Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Trump and Candidates for National Security Adviser Spar Over Staffing — Retired Vice Adm. Bob Harward and retired Gen. David Petraeus have dropped out of consideration — President Donald Trump won't guarantee that his next national security adviser will have full control over staffing and process …
Discussion:
Political Wire, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider, Politico, Hot Air, FOX News Radio, The Daily Caller, Sputnik International, NBC News and AOL
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Brooke Seipel / The Hill:
Reports: Petraeus off the list, Trump down to three candidates to replace Flynn — Retired general and former CIA Director David Petraeus has reportedly pulled his name from consideration to replace Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser. — According to a report by the Wall Street Journal Friday …
Discussion:
RedState, The Daily Caller and Daily Wire
Julian E. Barnes / Wall Street Journal:
Petraeus Says National Security Adviser Should Hire Own Staff
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
John McCain just systematically dismantled Donald Trump's entire worldview — John McCain is increasingly mad as hell about President Trump. And on Friday, he went after Trump — hard. — During a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, the Arizona Republican delivered …
Discussion:
Medium, AOL, BizPac Review, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice
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mccain.senate.gov:
REMARKS BY SASC CHAIRMAN JOHN McCAIN AT THE 2017 MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE — Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, delivered the following remarks today at the 2017 Munich Security Conference: — “Thank you, Ian, for that kind introduction.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Raw Story, The Week and Hot Air
Steven Beutler / New Republic:
A Medical Theory for Donald Trump's Bizarre Behavior — Many mental health professionals believe the president is ill. But what if the cause is an untreated STD? — Al Franken recently raised a provocative question about Donald Trump: Is he mentally ill?
New York Times:
Popular Domestic Programs Face Ax Under First Trump Budget — WASHINGTON — The White House budget office has drafted a hit list of programs that President Trump could eliminate to trim domestic spending, including longstanding conservative targets like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Natasha Bertrand / Business Insider:
A suspicious pattern is emerging for how the White House handles its most controversial plans — The White House quickly denied an explosive Associated Press report published Friday morning that said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was seeking to mobilize 100,000 National Guard troops …
Discussion:
Daily Wire, Hot Air, Chicagoist, ABC News, Associated Press, The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, AOL, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Daily Kos and No More Mister Nice Blog
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Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:
Homeland Security on AP's National Guard: ‘Absolutely Incorrect’
Homeland Security on AP's National Guard: ‘Absolutely Incorrect’
Discussion:
Townhall.com, BizPac Review, The Gateway Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CBS Dallas, FOX6Now.com, The Atlantic and Vox, more at Mediagazer »
Nicholas Schmidle / New Yorker:
Michael Flynn, General Chaos … Two days before the Inauguration of Donald Trump as the forty-fifth President of the United States, Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general and former intelligence officer, sat down in a Washington restaurant. On the tablecloth, he placed a leather-bound folder …
Annie Karni / Politico:
Leaked Trump tape: ‘You are the special people’ — President Donald Trump, living alone inside the White House, often hungers for friendly interaction as he adjusts to the difficult work of governance. At his clubs, he finds what's missing. — That showed last November at a cocktail …
Discussion:
New York Times and Political Wire
Michael Stratford / Politico:
DeVos gets beefed-up security — The U.S. Marshals Service has taken the unusual step of providing a protective detail to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who emerged from a contentious nomination process as a lightning rod of controversy. — DeVos last week was briefly blocked by protesters from entering a Washington middle school.
Discussion:
Associated Press and Hot Air
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Danielle Douglas-Gabriel / Washington Post:
Betsy DeVos being guarded by U.S. Marshals Service
Betsy DeVos being guarded by U.S. Marshals Service
Discussion:
Townhall.com and AOL
Darren Sands / BuzzFeed:
Source Says Dr. Ben Carson “Baffled” At Firing Of HUD Staffer — One of Carson's closest aides was fired from the agency after writings critical of Trump from October resurfaced. — WASHINGTON — Dr. Ben Carson was “baffled” and “speechless” that one of his most loyal aides was walked …
Discussion:
Political Wire, Mediaite and Washington Post
Matthew Rozsa / Salon:
President Trump's family is living large — and American taxpayers are paying for it — The Trump family is footing Americans with an ever-increasing bill so they can maintain their lifestyle — President Donald Trump may have been elected as the nominee of a party that prides itself …
Discussion:
twitchy.com, New York Magazine, Politicus USA, RedState and Washington Post
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Jackie Northam / NPR:
Although President Trump has stepped back from daily management …
Erin Gloria Ryan / New York Times:
The Downfall of Kellyanne Conway — As Kellyanne Conway sleepwalks her way through a series of increasingly embarrassing interviews, it's been hard not to feel sorry for her. It was difficult not to feel bad for her when “Saturday Night Live” depicted her as a craven hack driven to …
CBS News:
Trump yells at CIA director over reports intel officials are keeping info from him — CBS News has learned that on Thursday, an angry President Trump called CIA Director Mike Pompeo and yelled at him for not pushing back hard enough against reports that the intelligence community was withholding information from the commander-in-chief.
Discussion:
Raw Story and Business Insider
Washington Post:
Coal is North Korea's largest export, and China just announced it won't buy any for the rest of 2017 — China's Ministry of Commerce announced the ban without giving a reason, but China is thought to be deeply frustrated with North Korea over its recent missile test and the assassination of Kim Jong Un's half brother in Malaysia.
Josh Dawsey / Politico:
Trump ignores ‘the grown-ups’ in his Cabinet — President Donald Trump this week abruptly dropped the nation's commitment to a two-state solution for Middle East peace — without reviewing the specifics of his new strategy with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Nick Timiraos / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Team's Growth Forecasts Far Rosier Than Those of CBO, Private Economists — While there are often disparities between the White House and independent agencies on growth projections, they are rarely this large — WASHINGTON—The Trump administration has drafted preliminary economic growth forecasts …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, bradford-delong.com, Raw Story and Axios
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Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Report: Trump transition ordered government economists to cook up rosy growth forecasts
Report: Trump transition ordered government economists to cook up rosy growth forecasts
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Bloomberg:
Conservatives Object to Obamacare Replacement's Tax Credits — Refundable tax credit would help people buy insurance coverage — Debate underscores difficulty in agreeing on a new plan — Some conservative House Republicans are objecting to a major part of the Obamacare replacement outline presented …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Axios
RELATED:
Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. / Breitbart:
Pope Francis: ‘Muslim Terrorism Does Not Exist’ — In an impassioned address Friday, Pope Francis denied the existence of Islamic terrorism, while simultaneously asserting that “the ecological crisis is real.” — “Christian terrorism does not exist, Jewish terrorism does not exist, and Muslim terrorism does not exist.
Fox News:
Fox News Poll: Voters divided over trusting Trump or the media — Slightly more voters find the White House more truthful than the media, according to the latest Fox News Poll. — In addition, most feel the press is tougher on President Trump than it was on President Obama.
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, Fox News Insider, Mediaite and Hot Air
ESPN:
Mark Cuban takes apparent jab at Donald Trump with No. 46 jersey — NEW ORLEANS — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wore a No. 46 jersey in Friday night's NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, an apparent response to President Donald Trump's recent tweet that Cuban is “not smart enough to run for president.”
New York Times:
President Trump, White House Apprentice — It's with a whiff of desperation that President Trump insists these days that he's the chief executive Washington needs, the decisive dealmaker who, as he said during the campaign, “alone can fix it.” What America has seen so far is an inept White House led by a celebrity apprentice.