memeorandum: Flynn's Guilty Plea Looms Over a White House on the Verge of a Tax Cut Success (New York Times)

10:10 AM ET, December 2, 2017

Top Items:

Kushner Is Leaving Tillerson in the Dark on Middle East Talks, Sources Say — Tillerson worries secret plan could plunge region into chaos — White House rejects accusation State Department isn't informed — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is increasingly alarmed by what he sees …

Discussion: The Hill, RedState, IJR, Raw Story and BloombergQuint

SHennessey / Lawfare:

The Flynn Plea: A Quick and Dirty Analysis — The news that former national security adviser Michael Flynn has reached a cooperation and plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller could not come as less of a surprise. Reports of Flynn's bizarre behavior across a wide spectrum …

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

Kushner Is Said to Have Ordered Flynn to Contact Russia — Now that the retired general has pleaded guilty, the president's son-in-law could be one of the next dominoes to fall. — Former national security adviser Michael Flynn's guilty plea Friday for lying to the FBI is alarming news for Donald Trump.

New York Times:

Flynn Flipped. Who's Next? — We now have a better idea why President Trump went to such great lengths to shield Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, from the prying eyes of the F.B.I. and various congressional committees over the past year. Unfortunately for Mr. Trump, it didn't work out as he had planned.

Discussion: Democrats.com, East Bay Times, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, IJR and Just Security

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

Mueller Investigation: Politics, Not Law Enforcement or Counterintelligence — The end game is the removal of Trump, either by impeachment or by publicly discrediting him and making his reelection politically impossible. — Here's what I'd be tempted to do if I were President Trump …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Mediaite, The Last Refuge and The Atlantic

New York Times:
Flynn's Guilty Plea Looms Over a White House on the Verge of a Tax Cut Success

Discussion: Business Insider

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:
ABC News corrects bombshell Flynn report

CNN:
Russia investigation ‘wearing’ on White House, despite spin

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story, IJR, The Atlantic, New York's PIX11, TheBlaze, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Common Dreams

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Trump keeps playing nice with Mueller, for now

Discussion: Raw Story, Outside the Beltway and IJR

Washington Post:
Mueller's swift moves signal mounting legal peril for the White House

Discussion: New York Times, NPR, CNBC, Daily Kos, Media Matters for America, Politico, NBC News and Raw Story

Harry Litman / New York Times:
Michael Flynn's Guilty Plea: 10 Key Takeaways

Discussion: Washington Monthly, East Bay Times, Shareblue Media, TalkLeft, Vox, The Root and The Slot

Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump White House caught off guard by Flynn plea

Discussion: New York Post, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Towleroad, ABC News, The Week, Washington Free Beacon, FiveThirtyEight, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, The Guardian, No More Mister Nice Blog, Patterico's Pontifications and Politicus USA

BuzzFeed:
It Was Kushner Who Told Flynn To Make Calls About Israel UN Vote, Source Says

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC, The Hill, New York Magazine, The Guardian, Common Dreams, Vox and Talking Points Memo

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart:
‘Over By Thanksgiving’: White House Lawyer Ty Cobb Was Disastrously Wrong

Discussion: Raw Story

Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
MICHAEL FLYNN'S GUILTY PLEA SHOWS THAT ROBERT MUELLER IS CLOSING IN

Discussion: The Week and Politico

Allegra Kirkland / Talking Points Memo:
Former Prosecutors Break Down What Mike Flynn's Plea Deal Really Means

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Post and Power Line

Jeff Poor / Breitbart: Limbaugh: Timing of Flynn Charges ‘May Not Be Coincidental’ — ‘Look at All the News It Has Swept Off the Front Pages’

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Facing mounting legal vulnerabilities, Flynn turned to a deal

Discussion: BuzzFeed

CNN:
Sources: Kushner was the ‘very senior’ transition member mentioned in court filing

Discussion: KTLA, ThinkProgress, Fox News, NBC News and emptywheel

Noah Feldman / Bloomberg:
How the Flynn Charges Box In Trump

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, Business Insider, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, BloombergQuint, The Daily Caller, Joe.My.God., Politico, Daily Kos, New Republic and Mashable

David Faris / The Week:

The GOP's massive tax overhaul is a monstrosity — In a truly wild and dizzying Friday night and Saturday morning in Washington, Senate Republicans committed collective political suicide by passing a deeply detested tax bill they were still writing seemingly moments before they jammed …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media, The Hill, Mother Jones, New York Times and Politicus USA

Heather Long / Washington Post:

How an unequal tax cut grew more unequal — When Senate Republicans introduced their tax bill in mid-November, they faced competing interests: Some senators thought it wasn't generous enough for working-class families. Others thought it didn't deliver enough to business owners.

New York Times:

A Historic Tax Heist — With barely a vote to spare early Saturday morning, the Senate passed a tax bill confirming that the Republican leaders' primary goal is to enrich the country's elite at the expense of everybody else, including future generations who will end up bearing the cost.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Post, The Nevada Independent, Issues, The Daily Signal, taxpolicycenter.org, NPR and Media Matters for America

Matthew Chapman / Shareblue Media:

GOP passes deeply unpopular tax hike on middle class, sealing their fate for 2018 — At 2 AM on Saturday morning, after an endless marathon of procedural wrangling, Senate Republicans voted to wreak havoc on the middle class. — By passing their massive scheme to raise taxes …

Discussion: The Week and Vox

New York Times:
Senate Passes Sweeping Republican Tax Overhaul Bill

Discussion: Axios, Politico, Washington Post, Joe.My.God., ACA Signups, The Week, Vox, Axios, CNN, Politico and Washington Monthly

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
GOP eyes post-tax-cut changes to welfare, Medicare and Social Security

Discussion: The Week

Washington Post:
Senate passes Republican tax plan in major win for Trump and party leaders

Washington Post:

Alabama race is neck and neck, with voters divided over Roy Moore allegations, poll finds — Alabama's closely watched U.S. Senate race is a neck-and-neck contest as voter concerns about personal moral conduct weigh on the candidacy of Republican Roy Moore, according to a new Washington Post-Schar School poll.

Discussion: Axios, Joe.My.God., Politico and USA Today

Lisa Hagen / The Hill: Gay GOP group urges ‘good Christians’ to oppose Moore

BuzzFeed:

She Says She Quit Her Campaign Job After He Harassed Her. Now He's In Congress. — Last year, a 25-year-old woman left her job on Democratic Rep. Ruben Kihuen's campaign because of what she says were repeated unwanted propositions for dates and sex. Responding to these allegations …

Discussion: ABC News, bizpacreview.com, The Nevada Independent, The Daily Caller, AOL, The Week, Politico, USA Today, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Roll Call, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite and KTLA

Lee Fang / The Intercept:

GOP's List of Economists Backing Tax Cut Includes Ghosts, Office Assistants, Ex-Felons, and a Sprinkling of Real Economists — Touting support for their tax cut legislation, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, released a letter …

Lee Fang / The Intercept:
Special Giveaways in Tax Cut Bill Benefit Family Members, Colleagues of Key GOP Senators

Discussion: NBC News, Mother Jones and Joe.My.God.

Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:

Gowdy, Benghazi panel settled wrongful firing suit with $150,000 in public funds — Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. (Alex Brandon/AP) — As chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) used $150,000 in taxpayer dollars to settle with a former aide who alleged …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, The Hill and Business Insider

Jill Filipovic / New York Times:

The Men Who Cost Clinton the Election — Matt Lauer, like Charlie Rose and Mark Halperin before him, is a journalist out of a job after his employer fired him for sexually harassing female colleagues. It's good news that real penalties are now leveled on men who harass …

John Bowden / The Hill:
Clinton on Matt Lauer: ‘Every day I believe more in karma’

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, PhillyVoice, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller and TheBlaze

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
NBC News source says Matt Lauer will not receive a payout

Discussion: Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Noor Al-Sibai / Raw Story:

Steve Schmidt: If Trump pardons Flynn it will create a ‘constitutional crisis’ that will end the GOP — GOP strategist Steve Schmidt isn't optimistic about the Republican Congress' potential for impeaching President Donald Trump in the wake of former adviser Mike Flynn's guilty plea …

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Democrats say GOP tax perk aimed at helping one influential conservative college — At nearly 500 pages, the emerging Senate tax bill provides breaks for industries small and large, but one particular provision sparked a heated exchange Friday night, something Democrats calling it the “Hillsdale carveout”.

Discussion: RedState