memeorandum: Woodward book prompts West Wing witch hunt, sources say (Jeff Zeleny/CNN)

5:10 PM ET, September 5, 2018

Top Items:

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration — We work for the president but we have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. … President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader. — It's not just that the special counsel looms large.

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Josh Rogin / Washington Post:

The White House is discussing potential replacements for Jim Mattis — Well before this week's revelations about President Trump's interactions with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Bob Woodward's new book, officials inside the White House have been actively discussing who will replace Mattis …

Discussion: Raw Story, Task & Purpose, IJR, Just Security, MSNBC, Washington Free Beacon, New York Times, ABC News, HuffPost, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, The Hill, Washington Examiner and The Guardian

Jeff Zeleny / CNN:

Woodward book prompts West Wing witch hunt, sources say — Sanders discredits Woodward book on Trump — (CNN)President Donald Trump, showing his outrage over Bob Woodward's explosive new book, is ordering a real witch hunt in the West Wing and throughout his administration …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CBS Baltimore, Balloon Juice, Political Wire, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon, The Moderate Voice, Washington Post and The Daily Caller

Axios:

Furious Trump trapped by hundreds of Woodward tapes — President Trump is livid at the betrayal and stunning allegations in Bob Woodward's forthcoming “Fear,” but limited in his ability to fight back because most of the interviews were caught on hundreds of hours of tape, officials tell Axios.

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

The 2 most overlooked, inexplicable stories from Bob Woodward's Trump book — President Trump's denials of the stories in Bob Woodward's new book on Wednesday turned to tacit admission: Trump may be an unwieldy boss, he seemed to admit, but that's part of why Americans elected him.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Breitbart and Bloomberg

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:

Trump's Attack on Woodward's Book Hits a Bump: He Actually Did Call Jeff Sessions a ‘Retard’ — It's shocking, we know, that this president would say such a thing. — Donald Trump has forcefully insisted that the latest book detailing the chaos, tensions, and name-calling at the heart …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard and IJR

Dwight Garner / New York Times: In ‘Fear,’ Bob Woodward Pulls Back the Curtain on President Trump's ‘Crazytown’

Emily Birnbaum / The Hill:
Bernstein calls on Kelly to resign following Woodward book

Discussion: ABC News, Shareblue Media, Axios, Investor's Business Daily, Breitbart, Politico, Hot Air, Hollywood Life, Hit & Run, CNNMoney and POLITICUSUSA

Natasha Bertrand / The Atlantic:
Woodward's Account of Trump's Mock Interview with Prosecutors Isn't Pretty

Discussion: Vox, CNN and NPR

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Kim Kardashian West is back at the White House to discuss clemency

Discussion: Axios, ABC News and Entertainment Tonight

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“Everybody on the Inside Knows It's True”: Woodward's Reality Bomb Is Blowing Up the West Wing

Discussion: AOL, Washington Post, USA Today and Raw Story

Mike Allen / Axios:
Axios AM

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Jerome Corsi, Conspiracy Theorist, Is Subpoenaed in Mueller Investigation — Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist and political commentator with connections to the former Trump adviser Roger J. Stone Jr., has been subpoenaed to testify on Friday before the grand jury in the special counsel investigation …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed News, New York Daily News, emptywheel, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, Raw Story, Right Wing Watch and Law & Crime

Tom Winter / NBC News: Mueller subpoenas Jerome Corsi, birther and ex-Alex Jones associate

The Daily Caller:

Full Transcript Of Trump's Oval Office Interview With The Daily Caller — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sat for an exclusive Oval Office interview Tuesday with The Daily Caller's Saagar Enjeti and Vince Coglianese for approximately 38 minutes. — The transcript is as follows:

Discussion: CNN, IJR, Raw Story, Front Page Magazine, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Trump's comments after not attacking Nike raise even more questions

Discussion: CNBC, HuffPost and Breitbart

Adam Davidson / New Yorker:
Where Will the Trump Investigations Go Next?

Discussion: Raw Story

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

Leahy Trips Kavanaugh Up With Questions About Allegedly Stolen Emails — At Wednesday's Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) threw Brett Kavanaugh off his flow of so far providing steady and confident answers to senators' questions with a line of inquiry about allegations …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC News:
Parkland victim's father and Kavanaugh: The handshake that wasn't

Discussion: National Review, New York Times and TheBlaze

Amanda Terkel / HuffPost:
Progressives Turn Their Anger On Chuck Schumer Over Brett Kavanaugh Hearing

Discussion: Daily Wire

Irin Carmon / The Cut:
What Did Brett Kavanaugh Know About His Former Boss's Sexual Misconduct?

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Above the Law and Mother Jones

Matthew Continetti / The Daily Beast:
The 40-Year Plan That Allowed Trump to Reshape the Courts

Discussion: Politico, Breitbart and Axios

Elizabeth Price Foley / The Hill:
Dems can't ‘Bork’ Kavanaugh, and have only themselves to blame

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, The New Neo, Breitbart, IJR, JONATHAN TURLEY, Power Line, NTK Network and Axios

sandiegouniontribune.com:

Hunter indictment sheds light on ‘personal relationships’ for congressman — Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret Hunter were arraigned on charges related to a 60-count indictment filed this week in San Diego. — The criminal indictment issued against Rep. Duncan Hunter …

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

Griffin Connolly / Roll Call:

Duncan Hunter's ‘Personal Relationships’ Get New Attention in Indictment — Rep. Duncan Hunter once called Washington whispers that he had engaged in multiple extramarital affairs “tabloid trash.” — But the California Republican — who, along with his wife, Margaret …

Discussion: HuffPost, Outside the Beltway, ABC News, Weekly Standard and Wall Street Journal

John Parkinson / ABC News:
House speaker dismisses Trump's criticisms over indictments against Republicans

Discussion: Weekly Standard, USA Today, Washington Post and Politico

Harry Enten / CNN:

Trump's approval rating drop looks real, and it could be a disaster for the GOP in 2018 — (CNN)A new ABC News/Washington Post poll puts President Donald Trump's approval rating at just 36%. An IBD/TIPP poll also puts the President's approval rating at 36%.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Post and CNBC

Susannah Luthi / Modern Healthcare:

MENU — FORT WORTH, TEXAS—A federal judge today seemed skeptical of arguments that the Affordable Care Act can stand without an effective penalty for the individual mandate. — In a half-full Texas courtroom, Democratic states attorneys general Wednesday tried to pursuade U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

Ashley Kirzinger / The Henry J. Kaiser Family …:
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll - Late Summer 2018: The Election, Pre-Existing Conditions, and Surprises on Medical Bills

Discussion: BloombergQuint, Associated Press, Mother Jones, Washington Post, CNN, HuffPost and STAT

C-SPAN.org:

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Testifies on Content Monitoring — Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about his company's algorithm and content monitoring practices.

Discussion: CNN, RedState and twitchy.com

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Twitter's Dorsey takes heat on bias allegations: Key moments from tech hearings

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, USA Today, Reuters, CNBC, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and The Daily Beast, more at Techmeme »

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:
Justice to convene meeting on whether social media companies are ‘intentionally stifling’ free speech

Discussion: Politico

KDFW:

Man arrested after crashing truck into FOX4 building in downtown Dallas — Image Gallery — A man was arrested Wednesday morning after crashing a truck into the side of the FOX4 building in downtown Dallas. — The man, after repeatedly crashing his vehicle into a side of the building …

Travis Fedschun / Fox News:
Man intentionally crashes truck into FOX 4 studios in Dallas, starts ‘ranting’ before arrest, officials say

Discussion: NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, PJ Media Home, illegal immigration …, Breitbart, Front Page Magazine and The Daily Caller

Loyd Brumfield / Dallas Morning News:
Pickup driver ranting about treason crashes into Fox 4 building in Dallas

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Politico

Lyz Lenz / Columbia Journalism Review:

The mystery of Tucker Carlson — Tucker Carlson is shouting when he tells me he isn't shouting. The barrage of his voice has been relentless throughout the interview. — “I don't want to be John McLaughlin yelling at people. Why would I want to do that? I don't need to do that,” he insists.

Rosie Gray / The Atlantic:
A Daily Caller Editor Wrote for an ‘Alt-Right’ Website Using a Pseudonym

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Right Wing Watch, Splinter, American Greatness and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:

Rubio to Alex Jones: 'Don't touch me, man' — (R-Fla.) and InfoWars host Alex Jones clashed Wednesday outside a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, with Rubio threatening to take care of Jones after the Infowars host touched his shoulder. — For nearly five minutes as Rubio answered questions …

Discussion: Mashable and Florida Politics

Emily Stewart / Vox:
Watch: Alex Jones and Marco Rubio nearly come to blows in the Senate hallway

Discussion: USA Today, ThinkProgress and Politico

Gregg Kilday / Hollywood Reporter:

Michael Moore Plays His Trump Card: A New Movie, Modern Fascism and a 2020 Prediction — He's America's most successful documentarian and one of the few on the left who predicted the 2016 election upset. Now, as Moore readies his anticipated polemic ‘Fahrenheit 11/9’ for its Toronto film festival debut …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Full Feed, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Times

Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Gives $10 Million to Super PAC in First Major Political Contribution — Bezos and wife are supporting With Honor, a super PAC aiming to elect military veterans from both parties to Congress — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife are making their first major foray …

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Caller, IJR, Washington Times, Political Wire and Axios

GOV.UK:

PM statement on the Salisbury investigation: 5 September 2018 — Prime Minister Theresa May's statement to Parliament about the Salisbury incident, made on 5 September 2018 after PMQs. … Delivered on: — Prime Minister Theresa May: — With permission, Mr Speaker …

Discussion: BloombergQuint