memeorandum: The Root of White House Chaos? A Weak President (Matt Glassman/New York Times)

4:00 PM ET, March 1, 2018

Top Items:

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Senate Intelligence Leaders Say House G.O.P. Leaked a Senator's Texts — WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee were behind the leak of private text messages between the Senate panel's top Democrat and a Russian-connected lawyer …

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Axios, Hullabaloo, AOL, Washington Press, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos and Raw Story

CBS News:

Hope Hicks' “white lies” testimony becomes a flashpoint for House Intel Committee — In a rare, on-the-record accounting of some of the House Intelligence committee's secret, closed-door proceedings, two members of the House Intelligence Committee explained to CBS News what led White House …

Discussion: Crooked Media, Daily Kos, Raw Story, FiveThirtyEight, Political Wire, CBS San Francisco and New York Times

Joe Cunningham / RedState:
It's Time for Devin Nunes To Go - for Good

Discussion: Politico

Daily Mail:
Revealed: How Hope Hicks was ‘trapped’ …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Kushner's Business Got Loans from Companies After White House Meetings — Apollo, the private equity firm, and Citigroup made large loans last year to the family real estate business of Jared Kushner, President Trump's senior adviser. — Early last year, a private equity billionaire started paying regular visits to the White House.

Axios:

The wild wars within the Trump White House — After a crazy 24 hours, sources close to President Trump say he is in a bad place — mad as hell about the internal chaos and the sense that things are unraveling. — The big picture: Hope Hicks leaving is obviously a huge blow to him.

Discussion: ABC News, Raw Story, Washington Press, Shakesville, Washington Monthly, CNBC, Washington Post, CNN, New York Magazine, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Vox and Bloomberg

Tarini Parti / BuzzFeed:

As Trump Spirals, Many Of His Staffers Are Looking To Exit — Even for this chaotic administration, the last few weeks have taken a toll on President Donald Trump and his staff. A tragic mass shooting, big-name staff departures, and a series of scandals — all in the growing shadow …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Vox, New York Magazine, Raw Story, NBC News, Shakesville, New York Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Daily Kos

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

The White House Didn't Break Hope Hicks Overnight — Hope Hicks entered American politics at its fringes, in the early stages of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, a grinning 26-year-old member of the Trump Organization's public-relations team who'd been rerouted from her task of helping Ivanka Trump develop a lifestyle brand.

Discussion: CNN, Shareblue Media, CBS News, Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico, thecut and NBC News

David Remnick / New Yorker:

Hope Against Hope — Hope Hicks is kidding herself if she thinks that her tenure in the Trump White House will be judged only for harmless, situational untruths. — Presidents are in the habit of lying—often with bloody consequences. The Bay of Pigs, the Gulf of Tonkin, Watergate …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian, Politicus USA and Mediaite

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
A telling anecdote about Trump and the opioid abuse crisis

Discussion: Axios, ABC News and Politico

Matt Glassman / New York Times: The Root of White House Chaos? A Weak President

Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg: Scaramucci Says He Fears John Kelly Will Thwart SkyBridge Sale

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
John Kelly jokes (?) that ‘God punished’ him when he left DHS to be Trump's chief of staff

Discussion: RedState, AOL and CNN

Washington Post:
Mueller investigation examining Trump's apparent efforts to oust Sessions in July

Patrick Gillespie / CNNMoney:

Beer and cars could get more expensive because of Trump tariffs — U.S. trade moves could spark Chinese retaliation — Beer, baseball bats and cars could get more expensive after President Trump imposes tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. — And that's only the beginning.

Discussion: CNN and Washington Post

CNBC:
Trade chaos at the White House: Tariff announcement now unlikely Thursday as Trump aides spar

Discussion: Fox News, CNN, Vox, Washington Post, USA Today, Hot Air, Infowars, The Guardian, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NBC News and NPR

Bloomberg:
Trump Says He'll Impose Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Imports

Discussion: Axios and Daily Wire

Fred Imbert / CNBC:
Dow sheds 550 points after Trump says steel and aluminum tariffs coming next week

Discussion: CNNMoney

Thomas Heath / Washington Post: Dow drops more than 500 points on news of Trump's steel tariffs

Ana Swanson / New York Times:
Trump to Impose Stiff Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum

Discussion: US News, Axios, Outside the Beltway, IJR, The American Spectator, The Daily Caller, CBS Pittsburgh, AOL, CNBC, Breitbart, Reuters, Political Wire and InsideTrade Daily News

CNN:

See HUD's $31,000 mahogany dining set — Washington (CNN)A $31,000 dining set the Department of Housing and Urban Development purchased, which raised eyebrows when first reported Tuesday, includes a table, sideboard, breakfront — all in mahogany — and 10 mahogany chairs with a blue velvet finish …

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Rene Marsh / CNN:
Ben Carson says he wants to cancel $31,000 dining room furniture order

Discussion: Washington Post, The Real Deal New York, IJR and Splinter

CNN: White House furious at embarrassing stories about HUD, Secretary Ben Carson

Matt Shuham / Talking Points Memo:
HUD: Carson Directs Agency To Cancel Order For $30,000 Dining Set

Discussion: Daily Kos and Joe.My.God.

Pew Research Center:

1. Generations' party identification, midterm voting preferences, views of Trump — Millennial voters continue to have the highest proportion of independents of any generation. But when their partisan leanings are taken into account, they also are the most Democratic generation.

USA Today:

Voters vow to elect a Congress that stands up to Trump, poll shows — WASHINGTON — Americans are mad, and that is putting Republicans at risk. — A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds voters looking toward the midterm elections are overwhelmingly unhappy with the country's direction …

Discussion: Political Wire

Pew Research Center: 4. Race, immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion, global warming, gun policy, marijuana legalization

Azam Ahmed / New York Times:

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico to Quit Amid Tense Relations Under Trump — MEXICO CITY — The United States ambassador to Mexico plans to resign from her post in May, according to a memo circulated on Thursday to embassy staff, the latest in a string of senior diplomatic departures from the region …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Axios, AOL, The Daily Caller, VICE News and Los Angeles Times

Nahal Toosi / Politico:

U.S. ambassador to Mexico stepping down — The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, is resigning from the post, the latest in a string of high-profile departures from the State Department and one that could further complicate the U.S.-Mexico relationship amid lingering tensions over immigration …

Discussion: American Thinker

Mary Jordan / Washington Post:

Questions linger about how Melania Trump, a Slovenian model, scored ‘the Einstein visa’ — In 2000, Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model dating Donald Trump, began petitioning the government for the right to permanently reside in the United States under a program reserved for people with “extraordinary ability.”

Discussion: Washington Press, The White House, Axios, AOL and Political Wire

Andrew Roth / The Guardian:

Putin threatens US arms race with new missiles declaration — President says Russia has new line of nuclear-capable weapons that can breach US defences … Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia has developed and is testing a new line of strategic, nuclear-capable weapons that would be able …

Discussion: Washington Post, Motherboard and Shakesville

BBC:
Russia's Putin unveils ‘invincible’ nuclear weapons

Discussion: CNN, Big Think, NPR, The Root, CBS Pittsburgh, Axios and Joe.My.God.

Ryan Goodman / Just Security:

Russia “Previewed” Plan to Disseminate Emails with Trump Campaign — A significant recent revelation in the Russia investigation has been largely overlooked in the rush of several breaking news stories over the past few days. A nugget of information is contained in the memo written …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Salon and Raw Story

Associated Press:

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen charged over IS photos — PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors filed preliminary charges Thursday against far-right leader Marine Le Pen for tweeting brutal images of Islamic State violence, in a new blow to a woman long seen as the face of Europe's anti-immigrant populism.

Discussion: The Local, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire and Outside the Beltway

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

Fights Worth Having — For my money, the best op-ed published in The Times this week was Mona Charen's Feb. 25 barn-burner, “I'm Glad I Got Booed at CPAC.” Charen is a movement conservative who worked for Nancy and Ronald Reagan and is a longtime contributor to National Review.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Vox and Weekly Standard

Heather Haddon / Wall Street Journal:

Kroger to Stop Selling Guns to Buyers Under 21 — Supermarket chain sells firearms at 43 Fred Meyer locations in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington — Kroger Co. KR 2.18% said it would stop selling guns to buyers under 21 years old through its Fred Meyer locations …

Discussion: Politico, Axios, Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com and Splinter

Chris Isidore / CNNMoney:
Kroger-owned Fred Meyer stores won't sell guns to anyone under 21 years old

Discussion: Shareblue Media, CBS Pittsburgh, Bearing Arms, Breitbart, WIS-TV, KXAN-TV, KTLA and The Daily Caller

Michael Dimock / Pew Research Center:

Defining generations: Where Millennials end and post-Millennials begin — For decades, Pew Research Center has been committed to measuring public attitudes on key issues and documenting differences in those attitudes across demographic groups. One lens often employed by researchers …

Discussion: Pew Research Center and The Outline

BuzzFeed:

Stop Blaming Russian Bots For Everything — “I'm not convinced on this bot thing,” said one of the men behind the Russian bot thing. — By now you know the drill: massive news event happens, journalists scramble to figure out what's going on, and within a couple hours the culprit is found — Russian bots.

Discussion: RedState, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Miami Superintendent Turns Down New York City Schools Job — MIAMI — Mayor Bill de Blasio's choice to lead New York City's school system said on Thursday that he had changed his mind and would not leave his job as superintendent of the Miami-Dade County system, leading to cheers in a packed meeting room of his school board.