memeorandum: ABC's George Stephanopoulos Has Landed The Big Comey Interview (Steven Perlberg/BuzzFeed)

11:35 AM ET, February 16, 2018

Top Items:

Donald Trump, a Playboy Model, and a System for Concealing Infidelity — One woman's account of clandestine meetings, financial transactions, and legal pacts designed to hide an extramarital affair. — In June, 2006, Donald Trump taped an episode of his reality-television show, “The Apprentice …

James Risen / The Intercept:

Is Donald Trump a Traitor? — I find it hard to write about Donald Trump. — It is not that he is a complicated subject. Quite the opposite. It is that everything about him is so painfully obvious. He is a low-rent racist, a shameless misogynist, and an unbalanced narcissist.

Discussion: Raw Story and Balloon Juice

CNN:

Exclusive: A top Trump campaign adviser close to plea deal with Mueller — Washington (CNN)Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates is finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller's office, indicating he's poised to cooperate in the investigation, according to sources familiar with the case.

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast: Mueller Has Interviewed Trump Legal Team's Former Spokesman

New York Times:

Flashes of Rage. Family Loss. Nikolas Cruz's Lifetime of Trouble. — PARKLAND, Fla. — Before he was hauled into a jailhouse hearing room on Thursday, head bowed and shackled at the wrists and ankles, Nikolas Cruz had been causing trouble as long as anyone here could remember.

miamiherald:
The victims of the Douglas High mass shooting

Discussion: Sun-Sentinel, 89.3 KPCC, NPR, CNN, Indianapolis Star, fox8.com, KFOR-TV, Washington Free Beacon, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, USA Today, ABC News, FOX2now.com, WREG-TV and ThinkProgress

Karl Etters / Tallahassee Democrat:
Local law enforcement: No ties between militia and school shooter

Washington Post:
FBI's near-brush with suspect in Florida school shooting draws scrutiny

Discussion: Women in the World, The Week, Business Insider and Breitbart

Washington Post:

No, there haven't been 18 school shootings in 2018. That number is flat wrong. … The stunning number swept across the Internet within minutes of the news Wednesday that, yet again, another young man with another semi-automatic rifle had rampaged through a school, this time at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in South Florida.

New York Times:

The N.R.A. Can Be Beat — It's time to vote the gun lobby out of office. — Parents throughout the country live with the dread that the next lockdown at their child's school won't be a drill and that screams like those we heard on cellphones from classrooms at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Atlantic, Power Line, Daily Kos, Mashable, ThinkProgress, Florida Politics, The Guardian and Mediaite

David French / National Review:
New Gun Policies Won't Stop Mass Shootings, but People Can

Discussion: Townhall.com, EW.com, Shot in the Dark, Hit & Run, alicublog, CBS Dallas, The Stream and NPR

Daniella Silva / NBC News:
Sheriff in Florida shooting calls for power to detain over social media

Discussion: Breitbart, Shareblue Media, New York Times, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Press, AOL, The White House, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and VICE

Emma Dumain / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

White House, Lindsey Graham go to war over immigration — WASHINGTON — “Who the hell wrote this?” — That's how Sen. Lindsey Graham described his furious reaction to a Department of Homeland Security statement condemning a Senate immigration plan carefully crafted by Republicans and Democrats.

Discussion: Vox and Washington Post

Bloomberg: Senate Rejection May Mark End of Chances for Immigration Deal

Elana Schor / Politico: Inside the Senate's ugly immigration breakdown

Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal:
Bannon Stays Mostly Mum in House Hearing, Prompting Bipartisan Ire

Discussion: VICE News

Tal Kopan / CNN:
What's next for DACA? 'Don't know'

Discussion: KTLA, The Daily Caller, Splinter and The Gateway Pundit

Alex Daugherty / Tampa Bay Times:

NRA-backed Marco Rubio says gun control laws alone won't prevent mass shootings — Rubio, who earned an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association during his 2016 reelection campaign and who ranks among the top 20 members of Congress in money received — $3.3 million …

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Why Trump drags his feet on guns

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News Insider, The Week and ABC News

Alex Guillén / Politico:

Pruitt's security threat? A passenger shouting, 'You're f—ing up the environment' — EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's security team decided last year he should fly first class to avoid confrontations with angry individuals on planes and in airports, an agency official said Thursday …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, AOL and The Week

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Pruitt Started Flying First Class To Avoid People Yelling Profanities At Him

Discussion: Washington Post

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

An unusual turn in the Michael Flynn case? — Observers are buzzing about a series of events in the last 60 days in the case of Michael Flynn, the Trump national security adviser who on Dec. 1 pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI in the Trump-Russia investigation.

Discussion: Washington Times

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

More than 40 percent of Trump's Cabinet-level picks have faced ethical or other controversies — President Trump came to Washington promising to “drain the swamp.” But after less than 13 months, more than 40 percent of the people he originally picked for Cabinet-level jobs have faced ethical or other controversies.

Discussion: Political Wire, CBS Denver and ABC News

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:

Why Romney Is Running for Senate — Mitt Romney launched his long-anticipated campaign on Friday, tweeting, “I am running for United States Senate to serve the people of Utah and bring Utah's values to Washington.” — Over recent weeks, much of the national pundit chatter has focused …

Discussion: CNN, New Republic, The Hill, ABC News, Vox, US News, Salt Lake Tribune, New York Times, Jezebel and Political Wire

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Mitt Romney announces he's running for U.S. Senate in Utah

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo, RedState and CNBC

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

Don't Be Fooled: Russia Attacked U.S. Troops in Syria — Mattis gave Putin “plausible deniability” for a military assault that went badly awry. — If you've been listening just to the Kremlin and the Pentagon, you probably didn't know that Russia attacked American forces and their allies …

Discussion: Defense One

Maureen Groppe / Indianapolis Star:

After Rippon: Searching for clarity on Mike Pence's stance on gay conversion therapy — WASHINGTON — What is Vice President Mike Pence's position on the discredited practice of trying to change a person's gender identity or sexual orientation through “conversion therapy”?

Discussion: PinkNews and twitchy.com

CNN:

Ex-wife's photos raise questions about McGahn's role in Porter scandal — Washington (CNN)The FBI obtained photos of the bruised face of Colbie Holderness seven days after President Donald Trump's inauguration last year, according to emails obtained by CNN, raising questions …

Discussion: The Week and Axios

Nancy Cook / Politico:
White House left feeling rudderless as Trump hangs back in crisis

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, Washington Post and Political Wire

Donovan Slack / USA Today:

VA secretary David Shulkin's chief of staff retiring amid travel report findings — WASHINGTON — The third most senior official at the Department of Veterans Affairs is stepping down amid findings she misled ethics officials to secure approval for VA Secretary David Shulkin's wife to accompany him on taxpayer-funded trip to Europe.

Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:

ABC's George Stephanopoulos Has Landed The Big Comey Interview — Stephanopoulos will interview Comey in mid-April ahead of the release of his highly-anticipated book. — ABC has landed one of the most sought-after interviews of the year: former FBI Director James Comey.

Discussion: RedState, The Hill, Political Wire, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Mark Joyella / Forbes:

Trump Has Abandoned The Press Briefing Room And Reporters Should Too — On Thursday morning, Donald Trump wrapped himself in the trappings of the presidency, standing in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room under the steady gaze of George Washington, and plodded his way through …

John Harwood / CNBC:

Sen. Jeff Flake: President Donald Trump shouldn't be impeached, but his behavior is bad for national security — When he announced his retirement from the Senate last fall, Jeff Flake of Arizona become one of the strongest Republican critics of President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Political Wire

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:

Facebook complies with Russia's request to take down an Instagram post linked to Putin's rival — Facebook-owned Instagram has taken down posts related to bribery allegations made by Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny against prominent figures in a YouTube video.

Discussion: Business Insider, DFRLab, BuzzFeed, New York Times and VICE News, more at Mediagazer »

John Fritze / Baltimore Sun:

Is Chelsea Manning's Senate campaign for real? — When Chelsea Manning leaked hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks eight years ago, she said she hoped the decision would provoke a debate about U.S. foreign policy.