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Congress' wiretap slap leaves White House fuming — Donald Trump suffered the second bipartisan rebuke from Congress over his wiretapping claims in two days — and left it to his embattled spokesman, Sean Spicer, to explain that the president didn't actually mean what he wrote.
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Spicer says Trump ‘stands by’ unproven allegation that Obama ordered wiretapping of Trump Tower — White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that President Trump “stands by” his allegation that former president Barack Obama ordered wiretapping surveillance of Trump Tower last fall …
Discussion:
Political Wire


CNN's Chalian: Trump ‘looked like a third-grader’ in Fox interview — President Trump “looked like a third grader” trying to “squirm out of a lie” when asked about his wiretapping claims during a Fox News interview, CNN's political director said Thursday. — David Chalian …
Discussion:
Raw Story


Dem lawmaker: Trump might've leaked classified information
Discussion:
Raw Story, Mediaite, Hot Air, Deadline, Occupy Democrats and Politicus USA

White House says Trump stands by claim Obama wiretapped him
Discussion:
Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, Media Matters for America, Eat Pray Vote and The Hill

Paul Ryan: ‘No such wiretap existed’
Discussion:
Politico, The Verge, The Root, The Week, Death and Taxes, Media Matters for America and New York Times


Trump's wiretapping claim was just shot down by the heads of the Senate Intel Committee

Trump says he will submit evidence of wiretapping to House committee ‘very soon’
Discussion:
Hot Air, AOL, Morning Consult, Daily Wire, Common Dreams and BizPac Review

Senate Intel chair: ‘No indications’ Trump Tower was wiretapped
Discussion:
Politico, The Moderate Voice and Common Dreams


EXCLUSIVE: Nazi-Allied Group Claims Top Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka As Sworn Member — Sebastian Gorka, President Trump's top counter-terrorism adviser, is a formal member of a Hungarian far-right group that is listed by the U.S. State Department as having been “under the direction …
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Sebastian Gorka Denies Reported Affiliations with Vitézi Rend — Lord knows I've had my differences with The Forward before. I have them still, and often. They rarely unsettle me, if only because robust disagreements, especially on things that matter, are what we journalists should seek, not shun.

Top Trump Adviser Sebastian Gorka Stonewalled When Asked If He Belongs To A Nazi-Allied Group — “Send a request to White House press,” Gorka told BuzzFeed News. — Sebastian Gorka, a top national security adviser to President Trump, stonewalled when BuzzFeed News asked about a report that he belongs to a Nazi-allied group.
Discussion:
Addicting Info, AOL, Death and Taxes and The FADER

Jewish organizations call for Sebastian Gorka's resignation for ties to far-right group
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.


Sources: Sean Hannity once pulled a gun on Juan Williams — Sean Hannity is surrounded by jackasses. — The Wall Street Journal columnist who called Hannity the “dumbest anchor” on Fox News is a “jackass,” according to Hannity. The forensic psychologist who suggested a blood vessel had popped inside Hannity's brain is a “jackass.”
Discussion:
RedState, Mediaite, Death and Taxes, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., The Week, AOL and Politico


Mike Flynn Worked for Several Russian Companies, Was Paid More Than $50,000, Documents Show — Former Trump national security adviser had business connections with Russia beyond RT that hadn't been previously known — President Trump's former national security adviser, Mike Flynn …
Discussion:
Politico, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Defense One and Axios
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Moscow paid $45,000 for Flynn's 2015 talk, documents show
Discussion:
Raw Story and CNBC, more at Mediagazer »

Trump adviser Flynn paid by multiple Russia-related entities, new records show
Discussion:
CNN, ABC News, ThinkProgress and The Week

Mulvaney: Proposed cuts to Meals on Wheels are compassionate to taxpayers — White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney on Thursday defended the Trump administration's proposed deep cuts to social welfare programs such as Meals on Wheels and after-school services, saying it's unfair to taxpayers if such programs don't show hard results.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and The Atlantic
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MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA STATEMENT ON BUDGET BLUEPRINT — Today, the President sent his Budget Blueprint, also known as the “skinny budget,” to Congress with a plan to release further details in the coming months. This blueprint focuses on discretionary spending levels for Fiscal Year 2018 …
Discussion:
Business Insider, The Hill, Politico, Democracy Journal and The Resurgent

Mulvaney justifies budget: We can't ask a coal miner to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Discussion:
ABC News, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Reuters, Bloomberg, CNBC, New York Times, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Common Dreams, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Vox, BillMoyers.com and The Week

Trump Budget Director Suggests Meals On Wheels Doesn't Show Results
Discussion:
Hullabaloo


A day in the life of a poor American under Trump's proposed budget — President Trump introduced a 2018 budget proposal Thursday that includes significant cuts to programs meant to bolster lower-income Americans. Below, we imagine a worst-case scenario for one such family, living in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Discussion:
CNN, Grist, Inside Higher Ed, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, Politico, BizPac Review and TheBlaze
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Trump's budget calls for seismic disruption in medical and science research
Discussion:
NPR, Vox, Common Dreams, Daily Kos and The Federalist

Trump federal budget 2018: Massive cuts to the arts, science and the poor
Discussion:
New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg, NPR, The Atlantic, ThinkProgress, neo-neocon, Media Matters for America, CNN, The Stranger …, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, FiveThirtyEight, The Verge, The Guardian, Vox, Occupy Democrats, Consumerist, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, RedState, Taylor Marsh, The Week, Hullabaloo, Outside the Beltway, Greentech Media, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Magazine, Instapundit, Raw Story and Reuters, more at Mediagazer »


Internal Trump administration data undercuts travel ban — At least two sets of internal data that have been available to the Trump administration — but which have never been publicized — appear to undercut the government's argument for a travel ban that it had hoped would take effect Thursday …
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, Daily Kos, Raw Story, The Week, Shakesville, Breitbart, Engadget, Hot Air, DCist, The Verge, RedState and Patterico's Pontifications, more at Techmeme »
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5 Problems With The Hawaii Judge Halting Trump's Travel Ban
Discussion:
Power Line, Instapundit, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, Take Care Blog, National Review, Lawfare, WAVY-TV and The Last Tradition

Trump's attacks on judges who don't agree with him might be alienating the judges who do
Discussion:
ABC News and New York Magazine


IJR published an article that does not meet our editorial standards or represent IJR's vision or values. We have retracted the story, and we deeply regret the error.


Capitol Hill Republicans not on board with Trump budget — Defense hawks, rural conservatives and even some of Donald Trump's most vocal supporters in Congress sharply criticized the president's first budget proposal on Thursday, pushing back on the huge potential hike in defense spending …
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Lack of Oxford Comma Costs Maine Company Millions in Overtime Dispute — A class-action lawsuit about overtime pay for truck drivers hinged entirely on a debate that has bitterly divided friends, families and foes: The dreaded — or totally necessary — Oxford comma, perhaps the most polarizing of punctuation marks.
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.


Chelsea Clinton announces new picture book, She Persisted — Count Chelsea Clinton among the many people whom Elizabeth Warren inspired when she refused to be silenced in the Senate. — Clinton, the daughter of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former U.S. President Bill Clinton …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Politico, The Hill, Mediaite, Daily Wire, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, RedState, The Week, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, The Resurgent, twitchy.com, Althouse, New York Magazine and TheBlaze


Pro-Trump radio host Michael Savage claims he was assaulted while having dinner with his toy poodle Teddy — Savage, 74, says he was having dinner in Tiburon, California, with his 12-year-old pooch when a man began taunting him by saying, ‘weener, weener’
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Pro-Trump radio host Michael Savage claims he was assaulted outside Marin County restaurant
Discussion:
TheBlaze


Trump fiddles while Earth burns: Our view — New administration disrupts programs to curb greenhouse gas emissions. — Seemingly every month provides alarming new evidence of human-caused climate disruption. Last month was the hottest February on record globally, shattering the previous record …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, US News, The Verge and Washington Post


Netflix is ditching five-star ratings in favor of a thumbs up — And it will show a percentage to “match” you with shows — Netflix vice president of product Todd Yellin said in a press briefing today that the video streaming company would be changing its ratings system …
Discussion:
WNEP-TV and The Next Web, more at Mediagazer »


McDonald's tweets to Trump: ‘You are actually a disgusting excuse of a President’ — McDonald's' in a tweet on its corporate account called President Trump “a disgusting excuse of a President” on Thursday morning. — The tweet, which was briefly pinned to the top of the account before being deleted …
Discussion:
Politico, ABC News, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, BizPac Review, Althouse, Axios and CBS Philly

Secret Service Agents Under Investigation for Taking Photos of Donald Trump's Sleeping Grandson — A source with knowledge of the information tells Mother Jones that two Secret Service agents who were assigned to protect Donald Trump III, President Donald Trump's grandson, took selfies with the eight year old while he was sleeping.
Discussion:
IJR, Mediaite, Death and Taxes, RedState, TMZ.com and Washington Free Beacon