memeorandum: Confessions of a Russiagate Skeptic (Blake Hounshell/Politico)

12:40 PM ET, February 19, 2018

Top Items:

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Conservatives urge Trump to grant pardons in Russia probe — After months of criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, President Donald Trump's supporters are issuing increasingly bold calls for presidential pardons to limit the investigation's impact.

Discussion: Axios and Raw Story

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

A non-alarmist reading of the Mueller Russia indictment … There's been no shortage of breathless reaction to Trump-Russia special prosecutor Robert Mueller's indictment of 13 Russians and three Russian organizations for their efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Blake Hounshell / Politico:

Confessions of a Russiagate Skeptic — If, like me, you've been following every twist and turn of the Russia investigations, you've probably wrestled with the same question that has been gnawing at me for more than a year now: What if there's nothing there?

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Whatever Trump Is Hiding Is Hurting All of Us Now — Our democracy is in serious danger. — President Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians or is a towering fool, or both, but either way he has shown himself unwilling or unable to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy.

Discussion: Politico and Taylor Marsh

David Willman / Los Angeles Times:
Former Trump aide Rick Gates to plead guilty; agrees to testify against Manafort, sources say

Discussion: The Guardian, TheBlaze, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, VICE News, Daily Wire, Talking Points Memo, The Right Scoop, Politicus USA, CBS News, Mother Jones, The Hill, CNN, New York Magazine, Axios, RedState, KTLA, Law & Crime, AOL, Political Wire, Vox and twitchy.com

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Podesta: Trump a ‘draft dodger’ in war for democracy

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Political Wire, IJR, Power Line, NPR, The Guardian, myfox8.com, Breitbart, ThinkProgress, AOL, CBS New York, RT, The Root and USA Today

Washington Post:

Trump lashes out over Russia probe in angry and error-laden tweetstorm … WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump lashed out with fresh anger about the intensifying Russia probe over the weekend, accusing Democrats of enabling a foreign adversary to interfere in the 2016 election and attacking …

Washington Post:

Top U.S. officials tell the world to ignore Trump's tweets … MUNICH — Amid global anxiety about President Trump's approach to world affairs, U.S. officials had a message for a gathering of Europe's foreign policy elite this weekend: Pay no attention to the man tweeting behind the curtain.

Discussion: The Atlantic and Outside the Beltway

Max Boot / Washington Post:

Trump is ignoring the worst attack on America since 9/11 — Imagine if, after 9/11, the president had said that the World Trade Center and Pentagon could have been attacked by “China” or “lots of other people.” Imagine if he had dismissed claims of al-Qaeda's responsibility as a “hoax” …

Discussion: twitchy.com, RT, CNBC, Outside the Beltway and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
Trump surveyed Mar-a-Lago members over gun control in wake of school shooting: report

Discussion: RedState and The Week

Alice Ollstein / Talking Points Memo:
White House: Trump Supports Gun Background Check Bill

Discussion: USA Today, New York Magazine, Politicus USA and The Week

New York Times:
Trump's Evolution From Relief to Fury Over the Russia Indictment

Discussion: Althouse, New York Magazine, Vox, Politico and Washington Post

New York Times:

How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best — and Worst — Presidents? — Where does Donald Trump rank on the list of American presidents? — We surveyed presidential politics experts to sketch out a first draft of Trump's place in presidential history. — Since our previous survey in 2014 …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Raw Story and Althouse

CBS News:

Oprah follows up with the partisan voters in Michigan — Last fall, Oprah Winfrey spoke with 14 Michigan voters, seven of whom voted for Donald Trump. Winfrey sat down with the voters again to get their thoughts on Trump's first year in office — Oprah Winfrey

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, IJR, Breitbart, The Right Scoop, CNBC, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Axios, Deadline, KTLA, The Daily Caller, RedState, Washington Times and Mother Jones

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
The ‘Oprah 2020’ story isn't going away. Trump just made sure of it

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress and IndieWire

New York Times:

Tools of Trump's Fixer: Payouts, Intimidation and the Tabloids — As accounts of past sexual indiscretions threatened to surface during Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign, the job of stifling potentially damaging stories fell to his longtime lawyer and all-around fixer, Michael D. Cohen.

Discussion: Axios and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Page Six:

Ronan Farrow banned from NBC? — There is an internal war brewing after it was claimed that Ronan Farrow has been banned by NBC News' top exec Andy Lack. — Farrow was booked on Rachel Maddow's prime-time MSNBC show on Friday to discuss his story about Donald Trump's alleged affair with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal.

Discussion: Mediaite and AOL

Madison Park / CNN:

Florida school shooter obtained 10 firearms — CNN will hold a town hall with the victims' classmates, parents and community members. “Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action” will air live Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET. — School shooter Nikolas Cruz will attend a 1 p.m. ET hearing …

Discussion: KTLA, IJR, CBS Miami, The Right Scoop, WPIX 11 New York, FOX6Now.com and myfox8.com

David Edwards / Raw Story: Rush Limbaugh attacks Parkland students for marching and ‘bashing’ NRA: ‘This is totally political’

Eli Watkins / CNN:
Trump tweet angers survivors of Parkland shooting

Discussion: NPR, Daily Kos, Sun-Sentinel, KTLA, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze, RT, Raw Story and The FADER

Victor Oquendo / ABC News:
Survivor of Florida school shooting used his body as human shield to protect classmates

Discussion: USA Today, Associated Press, theGrio and AOL

Christine Yared / New York Times:
Don't Let My Classmates' Deaths Be in Vain

Discussion: Washington Post

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

White House: Trump supports stronger background checks for gun buys — President Donald Trump supports laws to strengthen the background check system for gun purchases in the wake of the Parkland, Florida high school shooting that killed 17, the White House announced on Monday.

Discussion: Breitbart and New York Times

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump hits golf course 3 days after visiting shooting victims

Discussion: Shareblue Media and Joe.My.God.

Dan Merica / CNN:
Trump open to improving background checks, spokesman says

Discussion: Political Wire, KTLA, theGrio and CBS Miami

Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:

Why Facebook is afraid of Robert Mueller … Who is afraid of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III? President Trump is afraid. So are those who worked on his campaign. But they are not alone. — Over the weekend, Rob Goldman made it clear that some of America's biggest social media companies are scared of Mueller, too.

Discussion: Breitbart, Front Page Magazine and Talking Points Memo

Sheera Frenkel / New York Times:
Fact-Checking a Facebook Executive's Comments on Russian Interference

Discussion: Washington Post, RT, Lawfare, AOL, Raw Story, Front Page Magazine, Breitbart, Power Line, TheBlaze, Vox, The American Spectator, Business Insider, New York Post, Gizmodo and Quartz, more at Mediagazer »

Scott Shane / New York Times:
How Unwitting Americans Encountered Russian Operatives Online

Discussion: National Review and VICE News

Jill Abramson / New York Magazine:

Do You Believe Her Now? — With new evidence that Clarence Thomas lied to get onto the Supreme Court, it's time to talk seriously about impeachment. — Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas testifying before the Senate in 1991. Paul Hosefros/The New York Times/Redux (Hill); Jose R. Lopez/The New York Times/Redux (Rhomas)

Discussion: National Review, Daily Wire and thecut

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:

Trump's Miss Universe Gambit — For years, he used his beauty pageants to boost business interests abroad. A 2013 contest, in Moscow, may also have helped give him the Presidency. — The first-round results of the 2013 Miss Universe pageant seem to have come as a surprise …

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

Texas Democrat Writes Giant-Killer Narrative One Livestream at a Time — By Michael TackettPhotographs by Tamir Kalifa Feb. 19, 2018 — BEAUMONT, Texas — Operating on two hours' sleep, Beto O'Rourke was 20 hours into his day and looked it. His white shirt and gray slacks were an accordion of wrinkles.

Dave McNary / Variety:

‘Black Panther’ Smashes Records With $218 Million at Holiday Weekend Box Office — Disney-Marvel's “Black Panther” is heading for a super-heroic $218 million debut over the four-day President's Day weekend at 4,020 North American locations, estimates showed Sunday.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, theGrio and The FADER