memeorandum: The Open Secrets Of The Russia Story (Ben Smith/BuzzFeed)

7:55 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, The Daily Signal, Mother Jones, Washington Times, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Talking Points Memo, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, Splinter, 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, New York Times, Power Line, JustOneMinute, ThinkProgress, Politico 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 …

Washington Post:

Upstairs at home, with the TV on, Trump fumes over Russia indictments — President Trump woke before dawn on Monday and burrowed in at the White House residence to wait for the Russia bombshell he knew was coming. — Separated from most of his West Wing staff — who fretted …

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: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, 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 and Politico

miamiherald:
Firm in Mueller indictment got RNC funds for work on Trump campaign

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Townhall.com, CNN, ThinkProgress, The Atlantic and Bloomberg

CNN:
Manafort to turn himself in to Mueller, source says

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

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

Discussion: The Resurgent, Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, CNN, Washington Post, CNBC and Hullabaloo

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Mueller team won battle to force testimony from lawyer for Manafort and Gates

Discussion: Axios

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

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

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

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

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, The Gateway Pundit and Portland Mercury

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

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Post, Shareblue Media, Axios, Mother Jones, NBC News, AOL, New York Magazine, The Week and Mediaite

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 and Washington Free Beacon

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

Discussion: Page Six, VICE and The Resurgent

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

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

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

Discussion: Breitbart, NPR and Instapundit

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

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 and Mediaite

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 …

more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Verge

Tony Romm / Recode:
Facebook, Google and Twitter will tell Congress that Russia's election meddling was wider than they first reported

Discussion: Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

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: Reuters, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress and Outside the Beltway

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

Discussion: Balloon Juice and emptywheel

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

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, New York Times, Axios, CNN, ABC News, 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

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: Mother Jones, RedState 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, Politico and Political Wire

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall.com:

It's Not Too Much To Ask That Our GOP Hacks Show Some Loyalty To Their Voters — As Jeff Flake joins Bob Corker in America's political gimp box, perhaps our betters in the Grand Old Party should reflect on how two of their own came to this sorry end. Well guys, there's this thing called …

New York Times:

New Accusers Expand Harvey Weinstein Sexual Assault Claims to Four Decades — Hope Exiner d'Amore said Harvey Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in the 1970s, when he was a young concert promoter in Buffalo. Cynthia Burr said that during this time, he assaulted her in an encounter that began …

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Daily Caller, The Daily Signal and IJR