Top Items:
New York Times:
Trump's Lawyers Want Him to Refuse an Interview in Russia Inquiry — WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to four people briefed on the matter …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Washington Monthly, The Hill, IJR, Washington Post, Jezebel, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God., The Week, Outside the Beltway, NBC News, Hullabaloo, Althouse, Booman Tribune, Mother Jones, Vox, CNBC, RedState, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Washington Times and Axios
New York Times:
FEMA Contract Called for 30 Million Meals for Puerto Ricans. 50,000 Were Delivered. — The mission for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was clear: Hurricane Maria had torn through Puerto Rico, and hungry people needed food. Thirty million meals needed to be delivered as soon as possible.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Joe.My.God. and Raw Story
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Nunes: Fine, the FBI Didn't Lie, But Its Font Was Too Small — The central, and most damaging, accusation in the memo published Friday by House Republicans is that the FBI failed to disclose the bias of one of its sources when it applied to wiretap Carter Page.
Discussion:
RedState, Just Security, Washington Post, The Week, YouTube, Politico and Mother Jones
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Erica Werner / Washington Post:
White House Chief of Staff: Trump not expected to extend DACA deadline … White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly said Tuesday that President Trump is not expected to extend the March 5 deadline when work permits will begin to expire for young immigrants known as “dreamers.”
Discussion:
Axios, Political Wire and Washington Free Beacon
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CNN:
Source: Bannon not expected to appear before House Intel Tuesday despite subpoena — Rep. Collins: Bannon should answer questions — (CNN)Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is not expected to appear before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday, risking being held in contempt …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Axios, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The Week and Washington Times
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Reality is catching up with Trump — everywhere — President Trump, in his State of the Union address last week, boasted to the nation about stock market gains: “The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining $8 trillion and more in value in just this short period of time.”
Discussion:
New Yorker, New York Times and Daily Kos
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Paul Wiseman / Associated Press:
US trade gap hits $566 billion in 2017, highest since 2008 — WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit hit the highest level in nine years in 2017, defying President Donald Trump's efforts to bring more balance to America's trade relationships. — The Commerce Department said Tuesday …
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Sho Chandra / Bloomberg:
U.S. Trade Deficit Is Wider Than Any Month or Year Since 2008
U.S. Trade Deficit Is Wider Than Any Month or Year Since 2008
Discussion:
BloombergQuint
Dan McLaughlin / National Review:
Is Trump Serious About “Treasonous” Democrats? — By now, we're all familiar with President Trump's remarkable gift for saying outrageous things that create controversy entirely for its own sake. These controversies generally feature his liberal critics overreacting by many orders of magnitude …
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, RedState, twitchy.com, Mother Jones, Common Dreams, Business Insider and Shakesville
RELATED:
Ali Vitali / NBC News:
Trump: Democrats' muted State of Union reaction ‘treasonous’
Trump: Democrats' muted State of Union reaction ‘treasonous’
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, CNBC, The Root, IJR, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Mediaite
Jessica Taylor / NPR:
Trump: Democrats ‘Un-American,’ ‘Treasonous’ During State Of The Union
Trump: Democrats ‘Un-American,’ ‘Treasonous’ During State Of The Union
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, New York Times, Outside the Beltway and Talking Points Memo
Maegan Vazquez / CNN:
Sessions calls for ‘fresh start’ at FBI — Sessions: Rosenstein is leadership we want — Washington (CNN)Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he believes the FBI needs a “fresh start” following FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's decision to step down. — “Well, I have believed …
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Salena Zito / Washington Examiner:
Jeff Sessions: FBI needs ‘to have a fresh start’
Jeff Sessions: FBI needs ‘to have a fresh start’
Discussion:
Mediaite and Political Wire
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
Quentin Tarantino Explains Everything: Uma Thurman, The ‘Kill Bill’ Crash & Harvey Weinstein — EXCLUSIVE: Since Saturday morning when The New York Times published Uma Thurman's depiction of assault at the hands of Harvey Weinstein, the writer/director most closely associated with her biggest successes …
Discussion:
The Guardian, VICE, Shakesville, bizpacreview.com, ABC News, IndieWire and Mashable
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Madeleine Davies / Jezebel:
Here's Audio of Quentin Tarantino Defending Roman Polanski: 13-Year-Old Girl ‘Wanted to Have It’
Here's Audio of Quentin Tarantino Defending Roman Polanski: 13-Year-Old Girl ‘Wanted to Have It’
Discussion:
Mashable, The Guardian, New Statesman, WREG-TV, IndieWire, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Dame Magazine, thecut, twitchy.com, bizpacreview.com, Vox, KTLA and 89.3 KPCC
Sarah Karlin-Smith / Politico:
Kellyanne Conway's ‘opioid cabinet’ sidelines drug czar's experts — President Donald Trump's war on opioids is beginning to look more like a war on his drug policy office. — White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has taken control of the opioids agenda, quietly freezing out drug policy professionals …
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Washington Post, Vox, The Root, Raw Story, The Week, The Daily Caller and Mediaite
Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
Bob Mueller's Investigation Is Larger—and Further Along—Than You Think — PRESIDENT TRUMP CLAIMED in a tweet over the weekend that the controversial Nunes memo “totally vindicates” him, clearing him of the cloud of the Russia investigation that has hung over his administration for a year now.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast and CNBC
Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
White House Official Called Trump a ‘Deplorable’ — Before joining the Trump administration, the White House principal deputy press secretary, Raj Shah, called President Donald Trump “a deplorable” and referred to the release of the Access Hollywood tape as “some justice,” …
Joe DePaolo / Mediaite:
North Korean State Media: ‘Old Lunatic’ Trump ‘Cannot Deodorize Nasty Smell From His Dirty Body’ — North Korean state media is getting personal in its attacks on President Donald Trump. — According to CNN's Will Ripley, North Korean state media took a shot on Trump's hygiene on Tuesday …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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Jesse Johnson / Japan Times:
North Korea calls Trump ‘dolt-like’ and compares ‘bloody nose’ strike to Iraq War run-up
North Korea calls Trump ‘dolt-like’ and compares ‘bloody nose’ strike to Iraq War run-up
Discussion:
Business Insider and Raw Story
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Pennsylvania Republican launches effort to impeach state supreme court to save GOP gerrymander — In a direct attack on the rule of law, Pennsylvania state Rep. Cris Dush (R) sent a memo to his colleagues Monday evening asking them to cosponsor articles of impeachment against five of the state's seven supreme court justices.
Discussion:
Philly.com, Common Dreams, New York Magazine, The Week, Splinter, Democrats.com and Keystone Progress
RELATED:
Dara Lind / Vox:
The real immigration split in Congress isn't on policy. It's on urgency. — With the clock ticking, there's a flurry of activity on immigration. But is Congress really ready to buckle down? — From a distance, it looks like Congress has launched into a flurry of activity on immigration.
Discussion:
Politico, Weekly Standard and Business Insider
RELATED:
Kyle Swenson / Washington Post:
Rachel Crooks, who accused Trump of sexual harassment, is running for office … Last December, as the Trump presidency chugged toward the close of its first year, a woman from western Ohio named Rachel Crooks appeared on CNN. — More than a year earlier, Crooks had been one of a handful …
Discussion:
Jezebel, Politico, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, IJR, Shareblue Media, thecut, Washington Times and Mediaite
Ed Mazza / HuffPost:
Trump Evangelical Adviser Says You Don't Need Flu Shots When You Have Jesus — “Inoculate yourself with the word of God,” says Gloria Copeland. — A controversial minister linked to President Donald Trump said flu shots aren't necessary when you have Jesus.
Discussion:
thecut, Jezebel, AOL and Political Wire
Emily Cadei / Sacramento Bee:
Tied to Trump, these two California Republican congressmen lag in poll — California Republicans' hopes for re-election in 2018 may rest on separating themselves from the unpopular President Trump. A new poll shows that's not happening as the year begins, at least in two of the state's most competitive congressional districts.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Sound the alarm: National GOP breaks glass in Pennsylvania race — BETHEL PARK, Pa. — The day after Conor Lamb won the Democratic nomination to run in this very pro-Donald Trump House district, Republican strategist Corry Bliss knew his party had another special election problem on its hands.
Discussion:
Instapundit
National Journal:
The GOP's Misguided Midterm Optimism — Recent polls have made some Republicans feel better about November. They shouldn't. — All of our national elections are important, but there is always a special significance to the last midterm elections before the congressional and state-legislative redistricting processes take place.
Discussion:
NBC News
Carl Zimmer / New York Times:
This Mutant Crayfish Clones Itself, and It's Taking Over Europe — Frank Lyko, a biologist at the German Cancer Research Center, studies the six-inch-long marbled crayfish. Finding specimens is easy: Dr. Lyko can buy the crayfish at pet stores in Germany, or he can head with colleagues to a nearby lake.
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight, The Atlantic and Nature
Solomon Messing / Pew Research Center:
Use of election forecasts in campaign coverage can confuse voters and may lower turnout — Americans have long been familiar with “horse race” polls that accompany elections in the United States. But since 2008, a new polling tool has gained prominence, one that not only suggests which candidate …
Rebecca Traister / thecut:
No One Is Silencing Katie Roiphe #MeToo has started a robust, complicated conversation — whether or not she's listening. — This weekend, the much-ballyhooed piece about the #MeToo movement by Katie Roiphe was finally published by Harper's, and as Irin Carmon observed on Twitter …