here are some takeaways from the latest round of court documents from Mueller's investigation. Get More

The more that special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors reveal, the darker grow the legal clouds over President Donald Trump. Trump's own Justice Department has now implicated him in a crime, accusing him of directing illegal hush-money payments to women during his 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller keeps finding new instances of Trump associates lying about their contacts with Russia during an election the Kremlin worked to sway in the Republican's favor. The president hasn't been charged with any crimes. He may never be. Whether a president can be prosecuted while in office remains a matter of legal dispute. Get More

The European Union's top court ruled Monday that Britain can change its mind over Brexit, boosting the hopes of people who want to stay in the EU that the process can be reversed. The European Court of Justice ruled that when an EU member country has notified its intent to leave, "that member state is free to revoke unilaterally that notification." Britain voted in 2016 to leave the 28-nation bloc, and invoked Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty in March 2017, triggering a two-year exit process. Get More

The more that special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors reveal, the darker grow the legal clouds over President Donald Trump. Trump's own Justice Department has now implicated him in a crime, accusing him of directing illegal hush-money payments to women during his 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller keeps finding new instances of Trump associates lying about their contacts with Russia during an election the Kremlin worked to sway in the Republican's favor. The president hasn't been charged with any crimes. He may never be. Whether a president can be prosecuted while in office remains a matter of legal dispute. Get More

Tesla CEO Elon Musk dismissed the idea that the company's new chairwoman can exert control over his behavior. Robyn Denholm, an Australian telecommunications executive, was appointed chairwoman of Tesla's board last month, replacing Musk as part of as part of a securities fraud settlement with U.S. government regulators. But Musk said "it's not realistic" to expect Denholm to watch over his actions because he remains the electric car company's largest shareholder. Get More

Tokyo prosecutors have charged Nissan's former chairman Carlos Ghosn, another executive and the automaker itself for allegedly underreporting income. The charges imposed Monday involve allegations Ghosn's pay was underreported by about 5 billion yen ($44 million) in 2011-2015. The prosecutors said earlier that the allegations were the reason for Ghosn's arrest on Nov. 19. The prosecutors issued statements also outlining new allegations Monday against Ghosn and Greg Kelly, the other executive. The fresh allegations are of underreporting another 4 billion yen ($36 million) in 2016-2018. Nissan as a company was not mentioned in the latest allegations. Get More