memeorandum: The Trump Administration Has Stopped Fighting The Jan. 1 Deadline For Accepting Trans Military Recruits (Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed)

9:10 PM ET, December 29, 2017

Top Items:

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Our Reporter Mike Schmidt on His Golf Club Interview With President Trump — WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Shortly after 1 p.m. on Thursday, President Trump came off the 18th hole of his golf course here and walked into the club house's Grill Room. Waiters scurried to bring menus and drinks …

more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Time at Mar-a-Lago is a respite for Trump — and a headache for his staff … PALM BEACH, Fla. — When President Trump sat down with a reporter for a wide-ranging, 30-minute interview at his private golf club here Thursday, not a single aide or adviser was present at the table …

Discussion: Axios, Politico and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

Interview Is a Portrait of a Man in Cognitive Decline — I don't care whether Michael Schmidt was tough enough. We've got bigger problems. — On Thursday, El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago — sat down with Michael Schmidt of The New York Times — for what apparently was an open-ended, one-on-one interview.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

White House surprised, frustrated by Trump's New York Times interview: report — Various White House officials were taken off guard and frustrated by President Trump — 's impromptu Florida interview with The New York Times, according to Friday report from The Washington Post.

Discussion: Power Line, RedState, Joe.My.God., Washington Post and Daily Kos

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Incoherent, authoritarian, uninformed: Trump's New York Times interview is a scary read — The president of the United States is not well. — The president of the United States is not well. That is an uncomfortable thing to say, but it is an even worse thing to ignore.

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, IJR, Above the Law, Washington Monthly, Towleroad, Law & Crime, New York Magazine, Washington Times, Raw Story and Mediaite

Daniel Dale / Toronto Star:

Donald Trump made 25 false claims in his latest New York Times interview — Trump made nearly one false claim per minute in the 30-minute interview in Florida on Thursday. — WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump sat down Thursday for a rare interview with a media outlet other than Fox News …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, Daily Kos and New York Times

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

In a 30-minute interview, President Trump made 24 false or misleading claims — President Trump gave an impromptu half-hour interview with the New York Times on Dec. 28. We combed through the transcript and here's a quick roundup of the false, misleading or dubious claims that he made, at a rate of one every 75 seconds.

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, Al Jazeera English and Joe.My.God.

John Harwood / CNBC:
Trump displays delusions in his New York Times interview

Discussion: NPR, Washington Post and Salon

Nichole Manna / Wichita Eagle:

Call of Duty gaming community points to ‘swatting’ in deadly Wichita police shooting — Online gamers have said in multiple Twitter posts that the shooting of a man Thursday night by Wichita police was the result of a “swatting” prank involving two gamers. — Swatting is an internet prank …

Discussion: New York Times, Law & Crime, RedState, New York Magazine, Polygon, Mashable, Raw Story, Hit & Run and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Nichole Manna / Wichita Eagle:
Family says son killed by police in ‘swatting’ was unarmed, didn't play video games

Discussion: The Guardian

Martin Gould / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: White power at the White House - Trump intern flashes ‘alt-right’ symbol used by notorious extremists during group photo with the president — Former White House intern Jack Breuer held up a ‘white power’ sign during a photo-op with President Trump and fellow interns in the East Room in November

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Joe.My.God., Splinter, AOL and Towleroad

Saagar Enjeti / The Daily Caller:
White House Intern Accused Of White Nationalism Clears The Air

Discussion: Washington Times

The News-Press:

In Q&A, Sen. Marco Rubio lauds child tax credit expansion, wants Mueller probe to continue — Senator Marco Rubio says he's pleasantly ‘encouraged’ at the support from his party to help Puerto Rico recover from the devastation brought on by Hurricane Maria. Rubio visited the island and says the challenges there are extraordinary.

Discussion: AOL, Orlando Weekly and Mediaite

Boston Herald:
Officials: Nearly half of Puerto Rico clients still without power

Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller

Joshua Hoyos / ABC News:
100 days after Hurricane Maria, San Juan mayor thanks Americans, slams Trump as ‘disaster-in-chief’

Discussion: Axios and Mediaite

USA Today: Marco Rubio, who was ready to leave the Senate a year ago, finds his stride in 2017

Callum Paton / Newsweek:

TRUMP FIRES HIV/AIDS COUNCIL IN ITS ENTIRETY BY FEDEX LETTER, REPORT CLAIMS — President Donald Trump fired the remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) Wednesday, reportedly informing them without explanation with a letter delivered by FedEx.

Discussion: PinkNews and Splinter

Ben Guarino / Washington Post: Trump administration fires all members of HIV/AIDS advisory council

Chris Johnson / Washington Blade:
Trump fires all members of HIV/AIDS council without explanation

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite, IJR, Your Daily Breifing, AOL, Daily Kos, Axios, Joe.My.God. and Politico

BBC:

Iran cities hit by anti-government protests — Anti-government demonstrations that began in one city on Thursday have now spread to several major cities in Iran. — Large numbers reportedly turned out in Rasht, in the north, and Kermanshah, in the west, with smaller protests in Isfahan, Hamadan and elsewhere.

Discussion: RedState, Axios, Reuters and US News

Thomas Erdbrink / New York Times:
Scattered Protests Erupt in Iran Over Economic Woes

Discussion: Associated Press

Daily Mail:

BREAKING NEWS: Jailed pervert Anthony Weiner had CLASSIFIED emails belonging to wife Huma Abedin on his laptop - which the FBI seized after he sexted 15-year-old girl — The FBI found 2,800 of Huma Abedin's work-related emails and documents on disgraced husband Anthony Weiner's computer

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit and Page Six

The Weather Channel:

Trump Tweets About the Bitter Cold and Global Warming, Confusing Weather and Climate — President Trump tweeted about the cold snap hitting the East Coast. — He seemed to confuse the difference between weather and climate. — President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that …

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, The Guardian and Washington Times

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:
Weather Channel Schools Trump On Difference Between Weather, Climate

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

Mike Allen / Axios:

Trump unchained: staff leaves, hardline ideas rise — If you ask some close to President Trump what worries them most about 2018, it's not Robert Mueller's probe. It's that establishment guardrails of 2017 come down — and Trump's actual instincts take over.

Discussion: Townhall.com, RedState, IJR, New York Times, New Republic, NK News, NPR, The Week, CNN, Raw Story, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, NBC News, Washington Times, Shareblue Media, Althouse, Mashable and CNBC

Mike Allen / Axios: A rising White House power: true-believer Stephen Miller

Reuters:

Exclusive: Russian tankers fueled North Korea via transfers at sea — Guy Faulconbridge, Jonathan Saul, Polina Nikolskaya — LONDON/MOSCOW - Russian tankers have supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Vox

David Wasserman / NBC News:

Key races for control of the House as Democrats take slight edge into 2018 — WASHINGTON — Democrats ended 2016 dejected and despondent after Donald Trump shocked Hillary Clinton — and the world — by a tiny combined margin of 77,744 votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to win the presidency.

Discussion: NBC News

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Bipartisan DACA, spending talks set to commence with White House

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, ThinkProgress, ABC News, Law & Crime and Axios

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic:

Breitbart's Astonishing Confession — Every so often, a right-wing commentator who purports to abhor dishonesty among media elites admits that they've been guilty of dishonestly purveying propaganda. — These figures are not marginal. — In the final years of the Bush administration …

Discussion: Raw Story

Sam Amick / USA Today:

Warriors coach Steve Kerr: There's an ‘assault on our institutions and on our core values’ — SAN FRANCISCO - Outspoken Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr sat down with USA TODAY Sports recently following a tour of the team's Chase Center construction site.

Discussion: Raw Story

CNN:

No, Trump's approval rating hasn't caught up to Obama's — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — (CNN)President Donald Trump claimed Friday that his approval ratings at this point in his presidency rival those of Barack Obama, citing a report from “Fox & Friends.” — “While the Fake News loves to talk …

Discussion: Townhall.com, The Daily Caller, IJR, Washington Post, twitchy.com, Hullabaloo, CNBC, Politicus USA, Axios, Mediaite, AOL and Washington Times, more at Techmeme »

BBC:

New Year's Eve party in Berlin to have ‘safe zone’ for women — Organisers of Berlin's New Year's Eve celebrations are to set up a “safe zone” for women for the first time. — The new security measures planned for the Brandenburg Gate party come amid concerns about sexual assaults.