memeorandum: Newt Gingrich Goes Full Conspiracy Theorist: ‘The Elite Media Is Part of the Deep State’ (Rachel Dicker/Mediaite)

12:30 AM ET, February 1, 2018

Top Items:

CNN:

Exclusive: Trump asked Rosenstein if he was ‘on my team’ — Washington (CNN)Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein visited the White House in December seeking President Donald Trump's help. The top Justice Department official in the Russia investigation wanted Trump's support …

Adam B. Schiff / Washington Post:

Rep. Nunes's memo crosses a dangerous line — Adam B. Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, represents California's 28th District. — Even during the most difficult of times, when Congress had seemingly lost the capacity to govern and partisan storms raged across Capitol Hill …

Discussion: The Hill, Townhall.com, Bloomberg, The Daily Caller, CNBC, Mediaite, Media Matters for America and Politico

Noah Bookbinder / Politico:

Trump's Saturday Night Massacre Is Happening Right Before Our Eyes — The FBI issued an extraordinary statement on Wednesday, pushing back on the release of a partisan congressional memo alleging the bureau used improper evidence to obtain legal permission to surveil a Trump campaign adviser.

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, RedState and Talking Points Memo

Alex Pappas / Fox News:

John Kelly says anti-military teacher should ‘go to hell,’ vows swift memo release in interview — White House chief of staff John Kelly, in a wide-ranging interview with Fox News Radio, said the California teacher who has made headlines for bashing the military in a profane classroom rant should …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Axios, Politico, Whittier Daily News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Truth Uncensored, twitchy.com and The Daily Caller

Federal Bureau of Investigation:

FBI Statement on HPSCI Memo — The FBI takes seriously its obligations to the FISA Court and its compliance with procedures overseen by career professionals in the Department of Justice and the FBI. We are committed to working with the appropriate oversight entities to ensure the continuing integrity of the FISA process.

Discussion: Fox News, Balloon Juice, UPI, TheBlaze, Business Insider, Mediaite, CNN and Media Matters for America

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

The FBI Has “Grave Concerns”? So Do I — Most of us are eagerly awaiting the release of the House Intelligence Committee's memo on abuse of the FBI by the Obama administration. It should happen in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, the Bureau is worried, as always, about its public image.

Discussion: Associated Press

Bloomberg:

FBI's Wray Opposes GOP Memo Release, Citing Inaccuracies — Trump overheard saying memo ‘100 percent’ should be released — Republicans say memo raises doubts about Russia probe — FBI Director Christopher Wray has informed the White House of his opposition to releasing a controversial …

U.S. House of Representatives Permanent …:
Nunes Statement on FBI, DOJ Objections to Release of HPSCI Memo

Discussion: Business Insider, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Truth Uncensored, IJR, The Last Refuge and TheBlaze

New York Times:
F.B.I. Condemns Push to Release Secret Republican Memo

Discussion: CNBC, Reuters and Daily Kos

Allegra Kirkland / Talking Points Memo:
FBI Publicly Savages Nunes Memo For ‘Material Omissions Of Fact’

Discussion: Politico, twitchy.com, Vox, Washington Post, Joe.My.God., IJR and The Week

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:
FBI Launches Preemptive Strike on Nunes Memo

Washington Post:
Trump-FBI feud over classified memo erupts into open conflict

Discussion: Washington Times, Mother Jones, Vox, The Hill, bizpacreview.com, Fox News Insider, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com and Breitbart

Orin Kerr / Lawfare:
The Dubious Legal Claim Behind #ReleaseTheMemo

Discussion: Washington Post and Daily Kos

Eric Boehlert / Shareblue Media:
In rare public rebuke, FBI humiliates GOP for Mueller smear campaign

Discussion: Raw Story

CNN:
FBI has ‘grave concerns’ about accuracy of GOP memo

Discussion: KTLA and New York Magazine

New York Times:

Mueller Zooms In on Trump Tower Cover Story — WASHINGTON — Aboard Air Force One on a flight home from Europe last July, President Trump and his advisers raced to cobble together a news release about a mysterious meeting at Trump Tower the previous summer between Russians and top Trump campaign officials.

Discussion: CNN, Axios, Business Insider, The Week, Politicus USA, Q13 FOX News, Raw Story and Mediaite

CNN:

Exclusive: Controversial FBI agent co-wrote initial draft of explosive Comey letter reopening Clinton email probe — GOP Rep.: FBI texts most biased I've ever seen — Washington (CNN)Emails obtained by CNN show the FBI agent at the center of a Capitol Hill storm played a key role …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Shareblue Media, Vox, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, RedState, New York Magazine, TheBlaze, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, AOL, bizpacreview.com, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Week, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God. and Axios

Wall Street Journal:

FBI Officials Knew of New Clinton Emails Weeks Before Alerting Congress — Andrew McCabe learned of thousands of emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop at least a month before alerting lawmakers — Top FBI officials were aware for at least a month before alerting Congress …

Discussion: Axios, Reason, Washington Times, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Washington Post and LewRockwell

Bryan Lowry / Kansas City Star:

Josh Hawley blames sex trafficking on ‘sexual revolution’ of 1960s in leaked audio — During a speech to pastors in Kansas City in December, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley linked the problem of sex trafficking to the sexual revolution of the 1960s. — Hawley, the top Republican prospect …

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media, The Week and thecut

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Gowdy finally had it with Washington — Trey Gowdy is done with politics. — The House Oversight Committee Chairman for years has joked privately about quitting Congress and returning home to South Carolina. On Wednesday, he finally pulled the plug — likely for good.

Discussion: Roll Call, RedState, Axios, Business Insider, ThinkProgress and Josh Kimbrell

Monmouth University:

Trump Rating Ticks Up; Support for Tax Plan Increases — GOP gains on Dems in generic House ballot — West Long Branch, NJ - Donald Trump's job approval rating has bounced back from the record low registered in last month's Monmouth University Poll , as more Americans now see the president …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Breitbart, Fox News Insider, the daily howler, Business Insider, Washington Times and Politico

Carter Sherman / VICE News:

EXCLUSIVE: Trump officials discussed “reversing” abortion for undocumented teen — The Trump administration official in charge of the Office of Refugee Resettlement discussed trying to use a controversial, scientifically unproven method to reverse an undocumented teen's abortion, according to documents reviewed by VICE News.

Discussion: Splinter, Daily Kos, IJR, The Guardian, ThinkProgress and Raw Story

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Signature line from Trump's speech is already a white nationalist rallying cry — Donald Trump's first State of the Union was a largely banal speech with few policy details and none of his signature asides and bravado. Overall, the reception to the speech has been cool.

Discussion: HuffPost, Vox, CNN, New York Times, Hullabaloo, Washington Times, Business Insider, Conservative Review, Al Jazeera English, Raw Story, Right Wing Watch, Mother Jones, bizpacreview.com and Politico

Evan Sernoffsky / San Francisco Chronicle:

SF will wipe thousands of marijuana convictions off the books — San Francisco will retroactively apply California's marijuana-legalization laws to past criminal cases, District Attorney George Gascón said Wednesday — expunging or reducing misdemeanor and felony convictions going back decades.

Discussion: CNBC, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, Splinter, The Week and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Joe Otterson / Variety:

TV Ratings: Trump's First State of the Union Down From 2017 Address in Early Numbers — UPDATED: Viewership of President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address is down slightly in the early Nielsen ratings compared to his first televised address to Congress last February as well as President Barack Obama's first such address.

Discussion: Axios, Vox and Joe.My.God.

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter: TV Ratings: Trump's First SOTU Dips From 2017 (and Obama) With 45.6 Million Viewers

Tampa Bay Times:

The campaign is over. The candidate might be dead. But the spending never stops. — ★★★ — WASHINGTON, D.C. — I T'S BEEN MORE THAN A DECADE since South Florida Rep. Mark Foley was forced out of Congress for sending sexual text messages to teenage boys.

Tennessean.com:

'I know that God's going to forgive me' — During the interview, Barry hesitated when asked whether she plans to resign, but said she will not, despite rumors swirling Wednesday that she might step down. She also said she won't be taking a leave of absence and would be in the mayor's office Thursday.

The Daily Beast:

Florida (Congress)Man Invited Infamous Troll Chuck Johnson to Trump's State of The Union … Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a conservative Republican firebrand, was the lawmaker responsible for inviting the controversial internet troll Chuck Johnson to Tuesday night's State of the Union address.

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, Politico, Joe.My.God., AOL, ThinkProgress, Mediaite and Little Green Footballs

Robbie Gramer / Foreign Policy:

Kellyanne Conway Botched Trump Damage Control Meeting With African Ambassadors — But Conway didn't discuss much on Africa at all, leaving participants bewildered. — In the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's disparaging comments about immigration from countries he considered undesirable …

Discussion: Raw Story, ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

The month of January felt like a year and the pilot episode for the 12-part series to come — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — And on the 31st day of January, the news gods gave us: A train crash involving Republican lawmakers, the unexpected retirement …

HuffPost: What A Year This Month Has Been — All of these things happened in January 2018.

Washington Post:

White House seeks 72 percent cut to clean energy research, underscoring administration's preference for fossil fuels … The Trump administration is poised to ask Congress for deep budget cuts to the Energy Department's renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, slashing them by 72 percent overall …

Discussion: CNBC, ThinkProgress, Engadget, Union of Concerned Scientists, Politicus USA and Vox

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:

Trump Is Making 2018 Much Harder for Republicans — Like colliding storm systems, the three central dynamics shaping the 2018 electoral battlefield converged in President Trump's first State of the Union address on Tuesday. And control of Congress may turn on which one of these forces voters weigh most heavily.

Discussion: NBC News

Rachael Bade / Politico:
Republicans see hope for midterms, despite Trump's unpopularity

Discussion: TheBlaze

Elizabeth Zwirz / Fox News:

Texas girl, 9, that Trump said he'd pray for, is out of ICU after brain surgery, family says — On behalf of President Trump, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders asked the nation on Jan. 23 to pray for a little girl in Texas who was prepping for an upcoming surgery for a rare brain condition, KFOR reported.

Yascha Mounk / Slate:

Donald Trump Just Asked Congress to End the Rule of Law — Donald Trump's first State of the Union was a deeply dangerous speech. — It was deeply dangerous because he finally followed in the footsteps of European leaders like Hungarian President Viktor Orban who have long ago learned …

Discussion: American Greatness and The Federalist

Caitlin Yilek / Washington Examiner:

Michael Wolff: Nikki Haley ‘embraced’ rumors of affair with Trump … Controversial author Michael Wolff is hitting back at Nikki Haley after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations denied having an affair with President Trump. — In an interview with theSkimm, Wolff said Haley “seems to have embraced” the rumor that he started.

Discussion: Washington Post, IJR, twitchy.com, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:

Bill O'Reilly's Triumphant Return to Cable News Absolutely Tanked in the Ratings — Former Fox News elder statesman Bill O'Reilly made his return to cable news on Tuesday night, to serve as an analyst for Newsmax TV's coverage of President Donald Trump's first State of the Union.

Discussion: Splinter

Orange County Register:

3 dead, 2 injured after helicopter crashes into Newport Beach home — NEWPORT BEACH - Three people were killed and two injured Tuesday afternoon when a helicopter that had taken off from nearby John Wayne Airport crashed up against a house in a neighborhood on the northeast end of Upper Newport Bay.

Discussion: Whittier Daily News and KTLA