Phone records of sitting members of Congress were secretly obtained in a way that blocked lawmakers from invoking constitutional protections, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, alleged Tuesday during a hearing. Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is leading the hearing, signaled that their panel planned to grill hearing witnesses, who included executives from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, about the disclosure of the...

The top two congressional Democrats have, for now, rejected President Donald Trump and Republicans’ offer to avert a shutdown as the deadline rapidly approaches. For several hours Monday night, both Republicans and Democrats were near-radio silent about the nature of the counter-offer from the White House. That was, in part, because some lawmakers had no idea what was in it. But the silence appeared to spell yet another...

As the search for Nancy Guthrie stretches into a second week, her alleged captors are reportedly seeking a $6 million Bitcoin ransom, illustrating how cryptocurrency has reshaped the business of extortion. Guthrie, 84, the mother of NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie, was abducted from her home in Arizona, with investigators later confirming only limited details about a ransom demand. Bitcoin is a digital currency that operates without a...