memeorandum: Trump's Nuclear Option (Jack Goldsmith/Weekly Standard)

2:50 PM ET, August 22, 2018

Top Items:

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

In Trump's right-wing media universe, it was a day like any other — It's Tuesday afternoon. Imagine, for a moment, that President Trump logs on to Twitter. News is breaking that could prove existential for his presidency. But his social media feed hardly records the magnitude of the developments.

Discussion: New Republic, Deadline, Daily Kos, IJR, Raw Story, Contemptor, BuzzFeed News, Althouse, Joe.My.God., No More Mister Nice Blog, Spectator USA, The Right Scoop, Common Dreams and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Lanny Davis / gofundme.com:

Michael Cohen Truth Fund — $17,822 of $500,000 goal Raised by 377 people in 9 hours — On July 2, 2018, Michael Cohen declared his independence from Donald Trump and his commitment to tell the truth. — On August 21, Michael Cohen made the decision to take legal responsibility and to continue his commitment to tell the truth.

John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:

10 Things I Hate About What's Just Happened — After “the information” regarding Michael Cohen's guilty pleas stated flatly that Cohen had been directed to violate campaign finance law by Donald Trump, you can put the Russia probe aside for a moment and consider the many possible meanings of what Cohen has done:

Discussion: Shareblue Media, ABC News, CNN and Axios

Axios:

GOP fears Cohen set road to impeachment — Impeachment proceedings against President Trump went from a theoretical danger to a vivid reality with yesterday's guilty plea by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, sources close to the White House tell Axios. — The big picture: Cohen's guilty plea …

Discussion: ABC News, Raw Story and One America News Network

Mark Penn / The Hill:

Cohen's plea deal is prosecutor's attempt to set up Trump — Here we go, from Russia with love to campaign finance with love. — Why was Michael Cohen investigated? Because the “Steele dossier” had him making secret trips to meet with Russians that never happened, so his business dealings got …

Discussion: Breitbart, LifeZette, CANNONFIRE, Daily Wire and Washington Post

Colin Dwyer / NPR:

Michael Cohen's Lawyer Says His Client Would Never Accept Pardon From ‘Corrupt’ Trump — Less than a day after Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts in a federal court — ranging from tax evasion to campaign finance violations — Trump's longtime attorney and fixer is downplaying the possibility of a pardon.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Roll Call, Joe.My.God., TheBlaze, Fox News, ABC News, National Review, CNN, The Guardian, The Root, Contemptor, Conservative News Today, Politico, Don Surber and Splinter

NBC News:

The party of ‘Lock her up!’ faces a choice: Defend Trump or investigate? — First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. — WASHINGTON — For a candidate whose supporters cried, “Lock her up! …

Discussion: MSNBC, New York Times, Daily Kos, The Right Scoop, Washington Post, Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and The Gateway Pundit

Shannon Pettypiece / Bloomberg:

Trump Didn't Consult McGahn About Hush-Money Payments, Source Says — President Donald Trump didn't consult his campaign finance lawyer Don McGahn about hush-money payments that were made days before the election and are now the center of a criminal case, a person familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: Political Wire

Garrett M. Graff / Wired:

Six Big Questions After the Cohen and Manafort Bombshells — THE HOUR OF 4 pm Tuesday, potentially one of the most consequential hours in the history of the American presidency, made clear that history books will almost certainly note Donald Trump's surprise 2016 election win with an asterisk.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, NPR, New York Times and Hullabaloo

Jack Goldsmith / Weekly Standard:

Trump's Nuclear Option — With Cohen and Manafort going to jail, the president could choose to burn the system down. — It's much clearer now why Donald Trump has been furious with Attorney General Jeff Sessions ever since he recused himself from the Russia investigation in March 2017.

NBC News:
In case of Mueller firing, break glass: Democrats prep an emergency plan

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Breitbart

Joe Tacopino / New York Post:
Cohen willing to tell Mueller about ‘conspiracy to collude’: lawyer

Discussion: Associated Press, Lawfare, New York Daily News, The Editorial Board, Salon, Hullabaloo, Joe.My.God. and Daily Wire

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Trump Learns the Cost of One-Way Loyalty

Discussion: The Guardian, WORLD and BloombergQuint

New York Times:
A One-Two Punch Puts Trump Back on His Heels

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politico, Refinery29, Shareblue Media, Lawfare, The Intercept, Breitbart, AOL, Media Matters for America, The Western Journal, Common Dreams, Hot Air, Conservative News Today, Spectator USA, Wall Street Journal, The Week, Mediaite and Political Wire

David Crook / DCReport.org:
New York Prosecutors Can Go After Trump Now, Even If Mueller Won't

Discussion: The Atlantic and Daily Kos

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
6 Takeaways About Paul Manafort And Michael Cohen's Legal Woes

Discussion: Vox, Washington Monthly, Conservative Review, The Atlantic, RedState, Hit & Run, Media Matters for America and Instapundit

New York Sun:
The President in a Vise — From President Trump's point of view …

Discussion: Spectator USA and Power Line

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Trump's company approved $420,000 in payments to Cohen, relying on ‘sham’ invoices, prosecutors say

Discussion: USA Today, Politico, The Hill, One America News Network, Law & Crime, Just Security, Shakesville, Daily Wire, Political Wire, ABC News, The Atlantic and Breitbart

CNN:
The Cohen-Manafort fallout … GO DEEPER — How Trump World …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, The Western Journal and The Last Refuge

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
This is the moment all of Trump's anti-media rhetoric has been working toward

Discussion: The Daily Banter, The Week and Media Matters for America

Curtis Houck / NewsBusters:
MSNBC Guest Dismisses Mollie Tibbetts as Some ‘Girl in Iowa’ ‘Fox News Is Talking About’

Discussion: Conservative Review, Daily Wire, Louder With Crowder and 100PercentFedUp.com

Alex Horton / Washington Post:
Michael Cohen's tweet about Hillary Clinton and prison came back to haunt him. Now it's gone.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Talking Points Memo and Townhall

Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
All Eyes on the Presidency — Tuesday's conviction of Paul Manafort …

Discussion: PRI and Daily Kos

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
What to Make of the Cohen Plea and Manafort Convictions

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Mother Jones and Daily Wire

Adam Edelman / NBC News:
Trump takes shot after guilty plea: 'Don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!'

Discussion: TMZ.com, Vox, Politico and MSNBC

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Trump advises against Michael Cohen's legal services

Discussion: The Guardian Nigeria Newspaper, One America News Network and Politico

Jermaine Ong / KGTV-TV:

San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter addresses federal indictment in 10News interview — SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) told 10News that he's innocent of accusations of campaign funding misuse one day after he and his wife Margaret were indicted by a federal grand jury.

Discussion: The Hill, Roll Call, Raw Story, Daily Kos and Political Wire

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: GOP frets as Trump world implodes

Discussion: New Republic, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The Root

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
10 of the ickiest allegations in the Duncan Hunter indictment

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New Republic, Weekly Standard, The Daily Caller, Shakesville, CNN, Roll Call, Hit & Run and Common Dreams

Alex Gangitano / Roll Call:
Here Are the D.C. Bars in Duncan Hunter Indictment

Discussion: Inside Elections, IJR, Outside the Beltway and CNN

Benny Arthur Johnson:

I promised myself I would stay off of politics while on vacation. I'll break that promise just once. — Mollie Tibbetts was an Iowan. She was raised not far from me. She went to the University of Iowa, just like me. Rooted for the Hawkeyes. She had hopes, dreams, a good upbringing & a loving family cheering for her future.

Des Moines Register:

Cristhian Rivera, charged in Mollie Tibbetts' death, worked at a farm owned by a prominent Iowa Republican family — Cristhian Rivera, the man accused in the death of Mollie Tibbetts, worked for a Brooklyn-area farm owned by the brother of a prominent Iowa Republican.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Chuck Grassley, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Fox News, Breitbart, New York Post, LifeZette, The Western Journal, IJR, Daily Wire, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, The Daily Caller and Law & Crime

Axios:
Republicans want to make Mollie Tibbetts a household name

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite and Law & Crime

Sam Levine / HuffPost:

Georgia County Can't Support Claim It Must Close Polling Places Over Access Issues — Officials in majority-black Randolph County lack the data to back a proposal to shutter most voting spots. — Officials in a majority-black Georgia county accused of trying to close almost all polling places …

Discussion: Splinter and politics.myajc

Kira Lerner / ThinkProgress:
Republicans are using federal disability law to disenfranchise minority voters

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, politics.myajc and Daily Kos

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:

Dems use ‘co-conspirator’ Trump line to attack Kavanaugh — Democrats launched a simultaneous attack against Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday, casting the president as a “co-conspirator” and his Supreme Court nominee as a jurist whose nomination has been tainted.

Discussion: Political Wire and Breitbart

Emily Bazelon / New York Times:
When the Supreme Court Lurches Right

Discussion: Althouse

New York Times:
Cohen Implicates President Trump. What Do Prosecutors Do Now?

Discussion: Vox

Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:

DNC calls FBI after detecting attempt to hack its voter database — (CNN)The Democratic National Committee contacted the FBI on Tuesday after it detected what it believes was the beginning of a sophisticated attempt to hack into its voter database, a Democratic source tells CNN.

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire, New York Times, POLITICUSUSA, Mashable, Engadget, Law & Crime, The Week, Hill Reporter, Raw Story and Balloon Juice

TMZ.com:

Asia Argento and 17-Year-Old Boy in Bed in Sexual Encounter — Asia Argento says she did not have sex with then 17-year-old Jimmy Bennett, but a photo and various text messages between Argento and a friend tell a very different story ... she flat-out says she had sex with him.

Discussion: Hot Air, smokeroom.com, The Western Journal, Vox, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, The Daily Beast, Breitbart, Sputnik International, New York Times and Mediaite

Tom DiChristopher / CNBC:

Saudi Arabia reportedly calls off Aramco IPO and disbands advisers — The initial public offering was expected to be the largest ever and underpinned an ambitious plan to overhaul the Saudi economy. — Saudi Arabia has scrapped its plans to list shares of its state-owned energy giant Aramco on stock exchanges, Reuters reports.

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Saudi Arabia Seeks the Death Penalty for Female Activist

Discussion: Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, Hit & Run and Human Rights Watch

Christopher Hooks / GQ:

Beto O'Rourke vs. Ted Cruz and the Fight for America — Down in deep-red Texas, a fresh-faced liberal named Beto O'Rourke has a shot at beating Ted Cruz. But huge as that would be, the race has grander implications: It helps explain all the giddy hopes and secret fears of Democrats everywhere.