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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Retired Sen. Tom Coburn said that those who perpetuated an operation that scammed Social Security funds deserve to "rot in jail." (Associated Press)

Social Security fraud ring busted by federal agents

Federal agents this week rounded up key figures from one of the biggest frauds in Social Security history, beginning to close out a scandal that forced the government to confront the extent of problems in its generous disability benefit programs.

April 5, 2016
"I am getting questions constantly from foreign leaders about some of the wackier suggestions that are being made," President Obama said, taking a sharp detour into the campaign to succeed him. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Obama says Donald Trump border-wall plan is ‘half-baked’

Donald Trump said he might try to withhold the payments illegal immigrants send back to Mexico to force that nation to pay for his border wall, sparking a vehement denunciation Tuesday from President Obama, who called the Republican presidential front-runner's plans "half-baked" and damaging to foreign relations.

April 5, 2016
Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican and the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking member (Associated Press) **FILE**

Chuck Grassley to meet with Merrick Garland

Sen. Charles E. Grassley will meet with Judge Merrick Garland, but only to tell him why he won't get a full hearing before the Judiciary Committee nor have his Supreme Court nomination considered by the Senate this year, Mr. Grassley's office said Monday.

April 4, 2016
In this photo taken Nov. 30, 2015, President Barack Obama meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Le Bourget, France. President Barack Obama will be meeting with Asian leaders in Washington this week as fears grow that long-smoldering tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the South China Sea could flare into conflict.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) **FILE**

Nuclear security summit offers Obama last chance to push China on human rights

The chairman of the House subcommittee on human rights says President Obama has a final chance to live up to his Nobel Peace Prize by confronting Chinese President Xi Jinping over the treatment of political prisoners, as the two leaders meet Thursday on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Washington.

March 30, 2016
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump walked back his comments on abortion, which did not fall in line with the GOP. (Associated Press)

Donald Trump trips over policy as media presses harder for specifics

Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to impose criminal punishment against women who seek abortions in violation of the law — then recanted just hours later, as the GOP presidential front-runner continues to try to calibrate his stances with his new political party.

March 30, 2016
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., Wednesday, March 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Border Patrol union endorses Trump

The Border Patrol agents who would patrol Donald Trump's promised border wall endorsed the GOP presidential frontrunner Wednesday, saying he's shown he's not beholden to special interests and is willing to buck stiff media criticism to do what he thinks is right.

March 30, 2016
In this Oct. 18, 2011, file photo, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton checks her Blackberry from a desk inside a C-17 military plane upon her departure from Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, bound for Tripoli, Libya. (AP Photo/Kevin Lamarque, Pool, File)

Hillary Clinton email stories ‘constantly shifting,’ judge says

Former Secretary Hillary Clinton and her State Department colleagues have given "constantly shifting" stories about her secret email account, a federal judge said Tuesday, finding there's evidence the Obama administration showed "bad faith" in how it followed open-records laws.

March 29, 2016
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, participates in a CNN town hall in the historic Riverside Theatre, Tuesday, March 29, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Ted Cruz declines to back Donald Trump as nominee

Sen. Ted Cruz refused to say Tuesday whether he would still back Donald Trump if the GOP presidential front-runner wins their party's nomination, backing away from a firm pledge he made earlier in the campaign.

March 29, 2016
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen insisted that his agency was secure even after a Government Accountability Office report pointed out holes in the IRS' cybersecurity. (Associated Press)

IRS still vulnerable to hackers: GAO

The IRS's computers remain vulnerable to hackers, the government's top auditor said Monday, saying changes were still needed months after the agency suffered a breach that saw hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' most sensitive information stolen.

March 28, 2016