memeorandum: WHATSAPP SECURITY FLAWS COULD ALLOW SNOOPS TO SLIDE INTO GROUP CHATS (Andy Greenberg/Wired)

7:10 PM ET, January 10, 2018

Top Items:

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:

Mueller adds veteran cyber prosecutor to special-counsel team — Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has added a veteran cyber prosecutor to his team, filling what has long been a gap in expertise and potentially signaling a recent focus on computer crimes.

Discussion: Politico, Axios, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, The Week, The Gateway Pundit and Political Wire

New York Times:

Trump Sidesteps Question on Mueller Interview — WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday declined to commit to being interviewed by the special counsel investigating whether his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election, backing off a promise he made last year to talk to Robert S. Mueller III under oath.

Discussion: Mediaite, Vox, Business Insider, Little Green Footballs, Politico, Breitbart, CBS San Francisco, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Mother Jones, IJR, Shareblue Media and Balloon Juice

Julia Marsh / Page Six:

Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner call off divorce — Say it ain't so, Huma. — Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her jailed sext-a-holic hubby Anthony Weiner have withdrawn their pending divorce case, The Post has learned. — Abedin was scheduled to appear in Manhattan Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon …

Discussion: Hot Air, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, thecut, Washington Post, IJR, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Stephen Rex Brown / New York Daily News:

Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin opt to settle divorce out of court to spare young son embarrassment — Huma Abedin and convicted perv Anthony Weiner agreed Wednesday to finalize their divorce out of court, seeking to protect their 6-year-old son from an embarrassing public separation.

TMZ.com:

Harvey Weinstein — Attacked at Scottsdale Restaurant — EXCLUSIVE — Harvey Weinstein was attacked Tuesday night at a restaurant ... TMZ has learned. — Weinstein was at Elements restaurant at the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort in Scottsdale, eating dinner with his sober coach when 2 men sat at a table next to them.

Discussion: USA Today, RedState, Breitbart, AOL, The Daily Caller, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite and thecut

TMZ.com:

Harvey Weinstein Video Shows Attack in Restaurant — Harvey Weinstein was on the receiving end of 2 backhanded slaps to the face ... that's what the newly-obtained video shows. — TMZ broke the story ... Weinstein was dining Tuesday night at Elements restaurant in Scottsdale …

Discussion: IndieWire, The Gateway Pundit, RedState and Raw Story

Brian Beutler / Crooked Media:

The Crime Is Worse Than The Coverup — On multiple occasions in 2016, and perhaps stretching back into the previous year, Donald Trump's presidential campaign fielded solicitations from Russian spies and cutouts offering up stolen Democratic Party emails and other assistance in the election.

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, Shareblue Media, New York Magazine and The Daily Beast

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
10 Takeaways From Glenn Simpson's Fusion GPS Senate Testimony

Discussion: Power Line, RedState, USA Today, The Atlantic, National Review, CNBC, The Daily Caller and Wall Street Journal

CNN:
Trump lawyer files lawsuits against BuzzFeed, Fusion GPS over dossier

Discussion: CNNMoney, The Mahablog, twitchy.com, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, New York Times, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Talking Points Memo and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:
Trump-Russia: transcript reveals ex-spy and FBI's cloak-and-dagger dance

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Just Security

Elliot Spagat / Associated Press:

APNewsBreak: 7-Eleven probe opens new front on immigration — LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. immigration agents descended on dozens of 7-Eleven stores before dawn Wednesday to open employment audits and interview workers in what officials described as the largest operation against an employer under Donald Trump's presidency.

Discussion: Common Dreams, The Stranger …, The Daily Caller, Splinter and The Week

Nick Miroff / Washington Post:
Immigration agents target 7-Eleven stores in nationwide sweep

Discussion: Fox News, Axios, Breitbart and IJR

Anita Kumar / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

GOP negotiators say Trump aide Stephen Miller is standing in the way of an immigration deal — WASHINGTON — Here's one thing even Republicans negotiating an immigration deal agree on: Trump aide Stephen Miller is hurting their chances of getting anything done.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, YouTube, The Week, Fox News Insider, New Republic, Washington Post and The Guardian

Jaclyn Peiser / New York Times:

A Feminist Twitter Campaign Targets Harper's Magazine and Katie Roiphe — It started with a tweet on Tuesday afternoon. By the next morning, five writers were said to have pulled stories planned for future issues of Harper's Magazine — an effort to pressure the magazine not to reveal …

Discussion: Washington Post, Splinter, Fast Company, thecut, No More Mister Nice Blog, bradford-delong.com and Unfogged, more at Mediagazer »

Adam Kelsey / ABC News:

Trump displayed ‘rare genius’ in listening, being flexible at immigration meeting: GOP senator — Sen. Thom Tillis had high praise for President Donald Trump's leadership during a bipartisan immigration reform meeting at the White House Tuesday, commending his willingness to be flexible …

Discussion: Political Wire and Associated Press

Associated Press:
Trump calls Norway a ‘great customer’ in welcoming the PM

Discussion: Politico and Axios

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:
Trump declines to say whether he would sit for interview with Mueller's team

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, Political Wire and The Week

New Yorker:

Michael Wolff Says That Washington Will Bury Trump — While I was eating breakfast at the Four Seasons in Georgetown on Tuesday morning, a veteran Washington journalist stopped by my table to say hello. “Nice to see you,” Michael Duffy, a former editor at Time, deadpanned, with a grin on his face …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller and New York Magazine

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Top Fox News D.C. Reporter James Rosen Left Network After Harassment Claims — On the Friday before Christmas, Fox News confirmed that its chief Washington correspondent, James Rosen, had left the network. He had worked there for 18 years and had become something of a legend.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Business Insider, TVNewser and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

Nick Penzenstadler / USA Today:

Trump sold $35M in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive buyers — President Trump's companies sold more than $35 million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers' identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

Tamar Lapin / New York Post:

Confused readers are buying the wrong ‘Fire and Fury’ — SEE ALSO — It's “Fire and Fury” fever. — Confused readers are buying a military book in droves all because it has a title similar to Michael Wolff's bombshell “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” according to a new report.

Discussion: IJR, TheBlaze, Political Wire, The Week and Washington Free Beacon

John Bowden / The Hill:
Decade-old book called ‘Fire and Fury’ hits best-seller list

Discussion: The Guardian and RedState

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:

Issa retiring from Congress — (R-Calif.) will not seek reelection this year, he announced on Wednesday, increasing Democrats' chances of flipping his swing district in their favor. — Issa barely won reelection in 2016 by just over half a percentage point in a San Diego-area district …

Discussion: Politico, The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine, ABC News, The Resurgent, The Gateway Pundit, Splinter, The Week and Balloon Juice

Jessica Taylor / NPR:
Rep. Darrell Issa To Retire, Adding To Record GOP Exodus From Congress

Discussion: Issa, Shareblue Media, Times of San Diego, TheBlaze, The Week and Eschaton

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Post reporter Joel Achenbach suspended for 90 days for ‘inappropriate workplace conduct’ — The Washington Post suspended reporter Joel Achenbach on Wednesday for what it called “inappropriate workplace conduct” involving current and former female colleagues.

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Rasmussen Reports:

Oprah vs. The Donald, and The Winner Is... TV personality Oprah Winfrey is the likely winner over President Trump if the 2020 election were held today, but there are a lot of undecideds. — The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, HuffPost, Yahoo, Washington Post, Breitbart, CNBC, IJR, TheBlaze, Mediaite, Althouse, AOL, Business Insider, CBS News and Variety

Harriet Sinclair / Newsweek:

DONALD TRUMP'S SPIRITUAL ADVISER PAULA WHITE SUGGESTS PEOPLE SEND HER THEIR JANUARY SALARY OR FACE CONSEQUENCES FROM GOD — Donald Trump's spiritual adviser has suggested that people send her money in order to transform their lives, or face divine consequences.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

KNXV:

POLL: Joe Arpaio in dead heat with Martha McSally in GOP race for U.S. Senate seat in Arizona — abc15.com staff, wire reports — PHOENIX - A Tuesday poll from ABC15/OHPI shows Joe Arpaio skyrocketing to the top of the Republican Primary for U.S. Senate in Arizona.

Discussion: HuffPost, Political Wire, The Hill, RedState, IJR, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress, Notes, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com

Rob Haskell / Vogue:

Serena Williams on Motherhood, Marriage, and Making Her Comeback — On a moist South Florida morning at the end of a relentless hurricane season, their wedding only a week away, Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian are seated side by side at their long kitchen table discussing the Marshmallow Test.

Discussion: The Guardian, thecut, AOL, USA Today, FOX6Now.com, Tom + Lorenzo, Press Association, The FADER and The Root

Devin Leonard / Bloomberg:

The Most Awful Transit Center in America Could Get Unimaginably Worse — Think Penn Station is bad? Let's go into the crumbling, disaster-prone tunnels that lie beneath. — To get to New York's Penn Station, every northbound Amtrak passenger makes the last leg of their journey …

Discussion: Axios

Wilson Ring / Associated Press:

Vermont poised to enact legal pot through Legislature — MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The state Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that would allow the recreational use of marijuana, putting Vermont on course to become the first state in the country to legalize pot by an act …

Discussion: Axios

Taffy Brodesser-Akner / New York Times:

Tonya Harding Would Like Her Apology Now — In the movie, “I, Tonya,” the disgraced figure skater looks back on the 1994 Nancy Kerrigan scandal and her struggles to tell her side of the story. — BATTLE GROUND, Wash. — Tonya Harding's name isn't Tonya Harding anymore.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Week and Althouse

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

WHATSAPP SECURITY FLAWS COULD ALLOW SNOOPS TO SLIDE INTO GROUP CHATS — When WhatsApp added end-to-end encryption to every conversation for its billion users two years ago, the mobile messaging giant significantly raised the bar for the privacy of digital communications worldwide.

Discussion: The Verge and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Anthony Brooks / WBUR:

WBUR Poll: Baker's Popularity Continues To Soar, While Trump's Continues To Slump 04:58 — Play — Gov. Charlie Baker continues to enjoy the kind of approval ratings that most politicians can only dream of. — That's according to a new WBUR poll (topline results, crosstabs) …

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

Tuesday's DACA negotiation stunt showed how dangerously we've lowered the bar for Trump — He remembers names (that are written on placards) — congratulations, America! — Donald Trump's entire political career has been a bizarre exercise in large-scale lowering of the bar …

Discussion: Salon, Politico, Common Dreams, Townhall.com, Axios, Mother Jones, Mediaite, BBC, Washington Post, New Republic, The Week, New York Magazine, Shareblue Media and Raw Story

Katherine Faulders / ABC News:

White House memo: Kelly orders West Wing staff no personal phones, no smart watches — With an eye on bolstering cyber security protocols and cracking down on leaks to the media, Chief of Staff John Kelly issued a memo to staff on Wednesday outlining the administration's new ban …

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

Kevin McCoy / USA Today:

IRS private debt-collection program hurts low-income Americans — The Internal Revenue Service's handling of its private debt-collection program is harming lower-income Americans who can least afford to repay tax debts, a federal watchdog warned Wednesday. — The program also may be a waste …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times and KFOR-TV

Josh Blackman / National Review:

A Ludicrous Ruling That Trump Can't End DACA — The Supreme Court has reversed this judge's DACA decisions before, and it will do so again. — On January 20, 2017, the executive power peacefully transitioned from President Obama to President Trump. At least one judge in San Francisco didn't get the memo.

Discussion: Fox News, NPR, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Politico and Power Line

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Supreme Court seems skeptical of blocking Ohio law that removes voters from rolls — Challengers of an Ohio law that purges voters who do not participate in consecutive elections or respond to a notice from state officials seemed to face an uphill battle Wednesday at the Supreme Court.

Discussion: ABC News

Morgan Cook / sandiegouniontribune.com:

Grand jury subpoena issued in Rep. Duncan Hunter criminal investigation … A federal grand jury is slated to hear evidence this month regarding certain transactions in Rep. Duncan Hunter's campaign treasury, which has been under scrutiny since the spring of 2016 as a result of frequent personal expenditures.

David Sirota / International Business Times:

Trump Administration Waives Punishment For Convicted Banks, Including Deutsche — Which Trump Owes Millions — The Trump administration has waived part of the punishment for five megabanks whose affiliates were convicted and fined for manipulating global interest rates.