memeorandum: The Trump administration's weird explanation for withholding Russia sanctions (Aaron Blake/Washington Post)

2:05 PM ET, January 30, 2018

Top Items:

Second Trump-Russia dossier being assessed by FBI — Exclusive: memo written by former journalist Cody Shearer independently sets out some of the allegations made by ex-spy Christopher Steele — The FBI inquiry into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 US presidential election has been given …

Discussion: IJR, The Daily Caller, Political Wire, The Mahablog, The Gateway Pundit, Politicus USA, Mediaite, emptywheel and Wall Street Journal

Mike Allen / Axios:

The great disorientation machine — The coming release of a secret House memo, hotly sought by conservatives, will intensify the great muddying of the Russia investigation in the public's mind. — Why the memo matters: Trump's allies are betting that when all is said and done …

Discussion: Politico, Althouse, Washington Post, Breitbart, The Daily Beast, ABC News and Raw Story

Mike Emanuel / Fox News:

Paul Ryan calls to ‘cleanse’ the FBI, backs surveillance memo release — House Speaker Paul Ryan called Tuesday to “cleanse” the FBI as he openly backed the release of a controversial memo that purportedly details alleged surveillance abuses by the U.S. government. — “Let it all out, get it all out there.

Discussion: Business Insider, Fox News Insider and Political Wire

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Ryan urges Republicans to take caution with FBI memo — Speaker Paul Ryan urged Republican colleagues Tuesday to avoid overstating the findings of a classified House intelligence committee memo that alleges misconduct by FBI officials investigating Trump campaign contacts with Russia.

Discussion: CNBC, Breitbart and Daily Kos

Callum Borchers / Washington Post:

Andrew McCabe could be a bigger headache for Trump outside the FBI than he was inside — President Trump probably didn't shed a tear when he learned on Monday that Andrew McCabe would step down as deputy director of the FBI. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted that …

Discussion: Raw Story, CNN, IJR, Deadline, France 24 and Mediaite

NBC News:
The state of our union has become increasingly fragile

Discussion: Axios, Mother Jones, The Week, USA Today, Salon, NBC News, Hullabaloo, Political Wire, Washington Post, CNN and Weekly Standard

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
House Republicans Vote to Release Secret Memo on Russia Inquiry

Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:
The Real State of the Union Is Awfully Precarious

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, National Review and Daily Kos

Washington Post:
How a classified four-page Russia memo triggered a political firestorm

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Free Beacon, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Weekly Standard

John Hudson / BuzzFeed:

Trump Administration Admits It Cribbed Forbes Magazine To Create “Oligarch List” — The revelation is likely to invite criticism that a congressionally-mandated list designed to punish Russia for interfering in the US election is not being aggressively implemented. — Reporting From Washington, DC

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, ThinkProgress, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Business Insider, CNBC and Raw Story

Sylvan Lane / The Hill:

Mnuchin promises more sanctions on Russia after outrage over report — said Tuesday the Trump administration will impose financial sanctions on dozens of wealthy Russians despite the president declining a congressional deadline to do so. — Mnuchin said that a report issued Monday …

Discussion: RedState and Joe.My.God.

CNN:
Trump admin declines to impose new Russia sanctions

Discussion: Business Insider, Associated Press, Joe.My.God. and The Week

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The Trump administration's weird explanation for withholding Russia sanctions

Discussion: Mother Jones

Leonid Bershidsky / Bloomberg:
The U.S. List of Russian Oligarchs Is a Disgrace

Discussion: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NPR and Mother Jones

Associated Press:
Putin: US took ‘hostile step’ in publishing Russia list

Discussion: Axios, Bloomberg and The Daily Caller

Meduza.io: Arkady Dvorkovich — As a member of the government, I simply had to be on this list.

Washington Post:

Scott Pruitt once said Trump 'would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama — and that's saying a lot' … Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a 2016 interview that “Donald Trump in the White House would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Nick Surgey / Documented:

PRUITT CALLED TRUMP A THREAT TO CONSTITUTION IN 2016 INTERVIEW — In a stinging 2016 radio interview, Scott Pruitt lambasted then candidate Donald Trump, warning of the danger to the constitution should he become president. — “If Donald Trump is the nominee and eventually the president …

Discussion: Axios, Vox, RedState, New Republic, Politico and CNBC

Coral Davenport / New York Times: Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. Chief, Assailed Trump in a 2016 Interview

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

Here's what went wrong with that Hawaii missile alert, the FCC says … The emergency worker who sent a false public safety alert on Jan. 13 warning of an imminent ballistic missile attack against Hawaii believed that a ballistic missile was truly bound for the state after mishearing …

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Associated Press:
The Latest: FCC: Errors led to false missile alert in Hawaii

Discussion: RedState

Margaret Harding McGill / Politico:
FCC: Official who sent false Hawaii missile alert believed it was real

Discussion: Axios

Paul Rosenzweig / The Atlantic:

There's No Way Mueller Will Indict Trump — The latest revelations about President Trump have, once again, excited the interest of the public, leading to speculation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller may have amassed sufficient evidence to charge the president with obstruction of justice.

Discussion: RedState, American Thinker, Business Insider, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Crooked Media, Lawfare, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian and CNBC

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
Rod Rosenstein Is Shirking His Duty to Supervise Robert Mueller

Discussion: Conservative Review, The Gateway Pundit and Townhall.com

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Trump's Approval Highest in West Virginia, Lowest in Vermont — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump's job approval rating averaged 38% throughout the U.S. in 2017, but at the state level it ranged from a high of 61% in West Virginia to a low of 26% in Vermont.

Discussion: WPRI-TV, Talking Points Memo and Vox

Dylan Dethier / Golf.com:

LPGA star on golf with Trump: ‘He cheats like hell’ — Stories of 2017: President Trump steals the spotlight at U.S. Women's Open — LPGA legend Suzann Pettersen is fond of the sitting U.S. president. But she's not so sure about his handicap. — In an interview with Norwegian newspaper …

Discussion: Joe.My.God., IJR, AOL, Washington Times, The Guardian and TMZ.com

Ben Collins / The Daily Beast:

Julian Assange Thought He Was Messaging Sean Hannity When He Offered ‘News’ on Democrat Investigating Trump-Russia … At about 4 a.m. on Saturday morning, a couple hours after she started pretending to be Sean Hannity, Dell Gilliam says she got a direct message back from the head of Wikileaks, Julian Assange.

Discussion: TheBlaze, Joe.My.God., RedState, Mediaite, Raw Story and Little Green Footballs

Rick Wilson / The Daily Beast:
Trump Turns GOP Into a Conspiracy of Dunces

Discussion: Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money

New York Times:

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Team Up to Disrupt Health Care — SEATTLE — Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase announced on Tuesday that they would form an independent health care company to serve their employees in the United States. — The three companies provided few details …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, New York Magazine, CNBC and STAT, more at Techmeme »

Business Wire:
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to partner on U.S. employee healthcare

Discussion: NPR

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Some TRUTH TALK about SOTU — HOUSE DEM CANDIDATE on the border says ‘no way’ to wall, and ties GOP candidate to Trump — SPOTTED at the French embassy dinner for Charlie Rivkin — DRIVING THE DAY — FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — A Democrat running for the House on the Texas-Mexico border is running …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, BizzyBlog, www.wnyc.org, Political Wire, AOL, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, Lawfare, CNN, Hullabaloo, Axios, New Republic and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Danielle Paquette / Washington Post:
Humane Society CEO is subject of sexual harassment complaints from three women, according to internal investigation

Discussion: thecut, AOL, HumaneWatch and The Week

Gordon Corera / BBC:

Russia ‘will target US mid-term elections’ says CIA chief — The director of the CIA expects that Russia will target the US mid-term elections later this year. — Mike Pompeo told the BBC there had been no significant diminishing of Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, IJR, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, The Week and Business Insider

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Pompeo: ‘I have every expectation’ Russia will meddle in 2018 midterms

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Outside the Beltway, CNBC, Raw Story and IJR

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Names of campaign donors to be flashed during live stream of Trump's State of the Union speech — President Trump is seeking to parlay his first State of the Union address on Tuesday into cash for his reelection campaign by offering supporters a chance to see their name flashed on the screen during a broadcast of the speech.

Discussion: New York Times, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Washington Free Beacon, Raw Story, Shakesville, The Week, AOL, Business Insider, WPSD Local 6, Balloon Juice, Shareblue Media and Politico

FiveThirtyEight:
Why We Hate The State Of The Union. And A Rebuttal.

Discussion: USA Today, Politico, The Atlantic, bizpacreview.com, thecut and twitchy.com

Asha Rangappa / Just Security:

Five Questions the Nunes Memo Better Answer — The House Intelligence Committee has voted to release the Nunes Memo, which allegedly outlines widespread abuses by the DOJ and FBI in obtaining a surveillance order against former national security advisor to the Trump Campaign, Carter Page.

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Bloomberg:

U.S. Probes Apple Over Updates That Slow Older iPhones — Apple said in December a software update affected some phones — Company cut price of replacement batteries after complaints — The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether …

Discussion: Axios, The Verge and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

TMZ.com:

‘Glee’ Star Mark Salling Dead of Apparent Suicide — Mark Salling is dead of an apparent suicide, according to law enforcement ... TMZ has learned. — We're told his body was found near a riverbed in Sunland ... the area where he lived. We do not yet know the manner of death.

Discussion: AOL, Decider, IndieWire and myfox8.com

Bari Weiss / New York Times:

The Slut-Shaming of Nikki Haley — Imagine this: The author of the most popular book in the country goes on Bill Maher's show and says the following about President Barack Obama: “There is something in the book that I was absolutely sure of but it was so incendiary that I just didn't have the ultimate proof,” he says.