memeorandum: U.S. can destroy ‘most’ of N. Korea's nuclear missile infrastructure, top general says (Paul Sonne/Washington Post)

8:15 AM ET, January 31, 2018

Top Items:

Internal Justice Department probe eyes McCabe's role in final weeks of 2016 election … The Justice Department's inspector general has been focused for months on why Andrew McCabe, as the No. 2 official at the FBI, appeared not to act for about three weeks on a request to examine a batch …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Fox News, The Week, The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice, RedState, IJR, Power Line, CNBC, twitchy.com, Business Insider, Axios and Mediaite

Washington Post:

Justice Dept. officials appealed to White House to halt release of memo alleging FBI abuses related to author of Trump dossier … Top Justice Department officials made a last-ditch plea Monday to White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly about the dangers of publicly releasing a memo alleging abuses …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, CNN, New York Times, Political Wire, RedState, The Week, Raw Story, Lawfare, Mediaite, bizpacreview.com, The Atlantic and ThinkProgress

Mike Levine / ABC News:

DOJ gives special counsel internal docs on thwarted Sessions resignation, source says — In the weeks before special counsel Robert Mueller's team interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department turned over a cache of internal correspondence, including documents related …

Discussion: Axios

The Daily Beast:

Devin Nunes Won't Say if He Worked With White House on Anti-FBI Memo — The House intel committee GOP leader refused to answer behind closed doors if he coordinated with the president's team on his report blasting Rosenstein, Comey, and McCabe. — BETSY WOODRUFF, SPENCER ACKERMAN1.30.18 6:17 PM ET

Discussion: Conservative Review, CNN, National Law Journal, Raw Story, The Week, Lawfare and Mother Jones

Amanda Carpenter / Politico:

I'm a Republican. Why Is My Party Gaslighting America? — Riddle me this: If Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have smoking gun evidence of a deep-state conspiracy that threatens American democracy itself, wouldn't they be doing more than playing silly hashtag games, such as #ReleasetheMemo?

Discussion: Mediaite, Conservative Review, Daily Kos, Althouse and Breitbart

John Yoo / New York Times:
Fix the F.B.I. Don't Politicize It.

Discussion: NBC News, National Review, BizzyBlog, AOL, Mother Jones, Hullabaloo, Salon, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The Mahablog, RedState and Talking Points Memo

David Leonhardt / New York Times:
The Nunes Conspiracy — First, a few words on the State of the Union address.

Discussion: Consortiumnews.com and CNBC

Catherine Herridge / Fox News:
FBI officials review surveillance memo, could not cite ‘any factual inaccuracies’: source

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News Insider, The Gateway Pundit, bizpacreview.com, The Last Refuge, RedState, IJR and Washington Times

Ryan Struyk / CNN:

CNN Instant poll: Trump gets least positive reaction in at least 20 years — Washington (CNN)Almost half of Americans who watched President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address — 48% — say they had a “very positive” impression of the speech, down from 57% of speech-watchers …

Discussion: USA Today, Political Wire, The Week and KTLA

NPR:

FACT CHECK: Trump's State Of The Union Address — In his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump is expected to take a bipartisan tone. He is expected to focus on jobs and the economy, infrastructure, immigration, trade and national security.

Discussion: Washington Post, Shareblue Media, New Republic, Hit & Run, Gizmodo, KQED News and NBC News

Kate Bennett / CNN:

Melania Trump arrived at State of the Union separately from the President — Washington (CNN)In a break with longstanding tradition, Melania Trump opted to ride with the guests she invited to share her first lady's box during President Donald Trump's State of the Union address.

Discussion: New York Times, NPR, Associated Press, BostonGlobe.com, RedState, KTLA, Vox, The Guardian, bizpacreview.com, Glamour, IJR, myfox8.com and Refinery29

Daniella Diaz / CNN:

Kennedy responds to Trump: ‘We all feel the fault lines of a fractured country’ — Washington (CNN)Rep. Joe Kennedy tied the turmoil of the past year to President Donald Trump's administration, saying, “We all feel the fault lines of a fractured country,” in a sharply critical speech …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Guardian and Joe.My.God.

CBS News:

Viewers approve of Trump's first State of the Union address - CBS News poll — Views of the speech — Three in four Americans who tuned in to President Trump's State of the Union address tonight approved of the speech he gave. Just a quarter disapproved. — How did the speech make you feel?

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, Instapundit and NewsBusters

Erica Pandey / Axios:
Kennedy responds for the Democrats

Discussion: ABC News, Online NewsHour, Breitbart and Politico

Heather Caygle / Politico:
Pelosi tells Democrats not to disrupt ‘slobbering’ Trump during SOTU

Discussion: ABC News, Splinter, IJR, TheBlaze, Washington Free Beacon, thecut, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, The Week and CNN

ABC News:
Updates: Trump to deliver first State of the Union amid Washington discord

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:
CNN's Van Jones Goes Off on Trump for ‘Smearing’ DREAMers in State of the Union

Discussion: ABC News and Politico

The White House:
Special Guests for the State of the Union Address

Discussion: Glamour, Redding Record Searchlight, Breitbart, Washington Free Beacon, Townhall.com, The Advocate, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, bizpacreview.com, NPR, TheBlaze, East Bay Times, CNN, IJR and Washington Post

New York Times:
First Trump State of the Union Speech Makes Appeal for Unity

Discussion: CNN and Just Security

CBS News:
Trump delivers his first State of the Union address

Discussion: TheStreet, The Stream, bizpacreview.com, Breitbart, Conservative Review and Business Insider

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Trump to declare ‘New American Moment’ — but Hillary Clinton declared one first

Discussion: Raw Story, Mashable and AOL

Victor Cha / Washington Post:

Giving North Korea a ‘bloody nose’ carries a huge risk to Americans — Victor Cha is a professor at Georgetown University and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. — North Korea, if not stopped, will build an arsenal with multiple nuclear missiles meant …

Discussion: Politico, CNBC, New York Times and The Week

Washington Post:
Disagreement on North Korea policy derails White House choice for ambassador to South Korea

Discussion: Weekly Standard, AOL, ABC News, New York Times, One America News Network, Balloon Juice, Business Insider, IJR, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Axios and Mediaite

Jim Acosta / CNN:
Source: Trump to give ‘eye-opening’ remarks on North Korea

Discussion: Axios, The Daily Beast, Business Insider, KTLA, Washington Post, AOL and Shakesville

Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times:
White House abandons planned pick for South Korea ambassador

Discussion: Vox, The Atlantic and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Anna Fifield / Washington Post:
The incredible story of the North Korean escapee at the State of the Union

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Daniel Lippman / Politico: INSIDE the STATE OF THE UNION …

Paul Sonne / Washington Post:
U.S. can destroy ‘most’ of N. Korea's nuclear missile infrastructure, top general says

Discussion: Business Insider, CNBC and israpundit.org

CNN:

Trump's lawyers argue Mueller has not met threshold for presidential interview — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's attorneys are arguing that special counsel Robert Mueller's team has not met the high threshold they believe is needed to interview a president in person …

Howard Fineman / NBC News:

The ‘state’ of Donald Trump? He thinks it couldn't be better. — WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is telling friends and aides in private that things are going great — for him. — Some reasons: He's decided that a key witness in the Russia probe, Paul Manafort, isn't going to “flip” and sell him out, friends and aides say.

Discussion: Hot Air, CNBC, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress, New York Times, NBC News, Mother Jones, Media Matters for America, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos, emptywheel, IJR, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and The Week

Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal:

Mueller Seeks Interview With Ex-Spokesman for Trump's Legal Team — Mark Corallo resigned from position after revelation that president's son arranged meeting with Russian lawyer — Special counsel Robert Mueller is seeking an interview with Mark Corallo, the former spokesman …

Eric Columbus / Washington Post:
Mueller won't indict Trump. But here's what he can do.

Discussion: Business Insider

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
McConnell: Mueller needs ‘no protection’ from Trump

Discussion: IJR

Hillary Clinton:

The most important work of my life has been to support and empower women. I've tried to do so here at home, around the world, and in the organizations I've run. I started in my twenties, and four decades later I'm nowhere near being done. I'm proud that it's the work I'm most associated with …

Brianna Ehley / Politico:

Trump's top health official traded tobacco stock while leading anti-smoking efforts — The Trump administration's top public health official bought shares in a tobacco company one month into her leadership of the agency charged with reducing tobacco use — the leading cause of preventable disease …

Discussion: The Week, ThinkProgress, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and Axios

Axios:

Full text of Trump's State of the Union address — Editor's note: These are the president's prepared remarks as he gives them. Axios inadvertently published the embargoed full text before the president was finished. — Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

The White House: President Donald J. Trump's State of the Union Address

CBS News:

Rubio, Menendez express concern about Russian influence in Mexican election to Tillerson — President Trump may have declined to criticize Russia for interfering in the U.S. and other elections around the world — but now, amid reports that Russia may be meddling in Latin American elections …

Discussion: Axios

The Atlantic:

Trump's First State of the Union — President Trump delivered his first State of the Union before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. These addresses are typically opportunities for American presidents to highlight their achievements and provide a vision for the country going forward.