memeorandum: Donald Trump: A Modern Manchurian Candidate? (Max Boot/New York Times)

11:50 PM ET, January 11, 2017

Top Items:

Nahal Toosi / Politico:

Spy chief trashes leaks, assures Trump of loyalty — The U.S. director of national intelligence extended an olive branch of sorts to Donald Trump late Wednesday — denouncing media leaks, casting skepticism on reports that Russia has compromising material on the president-elect …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Max Boot / New York Times:

Donald Trump: A Modern Manchurian Candidate? — In recent days, two intelligence dossiers have been published making sensational charges involving President-elect Donald J. Trump and the 2016 election. Although they will be lumped together in the public mind, in truth they are as different as chalk and cheese.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian, ThinkProgress, RealClearPolitics, New York Magazine, Heat Street, Washington Free Beacon, Media Matters for America and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Jennifer Calfas / The Hill:

Outspoken Putin critic: Trump's press conference just like Soviet ones — Garry Kasparov, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, likened President-elect Donald Trump — 's press conference Wednesday to ones held by leaders in the Soviet Union. — “That reminded me of a Soviet press conference.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump's presser was remarkable. It means we're heading into truly uncharted territory. — At his presser today, Donald Trump confirmed the very worst fears of ethics experts, announcing a new arrangement for his business holdings that is designed to garner nice headlines but is unlikely …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Media Matters for America, Daily Wire, Mother Jones, The Guardian, Raw Story, The Verge, Politico, AOL and Vocativ, more at Mediagazer »

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Federal ethics chief blasts ‘meaningless’ Trump business plan — The head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) on Wednesday slammed President-elect Donald Trump — 's plan to separate himself from his business, calling it “wholly inadequate” in resolving potential conflicts of interest.

Discussion: alan.com, Talking Points Memo and Politicus USA

Annie Karni / Politico:
Trump pits his staff against the media

Discussion: Raw Story, ABC News and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Donald Trump to America: I Won, Accountability Is Over

Discussion: Infowars, NBC News, Business Insider, TheStreet.com, ThinkProgress, CNBC, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, Fox News Insider, Shareblue and The Root, more at Mediagazer »

Geoff Earle / Daily Mail:
Trump conducts his own sting operation to ensnare intelligence briefers - and says he caught them leaking

Discussion: The Last Tradition

New York Times:
Donald Trump News Conference: Transcript

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, FiveThirtyEight, Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs, Politicus USA and The Nation

Joe Concha / The Hill:
Tapper defends CNN coverage after heated Trump press conference

Discussion: Washington Times and CNNMoney

Justin Baragona / Mediaite:
‘You Are Fake News!’: Trump and CNN's Jim Acosta Get Into Shouting Match at Presser

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Rush, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Last Tradition, IJR and No More Mister Nice Blog

Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
Ethics Agency Head Hits Trump Over ‘Inadequate’ Plan to Separate From Business

Discussion: The Week

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Trump berates CNN reporter: ‘You are fake news’

Discussion: Politico, Liberal Values, Hot Air, Mediaite and The Geller Report

Esther Yu Hsi Lee / ThinkProgress:
Grassley says there are already a lot of bad Trump tapes, so don't worry about what Russia has

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Business Insider, Mediaite, Politico, MSNBC and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Dem rep rips Trump: 'Isn't this how book burning begins?'

Discussion: Mediaite, Jamie Dupree, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Morning Consult and RedState

New York Times:
Trump's Plans on Businesses May Fall Short

Discussion: Hot Air, Political Wire, ThinkProgress, Jamie Dupree, Fox News Insider, Business Insider and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:

Christopher Steele, Ex-British Intelligence Officer, Said to Have Prepared Dossier on Trump — Former spy is director of London-based Orbis Intelligence Ltd. — A former British intelligence officer who is now a director of a private security-and-investigations firm has been identified …

Discussion: Yahoo, Mother Jones, RedState, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Politico, The Week, Raw Story, Althouse, BuzzFeed and CNN

New York Times:

How a Sensational, Unverified Dossier Became a Crisis for Donald Trump — WASHINGTON — Seven months ago, a respected former British spy named Christopher Steele won a contract to build a file on Donald J. Trump's ties to Russia. Last week, the explosive details — unsubstantiated accounts …

Discussion: Betsy's Page, New York Magazine, twitchy.com, Althouse, Business Insider, Washington Times, The Atlantic and Minneapolis Star Tribune

Julian Borger / The Guardian:

The story of the Trump dossier: secret sources, an airport rendezvous, and John McCain — What began as opposition research during the Republican primary slowly grew from a covert investigation into an extraordinary but unverified global story … The extraordinary but unverified documents published …

Darren Boyle / Daily Mail:
It was me: Sworn Trump enemy John McCain admits HE handed smear dossier to FBI …

Discussion: The Geller Report, The Gateway Pundit, Vox Popoli and Rush

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

GOP rep: Sessions attacks part of ‘war on whites’ — (R-Ala.) said accusations of racism against Sen. Jeff Sessions — ‘s attorney general nominee, stem from Democrats’ ongoing “war on whites.” — “It's really about political power and racial division and what I refer to, on occasion …

Discussion: Above the Law and alan.com

Eric Bradner / CNN:
Cory Booker seizes big moment with historic move against another senator

Discussion: ThinkProgress, I'm very disappointed …, The Root and WRBL-TV

David Edwards / Raw Story:
‘Your sheet is showing’: Internet pounces on Tom Cotton for saying Cory Booker sounds like ‘T-Bone’

Discussion: Power Line, CNN, Business Insider, Hot Air, Mediaite and Townhall.com

Chris Massie / CNN:
Rep. Brooks: Dems' ‘war on whites’ behind some criticism of Sessions

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Dara Lind / Vox:

Some Trump Cabinet picks are testifying they've never spoken to him about their top issues — Trump hasn't talked about immigration with his pick to run Homeland Security — or talked Russia with his would-be secretary of state. — It's not surprising that Donald Trump's key Cabinet nominees …

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Tillerson has a shaky show before skeptical senators

Discussion: ABC News, Vox, NPR, Shareblue, Business Insider, The Week, Washington Post and ThinkProgress

Michael Crowley / Politico:
Trump takes tougher tone against Putin

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, Reuters and ThinkProgress

Meridith McGraw / ABC News:
Marco Rubio Mum on Whether He Will Support Tillerson for Secretary of State After Human Rights Questions

Discussion: Politico and Associated Press

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Peter Thiel, Trump's Tech Pal, Explains Himself — Let others tremble at the thought that Donald J. Trump may go too far. Peter Thiel worries that Mr. Trump may not go far enough. — “Everyone says Trump is going to change everything way too much,” says the famed venture capitalist …

Discussion: Business Insider, Raw Story, Gizmodo and CNBC

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Confirm or Deny: Peter Thiel — Maureen Dowd: California should secede. — Peter Thiel: Confirm. I'd be fine with that. I think it would be good for California, good for the rest of the country. It would help Mr. Trump's re-election campaign. — Meryl Streep is overrated. — Confirm.

Discussion: Business Insider and PoliPundit.com

Lisa Lambert / Reuters:

Republicans pass sweeping bill to reform ‘abusive’ U.S. regulation — Republicans on Wednesday passed a bill in the House of Representatives that touched on nearly every step U.S. agencies take in creating and applying new rules, continuing their blitz to radically reform “abusive” …

Discussion: Politicus USA

Kelsey Snell / Washington Post:
Democrats try to force Republicans into tough votes in Obamacare ‘vote-a-rama’

Discussion: Political Wire

Nick Hallett / Breitbart:

A passage from the Koran that denies one of the central tenets of the Christian faith was sung aloud at a cathedral service in Scotland. — The passage from Surah 19, which specifically denies that Jesus was the Son of God and says He should not be worshipped, was sung during a Eucharist service …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Facebook Media:

Introducing: The Facebook Journalism Project — Facebook is a new kind of platform and we want to do our part to enable people to have meaningful conversations, to be informed and to be connected to each other. We know that our community values sharing and discussing ideas and news …

Discussion: Deadline, Vocativ, AOL, New York Magazine, Mashable, East Bay Times, Washington Free Beacon and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:

The Deep State Goes to War with President-Elect, Using Unverified Claims, as Democrats Cheer — In January, 1961, Dwight Eisenhower delivered his farewell address after serving two terms as U.S. president; the five-star general chose to warn Americans of this specific threat to democracy …

Media Matters for America:

Newt Gingrich: “Trump Is Deliberately Trying To Shrink And Isolate CNN” — SEAN HANNITY (HOST): I've never seen a press conference like that in my entire life and everything that I said back in 2008 — “journalism is dead” — Trump probably buried it today, at least people's faith and confidence.

Discussion: Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »