Top Items:
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“He Was F—ing Pissed”: With Rob Porter Gone, the Heat on John Kelly Is Increasing — Trump is not happy with the chaos; Jared and Ivanka are trying to right the ship; and even Hope Hicks, one of the president's closest confidants, is in trouble. — A day after White House Staff Secretary …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Esquire, Washington Post, Shareblue Media, Business Insider, Hullabaloo, CNN, The Mahablog, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Mediaite
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The Daily Beast:
Trump White House Fingered Corey Lewandowski in Rob Porter ‘Smear Campaign’ … Late Tuesday night, senior White House officials reached out to Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R-UT) office with an urgent request. They needed the Utah Republican to put together a statement praising his former chief …
Discussion:
New York Times, Daily Kos, ABC News, thecut, Axios, The Guardian, Breitbart, Political Wire, Mother Jones, NBC News, The Week, VICE News, Splinter, ThinkProgress, AOL, Business Insider, Roll Call and The Root
Washington Post:
Top White House officials knew of abuse allegations against top aide for months — White House Counsel Donald McGahn knew one year ago that Staff Secretary Rob Porter's ex-wives accused him of domestic violence but allowed him to serve as an influential gatekeeper and aide to President Trump …
Discussion:
Axios, The Week, Mediaite, NBC News, fox13now.com, Boing Boing, Women in the World, Raw Story and Vox
Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Kelly knew before abuse reports that Porter would be denied security clearance — White House chief of staff John Kelly was told several weeks ago that the FBI would deny full security clearances to multiple White House aides who had been working in the West Wing on interim security clearances.
Discussion:
Associated Press
New York Times:
Unwelcome Attention for John Kelly, the Man Enlisted to Bring Calm — WASHINGTON — Among the many people agitated this week over John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, was President Trump. And among the people the president called to express dissatisfaction, according to those close to him …
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Weekly Standard, CBS News, The Week, NBC News, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Washington Post, Axios and Balloon Juice
Washington Post:
Dozens at White House lack permanent security clearances … Dozens of White House employees are awaiting permanent security clearances and have been working for months with temporary approvals to handle sensitive information while the FBI continues to probe their backgrounds, according to U.S. officials.
MJ Lee / CNN:
Email to FBI: Porter's friend ‘actively working to quell’ background check issues — White House aide's ex-wife details alleged abuse — Washington (CNN)The current husband of one of Rob Porter's ex-wives emailed the FBI last January expressing concern that a close friend …
Discussion:
The Rush Limbaugh Show, Women in the World, Business Insider and Media Matters for America
Helena Andrews-Dyer / Washington Post:
Omarosa says she wouldn't vote for Trump again ‘in a million years’
New York Times:
Top Trump Aides Are Said to Have Long Known About Abuse Accusations
Top Trump Aides Are Said to Have Long Known About Abuse Accusations
Discussion:
Politico, Business Insider, Common Dreams, Hot Air and Raw Story
Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:
Rob Porter scandal: Everywhere but Fox News
Rob Porter scandal: Everywhere but Fox News
Discussion:
Mediaite and Media Matters for America
Seung Min Kim / Politico:
The dumbest shutdown ever — Rand Paul and Nancy Pelosi have virtually nothing in common. But on Thursday night, the conservative Kentucky firebrand and San Francisco Democratic leader teamed up to push Washington into what Capitol Hill dwellers are calling the dumbest shutdown fight ever.
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CNN:
Federal government shuts down as Rand Paul holds up key vote — (CNN)The federal government shut down for the second time in less than a month overnight as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul prevented a two-year budget deal from passing Thursday. — Though a massive budget deal and government funding package still …
Discussion:
WBBH-TV, Business Insider, Q13 FOX News, Mediaite and KTLA
Burgess Everett / Politico:
GOP rips Rand for shutdown — Rand Paul took a stand, consequences be damned. And Senate Republicans are livid about it. — After driving the government into a brief shutdown over his demand for an amendment to cut government spending, the Kentucky Republican took friendly fire …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, Business Insider, The Week and VICE News
Heather Caygle / Politico:
Congress votes to end government shutdown
Congress votes to end government shutdown
Discussion:
Axios, CRFB Papers and Blog Posts, Hit & Run, Washington Post, USA Today, twitchy.com, Breitbart, VICE News, The Week, The Guardian, Splinter, The Atlantic, New York Times, Forbes, The Hill, NBC News and thecut
Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:
House Passes Budget Deal to Raise Spending and Reopen Government
House Passes Budget Deal to Raise Spending and Reopen Government
Discussion:
ABC News, The Daily Signal, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon
Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Government shutdown set to end as House passes sweeping budget bill
Government shutdown set to end as House passes sweeping budget bill
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, Outside the Beltway, Hit & Run and Power Line
Ed Henry / Fox News:
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner texted with Russian oligarch lobbyist in effort to contact dossier author Christopher Steele — EXCLUSIVE - Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has been leading a congressional investigation into President Trump's alleged ties to Russia …
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CNN:
Clash with witness shows Nunes' drive to discredit dossier — Nunes' hometown split on FBI memo controversy — Washington (CNN)Last month, an attorney expressed his outrage with leaders of the House Intelligence Committee: He demanded to know why a committee official shared …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Hollywood Reporter:
Jill Messick's Family Issues Blistering Statement on Harvey Weinstein and Rose McGowan — “Seeing her name in headlines again and again, as part of one person's attempt to gain more attention for her personal cause, along with Harvey's desperate attempt to vindicate himself, was devastating for her,” the family said.
Discussion:
Fox News, Breitbart, Jezebel, The Daily Caller, The Blast and CBS Los Angeles
Carla Marinucci / Politico:
MeToo movement lawmaker investigated for sexual misconduct allegations — SAN FRANCISCO — California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia — whose high-profile advocacy of the #MeToo movement earned her national media notice — is herself the subject of a state legislative investigation in the wake …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Betsy's Page, Press Enterprise, The Daily Caller, KQED News, Washington Times, KTLA, AOL, twitchy.com, CBS Los Angeles and Front Page Magazine
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Melanie Mason / Los Angeles Times:
Assemblywoman at forefront of #MeToo movement accused of sexual misconduct
Assemblywoman at forefront of #MeToo movement accused of sexual misconduct
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications and Politico
Yonhap News Agency:
(LEAD) Chief delegates of U.S., N. Korea meet briefly at Olympic reception … (ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES with reports of Pence and the North Korean chief delegate sitting at the same table, minor changes throughout) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence briefly encountered North …
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David Ovalle / miamiherald:
Bad info from Spirit Air led me to flush pet hamster down airport toilet, student says — Before Belen Aldecosea flew home from from college to South Florida, she twice called Spirit Airlines to ensure she could bring along a special guest: Pebbles, her pet dwarf hamster. No problem, the airline told her.
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USA Today, Washington Post, NBC News, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Jezebel, JONATHAN TURLEY, AOL, KRON4.com, fox8.com, KTLA, Mashable, The Stranger …, Gizmodo, Weekly Standard, Mediaite, twitchy.com and VICE
Media Matters for America:
Fox News executive VP rails against diversity of US Olympians: “Darker, Gayer, Different” — Fox News' John Moody, who serves as the network's executive vice president and an executive editor, criticized the diversity of Team USA in an op-ed a day before the 2018 Winter Olympics were scheduled to open in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
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John Moody / Fox News:
In Olympics, let's focus on the winner of the race — not the race of the winner
In Olympics, let's focus on the winner of the race — not the race of the winner
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Sarah Palin, AOL and Washington Monthly
Dara Lind / Vox:
Exclusive: Trump's draft plan to punish legal immigrants for sending US-born kids to Head Start — Or getting insured through the Children's Health Insurance Program, or getting assistance to heat their homes. — The Trump administration is working on new rules that would allow the government …
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Yeganeh Torbati / Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump administration may target immigrants who use food aid, other benefits
Exclusive: Trump administration may target immigrants who use food aid, other benefits
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, KTLA, Axios, New York Magazine, Splinter and ThinkProgress
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
FBI surveillance of Carter Page might have picked up Bannon — The FBI was monitoring Carter Page when the former Trump campaign adviser says he spoke with Trump adviser Steve Bannon about Russia in January 2017, raising the strong possibility that the FBI intercepted a conversation between the two men.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Investor's Business Daily and Raw Story
Catherine Herridge / Fox News:
Another longtime Comey aide leaving FBI — The longtime head of public affairs at the FBI — who was a confidant of former director James Comey — is planning to retire, Fox News has learned. — A notice went out this week for a retirement get-together for Michael Kortan scheduled for Feb. 15.
Discussion:
The Last Refuge
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Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Two more officials cited in FBI texts step down
Two more officials cited in FBI texts step down
Discussion:
Raw Story and twitchy.com
Philip Wegmann / Washington Examiner:
Sebastian Gorka fully supports Danny Tarkanian (whose campaign paid Gorka $5,000) … Danny Tarkanian made a new friend last year. The insurgent candidate, who is running in the Nevada Republican primary to unseat incumbent Sen. Dean Heller, obtained the endorsement of former deputy assistant to President Trump, Sebastian Gorka.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress
Hannah Levintova / Mother Jones:
Russian Activist Alleges New Link Between the Kremlin and Paul Manafort — A story involving a Norwegian yacht, an escort, and her Instagram posts featuring a prominent oligarch are capturing Russia's attention—and may represent a new and bizarre twist in the story behind Moscow's links to the Trump campaign.
Discussion:
The Moscow Times, Raw Story and Associated Press