memeorandum: Tapper, Conway have heated exchange in tense interview (Jonathan Easley/The Hill)

8:40 PM ET, February 7, 2017

Top Items:

Jim Acosta / CNN:

White House ramping up search for communications director after Spicer's rocky start — Washington (CNN)The White House is ramping up its search for a new communications director in an effort to lighten the load of embattled White House press secretary Sean Spicer, multiple sources told CNN.

Discussion: Axios, New York Magazine, Hot Air, Raw Story, Political Wire and TVNewser

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Tapper, Conway have heated exchange in tense interview — CNN anchor Jake Tapper and President Trump's counselor, Kellyanne Conway, went toe-to-toe in a 25-minute-long interview on Tuesday that was punctuated by several heated exchanges over the accuracy of statements the president has made and the media's treatment of Trump.

Discussion: RedState

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

‘Facts Are Stubborn Things’: Tapper Confronts Conway for WH Claims on Media Terror Coverage — CNN's Jake Tapper faced off with Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway this afternoon over the White House's claims about the media's lacking coverage of terrorist attacks.

Washington Post:
Here are the 78 terrorist attacks the White House says were largely under-reported

Discussion: Media Matters for America, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Mahablog, Mashable, Philly.com, CBS News, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Concourse, Mediaite, New York Times, Common Dreams, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, Huffington Post Australia … and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Dan Zak / Washington Post:
Rosie O'Donnell as Steve Bannon? SNL could really make Trump angry if it wanted to.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, The Atlantic, NBC News, LGBTQ Nation, AOL, Mashable, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and Business Insider

Ben Riley-Smith / Telegraph:
Exclusive: How Theresa May poked fun at the size of Donald Trump's hands

Discussion: The Week, New York Magazine and twitchy.com

New York Post:
CNN's excuse for banning Conway doesn't add up

Discussion: BizPac Review

Chris Massie / CNN:

WH official: We'll say ‘fake news’ until media realizes attitude of attacking the President is wrong — (CNN)Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, said Monday that the administration will continue using the term “fake news” until the media understands that their …

Discussion: Shakesville, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, Talking Points Memo, The Week and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Emmarie Huetteman / New York Times:

Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary; Pence Breaks Tie — WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos on Tuesday as education secretary, approving the embattled nominee only with the help of a historic tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence.

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Franken: DeVos ‘fundamentally incompetent’ to lead Education Dept

Discussion: CNN, National Review, Mediaite, Common Dreams, Politicus USA, Fox News and Instapundit

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
The senators who opposed DeVos represent 36 million more people than her supporters do

Discussion: The Federalist, Washington Post, Mediaite and twitchy.com

Mark Bauerlein / Vox:
The job of the education secretary isn't to defend public schools. It's to help kids learn.

Discussion: Hit & Run and Mother Jones

Hina Shamsi / ACLU:

Flying Home From Abroad, a Border Agent Stopped and Questioned Me ... About My Work for the ACLU — Last week, I was flying home from a work trip and faced Customs and Border Protection questioning unlike anything I've ever experienced in over 25 years of travel into and out of this country …

Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:

Texas mystery: Who's the senator Trump offered to help Rockwall sheriff ‘destroy?’ — WASHINGTON — There's a Texas state senator with a new target on his back, courtesy of President Donald Trump and the Rockwall County sheriff. — At a meeting Tuesday morning with sheriffs from around the country …

Discussion: Washington Post, NPR, Business Insider, Mediaite and Hit & Run

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump offers to ‘destroy career’ of Texas state senator at meeting with sheriff

Discussion: The Texas Tribune, Politico, IJR, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and The Week

Brian Beutler / New Republic:

Donald Trump's Dangerous End Game — Why the president is accusing journalists and judges of enabling terrorists. — The term “fake news” outlived its usefulness almost as soon as it became common parlance, and is perhaps only valuable now as a marker for whether journalism …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Fox News Insider, New York Magazine, TheBlaze, Daily Wire, Mediaite and Refinery29

Washington Post:
Trump's loose talk about Muslims gets weaponized in court against travel ban

Discussion: New York Times

Associated Press:
The Latest: Arguments Over Trump's Travel Ban Conclude

Discussion: ABC News, RedState and Politico

Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:

GOP Congressman Insists White Terrorist Attacks Are Totally Different — Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) also pointed to “the good things” that came from the shooting of black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. — Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) vehemently defended President Donald Trump's ban …

Discussion: Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, Balloon Juice and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:

One-Third Don't Know Obamacare and Affordable Care Act Are the Same — A sizable minority of Americans don't understand that Obamacare is just another name for the Affordable Care Act. — These findings, from a poll by Morning Consult, illustrate the extent of public confusion over a health law …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Hill, ACASignups.net, Fox News Insider, The Week, TheBlaze, Political Wire, Politicus USA and The Guardian

Virgin:

Richard vs Barack - kiteboard and foilboard challenge — It was a huge honour to be able to invite President Barack and Michelle Obama down to the British Virgin Islands for a complete break after Barack finished his second term as President and the family left the White House.

Discussion: MichelleMalkin.com, The Hill, Associated Press, Occupy Democrats, New York Times, NBC News, ABC News, Refinery29, USA Today, Business Insider, Mashable, IJR, The Guardian, Gothamist, CBS New York, The Week, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Ari Berman / The Nation:

House Republicans Just Voted to Eliminate the Only Federal Agency That Makes Sure Voting Machines Can't Be Hacked — Republicans made it easier to steal an election by killing the Election Assistance Commission. — By , — In a little-noticed 6-3 vote today, the House Administration …

Discussion: Gizmodo, Occupy Democrats, Common Dreams and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Ryan / Brennan Center for Justice:
Brennan Center to House: Do Not Terminate the Only Federal Agency Protecting Voter Systems

Discussion: Raw Story and Common Dreams

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Republicans fear for their safety as Obamacare protests grow — House Republicans during a closed-door meeting Tuesday discussed how to protect themselves and their staff from protesters storming town halls and offices in opposition to repealing Obamacare, sources in the room told POLITICO.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Monthly, Occupy Democrats, Daily Kos, Common Dreams, Infowars, Balloon Juice and Political Wire

The Independent:

Donald Trump's staff get him to agree to policies by saying 'Obama wouldn't have done it' — Military officials got Donald Trump to agree to the botched Yemen raid by suggesting Barack Obama would never have had the courage to do it, it has been reported. The raid, which had been planned …

Discussion: NBC News, Raw Story, Occupy Democrats, Booman Tribune, Shakesville and Taylor Marsh

Chris Edelson / Baltimore Sun:

Ordinary Americans carried out inhumane acts for Trump — (Video by Ken Lam) … A week ago, men and women went to work at airports around the United States as they always do. They showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, perhaps dropped off their kids at school.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:

Keith Ellison Is Everything Republicans Thought Obama Was. Maybe He's Just What Democrats Need. … Last May, as Donald Trump was locking up the Republican nomination, a prophetic clip began circulating among portions of the left. It was a nearly one-year-old segment of ABC's Sunday show This Week …

Discussion: Daily Wire, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon and The Slot

YouTube:

17-35105 State of Washington v. Trump 3:00 PM 2/7 — Live audio stream from Courtroom One in the James R. Browning Court of Appeals Building in San Francisco, California.

Discussion: Jamie Dupree and NPR

Media Matters for America:

After Breitbart Attacked An Author For Criticizing Trump, A Horde Of “Alt-Right” Trolls Harassed Her — A slew of online trolls attacked Rosa Brooks for an article she wrote in Foreign Policy discussing possible consequences of Donald Trump's historically abnormal presidency.

Discussion: Foreign Policy

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

How President Trump Could Seize More Power After a Terrorist Attack — Since September 11, 2001, ninety-four people have been killed in the United States in ten attacks carried out by a total of twelve radical Islamist terrorists. Each of the attackers was either an American citizen or a legal resident.

Discussion: Lawfare, Political Wire and Washington Post

Dan Morse / Washington Post:

Melania Trump reaches settlement in libel lawsuit against Maryland blogger — First lady Melania Trump has settled her defamation lawsuit against a Maryland blogger, who agreed to apologize to the Trump family and pay her a “substantial sum,” her lawyers said in a statement they released Tuesday morning.

Discussion: New York Daily News, Talking Points Memo, Salon, The Hill, Techdirt, The Week, Racked, Daily Wire, Common Dreams, Politico, IJR, Mashable, Hot Air, RedState, Balloon Juice and Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Bradley / WGN-TV:

All CPS students sent home with letter accusing Gov. Rauner of ‘cheating’ kids — Share Update: … CHICAGO — Intense rhetoric between Chicago democrats and Illinois' republican governor is nothing new, but some parents are upset it is now being played out in a letter sent home with their kids.

Discussion: RedState

Tom Jackman / Washington Post:

Trump makes false statement about U.S. murder rate to sheriffs' group — President Trump met Tuesday morning with a group of sheriffs from the National Sheriffs Association, a group which consists of more than 3,000 sheriffs from around the country. And to this sworn group of law enforcement veterans …

Discussion: Business Insider

John Whitesides / Reuters:

From disputes to a breakup: wounds still raw after U.S. election — Burning passions over Donald Trump's presidency are taking a personal toll on both sides of the political divide. For Gayle McCormick, it is particularly wrenching: she has separated from her husband of 22 years.

Discussion: TheBlaze and The American Mirror

Alex Griswold / Mediaite:

Steve King: Putin Does Allow Freedom of Dissent, He Never Murdered Prominent Critic — Republican Iowa Congressman Steve King argued Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was not nearly as bad as critics charged, noting that Putin has never murdered one of his prominent critics.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Joe.My.God.

Virginia Hale / Breitbart:

France: Anti-Christian Attacks Rise 245 Per Cent — While racist, anti-Muslim, and anti-Semitic attacks have seen a huge fall since 2008, those on Christian places of worship more than doubled in this period of time, France's interior ministry reported last week.

Evelyn Turner / USA Today:

Sessions tried to jail me for helping people vote: Voices — It would be a great step backwards if he got the job others used to expand voting rights. — While my husband and I were trying to help black people vote in Alabama, Jeff Sessions was trying to put us in jail.

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

Cotton and Trump plot crackdown on legal immigration — Overlooked in Donald Trump's campaign crusade against illegal immigration was his vow to crack down on legal immigration, too. — Now, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a reliable Trump ally, is taking steps to execute that part …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hot Air, NBC News, AOL, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Axios, Balloon Juice, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Scott Waldman / E&E News:

‘Whistleblower’ says protocol was breached but no data fraud — The federal climate scientist hailed by conservatives as a whistleblower for allegedly revealing manipulated global warming data said yesterday he was actually calling out a former colleague for not properly following agency standards for research.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Morning Consult and The Guardian