memeorandum: Pentagon investigating troubling questions after deadly Niger ambush (Los Angeles Times)

11:25 PM ET, October 20, 2017

Top Items:

Larry Barszewski / Sun-Sentinel:

Full video of Frederica Wilson's 2015 FBI speech shows John Kelly got it wrong — A South Florida Sun Sentinel video from 2015 shows the full speech of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson at the dedication ceremony of a new FBI building in Miramar, Florida, named for two slain FBI agents.

Masha Gessen / New Yorker:

John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup — Consider this nightmare scenario: a military coup. You don't have to strain your imagination—all you have to do is watch Thursday's White House press briefing, in which the chief of staff, John Kelly, defended President Trump's phone call to a military widow, Myeshia Johnson.

Discussion: Daily Wire, NewsBusters, Washington Monthly, IJR, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic, Just Security, twitchy.com, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Post

New York Times:

After Video Refutes Kelly's Charges, Congresswoman Raises Issue of Race — WASHINGTON — Video of a 2015 speech delivered by Representative Frederica S. Wilson revealed Friday that John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, misrepresented her remarks when he accused her of bragging …

David Nakamura / Washington Post:
Video shows Kelly made inaccurate claims about lawmaker in feud over Trump's condolence call

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, Daily Kos, IJR, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Washington Post:
John Kelly owes the congresswoman an apology

Discussion: Raw Story, Shareblue Media, Talking Points Memo, Power Line and Last Men and OverMen

MSNBC:
Lawrence: ‘Stunned’ by John Kelly's attack on Rep. Wilson

Discussion: Fox News, bizpacreview.com, IJR, The Daily Caller, Shareblue Media, Dallas Morning News and Shakesville

Dara Lind / Vox:
John Kelly has become a field commander in Trump's culture war

Discussion: CNN and Business Insider

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
There is a transcript of Trump's controversial call to Sgt. Johnson's widow, Lara Trump reveals

Discussion: CNN, Raw Story, IJR, CBS Miami, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God., The Atlantic and Politicus USA

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Kelly erroneously claimed congresswoman took credit for building funding, video shows

Discussion: Shareblue Media, The Hill, Vox, American Greatness, Talking Points Memo, CNBC, Washington Free Beacon, RedState, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgress, IJR, Mediaite and Joe.My.God.

John M. Donnelly / Roll Call:

Exclusive: Pentagon Document Contradicts Trump's Gold Star Claims — Email undermines veracity of president's statement about Gold Star contacts — Contrary to Rhetoric, Military Mishaps Have Been Declining Senate Diluted Tough Oversight of Israeli Antimissile Program Safety Experts: Some F-35 Ejections Pose ‘Serious’ Death Risk

Discussion: Raw Story

Brandon Carter / The Hill:
Trump attacks on generals resurface after White House says it's ‘inappropriate’ to question generals

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite and Joe.My.God.

NBC News:

Niger Ambush Came After ‘Massive Intelligence Failure,’ Source Says — WASHINGTON — A senior congressional aide who has been briefed on the deaths of four U.S. servicemen in Niger says the ambush by militants stemmed in part from a “massive intelligence failure.”

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, Shareblue Media, Wall Street Journal and twitchy.com

Los Angeles Times:

Pentagon investigating troubling questions after deadly Niger ambush — Militants affiliated with Islamic State apparently carried out the deadly attack in Niger that left four U.S. soldiers dead. — Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, troubled by a lack of information two weeks after an ambush …

Discussion: Shareblue Media

CNN: Missing soldier found nearly a mile from Niger ambush, officials say

Deborah Strange / Gainesville Sun:

Three charged in shooting after Spencer talk — Three supporters of white nationalist Richard Spencer were arrested Thursday in connection with an incident in which a shot was fired. — Three supporters of white nationalist Richard Spencer were arrested Thursday in connection with an incident …

Discussion: The Guardian, Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:
‘Kill them’: Three men charged in shooting after Richard Spencer speech

Discussion: The Guardian, Snopes.com and CNN

Jessica Chia / New York Daily News:
Protester hugs Nazi outside Richard Spencer talk, asks ‘Why do you hate me?’

Discussion: TheBlaze, Raw Story, WGN-TV, KTLA, IJR, The Root, Althouse and Daily Wire

Facebook:
3 ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING AFTER RICHARD SPENCER SPEECH

Discussion: Slate, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Deadspin

Alex Harris / miamiherald:
Three Richard Spencer supporters arrested on charges of shooting at UF protesters

Discussion: Business Insider, We Hunted The Mammoth, ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo

Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times:
White nationalist shot at protesters after Richard Spencer speech in Florida, police say

Discussion: The Root

CNN:

Senate investigators spoke with Russians present at Trump Tower meeting with Trump Jr. — Washington (CNN)Senate intelligence committee investigators have spoken with several Russians who attended a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., a sign that the matter remains …

Discussion: emptywheel, Raw Story and Mediaite

Ben Collins / The Daily Beast:

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Retweeted Alleged Russian Trolls … Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey twice retweeted a now-deleted account that was allegedly run out of Russia's “troll factory” in March of last year. — The account, @Crystal1Johnson, claimed to be an African-American woman …

Discussion: Raw Story and Axios

Ashley Feinberg / HuffPost:

Harvard Students Told Us What They're Learning From Sean Spicer — Veritas? Nah. — Sean Spicer, a man most famous for lying compulsively and giving Hitler the benefit of the doubt, has been rewarded for his brief stint as White House press secretary with a prestigious fellowship …

Discussion: IJR

Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:

The White-Minstrel Show — ‘Acting white’ for white people — Ice-T never received an Academy Award, which makes sense inasmuch as his movies have been for the most part crap. But as an actor, you have to give the man credit: Along with other gangster rappers such as Ice Cube …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and The American Conservative

Max Blau / STAT:

Georgia lawmaker, wife of Tom Price, suggests people with HIV could be quarantined — TLANTA — A Georgia state lawmaker — the wife of former Trump health secretary Tom Price — is drawing condemnation for suggesting that people with HIV might be quarantined to curb the spread of the infectious disease.

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos and IJR

New York Times:

Asia Argento flees Italy after public condemns her for speaking out about Harvey Weinstein — Italian movie actress and director Asia Argento is facing pushback in her home country after speaking out about an alleged rape at the hands of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Discussion: IndieWire, IJR and twitchy.com

Mark Hemingway / Weekly Standard:
There's an Awakening Against Sexual Assault, So Why Is No One Talking About Bill Clinton?

Discussion: Axios

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

White House pushing for new concessions in bipartisan health bill, including retroactive mandate relief — (Reynold/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock/ Reynold/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock) — The White House signaled to Senate Republican negotiators Friday that they want to include retroactive relief …

Discussion: CNBC, Axios, New York Times and Health Affairs Blog

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Key Senate Republican warns GOP to change course on ObamaCare

Discussion: The Daily Caller, taxpolicycenter.org and RedState

Wall Street Journal:

How the GOP Tax Bill Could Squeeze Your 401(k) — Talk of limiting the amount of retirement money that people can save before taxes is worrying the financial industry — Proposals floating around Washington to cap the amount that Americans can contribute before taxes to 401(k) …

Discussion: The First Street Journal, Business Insider, RedState and National Review

Alex Pappas / Fox News:

Melania Trump cuts bloated first lady payroll from Michelle Obama days — Melania Trump is embracing a more active and public schedule as first lady - but she still runs one of the leanest East Wing operations in recent history. — According to a Fox News analysis of White House personnel reports …

Discussion: TheBlaze and IJR

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:

Many Trump voters who got hurricane relief in Texas aren't sure Puerto Ricans should — HOUSTON — Sitting on Mary Maddox's back porch, which flooded with 22 inches of water when Hurricane Harvey hit nearly two months ago, is a Lady of the Evening plant from Puerto Rico that a friend gave her.

Discussion: Raw Story

Greg Margason / FOX59:

Kokomo man's warning after having 16 guns stolen: 'Don't let strippers in your house' … KOKOMO, Ind.— Howard County gun owner Billy Swaggerty said he learned a bitter lesson after his back door was kicked in last spring and more than a dozen firearms, some of them assault-style rifles, and the safes they were kept in were stolen.

Discussion: Daily Wire and twitchy.com

Emily Smith / Page Six:

Harvey Weinstein doesn't seem to be taking sex rehab seriously — MORE FROM: … Harvey Weinstein is already being belligerent at sex addiction rehab — barking into his banned mobile phone and remaining in denial about his alleged sex attacks, insisting each and every one was consensual, Page Six has exclusively learned.

Discussion: East Bay Times, Althouse, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire and IJR

Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times:

Steve Bannon's speech to the California GOP tonight has some Republicans nervous — Former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon takes part in an interview with Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity on Oct. 9. (Craig Ruttle / Associated Press) — The California Republican Party's decision …

USA Today:

Trump weighs in on UK crime rates and gets it all wrong — President Trump on Friday blamed a surge in crime rates in the United Kingdom on the “spread” of “Islamic terror,” but he got it all wrong. — “Just out report: United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.”

Philip Shenon / Politico:

Trump Likely to Block Release of Some JFK Files — Conspiracy theorists of the world, get ready for some bad news. — Trump administration and other government officials say privately that President Donald Trump is almost certain to block the release of information from some of the thousands …

Nick Green / Daily Breeze:

Congressional candidate Omar Navarro on probation for illegal use of tracking device — Omar Navarro, a fringe GOP activist in the South Bay making his second bid to unseat entrenched Rep. Maxine Waters, is on probation until March for a criminal conviction stemming from his use …