memeorandum: One Morning in Baghdad (Andrew Exum/The Atlantic)

8:50 AM ET, March 20, 2018

Top Items:

Revealed: Trump's election consultants filmed saying they use bribes and sex workers to entrap politicians — Senior executives at Cambridge Analytica - the data company that credits itself with Donald Trump's presidential victory - have been secretly filmed saying they could entrap politicians …

Associated Press:

Tillis may have benefited from Facebook data breach — RALEIGH, N.C. — The data firm accused of stealing the private information of more than 50 million Facebook users may have used that information to help U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis win his seat in 2014. — North Carolina voters were among …

Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:

Ted Cruz under fire in Cambridge Analytica scandal; firm targeted voters with data from 50M Facebook users — WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz is under fire for his connections with a voter targeting firm that used data taken from 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New Republic, The Daily Beast, The Verge, BuzzMachine, Politico, TechCrunch, Fortune, Raw Story, New York Times, Engadget, The Ringer and Motherboard, more at Mediagazer »

Zeynep Tufekci / New York Times:

Facebook's Surveillance Machine — In 2014, Cambridge Analytica, a voter-profiling company that would later provide services for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, reached out with a request on Amazon's “Mechanical Turk” platform, an online marketplace where people around the world contract with others to perform various tasks.

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Rebekah Mercer Standing By Cambridge Analytica After Blackmail Scandal … Billionaire heiress Rebekah Mercer is standing by embattled data firm Cambridge Analytica—at least for now. A person close to Mercer, who sits on the firm's board, told The Daily Beast she has no immediate plans …

Discussion: ABC News, Axios and The Daily Beast, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post: Facebook's rules for accessing user data lured more than just Cambridge Analytica

Matthew Rosenberg / New York Times:
Cambridge Analytica, Trump-Tied Political Firm, Offered to Entrap Politicians

Discussion: CNNMoney, Washington Post, Motherboard, The Guardian, Hit & Run, Gizmodo, ThinkProgress and Forbes

Michael Brendan Dougherty / National Review:
The Social-Media Panic

Discussion: Mashable, Forbes, Daily Wire, Big Think, Media Matters for America and Hudson Institute

Facebook:
Pursuing Forensic Audits to Investigate Cambridge Analytica Claims

Discussion: The Guardian, Mashable, New York Times, Washington Post, The Verge, Vox, Engadget, Politico, Gizmodo, Axios and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Trump's High-Tech Dirty Tricksters

Discussion: Daily Kos, NBC News, Politicus USA and The Week

CNN: Whistleblower: We tested Trump slogans in 2014 - CNN Video

BBC:
Cambridge Analytica: Warrant sought to inspect company

Discussion: The Verge, Engadget and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Major Garrett / CBS News:
Trump campaign phased out use of Cambridge Analytica data before election

Discussion: East Bay Times, RedState and TechCrunch

CA Commercial:
Cambridge Analytica responds to false allegations in the media

Discussion: Bloomberg, Oxford Mail, New York Magazine and Mother Jones

Jason Howerton / IJR:
Ex-Obama Campaign Director: It's ‘Unfair’ Facebook Let Us ‘Ingest Entire Social Network of US’

Discussion: Front Page Magazine, USA Today, CNNMoney, CBS Los Angeles, The Rush Limbaugh Show, RedState, Daily Wire and Bloomberg

Joe Uchill / Axios:
Cambridge Analytica creator has State Department contract

Discussion: One America News Network and Defense One

Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:
Where's Zuck? Facebook CEO silent as data harvesting scandal unfolds

Discussion: CNNMoney, Forbes, TechCrunch, Politicus USA, KTLA, The Verge, Media Matters for America, Business Insider, CNBC, Daily Kos and New York Magazine

New York Times:

Trump Considers Reshuffling Legal Team as He Takes On Mueller More Aggressively — WASHINGTON — President Trump's legal team was poised for a shake-up on Monday, according to two people briefed on the matter, as he openly discussed firing one of his lawyers, another considered resigning and a third …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Mediaite and ThinkProgress

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:

Trump's lawyers have turned over documents to Mueller with hopes of limiting interview scope … President Trump's attorneys have provided the special counsel's office with written descriptions that chronicle key moments under investigation in hopes of curtailing the scope of a presidential interview …

Discussion: Raw Story, Politicus USA, Shareblue Media, New York Magazine, East Bay Times, Splinter, CNN, The Week, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Political Wire

CNN:

Mueller team gives Trump lawyers more details of what they want to talk to President about — WaPo: Trump lawyers try to limit interview — (CNN)As President Donald Trump's reaction to special counsel Robert Mueller grows more irate by the day, attorneys on both sides sat down last week …

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Salon, Talking Points Memo and New Republic

CNBC:

The Stormy Daniels saga could turn into a big deal for Mueller's Trump probe, experts say — Porn star Stormy Daniels is suing President Trump to void a non-disclosure agreement barring her from discussing an alleged affair with Trump. — Asked whether he has been contacted …

Discussion: Raw Story

Daniel Lippman / Politico: Playbook shutdown countdown: Four days, as snow threatens the D.C. region

Washington Post:
Trump shakes up team of lawyers as legal threats mount

Discussion: Raw Story, Associated Press and Media Matters for America

New York Times:
Trump to Hire Lawyer Who Has Pushed Theory That Justice Dept. Framed the President

New York Times:

Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation — Facebook's chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, will leave the company after internal disagreements over how the social network should deal with its role in spreading disinformation, according to current and former employees briefed on the matter.

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, FiveThirtyEight, New York Magazine, CNBC, The Week, Mashable, Gizmodo, Motherboard, The Verge, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Engadget and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Package believed to be bound for Austin explodes at Texas FedEx facility, police say … A package believed to be bound for Austin exploded at a Texas FedEx facility early Tuesday, law enforcement officials said, opening another potential front in investigations into of a series of blasts …

Discussion: The Texas Tribune, NPR, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, The Root, Outside the Beltway, Axios and ABC News

Schertz Police Department / CBS News:

Package bound for Austin blows up at FedEx building near San Antonio — The San Antonio Texas Fire Department says a package bomb apparently bound for Austin has exploded at a FedEx distribution center in Schertz, Texas, hurting 1 person, a FedEx employee who apparently suffered a non-life-threatening …

Discussion: WREG-TV, Joe.My.God., The Week and Fox News

Page Six:

Donald Trump Jr. romanced Aubrey O'Day during marriage to Vanessa — Years before Vanessa Trump filed for divorce from Donald Trump Jr., their marriage was rocked when Don Jr. fell in love with a contestant on NBC's “The Celebrity Apprentice.” — Page Six has exclusively learned that Don Jr. …

Discussion: East Bay Times and TMZ.com

Sarah Hearon / Us Weekly:
Donald Trump Jr. Had an Affair With ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Contestant Aubrey O'Day During Marriage to Vanessa

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and The Root

Andrew Exum / The Atlantic:

One Morning in Baghdad — One morning in October 2003, I was shaken out of bed by an explosion. I was in Baghdad, leading a platoon of Army Rangers as part of a special operations task force that was hunting down the famous “deck of cards”—the last of the Ba'ath Regime loyalists, and Saddam himself.

Sinan Antoon / New York Times: Fifteen Years Ago, America Destroyed My Country

Ted Barrett / CNN:

Why McConnell hasn't said anything on Trump's Mueller attacks — (CNN)Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has long believed he does not need to respond in real time or react to every controversial tweet or other action by President Donald Trump, according to people close to the senator.

Discussion: CBS Miami

CNN:
Republicans say Congress doesn't need to pass law protecting Mueller

Discussion: The Week, The Daily Beast, The Hill, bizpacreview.com, Sara A. Carter, Townhall.com, Politicus USA, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, Vox, CBS News, Arizona Republic, Talking Points Memo, KTLA, Politico, Hit & Run, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, Breitbart and IJR

Jeff Daniels / CNBC:

Californians fed up with housing costs and taxes are fleeing state in big numbers — More Californians are moving from the Golden State, particularly lower-income residents, although even middle-class residents are saying goodbye. — Census Bureau data show California lost …

Paul Dorian / Vencore Weather:

2:10 PM | *****Mixed precipitation on Tuesday to be followed by a major snowstorm for the I-95 corridor***** — 12Z NAM (12-km) loop of surface forecast maps from hour 21 (5AM Tuesday) to hour 66 (2AM Thursday) in 1-hour increments until hour 24 and then 3-hour increments thereafter.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Stuart Rothenberg / Roll Call:

Insiders See Democratic House Gains of 30-45 seats — Seven and a half months before the midterm elections, the combination of attitudinal and behavioral evidence leads to a single conclusion: The Democrats are very likely to win control of the House in November.

Danielle Paquette / Washington Post:

Lawsuit accuses celebrity chef Mike Isabella of ‘extraordinary’ sexual harassment … Celebrity chef Mike Isabella, the head of a $30 million culinary empire based in the nation's capital, was sued Monday by a former top manager who claims that Isabella and his partners repeatedly sexually harassed her in the workplace.

Discussion: Eater, The Atlantic and grubstreet

New York Post:

Is Governor Cuomo losing it? — Is Gov. Cuomo really that worried by Cynthia Nixon — or has he just lost it? — Even before the “Sex and the City” star announced Monday that she'll primary him this year, Cuomo launched a mad dash for attention. With unfortunate results. — SEE ALSO

Discussion: Instapundit

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

The Weinstein Co. Declares Bankruptcy — The Weinstein Co. announced Monday that it had filed for bankruptcy, finding itself unable to survive the allegations of sexual abuse leveled against co-founder Harvey Weinstein last fall. — The company may yet be able to reorganize and continue …

Discussion: IndieWire, thecut and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

The Daily Beast:

Kamala Harris Has Been Shopping a Book and Fueling 2020 Talk … Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), a rising star in the Democratic ranks often spoken about as a potential presidential challenger in 2020, shopped a book to a number of New York publishers as recently as a month ago, The Daily Beast has learned.

Discussion: Political Wire