memeorandum: Early gauge of 2018 turnout shows good signs for Democrats (Scott Clement/Washington Post)

9:35 AM ET, February 4, 2018

Top Items:

TIME:

Carter Page Touted Kremlin Contacts in 2013 Letter — Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page bragged that he was an adviser to the Kremlin in a letter obtained by TIME that raises new questions about the extent of Page's contacts with the Russian government over the years.

Discussion: Politico, Common Dreams, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress, RedState, Raw Story and New York Times

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Answering 3 key questions about the House memo — It's fair to say that much of the media reaction to the House Intelligence Committee “FISA abuse” memo has been a mixture of scorn and ridicule. Many commentators have called the memo wrong, worthless, or worse. — House Republicans expected as much, from the usual suspects.

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

Judge responds to Justice Department over Nunes memo — Washington (CNN)A federal judge told the Department of Justice to explain why the release of the House Intelligence Committee's memo today shouldn't force investigators to acknowledge the existence of more records related to foreign surveillance.

Discussion: RedState

Mike Memoli / NBC News:

Democratic rebuttal calls Nunes memo ‘deliberately misleading’ — WASHINGTON — A top House Democrat is challenging the core conclusion of the memo released by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes on Friday, calling the allegation that the Justice Department and FBI withheld key details …

Discussion: The Hill, RealClearPolitics, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Raw Story, LewRockwell, NPR and Washington Post

John Kass / Chicago Tribune: Column: Democrats melt down over Nunes memo and enter the Upside Down

National Review: The Nunes Memo Should Be Just the Start

Washington Post:
Inside the FBI: Anger, worry, work — and fears of lasting damage

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Raw Story

Washington Post:
Once the party of law and order, Republicans are now challenging it

Discussion: Fox News, Shareblue Media, Raw Story, New York Post, NBC News, bizpacreview.com, ABC News, CBS New York, New York Times, TIME, Breitbart, Business Insider, CNBC, IJR, Politico, Vox, Outside the Beltway and KTLA

Noah Bookbinder / USA Today:
Nunes memo aims at Russia probe, backfires on Trump and GOP

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, The White House, Politicus USA and The Mahablog

New York Times:
Kashyap Patel, Main Author of Secret Memo, Is No Stranger to Quarrels

Discussion: The Hill, IJR and RedState

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Officials disclosed source's political funding in FISA application: report

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, American Greatness, Politico, Washington Monthly, CNN, Outside the Beltway, RedState and Splinter

Asha Rangappa / New York Times:
Thank Progressives for the Nunes Memo

Discussion: emptywheel, Hullabaloo, HuffPost, KTLA and No More Mister Nice Blog

Emily Cochrane / New York Times:

Paul Ryan Deletes Tweet Lauding a $1.50 Benefit From the New Tax Law — WASHINGTON — Speaker Paul D. Ryan faced a backlash on Saturday after he pointed to a secretary's $1.50 weekly increase in take-home pay as a sign of the Republican tax plan's success. — “A secretary at a public high school …

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Splinter, Political Wire, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Politico and Politicus USA

Oliver Willis / Shareblue Media:
Paul Ryan: It's ok I gave billionaires tax breaks because a secretary got $1.50

Discussion: ACA Signups and Mediaite

Dan Balz / Washington Post: This is the week that the GOP truly became the party of Trump

Associated Press: Trump seized on what memo could mean even before reading it

Sofi Sinozich / ABC News:

Strength in party strongholds: A key to midterm outcomes (POLL) — The wide Democratic advantage in congressional vote preference comes entirely in districts the party already holds, raising questions about the extent of its possible gains in November. Yet the closeness of the contests …

Scott Clement / Washington Post:

Early gauge of 2018 turnout shows good signs for Democrats — Democrats are just about as likely as Republicans to say they plan to vote in this year's congressional elections, a break from the two previous midterm elections, in which Republicans were significantly more inclined to vote …

Discussion: Political Wire

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

White House to withdraw controversial nominee to head Council on Environmental Quality … This post has been updated. — The White House plans to withdraw its controversial nominee to head the Council on Environmental Quality, Kathleen Hartnett White, according to two administration officials briefed …

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, NPR, Axios and Raw Story

National Journal:

The GOP's Deep Fundraising Funk — Congressional Republicans are struggling to raise money for their campaigns. If they don't turn things around, they won't be able to fully capitalize on the improving political mood. — Republicans badly need the tax bill to raise their financial fortunes …

Derek Hunter / Townhall.com:

Journalism is Dead — This week we saw a perfect example of how corrupt journalism has become. There was an opportunity to report the news and journalists and their fellow travelers in the pundit class balked. While that wasn't unusual, what was is how they did it in the lead up to the news …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

Victor Davis Hanson / National Review: The Ticking Memo — The House Intelligence Committee memo is pretty simple.

Heather Long / Washington Post:

The U.S. government is set to borrow nearly $1 trillion this year, an 84 percent jump from last year … It was another crazy news week, so it's understandable if you missed a small but important announcement from the Treasury Department: The federal government is on track to borrow nearly $1 trillion …

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:

Failed memo stunt leaves Nunes in danger of losing his seat — GOP Rep. Devin Nunes has represented California's 22nd Congressional District since 2003 — in title, at least. For the past year, however, Nunes has served the interests of the Trump White House while hanging his constituents out to dry.

Discussion: The Hill

David Siders / Politico:
Nunes challenger seizes on FBI memo uproar

Discussion: Raw Story

Molly K. McKew / Politico:

How Twitter Bots and Trump Fans Made #ReleaseTheMemo Go Viral — On Tuesday morning — the day after the House Intelligence Committee voted along partisan lines to send Rep. Devin Nunes' memo, alleging abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to President Trump for declassification …