memeorandum: Method to the “Madness”: Dissecting Roger Stone's Statement to Congress, by a Former Fed Prosecutor (Renato Mariotti/Just Security)

2:40 AM ET, September 27, 2017

Top Items:

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Regrets? In Alabama Senate race, Trump had a few — President Donald Trump began distancing himself from Sen. Luther Strange before ballots were even cast in Alabama's GOP Senate primary, saying at a dinner on Monday night that the candidate he backed was likely to lose …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Axios, Washington Post, CNN, Business Insider, ABC News, The Hill, Shareblue, Raw Story, National Review, Political Wire and The Daily Caller

New York Times:

Roy Moore Wins Senate G.O.P. Runoff in Alabama — MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Roy S. Moore, a firebrand former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, overcame efforts by top Republicans to rescue his rival, Senator Luther Strange, defeating him on Tuesday in a special primary runoff, according to The Associated Press.

Discussion: The Last Tradition, IJR, The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

After Alabama, GOP anti-establishment wing declares all-out war in 2018 — Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore spoke Sunday at a campaign rally in Fairhope, Ala. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) — The stunning defeat of President Trump's chosen Senate candidate in Alabama on Tuesday amounted …

Discussion: Politico, Axios and Political Wire

The Daily Beast:

Team Trump Prepares the Shiv for Mitch McConnell: ‘He Needs To Go.’ … The Trump White House is gearing up to lay blame for a series of likely failures this week squarely at the feet of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), according to sources in and outside of the administration.

Discussion: Mother Jones, NPR, IJR and CNN

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
Trump deletes tweets backing Strange after primary loss

Discussion: Breitbart, ABC News, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Engadget, NBC News, The Daily Caller, The Daily Signal, Washington Free Beacon, The Week and Joe.My.God.

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:
McConnell Says Republicans Are Giving Up on Health Bill

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post, The Hill, Shareblue, CNN, ThinkProgress, Liberal Values, Splinter, The Last Tradition, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Outside the Beltway, Jezebel, Forbes and Common Dreams

Andrew Desiderio / The Daily Beast:
Senate Republicans Pull Their Last Obamacare Repeal Bill Before The Vote

Discussion: Politico, The Ringer - All, Vanity Fair, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Politicus USA, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
With lack of wins, GOP faces '18 primary woes

Discussion: Politico

Daniel Strauss / Politico:
Moore crushes Strange in Alabama Senate primary

Discussion: ABC News, Power Line, Raw Story, Business Insider and Joe.My.God.

Jeff Stein / Vox:
Judge Roy Moore wins Alabama Senate primary, dealing a huge blow to Mitch McConnell

Discussion: al.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Jezebel

Ben Jacobs / The Guardian:
Alabama Republican Senate primary: Roy Moore defeats Trump-backed Luther Strange

Discussion: The Week

CNN:

Exclusive: IRS shares information with special counsel in Russia probe — Washington (CNN)The IRS is now sharing information with special counsel Robert Mueller about key Trump campaign officials, after the two entities clashed this summer over both the scope of the investigation …

Discussion: Business Insider, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, Raw Story and Axios

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Sean Spicer Lawyers Up As Russia Probe Heats Up … Sean Spicer has lawyered up. — The president's former press secretary has tapped Chris Mead, a high-powered criminal defense attorney based, to handle issues related to the special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, The Daily Beast has learned.

Discussion: AOL, Talking Points Memo, Axios and Political Wire

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Blumenthal: ‘99 percent sure’ of Russia indictments — Criminal charges against two former top advisers to President Donald Trump are virtually certain, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday. — Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort are almost sure to be indicted as a result …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Axios, Political Wire, Politicus USA and Balloon Juice

John Bowden / The Hill:
IRS shares information with Mueller's special counsel probe

Discussion: RedState

CNN:
Special counsel interviews with White House staff could start later this week

Discussion: Shareblue, Raw Story and Mediaite

Timothy Gardner / Reuters:

U.S. denies request for Puerto Rico shipping waiver — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday denied a request to waive shipping restrictions to help get fuel and supplies to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, saying it would do nothing to address the island's main impediment to shipping, damaged ports.

Death and Taxes:
Trump defaulted on payments for his Puerto Rico golf course, leaving the territory with a $33 million tax debt

Discussion: Shareblue, Raw Story, Bloomberg, CNN, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, BBC, Salon, Washington Post, Mashable, emptywheel, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, NPR, IJR, CBS New York, Associated Press, Hullabaloo, Common Dreams, Business Insider and Jezebel

John Bowden / The Hill:
US won't waive shipping restrictions for Puerto Rico relief

Discussion: rubber hose

Nelson A. Denis / New York Times:
The Law Strangling Puerto Rico

Discussion: Grist, The Atlantic, CNN, Fox News, Splinter and Raw Story

Alexia Fernández Campbell / Vox:
Here's what Trump could actually do to help Puerto Rico

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Axios, Washington Free Beacon, Shareblue, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, twitchy.com, IJR, Business Insider and Hullabaloo

mccain.senate.gov: SENATOR JOHN McCAIN URGES DHS TO WAIVE THE ARCHAIC JONES ACT FOR PUERTO RICO TO AID HURRICANE RECOVERY EFFORTS

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump defends response to devastation in Puerto Rico, promises visit

Discussion: New York Times, Jezebel, US News, FEMA.gov, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com and TalkLeft

Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times:
In San Juan, ‘the aftermath is almost more horrific than the actual passing of the hurricane itself’

Discussion: CityLab

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Head of Drug Enforcement Administration to Leave, Alluding to Dismay Over Trump — WASHINGTON — The acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration will resign at the end of the week, according to law enforcement officials, who said he had become convinced that President Trump had little respect for the law.

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC, NBC News, Mediaite, Mother Jones, The Week, Politicus USA, TalkLeft and Washington Free Beacon

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Acting DEA chief who criticized Trump plans to quit

Discussion: ABC News

Rachana Pradhan / Politico:

Price's private-jet travels included visits with colleagues, lunch with son — Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price took a government-funded private jet in August to get to St. Simons Island, an exclusive Georgia resort where he and his wife own land, a day and a half before he addressed …

Discussion: The Week, Raw Story, Axios, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Tennessean.com:

Sen. Bob Corker will not seek re-election next year — Sen. Bob Corker said Tuesday he will not seek re-election next year. — “After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, Washington Free Beacon, Axios, IJR, Political Wire, Mediaite and Joe.My.God.

Twitter:

Giving you more characters to express yourself — Trying to cram your thoughts into a Tweet - we've all been there, and it's a pain. — Interestingly, this isn't a problem everywhere people Tweet. For example, when I (Aliza) Tweet in English, I quickly run into the 140 character limit and have to edit my Tweet down so it fits.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Business Insider, Mashable, ABC News, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Vox, NBC News, Gizmodo and FOX2now.com, more at Techmeme »

Andrew / Be Nice To Bears:
Twitter Adds 280 Characters

Discussion: Daily Mail, The Ringer - All, Mashable, Joe.My.God. and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Renato Mariotti / Just Security:

Method to the “Madness”: Dissecting Roger Stone's Statement to Congress, by a Former Fed Prosecutor — Dissecting Roger Stone's statement was a very different exercise than my prior dissections of statements by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and Michael Cohen.

Discussion: CNN, Yahoo, ThinkProgress, NPR, Washington Post, Politicus USA, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, emptywheel and New York Times

Katie Bo Williams / The Hill:
Roger Stone testifies he's been falsely accused of collusion

Discussion: Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, ABC News and RedState

Brady Dennis / Washington Post:

EPA spending almost $25,000 to install a secure phone booth for Scott Pruitt — The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to construct a secure, soundproof communications booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to government contracting records.

Discussion: Mediaite, Splinter, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze and Political Wire

Lisa Friedman / New York Times: E.P.A. to Spend Nearly $25,000 on a Soundproof Booth for Pruitt

Alex Pareene / Splinter:

You Are Jonathan Chait's Enemy — New York's Jonathan Chait writes today about the “dangerous consequences” of the left's use of the label “white supremacist” to describe Donald Trump, the alt-right, and American conservatism in general. — In the course of defending his piece on Twitter …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Root

ABC News:

Special counsel probing flow of Russian-American money to Trump political funds — WATCH: One of the FBI's top investigators, tapped by special counsel Robert Mueller just weeks ago to help lead the probe of Russian meddling in last year's presidential election, has left Mueller's team, sources tell ABC News.

Discussion: Raw Story and Politicus USA

Ben Hubbard / New York Times:

Saudi Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drive — Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a longstanding policy that has become a global symbol of the repression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom. — The change, which will take effect in June of next year …

Discussion: Financial Times, BBC, The Guardian, IJR, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Daily Caller, RedState, The Verge, Common Dreams, Mashable, Business Insider, Axios, The Week, TheBlaze, Mother Jones and Jezebel

Anna Fifield / Washington Post:

North Korea seeks help from Republican analysts: 'What's up with Trump?' — BERN, Switzerland — North Korean government officials have been quietly trying to arrange talks with Republican-linked analysts in Washington, in an apparent attempt to make sense of President Trump and his confusing messages to Kim Jong Un's regime.

Discussion: CNBC, AOL, The Week and Raw Story

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

RSC chief calls women in group ‘eye candy’ — Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), on Tuesday described women in his conservative caucus as the group's “eye candy.” — Walker made the remark, about two minutes into his presentation outside …