Top Items:
New York Times:
Mueller Zeros In on Story Put Together About Trump Tower Meeting — 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:
New York Magazine, CNN, The Week, Politicus USA, Q13 FOX News, AOL, Business Insider, KTLA, Raw Story, Axios, Mediaite and Eschaton
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The Daily Beast:
Report: Witness to Tell Mueller He Was Concerned Hope Hicks Obstructed — Mark Corallo, the former spokesman for President Donald Trump's legal team, will reportedly tell special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators that White House Communications Director Hope Hicks said Donald Trump Jr.'s emails …
Discussion:
RedState, The Week and Politicus USA
David Siders / Politico:
Trump Tower meeting participant sues for libel
Trump Tower meeting participant sues for libel
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and ABC News
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 …
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, The Hill, Coffee House, KTLA, Q13 FOX News, Politico, The Moderate Voice, repubHub, IJR, The Atlantic, RedState, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, Vox, Washington Post, Mediaite, Axios, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress and Raw Story
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Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:
With FBI statement on memo, Christopher Wray could now be in the president's crosshairs … The FBI thrust its low-key director squarely into the public eye and potentially into the crosshairs of the president Wednesday when it issued a statement declaring the bureau had “grave concerns” …
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, Mother Jones, NBC News, Salon, Politico, Hullabaloo and Breitbart
Bret Stephens / New York Times:
What if Clinton Had Done All This? — Late last year, Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College and a NeverTrump conservative, proposed a little thought experiment for Republicans skeptical of Robert Mueller's investigation of the Trump campaign's Russia ties.
Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
Here's What Happens If ‘Magnificent Bastard’ Mueller Gets Fired — BOB MUELLER IS famously nonchalant amid life's toughest moments. Much of that public calm stems from the fact that he's a Magnificent Bastard and, specifically, the lessons of December 11, 1968.
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, NBC News, Business Insider, IJR and Mother Jones
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:
Hullabaloo, CNN, Washington Post and Business Insider
Emma Loop / BuzzFeed:
Democrat Accuses Republicans Of Secretly Changing Memo, Demands They Withdraw It — Rep. Adam Schiff said a Republican-written memo that questions the propriety of the FBI's Trump-Russia probe was changed before it was submitted to the White House for possible release. — Reporting From Washington, DC
Discussion:
Political Wire, twitchy.com, The Last Refuge and Axios
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Alex Pappas / Fox News:
John Kelly says anti-military teacher should ‘go to hell,’ vows swift memo release in interview
John Kelly says anti-military teacher should ‘go to hell,’ vows swift memo release in interview
Discussion:
Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Weekly Standard, Truth Uncensored, twitchy.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, Axios and Politico
U.S. House of Representatives Permanent …:
Nunes Statement on FBI, DOJ Objections to Release of HPSCI Memo
Nunes Statement on FBI, DOJ Objections to Release of HPSCI Memo
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Truth Uncensored, Business Insider, RedState, IJR, TheBlaze and The Last Refuge
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 …
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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:
The Hill, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, Axios, The Daily Caller, Reason, Washington Post and LewRockwell
Holman W. Jenkins, Jr / Wall Street Journal:
What the FBI Fight Is About — A reckoning is inevitable …
What the FBI Fight Is About — A reckoning is inevitable …
Discussion:
New York Magazine
Nielsen Newswire:
Nearly 46 Million Viewers Watch President Trump's State of the Union Address — An estimated 45.6 million people tuned in to watch President Donald Trump deliver his State of the Union address in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. — While coverage varied by network …
Discussion:
Politico, RedState, Washington Post, CNBC, WBBH-TV, Political Wire, twitchy.com, Business Insider, Hollywood Reporter, CBS Pittsburgh, Joe.My.God., Scared Monkeys, New York Times and Vox
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Joe Otterson / Variety:
TV Ratings: Trump's First State of the Union Down From 2017 Address in Early Numbers
TV Ratings: Trump's First State of the Union Down From 2017 Address in Early Numbers
Discussion:
The Guardian, Breitbart, Axios, Deadline and Joe.My.God.
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.
Anna Palmer / Politico:
Behind Pence's plan to rescue the Republican majority in 2018 — WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. — Vice President Mike Pence is launching one of the most aggressive campaign strategies in recent White House history: he will hopscotch the country over the next three months …
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, Political Wire, RedState, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Josh Kimbrell and Axios
Washington Post:
Republican National Committee has huge financial edge heading into 2018 midterms … President Trump's robust small-donor base helped the Republican National Committee vastly outraise its Democratic counterpart in 2017 as the two parties geared up for a crucial midterm campaign season, new Federal Election Commission filings show.
Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
Special counsel seeks delay in scheduling Flynn sentencing — (CNN)Attorneys for former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the special counsel's office told a federal court on Wednesday evening they are not ready to schedule a sentencing hearing for Flynn.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and bizpacreview.com
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.
Discussion:
Front Page Magazine
Bob Brigham / Raw Story:
Kellyanne Conway rants wildly in attack on fact checkers: ‘Americans are their own fact checkers’ — Counselor to the president and former Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway blasted journalist fact-checking of the administration during an appearance on New York's 710 WOR Radio with Mark Simone.
Roger Kimball / American Greatness:
Trump Restores the ‘We’ — In The Meaning of Conservatism and several other books, the English philosopher Roger Scruton argues for the importance of the first-person plural—the “We” that binds us together as a community, a people, a nation. Tuesday night, in his magnificent State of the Union Address …
Discussion:
bizpacreview.com, Slate, Washington Times, ABC News, New Republic, Business Insider, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and The Stream
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, Shareblue Media, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, thecut and The Week
CBO's Publications:
Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit, January 2018 — CBO projects that if the debt limit is not raised, the Treasury will not be able borrow additional funds using extraordinary measures, and could run out of cash, in the first half of March 2018. — The debt limit—commonly called the debt ceiling …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Bloomberg
Lena H. / Washington Post:
CDC director resigns because of conflicts over financial interests … This post has been updated. — The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned her position on Wednesday after only half a year because of “complex financial interests” that repeatedly forced …
Discussion:
Politico, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, The Root, Vox, Shareblue Media, The Daily Caller, Splinter, TheBlaze, USA Today, CNBC, Mother Jones, Weekly Standard, NBC News and New York Magazine
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
President Trump opts out of Super Bowl interview — Timberlake returns to Super Bowl 2018 — President Trump has decided not to participate in a Super Bowl Sunday interview this weekend. — “He is not doing a Super Bowl interview,” a White House official told CNN on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Q13 FOX News and Washington Times
Heather Wilhelm / National Review:
Hapless in Democratland — 'Can't stand church and family? Neither can we! Vote for the Democrats in 2018!' It's mind-boggling, isn't it? — As America edges closer to the 2018 midterm elections, expect to hear a growing herd of weirdly confident political pundits talk about a coming and inevitable …
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, Splinter, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, Axios and The Week
Heather Mac Donald / City Journal:
Americans First — President Trump should temper his offer of amnesty by placing strong conditions on eligibility. — In last night's State of the Union address, Donald Trump showed us the president who could build an enduring majority and put the identity-mongering …