Russian operative Maria Butina, who is accused of infiltrating politically powerful U.S. organizations, including the National Rifle Association, in an effort to push Moscow's agenda, pleaded guilty Thursday to a conspiracy count. Butina has agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors and pleaded guilty in a Washington, D.C., courtroom to one count of conspiracy to violate the law governing foreign agents operating in the United States. The felony carries a five-year prison term, but the estimated sentencing guideline range is from zero to six months in prison. Butina was arrested in July and has been held without bail and could face deportation after serving any prison sentence. She had been in the U.S. on a student visa and Judge Tanya Chutkan on Thursday that Butina could face supervised release if she stays in the country. Get More at NBC News

President Donald Trump has now been abandoned by two of his most powerful protectors, his longtime lawyer and the company that owns the National Enquirer tabloid, bringing a perilous investigation into his campaign one step closer to the Oval Office. Both Michael Cohen and American Media Inc. now say they made hush money payments to a porn star and a Playboy Playmate for the purposes of helping his 2016 White House bid, an apparent campaign finance violation. The women alleged affairs with Trump, and federal prosecutors say the payments were made at Trump's direction. Get More

French security forces are trying to catch the suspected Strasbourg gunman dead or alive Thursday, as the city in eastern France mourned with flowers and lit candles left at the site of the attack near its famous Christmas market. More than 700 officers are involved in the manhunt for 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt, who had a long criminal record and had been flagged for extremism, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told CNews television. Asked about instructions given to police forces searching for Chekatt, Griveaux said the focus was on catching the suspect "as soon as possible," no matter whether he was dead or alive, and "put an end to the manhunt." Get More

Virgin Galactic completed its longest rocket-powered flight ever on Thursday, taking a step ahead in the nascent business of space tourism. The two pilots on board Virgin Galactic's spacecraft Unity become the company's first astronauts. In this test flight, Virgin Galactic planned "to burn the rocket motor for durations which will see our pilots and spaceship reach space for the first time," the company said before the launch. Get More

A Hawaii Air National Guard civilian contractor was in serious condition Wednesday after his plane crashed off the coast of Honolulu during a military exercise, authorities said. The pilot of the Hawker Hunter jet ejected safely from the plane, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam said in a statement. He was initially rescued by a private sailboat and then transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard. Honolulu Emergency Services spokesman Dustin Malama said the 47-year-old appeared to have traumatic injuries and was taken to a hospital. Get More

Del Monte has recalled more than 64,000 cases of corn because they could spoil and lead to life-threatening illnesses if eaten. Cans of Fiesta Corn seasoned with red and green peppers were shipped to 25 U.S. states. Get More

The Justice Department's watchdog found no evidence the FBI intentionally destroyed text messages of two former FBI officials involved in the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Instead, the inspector general faulted an FBI-wide software failure that has resulted in large portions of FBI text messages not being archived. Thursday's report examines a gap in messages from December 2016 through May 2017 from the phones of former FBI agent Peter Strzok (struhk) and ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page. The FBI ultimately managed to recover thousands of the messages. Get More

Rolling Thunder, the annual ride that brings thousands of bikers to the National Mall to honor military members who were missing in action or prisoners of war, is preparing for its final run. Next year's event on May 26, 2019, will be the last ride, Pete Zaleski, the vice president of Rolling Thunder, Inc., confirmed, citing costs and ongoing communication issues with the Pentagon Police Department. Get More

British Prime Minister Theresa May was seeking a lifeline from European Union leaders Thursday after winning a no-confidence vote among her own Conservative lawmakers — but only after putting a time limit on her leadership. May won the vote after promising lawmakers at a private meeting that she would quit before Britain's next national election, scheduled for 2022. Arriving in Brussels for an EU summit, May said that "in my heart I would love to be able to lead the Conservative Party into the next general election." "But I think it is right that the party feels that it would prefer to go into that election with a new leader," May said. She didn't specify a date for her departure. Get More

President Donald Trump has told people close to him in recent days that he is alarmed by the prospect of impeachment, as the consequences of federal investigations involving his associates and Democratic control of the House sink in, multiple sources told NBC News. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors announced an agreement with American Media Inc, in which the publisher of the National Enquirer admitted to making a $150,000 payment in 2016 to silence a woman alleging an affair with Trump, in coordination with his presidential campaign, to prevent her story from influencing the election. That revelation came after Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen admitted that he violated campaign finance laws by arranging hush payments to women in 2016 at the direction of Trump. “The entire question about whether the president committed an impeachable offense now hinges on the testimony of two men: David Pecker and Allen Weisselberg, both cooperating witnesses in the SDNY investigation," a close Trump ally told NBC News. Weisselberg is the chief financial officer for Trump organization who was allegedly in the center of the hush money operation. He was reportedly granted immunity for his testimony. Pecker is the chief executive at AMI. Get More at NBC News

First lady Melania Trump said that the most difficult part of her time in the White House is watching "opportunists" use her family's name to advance their careers, claiming they're not recording history properly, NBC News reported. "I would say the opportunists who are using my name or my family's names to advance themselves, from comedians to journalists, to performers, bookwriters," she said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity which aired Wednesday. "The problem is they are writing the history and it's not correct." In the interview, Trump also said that sometimes she doesn't agree with her husband's tone "and I tell him that." Get More at NBC News

An award-winning Arizona newspaper publisher and his wife are locked in a bizarre divorce case that has morphed into something more: a journalism ethics saga. Joseph Soldwedel has accused wife Felice Soldwedel in a lawsuit of trying to kill him by poisoning him, and detailed the allegations in one of the small-town newspapers he owns, the 13,000-circulation Prescott Daily Courier. None of the three news stories in the paper named his wife. But the Courier ran an ad accusing her by name, with a photo of her, bordered with images of skulls and rats. The ad said she had an unnamed accomplice, and it offered a $10,000 reward for tips. Get More

Senators are expected to vote Thursday on a resolution that would call on the U.S. to pull assistance from the Saudi-led war in Yemen, a measure that would rebuke Saudi Arabia after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Senate may also consider a separate resolution condemning the journalist's killing as senators have wrestled with how to respond to the Saudi journalist's murder. U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must have at least known of the plot, but President Donald Trump has been reluctant to pin the blame. Senators voted 60-39 on Wednesday to open debate on the Yemen resolution, signaling there is enough support to win the 50 votes needed. But it's unclear how amendments to the measure could affect the final vote, which is expected to come Thursday. Get More

China on Thursday confirmed it has detained two Canadian men, raising the stakes in a three-way international dispute over the case of a Chinese telecoms executive facing possible extradition from Canada to the United States. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig were taken into custody on Monday on suspicion of "engaging in activities that endanger the national security" of China. Lu said Canada was informed about the detentions, but declined to say whether the men have been provided with lawyers. He said the cases are being handled separately by local bureaus of the national intelligence agency in Beijing, where Kovrig was picked up, and the northeastern city of Dandong, where Spavor had been living. Get More