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10:25 a.m. ET

The Democratic National Committee had a rough 2017, plagued by leadership troubles, internal squabbling, and unflattering reports. To top it off, the party ended the year "dead broke," says The Intercept's Ryan Grim.

The Democratic Party is carrying more than $6 million in debt, according to year-end filings — and has just $6.5 million in the bank. Do the math, and the party is working with just over $400,000 overall. Meanwhile, the Republicans are swimming in pools of money. The Republican National Committee had raised $132 million by the end of 2017 — about twice as much as the DNC — and entered 2018 with almost $40 million to spare, with not a penny of debt.

The DNC's rebuttal, The Washington Post reports, is that they raised more money in 2017 than they have in previous non-election years and were operating at something of a disadvantage given the "rebuilding job" undertaken by first-year chairman Tom Perez. While the DNC claims it is not borrowing money to pay the bills, Grim notes that the party would be operating at a financial loss if not for its borrowing.

If there is any cause for Democratic optimism, it's that individual Democratic candidates seem to be doing well for themselves even as the national party apparatus struggles. NBC News reported Thursday that nearly 50 non-incumbent Democrats running for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections outraised their Republican opponents in the last quarter of 2017. Kelly O'Meara Morales

12:09 p.m. ET

The U.S. Olympic Committee announced Friday that it would launch an independent investigation into the decades of sexual abuse perpetrated by former gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, ABC News reports. The probe will seek to "determine when individuals affiliated with USA Gymnastics or the USOC first became aware of any evidence of Nassar's abuse of athletes, what that evidence was, and what they did with it."

Last week, Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on seven charges of criminal sexual misconduct; more than 200 people have accused him of sexual abuse. On Wednesday, the entire USA Gymnastics board of directors resigned after heavy criticism of the organization's handling of the scandal. Jeva Lange

11:48 a.m. ET
MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images

The Treasury Department is concerned that imposing new sanctions on Russia could hurt the American economy, Bloomberg reported Friday. In a report given to members of Congress this week, the Treasury reportedly argues that Russia is so entrenched in the global economy that sanctions on "[Russian] debt and derivatives could destabilize financial markets," which would negatively impact the U.S. economy.

The sanctions, which are vehemently opposed by the Russian government, could also "lead to Russian retaliation against U.S. interests," the Treasury warns.

Concerns about the negative impact of Russia sanctions are not unfounded. Bloomberg notes that the American investors "BlackRock Inc., Stone Harbor Investment Partners, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are the three biggest holders of [Russian] debt." In the event of heavy sanctions on Russian debt, the Treasury expects American investors would curtail their business with Russians, which it claims could put U.S. bankers at a competitive disadvantage.

The report, Bloomberg says, is "another instance in which [President Trump's] administration seemed to take a softer line on Russia." Earlier this week, the Trump administration declined to impose additional sanctions on Russia for their meddling in the 2016 election, claiming that the existing sanctions were sufficient enough punishment. The Treasury Department also released a Forbes-sourced list of Russian "oligarchs" with ties to the Russian government, but did not levy additional sanctions upon them.

Read more at Bloomberg.

Kelly O'Meara Morales

10:39 a.m. ET

Disgraced doctor Larry Nassar is facing his third sentencing hearing, where once again the presiding judge has allowed time for victim-impact statements. Nassar has been accused by more than 200 athletes of sexually abusing them during treatments while he was a physician for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.

Friday is the second of four days allotted by Judge Janice Cunningham of Michigan's Eaton County for victim-impact statements. On Friday morning, Randall Margraves — a father to three daughters, all of whom were abused by Nassar — asked Cunningham to "grant me five minutes in a locked room with this demon." There was a bit of laughter in the courtroom as Cunningham declined Margraves' request. He then asked for just "one minute." When Cunningham said she could not grant him that time, Margraves charged at the table where Nassar was seated.

Margraves was intercepted by courtroom security and restrained, where he can be heard saying, "Let me at [him]." The proceedings briefly adjourned after Margraves was removed from the room.

Two of Margraves' daughters gave impact statements Friday morning and were in the courtroom when their father spoke. His third daughter delivered her statement at Nassar's second sentencing hearing last month in Michigan's Ingham County. There, after several days of victim testimony — including powerful statements from Olympic gold medalists Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber — Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison. Kimberly Alters

10:14 a.m. ET
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The National Football League has been in trouble for a while, but a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll illustrates just how bad things really are. Within a four-year period, men aged 18 to 49 who say they "closely" follow the NFL has dropped from 75 percent to 51 percent. That represents a major chunk of the sport's main demographic.

"If I'm the NFL I'm freaking out about that a little bit," said Republican pollster Micah Roberts. "They are the very core of the football-viewing audience. If they're retreating, then who's left?"

While the NFL has become increasingly political, between high-profile protests during the national anthem and concerns about head injuries, the decline is seen across the spectrum. "Base Democrats who follow the league closely fell by 16 points versus four years ago, while it was 14 points for base Republicans," The Wall Street Journal writes.

The Super Bowl, though, is still by far the largest televised event in the United States. Last year's was the fifth most-watched broadcast in TV history, Quartz reports. Read more about how even that viewership might be stalling, and if the $5 million ad spots during New England Patriots' game against the Philadelphia Eagles are worth it, at The Week. Jeva Lange

9:17 a.m. ET

The Congressional Black Caucus' stone-faced reaction to President Trump's claim that "African-American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded" went viral during his State of the Union on Tuesday, but by Friday the president's assertion was no longer true anyway. In the January jobs report, the black unemployment rate rose from 6.8 percent in December 2017 to 7.7 percent in the first month of 2018, Yahoo Finance reports.

Many had already taken issue with Trump's decision to boast about the unemployment rate among African-Americans earlier this week. The rate has been "steadily declining since March 2010," when it was 16.8 percent, Fortune writes, and "while Trump was in office, it decreased by one point — keeping up a trend that had already been in place."

Even a low of 6.8 percent isn't something particularly brag-worthy; that number is still significantly higher than the unemployment rate in the U.S. overall, which was 4.1 percent in December, Fortune adds.

Overall, unemployment remains unchanged at 4.1 percent in the January jobs report, a 17-year low. Jeva Lange

8:59 a.m. ET
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

U.S. employers added 200,000 jobs in January, beating economists' expectations of 190,000 jobs gained, MarketWatch reported. The figure marked a pickup from December, when the economy added a modest 160,000 new jobs, a number adjusted up from the originally reported 148,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1 percent, a 17-year low. Wages rose by 2.9 percent over the last 12 months, the biggest jump since the Great Recession ended nearly nine years ago, as employers battled for candidates to fill record-high job openings. The figures were the latest in a long series of signs of strengthening employment. Stocks extended their losses after the report, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down by 255 points. Harold Maass

8:55 a.m. ET

President Trump is expected to approve the release of a controversial Republican memo Friday against the firm advice of the FBI. Despite rumors that the bureau's director, Christopher Wray, might step down as a result, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway did not appear concerned Friday during an appearance on Fox & Friends. "The president has not expressed that concern at all," Conway said in response to a question about Wray's possible departure.

The memo, authored by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), reportedly alleges the FBI abused surveillance laws to improperly surveil members of Trump's 2016 campaign team. Republicans have pushed for the memo to be released, disregarding warnings from the Justice Department that its publication would be "extraordinarily reckless."

"I want to remind everyone of a couple things, because I see people lying about this. The president has stated many times that he respects the rank and file of the FBI," Conway went on. She added that "this particular investigation has taken a lot of twists and turns, and it's led us to a few bad actors who had direct responsibility for an investigation about his political opponent and who are obviously biased against him."

Conway concluded: "Those that want transparency and accountability and a Russia investigation ought to stand firm in that belief today if and when this memo is actually released." Watch below. Jeva Lange

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