Top Items:
New York Times:
Matthew Whitaker: An Attack Dog With Ambition Beyond Protecting Trump — WASHINGTON — President Trump first noticed Matthew G. Whitaker on CNN in the summer of 2017 and liked what he saw — a partisan defender who insisted there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Discussion:
Politico, Hullabaloo, The Week, Hill Reporter, CNN, Wall Street Journal, NPR and Outside the Beltway
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Wall Street Journal:
FBI Is Investigating Florida Company Where Whitaker Was Advisory-Board Member — Active case is being handled by FBI Miami office; acting attorney general oversees FBI — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal investigation of a Florida company accused of scamming millions …
CNN:
Sessions realized too late that Whitaker was auditioning for his job — Washington (CNN)When things were particularly bad between President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general's chief of staff, Matt Whitaker, would attend White House meetings in his place.
Discussion:
emptywheel and Law & Crime
Mark Landler / New York Times:
Even for This President, It Was a Remarkable Week of Attacks on American Institutions — WASHINGTON — In the three days after the Democrats captured the House, President Trump fired his attorney general and replaced him with a loyalist critical of both the courts and the Russia investigation.
Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
Whitaker said he supports state's rights to nullify federal law — (CNN)Matthew Whitaker, the new acting attorney general, has said that states have the right to nullify federal law, but that they need the political courage to do so. — Whitaker, whom President Donald Trump announced …
Discussion:
Political Wire, Washington Post and Raw Story
Marisa Schultz / New York Post:
James Comey discussed sensitive FBI business on his private email … Fired FBI chief James Comey used his private Gmail account hundreds of times to conduct government business — and at least seven of those messages were deemed so sensitive by the Justice Department that they declined to release them.
Discussion:
Conservative News Today, twitchy.com and Political Wire
Cause of Action Institute:
FBI Records Show Former FBI Director James Comey's Use of Personal Email
FBI Records Show Former FBI Director James Comey's Use of Personal Email
Discussion:
Power Line and Instapundit
Bret Stephens / New York Times:
A Trump Hack Hacks Justice
A Trump Hack Hacks Justice
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politico, Lawfare and emptywheel, more at Mediagazer »
Washington Post:
There is no way this man should be running the Justice Department
There is no way this man should be running the Justice Department
Discussion:
Raw Story, Daily Kos and BloombergQuint
Jon Swaine / The Guardian:
Trump's acting attorney general involved in firm that scammed veterans out of life savings
Murray Waas / Vox:
Exclusive: Trump loyalist Matthew Whitaker was counseling the White House on investigating Clinton
Exclusive: Trump loyalist Matthew Whitaker was counseling the White House on investigating Clinton
Discussion:
Washington Post, Raw Story, Observer, Washington Monthly, BloombergQuint, Hudson County View, The Week, Hullabaloo and Salon
Washington Post:
For Democrats, a midterm election that keeps on giving — In the early hours of election night on Tuesday, a consensus began to take hold that the vaunted Democratic blue wave that had been talked about all year was failing to materialize. Now, with a handful of races still to be called …
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Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Sinema expands lead in Arizona Senate race — Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema expanded her lead to 20,203 votes over GOP Rep. Martha McSally Friday evening as Arizona election authorities continued to count ballots in the state's uncalled Senate race. — Sinema's lead amounts …
Discussion:
Arizona Republic, Joe.My.God. and CNN
Arizona Republic:
Kyrsten Sinema's lead over Martha McSally widens in roller-coaster U.S. Senate race to replace Jeff Flake
Kyrsten Sinema's lead over Martha McSally widens in roller-coaster U.S. Senate race to replace Jeff Flake
Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:
Nothing unusual about vote count in Arizona dragging on
Chris Mills Rodrigo / The Hill:
Sinema widens lead over McSally in Arizona Senate race
Sinema widens lead over McSally in Arizona Senate race
Discussion:
Joe.My.God. and Political Wire
Alex Harris / miamiherald:
Whoops! Brenda Snipes' office mixed bad provisional ballots with good ones — Broward's elections supervisor accidentally mixed more than a dozen rejected ballots with nearly 200 valid ones, a circumstance that is unlikely to help Brenda Snipes push back against Republican allegations of incompetence.
Discussion:
The Capitolist, Chicks On The Right, TheBlaze and twitchy.com
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Lulu Ramadan / Palm Beach Post:
Palm Beach elections supervisor bans cameras from public ballot-counting — An NBC attorney objected to the elections supervisor's camera ban, calling the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board meeting “illegal.” — RIVIERA BEACH — Breaking from normal practice, the Palm Beach County elections …
Discussion:
Townhall, Conservative News Today, twitchy.com and The Gateway Pundit
Washington Post:
Tape of Khashoggi's killing has been given to U.S., Saudi, Europeans, Erdogan says — ANKARA — An audio recording tracking the dying moments of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul has been shared with Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany in addition to the United States …
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Lucy Middleton / Metro.co.uk:
Twitter ‘gave Saudi Arabia information about journalist who ended up dead’
Twitter ‘gave Saudi Arabia information about journalist who ended up dead’
Discussion:
Jihad Watch
Los Angeles Times:
GOP Rep. Denham falls behind Democrat as 3 other Republicans lose ground in Friday's ballot tally — Republican Rep. Jeff Denham lost his lead over Democrat Josh Harder on Friday in one of California's four unresolved congressional races as updated ballot counts showed the GOP in growing danger …
Jerry Iannelli / Miami New Times:
Photos Show Scores of Uncounted Ballots in Opa-locka Mail Center … Miami-Dade County announced today that it has finished counting votes for the 2018 election. — But photos obtained by New Times show scores of mail-in ballots sitting inside an Opa-locka mail distribution center …
Discussion:
Political Wire, twitchy.com, Raw Story and Conservative News Today
New York Times:
Deployed Inside the United States: The Military Waits for the Migrant Caravan — With little electricity, no combat pay and holidays away from home, the 5,600 American troops on the southwest border are on a mission ordered by a politically determined commander in chief and a Pentagon unable to convince him of its perils.
Christopher Hooks / The Atlantic:
What Beto Won — They said it couldn't be done and, in the end, they were right. Texas had been a one-party state for years. It's true that the state's motley, virtually nonexistent opposition party, hardly worthy of the same name as its national counterpart, had put up strong showings …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Politico:
Truce in Paris after Trump's offense at Macron's EU army pledge — PARIS — It was an awkward truce to avert a Twitter war, a day before the big Armistice Day commemoration in Paris. — French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump, meeting at the Élysée Palace …
Discussion:
Politico, Bloomberg and Spectator USA
Leah Willingham / Concord Monitor:
Girl Scout who pioneered child marriage bill elected to N.H. House … Cassie Levesque feels like she is part of a movement. — A movement where young people in New Hampshire - in particular women - are getting their voices heard in politics. — Levesque, known for her efforts to increase …
Adeel Hassan / New York Times:
17 Black Women Sweep to Judgeships in Texas County — The photo was unforgettable: 19 black women, all dressed in black, gathered in a mock courtroom in Thurgood Marshall School of Law. All of them were running for judgeships in November. — On Tuesday, 17 of them won their races …