memeorandum: Sources: Porter fallout won't cost Kelly his job

8:20 AM ET, February 9, 2018

Top Items:

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, Politico, NBC News, fox13now.com, Boing Boing, Talking Points Memo, Women in the World and Vox

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, NBC News, Mother Jones, The Week, VICE News, Splinter, ThinkProgress, AOL, Business Insider and Roll Call

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, CNN and Mediaite

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

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, CBS News, The Week, NBC News, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Axios, Washington Post and Balloon Juice

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

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

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

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: Political Wire

CNN:
Sources: Porter fallout won't cost Kelly his job — for now

Discussion: The Week

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
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 and Mediaite

New York Times:
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

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.

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, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Week and VICE News

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:
House Passes Budget Deal to Raise Spending and Reopen Government

Discussion: ABC News, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Signal, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Heather Caygle / Politico:
Congress votes to end government shutdown

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Axios, CRFB Papers and Blog Posts, Hit & Run, twitchy.com, Breitbart, USA Today, VICE News, The Week, Washington Post, The Guardian, Splinter, Forbes, The Atlantic, New York Times, thecut, The Hill and NBC News

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Government shutdown set to end as House passes sweeping budget bill

Discussion: CNN, The Week, Outside the Beltway, Hit & Run and Power Line

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post: Nancy Pelosi: ‘The stories kept coming’

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard: A man with a plan: Newt's strategy for GOP victory

Associated Press:
Used to scuffles, Rand Paul takes on Senate, risks shutdown

Discussion: Politico

Elaina Plott / The Atlantic: The U.S. Government Shut Down Overnight—and Will Soon Reopen

Reuters:
Fiscal hawk Paul slows budget deal, shutdown looms

Discussion: CNN and Splinter

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 …

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Last Refuge, The Daily Beast, Media Matters for America, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Shareblue Media, Front Page Magazine and The Daily Caller

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

CNN:
Clash with witness shows Nunes' drive to discredit dossier

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: The Guardian, Breitbart, Jezebel, Fox News, CBS Los Angeles, The Blast and Deadline

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, Althouse, The Daily Caller, Press Enterprise, KQED News, Washington Times, KTLA, AOL, twitchy.com, CBS Los Angeles and Front Page Magazine

Melanie Mason / Los Angeles Times:
Assemblywoman at forefront of #MeToo movement accused of sexual misconduct

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and Politico

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

Yonhap News Agency: (LEAD) Chief delegates of U.S., N. Korea meet briefly at Olympic reception

Yonhap News Agency: (LEAD) Moon urges Japan to look ‘squarely’ at history for improved ties with S. Korea

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, The Guardian, Jezebel, JONATHAN TURLEY, The Daily Caller, AOL, KRON4.com, fox8.com, KTLA, Mashable, The Stranger …, Gizmodo, Weekly Standard, Mediaite, twitchy.com and VICE

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, Sarah Palin, AOL and Washington Monthly

Media Matters for America:
Fox News executive VP rails against diversity of US Olympians: “Darker, Gayer, Different”

Discussion: Hullabaloo

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