Grease Monk-eh!

When Jake Patterson left his Gordon, Wisconsin, home for a few hours January 10, he left Jayme Closs hidden under a bed surrounded by heavy bins and weights to prevent her from leaving. Source: CNN

Jake Patterson, the suspect accused of killing James and Denise Closs and kidnapping their 13-year-old daughter, Jayme, appears in court for the first time. Source: CNN

President Donald Trump said definitively on Monday he never worked for Russia after offering a non-denial when questioned over the weekend about an FBI investigation into whether he was working with Moscow. Source: CNN

President Donald Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Monday that suggestions he was some sort of Russian agent were totally ridiculous, and insisted that the entire special counsel investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election is a “whole big fat hoax.” Source: CNN

A weekend of bombshells deepened the most intractable mystery of Donald Trump’s presidency — one that could eventually dictate his fate — over his deference to Vladimir Putin and behavior that often favors Russia’s goals. Source: CNN

CNN’s Alisyn Camerota reacts to Washington Post reporting that there are no records of five personal meetings President Donald Trump had with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it “mind blowing.” Source: CNN

Every week, I offer a glimpse of the kind of intelligence assessments that are likely to come across the desk of the President of the United States, modeled on the President’s Daily Briefing, or PDB, which the director of national intelligence prepares for the President almost daily. Source: CNN

Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner predicted Sunday that observers will eventually believe President Donald Trump mishandled the standoff that has created the ongoing government shutdown. Source: CNN

Call it the week of zero. Zero work for many federal employees (and zeroes in their paychecks) as the government shutdown slipped into the record books on Saturday, becoming the longest one ever; zero movement on a southern border wall, even after President Trump used an Oval Office speech to demand it, and then threatened to get the money by …

Amid the longest government shutdown in US history, a majority say Donald Trump bears more responsibility for it than the Democrats in Congress, and the President’s disapproval rating has climbed five points since last month, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS. A majority say Trump bears more responsibility for the shutdown than Democrats, a new CNN poll …