Top Items:
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.
Discussion:
emptywheel
RELATED:
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:
Daily Kos, Bloomberg, Esquire, Washington Post, Shareblue Media, Business Insider, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mediaite and CNN
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:
Daily Kos, ABC News, thecut, Axios, The Guardian, Breitbart, Political Wire, NBC News, ThinkProgress and AOL
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:
New York Magazine, Axios, thecut, The Week, Mediaite, NBC News, Politico, fox13now.com, Boing Boing, Talking Points Memo, Women in the World and Vox
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 …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Joe.My.God., CBS News, The Week, Mediaite, Axios, Washington Post and Balloon Juice
Helena Andrews-Dyer / Washington Post:
Omarosa says she wouldn't vote for Trump again ‘in a million years’ … She claimed to be looking forward to “staying away from the media,” but that didn't stop Omarosa from dropping as many headline-making statements as she could during Thursday night's episode of “Celebrity Big Brother.”
Discussion:
Washington Times and Political Wire
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:
Talking Points Memo and Associated Press
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
John Kelly crisis engulfs the West Wing — The Rob Porter crisis has become a John Kelly crisis, and it has now totally engulfed the West Wing. White House staff — especially Porter's close friendship circle —are shell-shocked by the allegations of domestic abuse by the departing aide.
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Week and Washington Post
MJ Lee / CNN:
Email to FBI: Porter's friend ‘actively working to quell’ background check issues
Email to FBI: Porter's friend ‘actively working to quell’ background check issues
Discussion:
The Rush Limbaugh Show, Women in the World and Media Matters for America
Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Rob Porter's History of Domestic Abuse Wasn't a Secret. It's Just That No One Cared.
Rob Porter's History of Domestic Abuse Wasn't a Secret. It's Just That No One Cared.
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, The Week, Politico, Althouse, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Business Insider, Vox, The Gateway Pundit, The Atlantic, VICE News, The Nation and The Hill
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 and Raw Story
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Rob Porter Is Donald Trump's Kind of Guy
Rob Porter Is Donald Trump's Kind of Guy
Discussion:
NBC News, The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, The Week, Shareblue Media, Splinter and Business Insider
Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:
Rob Porter scandal: Everywhere but Fox News
Rob Porter scandal: Everywhere but Fox News
Discussion:
Mediaite and Media Matters for America
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 …
RELATED:
Jonathan M. Winer / Washington Post:
Devin Nunes is investigating me. Here's the truth. — Jonathan M. Winer, a Washington lawyer and consultant, is a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement and former special envoy for Libya. — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, bizpacreview.com, BloombergQuint and Business Insider
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.
Discussion:
Associated Press and Splinter
RELATED:
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:
Bloomberg, Associated Press, CNBC, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Business Insider, The Week and VICE News
Heather Caygle / Politico:
Congress votes to end government shutdown
Congress votes to end government shutdown
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, CRFB Papers and Blog Posts, Axios, Hit & Run, twitchy.com, Breitbart, USA Today, VICE News, The Week, The Guardian, Washington Post, Splinter, The Atlantic, Forbes, New York Times, thecut, The Hill and NBC News
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:
The Week, Outside the Beltway, Hit & Run and Power Line
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Nancy Pelosi: ‘The stories kept coming’
CNN:
Federal government shuts down as Rand Paul holds up key vote
Federal government shuts down as Rand Paul holds up key vote
Discussion:
Reuters, WPMT FOX43, Business Insider, Q13 FOX News, Splinter, Mediaite and KTLA
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, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Signal, The Hill, Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Caller
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 …
RELATED:
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:
Instapundit, Patterico's Pontifications and Politico
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:
The Guardian, Breitbart, Jezebel, Fox News, CBS Los Angeles, The Blast and Deadline
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.
Discussion:
USA Today, Washington Post, NBC News, Jezebel, The Guardian, JONATHAN TURLEY, AOL, The Daily Caller, KRON4.com, fox8.com, Mashable, KTLA, The Stranger …, Gizmodo, Weekly Standard, Mediaite, twitchy.com and VICE
Sam Levin / The Guardian:
California police worked with neo-Nazis to pursue ‘anti-racist’ activists, documents show — Officers expressed sympathy with white supremacists and sought their help to target counter protesters after a violent 2016 rally, according to court documents
Mark Osborne / ABC News:
Pence bashes North Korea's military parade, endorses Trump's parade — Vice President Mike Pence engaged in a game of parade one-upmanship on Friday as he spoke to reporters in South Korea ahead of the opening ceremonies for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Discussion:
Politico, Breitbart, Raw Story, One America News Network and Associated Press
John Moody / Fox News:
In Olympics, let's focus on the winner of the race — not the race of the winner — Unless it's changed overnight, the motto of the Olympics, since 1894, has been “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” It appears the U.S. Olympic Committee would like to change that to “Darker, Gayer, Different.”
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, theGrio, Sarah Palin, AOL and Washington Monthly
RELATED:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Fraudulence of the Fiscal Hawks — In 2011, House Republicans, led by Paul Ryan, issued a report full of dire warnings about the dangers of budget deficits. “The United States is facing a crushing burden of debt,” it declared, warning of a looming fiscal crisis that might soon “capsize” the economy.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Daily Kos
RELATED:
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:
Investor's Business Daily, Salon, Washington Post and Raw Story
Laura Stevens / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon to Launch Delivery Service That Would Vie With FedEx, UPS — The company is preparing to begin the offering in Los Angeles with its ‘third-party merchants’ and then roll it out more broadly — Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -4.68% is preparing to launch a delivery service for businesses …
Discussion:
New York Times, Investor's Business Daily, Gizmodo and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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:
Don Surber and The Last Refuge
RELATED:
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Two more officials cited in FBI texts step down
Two more officials cited in FBI texts step down
Discussion:
Raw Story, twitchy.com and The Last Refuge