memeorandum: White House circulates talking points ahead of speech to Congress (Seung Min Kim/Politico)

9:10 AM ET, February 28, 2017

Top Items:

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:

Exclusive — President Trump: Oscars ‘Were Focused so Hard on Politics’ They Could Not Get the Basics of the Ceremony Right — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News in the Oval Office, said that the Academy Awards failure on Sunday evening …

Discussion: The Hill, Liberal Values, USA Today, ABC News, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Post, The Week, The Gateway Pundit, CNN, Talking Points Memo, AOL, Mediaite, The Guardian, KTLA, TMZ.com and EW.com

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:

Exclusive — President Trump: New York Times ‘Intent Is so Evil and so Bad,’ ‘They Write Lies’ — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump told Breitbart News in an exclusive Oval Office interview that the “intent” of the New York Times in its negative coverage of him is “so evil and so bad” and that “they write lies.”

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, Politico, Talking Points Memo and Axios

Wall Street Journal:
PwC Partner at Oscars Tweeted Backstage Minutes Before Best Picture Mix-Up

Discussion: New York Times and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Oriana Schwindt / Variety:
Updated: Oscar Ratings Dip Again Amid ‘Moonlight,’ ‘La La Land’ Best Picture Mix-Up

Discussion: IJR, Mediaite, CBS Los Angeles, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and twitchy.com

Alex Guillén / Politico:

Sources: White House proposes to cut EPA budget by quarter — The White House has proposed slashing EPA's budget by about a quarter and eventually eliminating 1 in 5 of the agency's workers, according to sources familiar with the budget proposal sent to EPA on Monday.

Discussion: Salon, CNN, The Week, The Daily Caller, Politicus USA, Vox and Axios

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:

Trump budget faces GOP resistance — Congressional Republicans on Monday panned Donald Trump's call to finance a military buildup by slashing domestic agencies and ignoring entitlement programs — undermining the president's budget even before it's been finalized.

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post, Vox and ThinkProgress

CNN:

Sources: Trump signed off on checking White House staffers' phones — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump signed off on press secretary Sean Spicer's decision to check aides' cell phones to make certain they weren't communicating with reporters by text message or through encrypted apps, multiple sources confirmed to CNN on Monday.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Fox News Insider, Mediaite, Axios, Political Wire, Media Matters for America, Politico, Balloon Juice, IJR, Hit & Run, Towleroad and Washington Free Beacon, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Trump says Obama is helping to organize protests against his presidency

Discussion: Business Insider

Associated Press:
The Latest: Trump says Obama behind some political protests

Discussion: Politico

Joshua Green / Bloomberg:

Does Stephen Miller Speak for Trump? Or Vice Versa? — The 31-year-old is a driving force behind the White House's policies. — by — From Subscribe Reprints — Stephen Miller's corner office in the West Wing of the White House is utterly barren—no pictures on the walls …

Discussion: ABC News and Mediaite

Axios:

The ministers of Trump's truths — Forget the theater, the palace intrigue, the stumbles. One thing you should know on Day 40 (and soon the 40th night) of President Trump: This is Bannon-Miller presidency in the making. Think about the dark view of the state of the world, of the state of our nation, of the state of media.

MJ Lee / CNN:

Freedom Caucus chair would vote against draft Obamacare repeal bill — Trump: health care is ‘unbelievably complex’ — Washington (CNN)Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told CNN on Monday that he will vote against a draft of the GOP Obamacare repeal bill that was leaked last week.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, Axios, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Fox17 and KFOR-TV

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
Trump's speech can't mend GOP schisms on Obamacare

Discussion: Political Wire

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Trump and Paul Ryan Head for a Clash Over the Budget, and Ideology

Discussion: The Last Tradition

Rachael Bade / Politico: Republicans beg Trump for direction with Capitol Hill address

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill:
Top House conservatives won't back draft ObamaCare replacement

Discussion: Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice and Axios

Chris Graham / Telegraph:

‘Show some class’: Kellyanne Conway accused of lacking respect after kneeling on Oval Office couch — Kellyanne Conway, the senior adviser to Donald Trump, has been accused of showing a lack of respect after she was photographed kneeling on a couch in the Oval Office.

Discussion: Infowars, BizPac Review, Mediaite, twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit, Towleroad and Business Insider

James Gordon / Daily Mail:
Make yourself at home, Kellyanne! …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Althouse

Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People.com:

George W. Bush Breaks His Silence on the Direction of the Country Under President Trump: 'I Don't Like the Racism and Name-Calling' — For eight years since leaving the White House, George W. Bush has refused to criticize publicly those who succeeded him, saying he didn't want to make an already tough job …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Western Journalism, Political Wire, New York Magazine, The Hill, Mediaite, WTVR-TV, NPR, Axios, AOL, The Gateway Pundit, RedState and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Udall floats plan to confirm Gorsuch, Garland to SCOTUS together — (CNN)Sen. Tom Udall has an idea that could place both Judge Neil Gorsuch and Judge Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court at the same time. — The Democrat from New Mexico presented the plan Monday morning to Gorsuch …

Discussion: Politico, Western Journalism, Hot Air and Washington Post

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
Social Media Ban for Sex Offenders Questioned at U.S. Supreme Court

Discussion: The Verge

Stan Collender / Forbes:

Trump Will Have To Break The Law To Pass His Budget — The White House either hasn't thought through what it's going to take to put the just-announced Trump spending plans in place, or doesn't really care. — The bottom line is that the president and OMB Director Mick Mulvaney may have to violate …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Trump's Budget Is Aspirational. Reality in Congress Will Change It.

Discussion: Raw Story

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Trump to Seek $54 Billion Increase in Military Spending

Discussion: The Guardian, USA Today, The Atlantic, The Week, Gizmodo, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, One America News Network, TheBlaze, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Talking Points Memo, RedState, The Daily Caller, Axios and Hot Air

NBC News:

Yemen SEAL Raid Has Yielded No Significant Intelligence: Officials — Last month's deadly commando raid in Yemen, which cost the lives of a U.S. Navy SEAL and a number of children, has so far yielded no significant intelligence, U.S. officials told NBC News.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Mediaite, Hot Air, Business Insider and Politicus USA

SpaceX:

SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year — We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission.

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Verge, Snopes.com, Al Jazeera English, New York Times, NBC News, The Daily Caller, WSPA-TV, CBS Los Angeles, Sputnik International, The Week, WREG-TV and Axios

Carrie Johnson / NPR:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Focuses On Violent Crime And Police Morale — Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledged to devote federal resources to combat violent crime and to shore up morale across the nation's police departments, on Monday in his first on-the-record briefing as the top U.S. law enforcement officer.

Alice Ollstein / Talking Points Memo:
The Sessions Effect: Trump DOJ Reverses Course In Major Texas Voter ID Case

Discussion: Off the Kuff, ABC News, New York Magazine, Common Dreams, The Hill, Associated Press, BizPac Review, Western Journalism, RedState, The Root, Washington Monthly and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Michael Kruse / Politico:

'He's a Performance Artist Pretending to be a Great Manager' — More than 27 years before Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, Bruce Nobles, then the president of the Trump Shuttle airline, assessed with some befuddlement the business and managerial practices of his boss.

Discussion: Raw Story

Coral Davenport / New York Times:

Trump Plans to Begin E.P.A. Rollback With Order on Clean Water — WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday aimed at rolling back one of former President Barack Obama's major environmental regulations to protect American waterways, but it will have almost …

Discussion: Washington Post and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Wall Street Journal:

North Korea Executes Five Senior Officials With Antiaircraft Guns — South Korea reports purge, makes fresh charges in killing of dictator's brother Kim Jong Nam — SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un executed at least five senior officials in the country's Ministry …

Brendan O'Connor / Gizmodo:

Leaked Audio: Trump Cares About Food Safety But Only If the Food Is Foreign — President Donald Trump intends to intensify enforcement of food safety regulations as a cudgel in international trade negotiations, according to leaked recordings of a what appears to be a phone conversation between …

Discussion: Mother Jones

CBS News:

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa backtracks on call for Trump special prosecutor — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) backtracked his call for a special prosecutor to look into Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential election. “I certainly could see where if there is an allegation of a crime at some point …

Discussion: Mother Jones, RedState, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Townhall.com and Talking Points Memo

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

Hundreds allege sex harassment, discrimination at Kay and Jared jewelry company — Hundreds of former employees of Sterling Jewelers, the multibillion-dollar conglomerate behind Jared the Galleria of Jewelry and Kay Jewelers, claim that its chief executive and other company leaders presided …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight

Tyler Durden / zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml:

Minimum Wage Massacre: Wendy's Unleashes 1,000 Robots To Counter Higher Labor Costs — In yet another awkwardly rational response to government intervention in deciding what's “fair”, the blowback from minimum wage demanding fast food workers has struck again.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Last Tradition and CBS Pittsburgh

Brad Reed / Raw Story:

Monday pro-Trump rallies a massive flop as event photos show tiny crowds — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — President Donald Trump last week called on his supporters to hold massive rallies on his behalf, and on Monday some of them did their best to meet his demands.

Discussion: Balloon Juice