memeorandum: Trump is failing to counter China's diplomatic assault on Taiwan (Josh Rogin/Washington Post)

9:40 PM ET, September 6, 2018

Top Items:

White House officials flagged Trump's behavior to psychiatrist last year — White House officials reached out to a noted Yale University psychiatrist last fall out of concern over President Trump's increasingly erratic behavior. — Dr. Bandy Lee, who edited the best-selling book …

Discussion: Political Wire

The Daily Beast:

‘We See Ourselves as Rebels’: Trump's Internal Resistance Celebrates — There were smiles—and fear that a blockbuster New York Times op-ed could backfire on those inside the bureaucracy trying to blunt the President. — Either Wednesday's explosive New York Times op-ed becomes the start of a bigger …

Discussion: CBS News, CNN and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

We are a superpower run by a simpleton — One of the major problems with President Trump's impulsivity is its utter predictability. — A recent op-ed in the New York Times by an anonymous administration official accused the president of impetuous, reckless rants, and Trump responded with impetuous, reckless rants ("TREASON?").

Discussion: CNN, New York Times and Media Matters for America

Manu Raju / CNN:

Elizabeth Warren: Time to use 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office — (CNN)Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, seizing on an explosive op-ed from an anonymous administration official, said Thursday that it's time to use constitutional powers to remove President Donald Trump office if top officials don't think he can do the job.

Discussion: Breitbart, AOL, HuffPost, Washington Times, CBS San Francisco, The Hill, Raw Story, CBS Miami and Jamie Dupree - AJC

Politico:

White House aides turn on each other in hunt for op-ed author — The president headed out West for a campaign swing, leaving behind a West Wing seized by paranoia and finger-pointing. — President Donald Trump put physical distance between himself and the mutiny he faces in Washington …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Washington Post and Big Think

Tal Axelrod / The Hill:
Warren calls for 25th Amendment to be invoked against Trump

Discussion: CNN, Bloomberg, Fox News, Axios, Washington Post and Breitbart

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:
Who Is a Senior Administration Official? It Depends

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Raw Story and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
‘A never-ending cycle’: Some aides work to slow-walk or ignore Trump's directives

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press, Task & Purpose and HuffPost

Axios:
Exclusive: Trump's nightmare: “The snakes are everywhere”

NBC News:
It wasn't me. List of senior officials who deny writing the NY Times op-ed.

Discussion: Religion News Service, Raw Story, AOL, News One and MSNBC

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
I am the real Resistance, the Resistance within the Trump administration

Discussion: CNN, Politico, CNBC and National Review

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Leaked Documents From Kavanaugh's Time in White House Discuss Abortion and Affirmative Action — WASHINGTON — As a White House lawyer in the Bush administration, Judge Brett Kavanaugh challenged the accuracy of deeming the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to be …

HuffPost:

Here's Another Brett Kavanaugh Email Republicans Didn't Want You To See — Kavanaugh and his bros were planning a sailing weekend. — A major issue in Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings is Democratic anger over the limited release of documents related to his time working for President George W. Bush.

Discussion: twitchy.com

Jenavieve Hatch / HuffPost:

Brett Kavanaugh Refers To Birth Control As ‘Abortion-Inducing Drugs’ At Confirmation Hearing — Trump's Supreme Court nominee defended his support of Priests for Life on the third day of his hearing. — On the third day of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing …

Discussion: Salon, POLITICUSUSA, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Shareblue Media and Bustle

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Marc Kasowitz denies Kavanaugh ever spoke to anyone at his firm about Mueller probe, contradicting Kamala Harris claim — “There have been no discussions regarding Robert Mueller's investigation between Judge Kavanaugh and anyone at our firm,” a spokesman for Marc Kasowitz said in a statement first provided to CNBC on Thursday.

Discussion: Daily Wire

Stephanie Ebbs / ABC News:
Sen. Cory Booker releases ‘confidential’ Kavanaugh emails in combative Supreme Court confirmation hearing

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, Business Insider, Breitbart, Politico, Patterico's Pontifications and Axios

Eric Bradner / CNN:
Trump visits Montana to boost Democratic Sen. Jon Tester's GOP challenger

Discussion: Raw Story and CBS Chicago

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
Kavanaugh hearing: Nominee declines to condemn Trump's attacks on judiciary

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, HuffPost, NorthJersey.com, CNN, Roll Call, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, AOL, Townhall, RedState, Washington Free Beacon, Louder With Crowder, Common Dreams, The Root, Mediaite, Law & Crime, The Mahablog and Daily Kos

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
There's Now A Big Dumb Fight Over How Dems Released Kavanaugh Docs

Discussion: Daily Wire, New York Times, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, Washington Post, Washington Monthly and twitchy.com

The Daily Beast:

Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars — A video of him berating a CNN reporter with ‘the eyes of a rat’ was the final violation after a series of them by Infowars and its founder. — Twitter banned Infowars and its founder, the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, following months of public pressure to do so.

Discussion: Politico, twitchy.com, Breitbart, Media Matters for America, Engadget and Rantt, more at Techmeme »

Donie O'Sullivan / CNNMoney:

Twitter bans Alex Jones and InfoWars — Why Facebook, YouTube and Apple are removing InfoWars content — Twitter banned far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his website InfoWars from its platform Thursday afternoon, a month after several of its Silicon Valley counterparts did so.

Discussion: USA Today, RedState, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Mother Jones, New York Times, National Review, ThinkProgress, New Republic, NPR, FOX News Radio, The Gateway Pundit and Deadline

BuzzFeed:

After Multiple Provocations, Twitter Bans Alex Jones And Infowars — “We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts' previous violations.” — After weeks of equivocation …

Discussion: Vox, Engadget, Refinery29 and Vanity Fair, more at Mediagazer »

Sara Salinas / CNBC:
Twitter permanently bans Alex Jones and Infowars accounts

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Atlantic, Daily Wire, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, Mashable, Mediaite and Media Matters for America

Mattathias Schwartz / New Yorker:
Facebook and Twitter's Rehearsed Dance on Capitol Hill

Discussion: Fast Company, BloombergQuint and Investor's Business Daily, more at Techmeme »

Jonathan Lemire / Associated Press:

Giuliani to AP: Trump will not answer obstruction questions — NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump will not answer federal investigators' questions, in writing or in person, about whether he tried to block the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Raw Story and Splinter

NBC News:
Giuliani says Trump will not answer Mueller's obstruction questions

Discussion: RedState and The Gateway Pundit

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite: Scoop: George Papadopoulos Spills on Mueller Cooperation in First TV Interview With Jake Tapper

Jon Swaine / The Guardian:

Revealed: Trump inauguration crowd photos were edited after he intervened — Exclusive: documents released to Guardian reveal government photographer cropped space ‘where crowd ended’ — A government photographer edited official pictures of Donald Trump's inauguration …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Bustle, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA, Shareblue Media, Raw Story, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:

Prosecutors use grand jury as investigation of Andrew McCabe intensifies — Federal prosecutors have for months been using a grand jury to investigate former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe — an indication that the probe into whether he misled officials exploring his role …

Discussion: Instapundit, The Gateway Pundit and The Last Refuge

Carrie Johnson / NPR: Grand Jury Looking Into Case Of Ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Frustration and Finger-Pointing as a House Pact Over Hacked Materials Fizzles — WASHINGTON — Casting blame across the aisle, House Republicans withdrew on Thursday from negotiations with Democrats over a pact that would have effectively barred both parties from using hacked or stolen material on the campaign trail this fall.

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Live From the Battleground Districts: Polls of the Key Races for House Control — In a first, the Upshot and Siena College will publish polling results in real time. — Over the next two months, The New York Times will talk to more voters than ever before.

New York Times: Polling the 2018 Midterm Elections in Real Time

Mark Murray / NBC News:

NBC/Marist poll: It's a neck-and-neck Senate race in Tennessee — Democrat Phil Bredesen gets support from 48 percent of likely voters, compared with 46 percent for Republican Marsha Blackburn. — WASHINGTON — Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Marsha Blackburn are running neck and neck …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Talking Points Memo

Yair Rosenberg / Tablet Magazine:

State Senate Candidate Julia Salazar Was Arrested in 2011 On Suspicion of Criminal Use of Personal Information — Julia Salazar, the Democratic Socialist candidate running for New York State Senate, was arrested in 2011 on allegations of fraudulently attempting to access the bank account of Kai Hernandez …

Discussion: RedState

Daily Mail:
NY Democratic Senate hopeful Julia Salazar was accused of having affair with Mets Keith Hernandez

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, Front Page Magazine, Gothamist and The Daily Caller

Washington Post:

Trump administration to circumvent court limits on detention of child migrants — The Trump administration said Thursday it is preparing to circumvent limits on the government's ability to hold minors in immigration jails by withdrawing from the Flores Settlement Agreement …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Monthly, NPR, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media, CBS San Francisco, Washington Free Beacon, RedState, Latino Rebels, Shakesville and Federal Register

Julia Ainsley / NBC News:
Trump admin plans to hold migrant kids indefinitely, upending decades-old ban

Discussion: News One, Common Dreams and Splinter

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Dead even: AJC/Channel 2 poll shows Georgia governor's race is tied — The race for Georgia governor couldn't be closer just two months before the election, as an Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News poll showed Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp deadlocked at 45 percent.

Discussion: Political Wire

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:

House Ethics Committee to investigate Reps. Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins — The House Ethics Committee voted Thursday to investigate Reps. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.) and Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), a move that comes after the lawmakers were indicted in separate cases within the past month.

Discussion: Politico and House Committee on Ethics

Alexis Levinson / BuzzFeed News:
Some House Campaigns Are Being Rocked By Corruption. But What Even Is Corruption In 2018?

Discussion: The Guardian, Law & Crime and Bustle

Barbara Starr / CNN:

Russia warns US of pending attack in Syrian area with US troops — Washington (CNN)Russia has warned the US military twice in the last week that its forces, along with Syrian regime units, are prepared to attack in an area where dozens of US troops are located, according to several US defense officials.

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:

Ex-CNN Trumpkin Star Scottie Nell Hughes Now Working for RT, the Kremlin's News Outlet — Once among the most prominent pro-Trump cable-news stars, Scottie Nell Hughes is now apparently working for RT, the Kremlin-backed propaganda outlet. — It appears Scottie Nell Hughes has a new job …

Discussion: Raw Story

Economist:

Donald Trump's approval ratings are pulled down by college-educated whites — His current numbers are only just above the low point of December 2017 — ANYONE wondering how long it takes Americans to digest the news that their president has been implicated in a conspiracy …

Discussion: Political Wire, Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune and Washington Post

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:

Trump is failing to counter China's diplomatic assault on Taiwan — The Chinese government is ramping up its worldwide effort to strip Taiwan of its international recognition, legitimacy and economic freedom, but the United States seems either unwilling or unable to confront Beijing.

Discussion: South China Morning Post and Breitbart