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8:50 AM ET, August 23, 2018

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 Top Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
Why Michael Cohen Agreed to Plead Guilty—And Implicate the President  —  Prosecutors had reams of evidence and a long list of counts, which also could have included the lawyer's wife  —  Michael Cohen had many reasons to play ball last weekend when his legal team sat down to talk to federal prosecutors.
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New York Times:
‘How Did We End Up Here?’  Trump Wonders as the White House Soldiers On  —  In the hours after two of President Trump's former advisers delivered his administration potentially grave legal setbacks, the mood inside the White House was grim, a return to a trench-warfare mentality borne out of muscle memory.
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Exclusive: Michael Cohen told Congress he doesn't know if Trump knew about Russia meeting  —  Michael Cohen told lawmakers last year, in sworn testimony, that he didn't know whether then-candidate Donald Trump had foreknowledge of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians, three sources with knowledge of Cohen's testimony tell Axios.
Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story
Christina Wilkie / CNBC:
Michael Cohen paid a mysterious tech company $50,000 ‘in connection with’ Trump's campaign  — President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, made a previously unreported payment of $50,000 to a tech company in connection with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Not just misleading.  Not merely false.  A lie.  —  The first denial that Donald Trump knew about hush-money payments to silence women came four days before he was elected president, when his spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, without hedging, “we have no knowledge of any of this.”
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
Lanny Davis: Michael Cohen Never Went To Prague As Steele Dossier Claims  — Michael Cohen's lawyer dropped a bombshell on Wednesday, saying that Cohen has not been to Prague  — The Steele dossier alleges that Cohen traveled to Prague during the campaign to collude with Russians
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump Tries to Deny His Crime With Cohen, Confesses by Mistake
Michael Burke / The Hill:
Cohen's lawyer on Trump Tower meeting: Cohen was ‘present at a discussion with’ Trump and Trump Jr.
Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Washington Post
Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
Trump campaign, tabloid publisher hatched plan to bury damaging stories, Cohen prosecutors allege
Rick Klein / ABC News:
The Note: Words matter, even in the age of Trump
Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Politico
Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
After fast turn against Trump, Michael Cohen threatens to leverage secrets against the president
Fox News:
Manafort juror reveals lone holdout prevented Mueller team from convicting on all counts  —  NORTHERN VIRGINIA - Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team was one holdout juror away from convicting Paul Manafort on all 18 counts of bank and tax fraud, juror Paula Duncan told Fox News in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
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Tal Axelrod / The Hill:
Manafort juror: One juror prevented jury from convicting Manafort on all 18 counts  —  A juror who sat on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort  —  's case said on Fox News Wednesday night that only one juror prevented a ruling on all 18 counts against Manafort
Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:
Lone holdout on Manafort jury blocked conviction on all counts, juror says  —  A juror in the trial of Paul Manafort said Wednesday that all but one of the jurors wanted to convict President Trump's former campaign chairman on every charge he faced — though she criticized special counsel prosecutors …
Discussion: Political Wire, The Week and Fox News
Ken Dilanian / NBC News:
The nightmare is just beginning for Paul Manafort  —  Analysis: The next trial for Trump's former campaign chair will have more evidence, a longer possible sentence, and a less sympathetic judge.  —  WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort woke up Wednesday in a jail cell, just as he has each morning since …
Eric Beech / Reuters:
Trump says he's considering pardon for Manafort: Fox News reporter
Discussion: Political Wire
Caleb Howe / Mediaite:   MSNBC Trounces Fox News in Ratings on Manafort-Cohen Day, Knocking Hannity to Third
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
As Bad News Piles Up, Republicans Hardly Flinch  —  WASHINGTON — For those wondering if the latest disclosures from the Trump legal file are finally weighty enough to cause top congressional Republicans to break from the president, the answer is no.  —  Twenty-four hours after President Trump …
RELATED:
Politico:
With House majority at stake, Dems don't want to talk about impeaching Trump
Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Contemptor
Daniel McCarthy / Test Feed Using Fields:
Let the American People Decide Donald Trump's Fate
Discussion: American Greatness
Jason Clayworth / Des Moines Register:
Lawyer: Suspect in Mollie Tibbetts' slaying worked in Iowa legally.  Not true, says employer  —  Defense lawyer accuses ‘sad and sorry Trump’ of poisoning potential jurors  —  A court document filed Wednesday morning states that the man accused of killing Mollie Tibbetts was working legally in Iowa …
RELATED:
Katie Mettler / Washington Post:
Mollie Tibbetts's suspected killer, in the U.S. illegally, told investigators about her final moments
Taylor Telford / Washington Post:
‘Stop being a ... snake’: Distant cousin of Mollie Tibbetts tells partisans not to politicize her death
Discussion: CNN and The Root
Erica L. Green / New York Times:
Betsy DeVos Is Said to Weigh Letting School Districts Use Federal Funds to Buy Guns  —  WASHINGTON — Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, is considering whether to allow states to use federal funding intended to increase academic and enrichment opportunities in the country's poorest schools …
Dana Blanton / Fox News:
Fox News Poll: Democrats maintain lead in race for House  —  Democrats are in a strong position for the midterms, according to the latest Fox News poll.  —  Several findings point to the potential for a blue map in November:  — President Trump's job rating remains underwater.
Discussion: Political Wire and POLITICUSUSA
RELATED:
Carrie Dann / NBC News:
Poll: Democrat O'Rourke trails Ted Cruz by just 4 percentage points in Texas  —  O'Rourke has 45 percent support among registered voters compared with Cruz's 49 percent; Abbott leads governor's contest by 19.  —  WASHINGTON — As Texas Democrats attempt to win a major statewide contest …
Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:
Trump called this White House defender ‘wonderful.’ He was fired from his previous job for alleged sexual harassment.  —  A conservative commentator who was lauded by President Trump this week as “wonderful” and who has argued that past sexual indiscretions should have no bearing on Trump's presidency …
RealClearInvestigations:
Despite Comey Assurances, Vast Bulk of Weiner Laptop Emails Were Never Examined  —  When then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was closing the Hillary Clinton email investigation for a second time just days before the 2016 election, he certified to Congress that his agency had …
Politico:
China slaps back at latest United States tariffs in trade war escalation  —  This story is being published for Pros as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post.  It originally appeared on scmp.com on Aug. 23, 2018.  —  China slapped 25 percent tariffs …
RELATED:
Reuters:
U.S.-China trade war escalates as new tariffs kick in
Politico:
‘A new cherry put on top’: Trump scandal fallout hangs over midterms  —  'Payoffs and porn stars and affairs and indictments and all this stuff doesn't Make America Great Again in the suburbs,' said one Republican consultant.  —  As both parties seek to make sense of the fallout …
Discussion: Raw Story
RELATED:
John Sides / Washington Post:
A new poll shows 5 big challenges facing the Republicans in November
Discussion: Political Wire and FiveThirtyEight
Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
Trump tweets the word ‘Africa’ for first time as president — in defense of whites in South Africa  —  President Trump on Wednesday night said he was directing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures,” as well as the “killing of farmers.”
Discussion: New York Times, Vox, ABC News, CNN and Althouse
 
 
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 More Items: 
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Teens are worried they're spending too much time on their phones
Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Trump-friendly think tank struggles to weed out racism from its ranks
Lucia Suarez Sang / Fox News:
Illegal immigrant who committed multiple rapes after 2012 ICE detainer not enforced gets 80 years in prison
Associated Press:
As electricity fails, desperate Venezuelans buy spoiled meat
Donald Trump / NATOSource:
Trump Confirms He Threatened to Withdraw from NATO
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Duncan Hunter's Indictment in California Opens the Door for a Long-Shot Challenger
 Earlier Items: 
Bradley Smith / Washington Post:
Those payments to mistresses were unseemly. That doesn't mean they were illegal.
John Ziegler / Mediaite:
The Top 10 Reasons Why Most Trump Supporters Will Never Care About the Russia Investigation
Libby Watson / Splinter:
American Healthcare Spending Is Fucking Mental
Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
Kimberly Guilfoyle was once half of a liberal power couple. Now she's basically a Trump.
Discussion: East Bay Times
Shirley Halperin / Variety:
Steven Tyler Demands Trump Stop Playing Aerosmith Songs at Rallies
 

 
From Techmeme:

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads is testing custom feeds for certain profiles or topics; the Threads' version seems easier to use than Bluesky's custom feeds

Financial Times:
Sources: xAI raised $5B at a $45B valuation, almost double its valuation a few months ago; SpaceX prepares a tender offer that would value the company at $250B+

Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg:
One year after Sam Altman was dramatically ousted and reinstated, OpenAI remains dominant as it continues to push ahead on impressive new products
 
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