memeorandum: The wild wars within the Trump White House (Axios)

4:20 PM ET, March 1, 2018

Top Items:

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

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: ABC News, The Atlantic, Vox, New York Magazine, CNN, Raw Story, CNBC, NBC News and Shakesville, more at Mediagazer »

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.

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.

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 and thecut

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

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

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

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

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

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

Discussion: Axios, ABC News and Politico

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Politico

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

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

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump declares his trade war: targets steel, aluminum

Discussion: ABC News, Breitbart and Toronto Star

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

Discussion: Axios, Daily Wire and Reuters

Ana Swanson / New York Times:
Trump Plans Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum and Markets Slump

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

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

Veronique de Rugy / National Review:
The Swamp Is Alive! It Is Alive! — The beauty of the modern age …

Discussion: Cafe Hayek

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Trump says US will impose steel and aluminum tariffs

Discussion: CNNMoney, Washington Post, FOX6Now.com, Washington Press, IJR, The Daily Caller and Mother Jones

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, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Glenn Thrush / New York Times:
Ben Carson Tries to Cancel $31,000 Dining Furniture Purchase for HUD Office

Discussion: The Root, NBC News, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

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

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

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

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, NPR, Big Think, 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, Raw Story and AOL

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

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