Top Items:
Bridget Bowman / Roll Call:
Arizona's Trent Franks to Resign Jan. 31 — Updated 7:24 pm | Arizona Republican Trent Franks said Thursday he is resigning from Congress effective Jan. 31 amid an Ethics Committee investigation into discussions he had with two female staffers about surrogacy.
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Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, who asked staffers if they would bear his child as a surrogate, says he will resign — Rep. Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican who is among the most conservative members of the House, said he would resign his seat after House officials learned that he had asked …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Raw Story
Elena Schneider / Politico:
Rep. Trent Franks to resign after discussing surrogacy with female staffers — Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) announced Thursday that he would resign from office as of Jan. 31, 2018, after discussing surrogacy issues with female staffers. — “I have recently learned that the Ethics Committee …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, Raw Story and RedState
Jeremy Herb / CNN:
Ethics Committee clears Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes — Washington (CNN)The House Ethics Committee has cleared House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes in its investigation into whether he disclosed classified information to the Trump White House, which could create an avenue for Nunes …
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
BREXIT talks move to phase 2 — SHUTDOWN AVERTED, problems punted to the end of the month …
Discussion:
Axios, The Texas Tribune and McClatchy Washington Bureau
Speaker.gov:
Statement from the Office of the Speaker
Discussion:
Washington Times, NBC News and The New Civil Rights Movement
John Bresnahan / Politico:
Ethics Committee launches investigation into Farenthold sexual harassment allegations
Discussion:
Washington Post, Raw Story and New York Times
Eli Watkins / CNN:
GOP Rep. Mia Love: Farenthold should resign
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, FOX2now.com and KTLA
CNN:
Exclusive: Previously undisclosed emails show follow-up after Trump Tower meeting — Analyzing Donald Trump Jr.'s House testimony — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)The British publicist who arranged the June 2016 meeting with Russians and Donald Trump Jr. sent multiple emails …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, The Week, Mother Jones, IJR, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Raw Story
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Washington Post:
Russian social media executive sought to help Trump campaign in 2016, emails show … An executive at a leading Russian social media company made several overtures to Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 — including days before the November election — urging the candidate to create …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and The Week
Sewell Chan / New York Times:
Nearly Every Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Disagrees With Trump's Jerusalem Decision — All but two of 11 former United States ambassadors to Israel contacted by The New York Times after President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital thought the plan was wrongheaded, dangerous or deeply flawed.
Discussion:
NTK Network, Daily Kos and Bloomberg
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Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Donald Trump — keeper of promises
Discussion:
NBC News, IJR, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, FOX6Now.com, Infowars, NTK Network and AOL
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Fox's pro-Trump hosts are working overtime to discredit Robert Mueller — This is why Trump loves ‘Fox & Friends’ — What's President Trump hearing when he watches Fox News? — He's hearing that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is “illegitimate and corrupt.”
Pew Research Center:
Stark Partisan Divisions Over Russia Probe, Including Its Importance to the Nation — Trump's style, Twitter use top ‘disappointments’ among supporters — A majority of Americans say they think senior members of Donald Trump's administration definitely or probably had improper contacts …
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, The Week, Axios, CNBC, Washington Post and Pew Research Center
Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:
Justice Department Moves To Investigate Planned Parenthood's Fetal Tissue Practices … The Justice Department is taking steps to investigate Planned Parenthood, The Daily Beast has learned. — The head of Justice's office of legislative affairs has sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee asking …
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New York Times:
Congressional Democrats Left Out of White House Hanukkah Party — WASHINGTON — The latkes were fried and the kosher lamb chops were prepared on Thursday, just as in past years, for the first White House Hanukkah party of the Trump era. But there was one prominent break with tradition …
Discussion:
Public Pool, AOL, The Hill, Politico, The Week and No More Mister Nice Blog
Washington Post:
Trump's richest friends are asking for changes to the GOP tax plan, and he's listening … Some of President Trump's wealthiest New York friends have launched a last-minute campaign to pressure him for changes to the GOP tax bill, telling the president personally that the current plan would drive up their taxes and hurt his home state.
Aram Roston / BuzzFeed:
Private War: Erik Prince Has His Eye On Afghanistan's Rare Metals — BuzzFeed News is publishing the slide presentation by the founder of Blackwater to privatize the Afghan war and mine Afghanistan's valuable minerals. He pitched the proposal to the Trump administration.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, The Week, Raw Story and Business Insider
Eric Lach / New Yorker:
Al Franken's Resignation and the Selective Force of #MeToo — On what he called the worst day of his political life, Senator Al Franken articulated two points that are central to understanding what has become known as the #MeToo moment. In an eleven-minute speech, in which Franken announced …
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, CNBC, Mediaite, The Nevada Independent, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, New Republic and Splinter
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John Fund / Fox News:
Democrats forced Franken out to ramp up their strategy to bring down Trump — In the comedy movie “Anchorman,” comedian Will Farrell advises his TV audience to “stay classy.” On Thursday, former “Saturday Night Live” comedian Al Franken didn't follow that advice and resigned from the U.S. Senate in a particularly classless way.
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Maggie Astor / New York Times:
2 Times Reporters Will Write Book on Sexual Abuse Scandals — The New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey will publish a book about the sexual abuse and harassment scandals that have convulsed the nation over the past two months, Penguin Press confirmed on Thursday.
Yashar Ali / HuffPost:
Exclusive: Former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. Fired For Misconduct By Morgan Stanley — A woman who was interviewed as part of the company's HR probe separately told HuffPost that Ford harassed her one evening in Manhattan several years ago. — Former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Hill, Townhall.com, NBC News, IJR, New York Times, Business Insider, Politico, The Root, The Rush Limbaugh Show, twitchy.com, TVNewser, The Daily Caller, Power Line, Shakesville, Axios and WREG-TV
Associated Press:
Trust no one: Scholar risked all to document Islamic State — The historian carried secrets too heavy for one man to bear. — He packed his bag with his most treasured possessions before going to bed: the 1 terabyte hard drive with his evidence against the Islamic State group …
Sarah D / Los Angeles Times:
California's vulnerable GOP members watch closely as final tax bill is negotiated … Vulnerable California Republicans say they are watching closely as House leaders work on a final tax bill with the Senate, hoping they'll win back at least part of some popular deductions that would lower tax bills in their districts.
Discussion:
KTLA
Mike Levine / ABC News:
Less-guarded Sessions spars with interns in internal DOJ video — This summer, in the midst of President Donald Trump's criticism of the Justice Department and Attorney General Jeff Sessions in particular, Sessions said during a private event that the U.S. legal system must be …
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, Business Insider, Power Line, IJR, Splinter, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Axios, The Root and Mediaite
Blair Miller / TheDenverChannel.com:
Former Colorado GOP chairman Steve Curtis found guilty of voter fraud, forgery — republican found guilty of voter fraud | DENVER - Steve Curtis, the former chairman for the Colorado Republican Party, was found guilty Thursday by a Weld County jury of voter fraud and forgery.
Discussion:
Politicus USA
Rhonda Schwartz / ABC News:
George Papadopoulos' fiancee: He's a patriot, not a Trump campaign coffee boy — The Italian fiancee of George Papadopoulos offered the first public defense of the embattled former Trump campaign adviser, who in October was revealed as the first campaign adviser to plead guilty and cooperate with the special counsel's Russia probe.
Dylan Farrow / Los Angeles Times:
Op-Ed Dylan Farrow: Why has the #MeToo revolution spared Woody Allen? — Director Woody Allen attends a special screening of “Wonder Wheel” in New York City on Nov. 14. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press) … We are in the midst of a revolution.
Discussion:
Washington Post, IndieWire and AOL
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The Steele Dossier on Trump and Russia Is Looking More and More Real — When news surfaced at the beginning of the year that British intelligence agent turned private investigator Christopher Steele had compiled a report on Donald Trump's ties to Russia, news reports immediately treated its findings as radioactive.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Kenneth P. Vogel / New York Times:
James O'Keefe, Practitioner of the Sting, Has an Ally in Trump — WASHINGTON — Days after Donald J. Trump launched his presidential campaign in June 2015, James O'Keefe, the conservative disrupter famous for trying to use secret recordings to embarrass liberals and journalists …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Business Insider
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