memeorandum: Why Trump Had to Fire Sally Yates (Josh Blackman/Politico)

12:15 PM ET, January 31, 2017

Top Items:

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Hill staffers secretly worked on Trump's immigration order — Senior staffers on the House Judiciary Committee helped Donald Trump's top aides draft the executive order curbing immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations, but the Republican committee chairman and party leadership were not informed …

Discussion: Washington Post, JustOneMinute, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Morning Consult, Vox, Political Insider blog, The Atlantic, The Week, Instapundit, Daily Kos, RedState and Associated Press

Department of Homeland Security:

Statement from Secretary Kelly on the President's Appointment of Thomas D. Homan as Acting ICE Director — WASHINGTON - Today, the president appointed Mr. Thomas D. Homan acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). — Since 2013, Mr. Homan has served …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Huffington Post, Infowars, Hullabaloo, AOL, IJR, The Week and WTOP

New York Times:

Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Who Defied Him — WASHINGTON — President Trump fired his acting attorney general on Monday night, removing her as the nation's top law enforcement officer after she defiantly refused to defend his executive order closing the nation's borders to refugees …

Mike Allen / Axios:

Under fire, Trump weighs new changes to refugee ban — Republican sources tell us that the Department of Homeland Security may issue “implementation guidance” that would allow for softening, and even policy changes, to President Trump's travel restrictions on migrants.

Discussion: Washington Post, BillMoyers.com, Political Wire, The Week, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and The Hill

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Democrats boycott confirmation hearings for Price and Mnuchin, blocking votes — Democrats intensified their opposition to President Trump's executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries on Tuesday by further delaying the confirmation of several of his Cabinet nominees amid strong Republican objections.

Discussion: Political Insider blog

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

I Smell Fake News — Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, an Obama holdover, thrills her future employers by refusing to put the weight of the DoJ behind Trump's travel ban. Even the Times admits this gesture is somewhat symbolic since she is on her way out and Jeff Sessions is on his way in, but they include this odd detail:

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press and CBS Philly

Euan McKirdy / CNN:
Jeff Sessions grilled Sally Yates on constitutional duty during 2015 hearing

Discussion: Vox, IJR, Florida Politics and Joe.My.God.

National Review: Why Yates Had to Go — It is a very simple proposition.

Rachael Bade / Politico:
GOP panel chairman defends his staff working on Trump immigration order

Discussion: The Atlantic, alan.com and Talking Points Memo

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
The Note: Who Will Be the Next SCOTUS Nominee?

Discussion: Associated Press

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Watch Sally Yates answer the question that got her fired by President Trump

Discussion: RedState and Washington Free Beacon

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:
Trump has fired the acting attorney general who ordered Justice Dept. not to defend president's travel ban

Josh Blackman / Politico:
Why Trump Had to Fire Sally Yates

Discussion: Josh Blackman's Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Hot Air and The Federalist

Evan Perez / CNN:
First on CNN: Justice Dept. will not defend executive order on travel restrictions

Discussion: Mother Jones, TheStreet.com, TheBlaze, The Week, Breitbart, The Nation, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, MichelleMalkin.com, KTLA, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Hit & Run, Daily Kos, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air and Politico

New York Times:
Acting Attorney General Orders Justice Dept. Not to Defend Refugee Ban

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Political Insider blog, Axios, Refinery29, Politicus USA, Mother Jones, Liberal Values, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Political Wire, AOL, ImmigrationProf Blog, Instapundit and Foreign Policy

JGoldsmith / Lawfare:
Quick Thoughts On Sally Yates' Unpersuasive Statement

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, ABC News, The Atlantic, Hot Air, Fortune, After eight long years …, Politico, Daily Kos, Just Security, Townhall.com, BuzzFeed, twitchy.com, RedState, The Federalist and Washington State

CNN:

Democrats consider backing off big battle over Trump's Supreme Court pick — Washington (CNN)Senate Democrats are weighing whether to avoid an all-out war to block President Donald Trump's upcoming Supreme Court pick, instead considering delaying that battle for a future nomination …

Discussion: RedState, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air and Daily Kos

Geneva Sands / ABC News:
Meet the 8 Sitting Supreme Court Justices

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and FiveThirtyEight

Scott Johnson / Power Line:
What's next? — You have to wonder what comes next …

Discussion: Washington Post, AOL and NPR

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Trump ridicules Democrats for equipment failure at rally

Discussion: Axios

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

DeVos questionnaire appears to include passages from uncited sources — President Trump's nominee for education secretary, in written responses to questions from senators, appears to have used several sentences and phrases from other sources without attribution — including from a top Obama administration civil rights official.

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Raw Story and Eschaton

Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:

Can Jared and Ivanka Outrun Donald Trump's Scandals? — Less than a fortnight into his new post, Kushner appears unable to control his father-in-law—and is “furious” that his efforts are being undermined. — On Friday afternoon, Donald Trump descended upon the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes flanked …

Discussion: The Guardian, Axios, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, Raw Story and The Week

Mike Allen / Axios:

Team Hillary blames Obama more than Putin — The worst-kept secret inside Democratic circles is how bitter Hillary Clinton's team is at President Obama over her election loss. We have heard from numerous, anguished people in Clinton-land blaming Obama — more than Putin, FBI Director James Comey or …

Discussion: Heat Street, NBC News and The Daily Caller

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Republican Fausts — Many Republican members of Congress have made a Faustian bargain with Donald Trump. They don't particularly admire him as a man, they don't trust him as an administrator, they don't agree with him on major issues, but they respect the grip he has on their voters …

Discussion: Vox, bradford-delong.com and Discourse.net

Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:

Wall Street Journal Editor: Stop Calling The Travel Ban Countries “Majority Muslim” — Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerry Baker has instructed editors to stop referring to the countries targeted in President Trump's travel and refugee executive order as “seven majority Muslim countries” …

Discussion: Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Los Angeles Times:
White House aides who wrote Trump's travel ban see it as just the start

Discussion: Mother Jones

NBC News:

SEAL, American Girl Die in First Trump-Era U.S. Military Raid — Two Americans killed in first military raid under President Trump 1:09 — In what an official said was the first military raid carried out under President Donald Trump, two Americans were killed in Yemen on Sunday …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Caller, The Intercept and NBC News

Kate Brannen / Foreign Policy:

Steve Bannon Is Making Sure There's No White House Paper Trail, Says Intel Source — The Trump administration's chief strategist has already taken control of both policy and process on national security. — If there was any question about who is largely in charge of national security behind …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Mother Jones, The Guardian and No More Mister Nice Blog

New York Times:
President Bannon? — Plenty of presidents have had prominent …

Discussion: Vox, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Hot Air, Business Insider, Washington Post, The Week, The Daily Caller and The Mahablog

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

How Obama will take on Trump — Barack Obama and his aides expected to take on President Donald Trump at some point, but they didn't think it would happen this quickly. — Now they're trying to find the right balance on issues that demand a response, and how to use Obama to deliver the selective pushback.

Discussion: Althouse

Annie Karni / Politico:
White House aide Epshteyn wrote controversial Holocaust memorial statement

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Times of Israel, Slate and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Obama's Protections for L.G.B.T. Workers Will Remain Under Trump — WASHINGTON — The White House said on Monday that President Trump would leave in place a 2014 Obama administration order that created new workplace protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Discussion: The Daily Signal, Washington Blade, Vox, PinkNews, LGBTQ Nation, The Gateway Pundit, Balloon Juice and Joe.My.God.

Kyle Balluck / The Hill:
White House: Trump will enforce LGBTQ workplace protections

Discussion: RedState

Indivisible Kentucky:

Military Flying TRUMP FLAG in Louisville, KY — RESIST!!! — This video from yesterday morning captures the video of the United States Military flying a TRUMP flag in place of the United State flag. This is a fascist tactic. This is not acceptable. RESIST!!! — Larger Image click here.

Discussion: Courier-Journal, Guns.com and Talking Points Memo

New York Post:

Priest tells anti-Trump protesters to commit suicide — The pastor of a largely immigrant Catholic church in Queens has a suggestion for his anti-Trump parishioners: Go take a flying leap off the nearest building. — “Show your hate for Trump. Do it for social justice.

Discussion: Gothamist, The Daily Caller and Heat Street