Top Items:
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:
The Gateway Pundit, The Resurgent and Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Issa:
A Statement from Congressman Darrell Issa — “Two decades ago, when I stepped away from the business I'd built to enter public service, I never could have imagined that a long-shot bid for U.S. Senate would lead to 18 years in the House of Representatives and endless opportunities to make a meaningful impact.
Jessica Taylor / NPR:
Rep. Darrell Issa To Retire, Adding To Record GOP Exodus From Congress
Rep. Darrell Issa To Retire, Adding To Record GOP Exodus From Congress
Discussion:
Shareblue Media
Michael Tackett / New York Times:
Republican Retirements Raise Talk of Democratic Wave in November
Republican Retirements Raise Talk of Democratic Wave in November
Discussion:
The Resurgent
Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
55 minutes at the table: Trump tries to negotiate and prove stability — He acted the part, listening intently and guiding the conversation with the control of a firm but open-minded executive. He spoke the part, offering a mix of jesting bon mots and high-minded appeals for bipartisanship.
Discussion:
Vox, Politico, Axios, Fox News, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Shareblue Media, The Week and Mediaite
RELATED:
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge blocks Trump wind-down of Dreamers program
Judge blocks Trump wind-down of Dreamers program
Discussion:
The Hill, Reuters, Fox News, Business Insider, The Hill, Power Line, The Week, The Daily Beast, Breitbart, TheBlaze, The FADER and New York Times
CNN:
Judge blocks Trump administration plan to roll back DACA
Judge blocks Trump administration plan to roll back DACA
Discussion:
CBS News, Los Angeles Times, ThinkProgress, USA Today, KTLA, The Root, Washington Times, Splinter, ImmigrationProf Blog, Politicus USA, IJR and Politifact.com Truth …
Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Trump's image rehabilitation show
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:
New Republic, The Week, Washington Post, Fox News Insider and The Guardian
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 …
RELATED:
Megan Jula / Mother Jones:
How Oprah Helped Spread Anti-Vaccine Pseudoscience
How Oprah Helped Spread Anti-Vaccine Pseudoscience
Discussion:
The Hill, STAT, Washington Post, Slate and Politico
Andrea Mandell / USA Today:
Exclusive: Wahlberg got $1.5M for ‘All the Money’ reshoot, Williams paid less than $1,000 — Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for reshooting his scenes in All the Money in the World, three people familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about it tell USA TODAY …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, twitchy.com, Mashable, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, AOL, The Guardian, The Week, Vox, thecut, IndieWire, The FADER, The Daily Caller, Splinter and CBS Boston
Reuters:
South Korea's Moon says Trump deserves ‘big’ credit for North Korea talks — SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in credited U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday for helping to spark the first inter-Korean talks in more than two years, and warned that Pyongyang would face stronger sanctions if provocations continued.
Discussion:
Politico, National Review, The Daily Caller, Mother Jones, Fox News, Washington Post, IJR, New York Magazine and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
James Griffiths / CNN:
South Korea's Moon credits Trump with ‘huge’ contribution to North Korea talks
South Korea's Moon credits Trump with ‘huge’ contribution to North Korea talks
Discussion:
New York Times, TheBlaze, Foreign Policy, Just Security, The Daily Caller, IJR and Wall Street Journal
Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Trump's nuclear-button tweet was a stroke of ‘stable genius’
Trump's nuclear-button tweet was a stroke of ‘stable genius’
Discussion:
Politico
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:
ThinkProgress, Notes, Political Wire and twitchy.com
RELATED:
Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Poll: Arpaio statistically tied with McSally in GOP primary for Arizona Senate
Poll: Arpaio statistically tied with McSally in GOP primary for Arizona Senate
Discussion:
RedState and The Daily Caller
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) …
Ben Smith / New York Times:
I'm Proud We Published the Trump-Russia Dossier — Exactly one year ago BuzzFeed published what's now known simply as “the dossier”: a set of reports put together by a former British intelligence officer named Christopher Steele during the 2016 presidential campaign.
RELATED:
Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:
Transcript raises questions about FBI's handling of Trump-Russia concerns
Transcript raises questions about FBI's handling of Trump-Russia concerns
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, The Daily Beast and Business Insider
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations:
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin Releases Report Detailing Two Decades of Putin's Attacks on Democracy, Calling for Policy Changes to Counter Kremlin Threat Ahead of 2018, 2020 Elections — U.S. Remains Vulnerable to Russian Interference without Unequivocal Presidential Leadership, Learning Lessons from European Democracies
Discussion:
Raw Story and Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
White House Official Floated Withdrawing U.S. Forces to Please Putin
White House Official Floated Withdrawing U.S. Forces to Please Putin
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Raw Story
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.
Anne Blythe / Raleigh News & Observer:
NC congressional districts struck down as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders — RALEIGH — A panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina's election districts for U.S. Congress on Tuesday as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders and gave lawmakers until Jan. 29 to bring them new maps to correct the problem.
Discussion:
New Republic, Campaign Legal Center, Politico, Washington Post, IJR, The Resurgent, electionlawblog.org, NPR and Shareblue Media
RELATED:
Alan Blinder / New York Times:
North Carolina Congressional Map Ruled Unconstitutionally Gerrymandered
North Carolina Congressional Map Ruled Unconstitutionally Gerrymandered
Discussion:
The Atlantic, UPI, BuzzFeed, Associated Press, electionlawblog.org, Mother Jones, FiveThirtyEight, Hullabaloo, Common Dreams and The Week
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.
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Yes, Congress has seen Trump-Russia secret court surveillance documents. Now what? — One of the most contentious issues surrounding the Trump dossier is the question of whether the FBI used unverified material from the dossier — a Clinton campaign opposition research product — to apply for permission to spy on Americans.
Discussion:
RedState
RELATED:
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
Washington To Get Boris Nemtsov Plaza In Front Of Russian Embassy — The local government in Washington, D.C., has approved a measure to rename the street in front of Russia's embassy after slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. — In separate votes on January 9 …
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:
Tom + Lorenzo, AOL, Press Association, The FADER, USA Today and The Root
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 …
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
Michael Douglas Gets Out Front Of Potential Harassment Story To Preemptively Deny Sordid Accusation — Groundbreaking journalism that exposed decades old accusations of sexual harassment and sexual assault beginning with Harvey Weinstein has ended the careers of a growing list of powerful Hollywood men.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Mashable, The Week, Page Six, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, IndieWire and The Guardian
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.
Henry J. Gomez / BuzzFeed:
J.D. Vance Is Now Seriously Considering Running For Senate In Ohio — J.D. Vance is now seriously considering a US Senate campaign in Ohio and discussing the prospect with Republicans in Washington, following overtures from party donors and leaders who believe he would be their best candidate.
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Are Democrats' Senate Chances In 2018 Overrated? — After Democrat Doug Jones won a stunning victory in Alabama's special election for the U.S. Senate last month, lots of smart people whose work I read and follow, such as The New York Times's Nate Cohn, declared that the battle for Senate control in 2018 was a “toss-up.”
Melanie Schmitz / ThinkProgress:
Oops! White House admits it has zero evidence of voter fraud in 2016 election — In a court filing on Tuesday, the White House announced that it had not uncovered any preliminary findings of voter fraud in the 2016 election and that it would be destroying confidential voter data initially collected …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Politico, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Bangor Daily News and Common Dreams
Mike Allen / Axios:
Scoop: Jared's policy push on prison reform — President Trump tomorrow will hold a listening session on prison reform, after six months of quiet exploration of the issue by senior adviser Jared Kushner (who turns 37 today). — Why it matters: The White House sees this as a conservative issue …
Discussion:
Raw Story and New York Magazine