memeorandum: Foreign Payments to Trump Firms Violate Constitution, Suit Will Claim (New York Times)

10:00 PM ET, January 22, 2017

Top Items:

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Trump struggles to shake his erratic campaign habits — That Donald Trump chose to spend the first 48 hours of his presidency feuding with the news media over crowd sizes, crowing about his win in front of a wall of killed CIA agents, spreading inaccurate information and firing off tweets didn't shock his supporters or critics.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Vox, more at Mediagazer »

Jennifer Calfas / The Hill:

Dan Rather on Trump: ‘These are not normal times’ — Dan Rather warned Americans about the Trump administration in a Facebook post on Sunday, saying these are not “normal times.” — The former CBS Evening news anchor targeted President Trump, adviser Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sean Spicer for comments in the last 24 hours.

Discussion: RedState

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

That time I caught Sean Spicer making a blatantly false claim — White House press secretary Sean Spicer, in his first full day on the job, made a couple of easily disproved claims about the size of President Donald Trump's inauguration crowd, as The Fix's Philip Bump and Chris Cillizza noted on Saturday.

Discussion: Mediaite, Politicus USA, Mashable, Balloon Juice, IJR, Raw Story, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Crowd Scientists Say Women's March in Washington Had 3 Times as Many People as Trump's Inauguration — Composite image by Joe Ward based on video from Urdu Voice of America — The women's march in Washington was roughly three times the size of the audience at President Trump's inauguration, crowd counting experts said Saturday.

Kyle Balluck / The Hill:

Conway: 'We're going to have to rethink our relationship' with press — A top aide to President Trump said on Sunday that the new administration is going to “rethink” its relationship with the press. — “Chuck, if we're going to keep referring to our press secretary in those types of terms …

Discussion: RedState

Esme Cribb / Talking Points Memo:
Conway: WH Spox Wasn't Lying, He Was Just Offering ‘Alternative Facts’

Discussion: Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Alexandra Jaffe / NBC News:
Kellyanne Conway: WH Spokesman Gave ‘Alternative Facts’ on Inauguration Crowd

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Shareblue, The Week, Political Wire and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Trump wages war against the media as demonstrators protest his presidency

Discussion: New York Times, The Moderate Voice, ABC News, Politico, Mother Jones, New York Magazine and RedState

New York Times:

Foreign Payments to Trump Firms Violate Constitution, Suit Will Claim — WASHINGTON — A team of prominent constitutional scholars, Supreme Court litigators and former White House ethics lawyers intends to file a lawsuit Monday morning alleging that President Trump is violating the Constitution …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, BuzzFeed, CNBC, Political Wire, The Week, Daily Kos and Althouse

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

CIA officers give mixed reviews of Trump's strange visit — President Trump's visit to the CIA on his first day in office shocked some agency veterans because of its combative, political tone. But several said they were glad that Trump seemed to have stopped demonizing the intelligence community …

Discussion: Power Line

NBC News:
Ex-CIA Boss Brennan, Others Rip Trump Speech in Front of Memorial

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Hill and Hullabaloo

Ryan Browne / CNN:
Trump to CIA: ‘I am with you 1,000%’

Discussion: RedState, Townhall.com, Washington Post and The Atlantic

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Eyes Michael Flynn's Links to Russia — U.S. counterintelligence agents have investigated communications that President Donald Trump's national security adviser had with Russian officials. Michael Flynn is the first person inside the White House whose links are known to have faced scrutiny …

Discussion: Political Wire, Daily Kos and Instapundit

Associated Press:

The Latest: Trump Changes Course After Denouncing Protesters — The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EST): — President Donald Trump is doing a quick about-face about the protests that swept through Washington and around the world on Saturday.

Discussion: Politico and The Republic

Nicki Rossoll / ABC News:
McCain Will Vote Yes on Trump's Secretary of State Nominee Rex Tillerson

Discussion: Associated Press, mccain.senate.gov, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Burgess Everett / Politico:
McCain and Graham back Tillerson

Discussion: Washington Post, Power Line, ThinkProgress and Axios

Burgess Everett / Politico:
McCain and Schumer: Don't end Russian sanctions without Congress

Discussion: ABC News

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Breitbart writer expected to join White House staff — Julia Hahn, a staff writer at Breitbart News, is expected to join the White House - a move that further underscores Breitbart's influence in the new administration. — According to two sources briefed on the move …

Discussion: Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Kyle Olson / The American Mirror:

VIDEO: Passengers cheer as woman berating Trump supporter is kicked off plane — An elderly woman demanded a Donald Trump supporter seated next to her be moved, but she quickly found out that's not how the world works. — Scott Kotesky, in a window seat, posted video on Saturday showing …

Discussion: The Geller Report

Politico:

WikiLeaks calls out Trump for refusing to release tax returns — WikiLeaks on Sunday took President Donald Trump to task for refusing to release his tax returns and offered to post them online, after a senior adviser said definitively that Trump would not be publicly disclosing the documents.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, ABC News, Sputnik International, RT, IJR, RedState, Mediaite and twitchy.com

ABC News:
‘This Week’ Transcript 1-22-17: Kellyanne Conway, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Chuck Schumer

Discussion: Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Fox News Insider, Business Insider, IJR, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, Politico, The Hill, ThinkProgress and Mediaite

John Wagner / Washington Post: Trump won't release his tax returns because people don't care, top adviser says

CBS News:

Most protesters arrested on Inauguration Day will face felony rioting charges, federal prosecutors say — WASHINGTON — Most of the approximately 230 protesters arrested on Inauguration Day will be charged with felony rioting, federal prosecutors said. — The U.S. Attorney's Office …

Discussion: Daily Mail, Washingtonian and The American Mirror

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

Booker walks 2020 tightrope — Leave it to Cory Booker to find a way to anger both liberals and conservatives within just a few hours. — The New Jersey senator's unprecedented decision to testify against attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions earlier this month infuriated the right.

Bloomberg:

Trump Team in Talks with U.K. on Post-Brexit Trade Deal — Theresa May to meet Trump Friday, expects to discuss trade — Talks may be encouraging ‘hard Brexit,’ Trump aide says — The Trump administration will lay the groundwork this week for a trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K …

Discussion: TheBlaze