memeorandum: 'Putin's Niece' Catfished Trump Aide, Offered Kremlin Meeting (Kelly Weill/The Daily Beast)

7:10 PM ET, October 30, 2017

Top Items:

Paul Manafort, Who Once Ran Trump Campaign, Told to Surrender — WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort and his former business associate Rick Gates were told to surrender to federal authorities Monday morning, the first charges in a special counsel investigation, according to a person involved in the case.

Anna Palmer / Politico:

Tony Podesta stepping down from lobbying giant amid Mueller probe — Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Discussion: The Atlantic, New York Times, Mother Jones, The Daily Signal, RedState, Splinter, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, IJR, 105.9 FM and AM 630 and Axios

Lawfare:

Robert Mueller's Show of Strength: A Quick and Dirty Analysis — The first big takeaway from Monday morning's flurry of charging and plea documents with respect to Paul Manafort Jr., Richard Gates III and George Papadopoulos is this: The president of the United States had as his campaign chairman …

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

The Manafort Indictment: Not Much There, and a Boon for Trump — Do not be fooled by the “Conspiracy against the United States” heading. — The Paul Manafort indictment is much ado about nothing . . . except as a vehicle to squeeze Manafort, which is special counsel Robert Mueller's objective …

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Power Line, New York Times, JustOneMinute, Politico, ThinkProgress and Althouse

Marcy Wheeler / The Intercept:

Monday's Indictment is Very, Very Bad News For Attorney General Jeff Sessions — The biggest news of Mueller Monday — the roll out of a money laundering indictment against Trump's former campaign adviser, Paul Manafort and campaign aide Rick Gates, and the unsealing of a false statements plea deal …

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:

How bad will Mueller probe get for Trump? The Papadopoulos plea may be a big tell. — While the biggest news of the day is the indictments Robert S. Mueller III has handed down against former Trump aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, today he also released a plea bargain with a heretofore minor figure …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Yahoo, National Review, Shareblue Media, New York Times, Weekly Standard, Michael J. Totten's blog and The Root

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Inside the White House as the first Russia indictments came out — Just minutes before the senior-most White House staff walked into Roosevelt Room for their morning meeting with Chief of Staff John Kelly, their phones lit up with news alerts of the first indictments in the Mueller probe.

Discussion: Political Wire

CNN:

Manafort to turn himself in to Mueller, source says — Source: Manafort to turn himself in to Mueller — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Manafort is the first person in Trump's orbit charged in connection with the special counsel investigation — Washington (CNN)Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort …

Discussion: Wired, CBS News, The Daily Beast, Popehat, Washington Times, Media Matters for America, Village Voice, The Gateway Pundit, Hit & Run, KFOR-TV, KTLA, Shareblue Media, bizpacreview.com and IJR

NBC News:
Ex-Trump Adviser George Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty in Mueller's Russia Probe

Discussion: Just Security, Washington Monthly, New Yorker, AOL, NBC News, Shareblue Media, Booman Tribune, bizpacreview.com and Daily Kos

The Daily Beast:
Mueller Probe Appears to Hit Democratic Powerhouses, Too

Discussion: RedState, Vox, The Atlantic, IJR, Talking Points Memo, The Root, CNBC, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, National Review, The Guardian, Lawfare, Just Security, The Week and Shareblue Media

New York Times:
How the Russia Investigation Entangled a Manafort Protégé

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Post, Shareblue Media, Axios, NBC News, Mother Jones, AOL, New York Magazine, The Week, Washington Free Beacon, Splinter and Media Matters for America

Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:
How Fox News is covering the toughest day of the Trump presidency

Discussion: CNN, Media Matters for America, The Gateway Pundit and KTLA

Derek Robertson / Politico:
Manafort's clothing tab: $1.3 million

Discussion: Axios and ABC News

Fox News:
Paul Manafort judges: Who are Deborah A. Robinson and Amy Berman Jackson?

Discussion: Washington Post, Washingtonian and The Gateway Pundit

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
The Open Secrets Of The Russia Story

Discussion: The Resurgent, Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, CNN, KFOR-TV and Washington Post

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

Netflix Cancels ‘House Of Cards’, Says It's “Deeply Troubled” Over Kevin Spacey Claims — UPDATED with Netflix statement: As allegations of unwanted sexual advances in 1986 by Kevin Spacey against then-14-year-old Anthony Rapp have emerged, Netflix today decided to pull the plug …

Discussion: RedState, VICE, Washington Free Beacon and Mediaite

Adam B. Vary / BuzzFeed:
Actor Anthony Rapp: Kevin Spacey Made A Sexual Advance Toward Me When I Was 14

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:
‘House of Cards’ Ending With Sixth and Final Season at Netflix

Discussion: Page Six and TheBlaze

Daniel Holloway / Variety:
‘House of Cards’ Canceled; Netflix ‘Deeply Troubled’ by Spacey Assault Claim

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and AOL, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Ausiello / TVLine:
House of Cards to End With Season 6

Discussion: Breitbart and Instapundit

Ira Madison III / The Daily Beast:
How Kevin Spacey's ‘Coming Out’ Grossly Conflates Pedophilia and Homosexuality

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Caller, CBS Los Angeles, ABC News, The Guardian, ThinkProgress, VICE, Washington Post, The Resurgent, The Verge, AOL and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / CNNMoney:

Facebook estimates 126 million people were served content from Russia-linked pages — Facebook will inform lawmakers this week that roughly 126 million Americans may have been exposed to content generated on its platform by the Russian government-linked troll farm known as the Internet …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Russian content on Facebook may have reached 126 million users — far more than first disclosed, company testimony says — Facebook plans to tell lawmakers on Tuesday that 126 million of its users may have seen content produced and circulated by Russian operatives, many times …

New York Times:
Russian Influence Reached 126 Million Through Facebook Alone

Discussion: The Verge

Matt Apuzzo / New York Times:

Trump Campaign Adviser Met With Russian to Discuss ‘Dirt’ on Clinton — WASHINGTON — A professor with close ties to the Russian government told an adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign in April 2016 that Moscow had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” according to court documents unsealed Monday.

Discussion: Washington Post, Reuters, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo and Outside the Beltway

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:

'Putin's Niece' Catfished Trump Aide, Offered Kremlin Meeting … Days after becoming a foreign policy advisor for the Trump campaign in 2016, George Papadopoulos started meeting with a woman he believed to be Vladimir “Putin's niece,” according to a newly unsealed indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Discussion: Balloon Juice and emptywheel

Callum Borchers / Washington Post:
George who? As Papadopoulos pleads guilty, Trump's team seeks distance from ‘this individual’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Axios, ABC News, New York Times, CNN, IJR, The Guardian, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Shane Harris / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Ex-Adviser Pleads Guilty to Lying to FBI on Russia Contacts

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
A guilty plea from a former Trump campaign aide

Discussion: Portland Mercury and FiveThirtyEight

Hot Air:

Did George Papadopoulos Wear A Wire For Mueller? — I noted in the Papadopoulos post this morning that his plea deal says he's cooperating with Mueller's investigation. Brad Heath of USA Today made a nifty catch, though, about the possible extent of that cooperation.

Discussion: RedState, Mother Jones and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

Trump Is Expected to Name Jerome Powell as Next Fed Chairman — WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to name Jerome H. Powell as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, replacing Janet L. Yellen, the current chairwoman whose term expires early next year, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Atlantic, Axios, Political Wire and Politico

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg:

Key GOP Senator Susan Collins Lays Out Her Demands for Tax Bill — Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said Monday she's opposed to two tax breaks for the wealthy that her party leaders are pushing for, indicating that her vote won't be easy to win on President Donald Trump's top legislative priority.

Discussion: Axios and Political Wire

Bloomberg:
House Panel's Talk of Phased-in Tax Cut Counters Trump's Wishes

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Axios

Rebecca Kheel / The Hill:

Court partially blocks Trump's transgender military ban — DON'T MISS A BRIEF. SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY EMAIL.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Root and TheBlaze

Washington Post: Federal judge blocks enforcement of Trump's directive banning military service by transgender individuals

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

ABA deems another Trump judicial nominee ‘not qualified’ — Another one of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees — this time, to the powerful appellate courts — has been deemed “not qualified” by the American Bar Association. — Leonard Steven Grasz was nominated in August to fill …

Discussion: Political Wire and ProfessorBainbridge.com

Associated Press:

Trump vows justice as US captures key Benghazi militant — U.S. special operations forces captured a militant in Libya accused of playing an instrumental role in the Benghazi attacks, officials said Monday, in a high-stakes operation designed to bring the perpetrators to justice five years after the deadly violence.

Discussion: RedState