Top Items:
The Daily Beast:
John Kelly: Rex Tillerson Was on the Toilet When I Told Him He'd Be Getting Fired … Reporters gathered at the White House on Friday were stunned when Chief of Staff John Kelly shared a very embarrassing story about outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Mediaite, Shareblue Media, twitchy.com, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo and VICE News
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Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Kelly says Trump probably contributing to staff chaos stories — John Kelly acknowledged in an off-the-record session with reporters today that his boss, Donald Trump, is likely speculating about staff moves to people outside the White House and that reporters are then talking to those people.
Discussion:
RedState, ThinkProgress, ABC News, New York Times, Politico, The Daily Beast, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, Washington Press, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Raw Story, New York Magazine, Splinter, News & Guts Media, The Week, Weekly Standard, The Resurgent, CNBC, Breitbart and Mother Jones
Michael C. Bender / Wall Street Journal:
Donald Trump and John Kelly Reach Truce — White House chief of staff had made cryptic comments suggesting he may have been the next senior adviser to step down — WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump and White House chief of staff John Kelly have settled on a truce, at least temporarily …
Discussion:
The Hill, Talking Points Memo, CBS News, CNBC, RedState, Daily Kos, CANNONFIRE, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, IJR, NBC News, bizpacreview.com and New York Magazine
Mark Landler / New York Times:
Spies, Not Diplomats, Take Lead Role in Planning Trump's North Korea Meeting
Associated Press:
Trump jokes 'who's next?' as tumult engulfs his White House
Trump jokes 'who's next?' as tumult engulfs his White House
Discussion:
National Review, CBS Los Angeles, Shareblue Media, Weekly Standard, Splinter, The Daily Beast and Daily Kos
Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
Daniels' lawyer says some alleged incidents took place during Trump presidency — Lawyer: Stormy Daniels was physically threatened — Washington (CNN)The lawyer representing the adult film star Stormy Daniels alleges that some of the accusations she's making against President Donald Trump occurred while Trump was in office.
Discussion:
New York Times, RedState, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington Press, Shareblue Media, TVNewser, Hollywood Life, KTLA and Political Wire
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Washington Post:
Trump attorney accuses Stormy Daniels of violating nondisclosure agreement 20 times, claims right to seek $20 million in damages — Attorney Michael Cohen made the claim in papers filed in federal court Friday. Cohen formed a limited liability corporation to strike the nondisclosure agreement …
Discussion:
Political Wire and Mediaite
Edvard Pettersson / Bloomberg:
Trump Moves Stormy Daniels Hush Money Suit to Federal Court — Entity set up by president's personal lawyer transfered case — Court filing threatens porn star with $20 million in damages — President Donald Trump is moving his fight to keep Stormy Daniels silent about their alleged affair …
Discussion:
Vox, CNN and Joe.My.God.
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Trump Joins Legal Fight In Stormy Daniels' Lawsuit To End Her “Hush Agreement”
Trump Joins Legal Fight In Stormy Daniels' Lawsuit To End Her “Hush Agreement”
Discussion:
ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway and IJR
Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Six women have come forward to Stormy Daniels' lawyer with similar stories
Six women have come forward to Stormy Daniels' lawyer with similar stories
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, Washington Press, New York Magazine, IJR, Outside the Beltway, RedState and thecut
Paul Grewal / Facebook:
Suspending Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group from Facebook — We are suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), including their political data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, from Facebook. Given the public prominence of this organization, we want to take a moment to explain how we came to this decision and why.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »
Julia Marsh / Page Six:
Vanessa Trump hires criminal defense attorney for Donald Jr. divorce — Vanessa Trump hired a criminal defense attorney to represent her in her divorce from Donald Trump Jr. just as special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed the president's family business, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
Raw Story, thecut, Washington Press, East Bay Times, Mediaite, TalkLeft and New York Times
Kevin Johnson / USA Today:
Justice Department says it's considering public disclosure of Carter Page surveillance order — Former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page told Good Morning America hosts that he's never communicated with the president. Carter is the focus of a Republican memo alleging the FBI abused surveillance rules to spy on him.
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Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
REVEALED: Peter Strzok Had Personal Relationship With Recused Judge In Michael Flynn Case
REVEALED: Peter Strzok Had Personal Relationship With Recused Judge In Michael Flynn Case
Discussion:
Townhall.com, RedState, Sara A. Carter, National Review, The Gateway Pundit and The Rush Limbaugh Show
Daniel Friedman / Mother Jones:
Democrats May Seek Prosecution of Witnesses Who Misled House Intelligence Committee
Democrats May Seek Prosecution of Witnesses Who Misled House Intelligence Committee
Discussion:
Raw Story
CNN:
Pro-Trump group hires Carl Higbie, who shared N-Word laden post on Facebook in 2014 — (CNN)WARNING: This story contains graphic language. — The new advocacy director at a nonprofit group aligned with President Donald Trump shared an N-word laden post written by someone else on Facebook in December 2014.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Mic and Raw Story
Tim Graham / The Buffalo News:
The O.J. Simpson interview: On prison, ‘retirement’ and football — In his first substantial interview in a decade and his first extensively about football since the 1990s, Simpson spoke to The Buffalo News earlier this week. He talks about his time in prison, his life since his release, football, CTE and more.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Breitbart, NBC News, theGrio, CBS San Francisco, Mediaite, The Big Lead, The Daily Caller and The Root
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Aram Roston / BuzzFeed:
Trump's CIA Has Set Up Teams To Kill Terrorists — “Small teams are locating and killing bad guys. That's what we are doing.” The official in charge of the hit teams was a senior aide to CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who Trump just nominated to be secretary of state.
Discussion:
Task & Purpose, The Week and Daily Kos
Patricia Mazzei / New York Times:
Engineer of Florida Bridge Reported Cracks Days Before Collapse — MIAMI — An engineer reported cracks on a newly installed pedestrian bridge two days before it collapsed on a busy roadway here, killing at least six people, state officials said on Friday. — The report, by the lead engineer …
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Ian Shapira / Washington Post:
Black man beaten in Charlottesville found not guilty of assaulting white supremacist … A black man brutally beaten at last year's white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville — and who was later charged with assaulting a white nationalist — was acquitted Friday.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, NPR, The Root, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Joe.My.God. and Axios
Sean Lahman / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter dies at 88 — Democratic Congresswoman Lousie Slaughter, who had represented the Rochester area in Congress since 1987, has died. She was 88. — Three sources confirmed the death to the Democrat and Chronicle Friday morning.
Brett Stevens / Splinter:
The Smearing of Gina Haspel — In 1942, Virginia Hall, the notorious Allied spy, fled France, with Nazi spyhunter Klaus Barbie hot on her trail, hiking the snowy mountains that make up the border with Spain. The opportunity presented itself to get word to her handlers in London.
Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
Hacker Adrian Lamo dies at 37 — The coroner confirmed Lamo's death, but the circumstances of his passing are not yet known. — Adrian Lamo, a well-known hacker, has died at 37. — His father, Mario, posted a brief tribute to his son in a Facebook group on Friday.
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Academy President John Bailey Under Investigation for Sexual Harassment (EXCLUSIVE) — John Bailey, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is under investigation for allegations of sexual harassment. — The Academy received three harassment claims on Wednesday …
Discussion:
The Guardian, KTLA, Breitbart, VICE News, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, MyNewsLA.com, Mashable, IndieWire, WPIX 11 New York and NY State of Politics
Jordan Valinsky / CNNMoney:
Snapchat stock loses $800 million after Rihanna responds to offensive ad — Rihanna slams Snapchat for mocking her assault — Rihanna is the latest celebrity to send Snap's stock sliding. — The singer tore into the app on Thursday for allowing an offensive ad to appear on its platform.
Discussion:
CNN, theGrio, CNBC, New York Post, fox13now.com and Engadget
CNN:
A custodian takes advantage of National School Walkout and steals $180 from students' book bags — (CNN)While students in a South Carolina school participated in the National School Walkout this week, a custodian helped herself to their cash, police said. — The incident occurred at Richland Northeast High School on Wednesday.
New Yorker:
Barry Blitt's “Exposed” — Barry Blitt's latest cover for the magazine is his fifteenth to feature Donald Trump. ("The gift that keeps on grifting," in Blitt's words.) The image of Trump at the lectern, poised nude and cross-legged, recalls the prophet Bob Dylan, who once noted, in …
John Kiriakou / Washington Post:
I went to prison for disclosing the CIA's torture. Gina Haspel helped cover it up. … I was inside the CIA's Langley, Va., headquarters on Sept. 11, 2001. Like all Americans, I was traumatized, and I volunteered to go overseas to help bring al-Qaeda's leaders to justice.
Paul Rosenzweig / Lawfare:
The Trump Malignancy and the Book That Will Not Be Written — The malignant deviancy of the Trump Administration and Trumpist supporters in Congress continues apace. The decision of the House Intelligence committee Republicans to close their investigation into Russian interference …
Jacob Heilbrunn / Politico:
No, Really, This Is Normal. Did You Forget Bush-Cheney? — President Donald Trump may have reached a temporary truce with his chief of staff, John Kelly, but Rex Tillerson and, maybe, H.R. McMaster are out. Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel are in and so, perhaps, is John Bolton.
Jason Noble / Des Moines Register:
Alleged paperwork forgery forces Theresa Greenfield to resubmit candidacy at literally the last minute — In a whirlwind effort aided by staffers from a half-dozen or more Democratic campaigns, 3rd District congressional candidate Theresa Greenfield on Friday dramatically withdrew …
Kira Lerner / ThinkProgress:
Georgia GOP pushes elimination of Sunday voting to suppress black turnout — Georgia Republicans are advancing a bill through the state legislature that would suppress African-American turnout by eliminating Sunday voting and cutting the hours that polls are open in Atlanta.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Stefanos Chen / New York Times:
As Brooklyn Towers Soar, a Sinking Feeling for Developers — From a penthouse apartment in the Hub, a new 610-foot rental tower in Downtown Brooklyn that is — for now — the borough's tallest, its developer groused about timing. — “Not early enough,” said Doug Steiner on a recent tour …
Steve Collins / Lewiston Sun Journal:
Beleaguered Leslie Gibson abandons state House race, seeks ‘peace and quiet’ — SABATTUS — Controversial Republican candidate Leslie Gibson is abandoning his effort to win a state House seat this year. — “I am not walking away with my head hung low. I am walking away with my head held high,” Gibson said Friday.
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Raw Story and Washington Press