memeorandum: Ryan casts doubt on ‘bizarre’ California election results (Scott Wong/The Hill)

2:25 PM ET, November 29, 2018

Top Items:

Michael Cohen to Plead Guilty to Charge in Mueller Investigation — Michael D. Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, who pleaded guilty in August to breaking campaign finance laws, made a surprise appearance in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday morning to plead guilty to a new criminal charge …

Discussion: Townhall, CNN, Hit & Run, Taylor Marsh, TheBlaze, Hullabaloo, Axios, Law & Crime, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CNBC, POLITICUSUSA, twitchy.com, Splinter, Political Wire and Instapundit

George Stephanopoulos / ABC News:

Michael Cohen expected to plead guilty to lying to Congress in collusion probe; gave 70 hours of interviews to special counsel: Sources — Special counsel Robert Mueller has reached a tentative deal with Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney and long-time fixer for President Donald Trump, sources told ABC News.

Matthew Kahn / Lawfare:

Document: Michael Cohen Criminal Information in Mueller Probe — The Associate Press reports that on Thursday morning, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to making false statements to Congress related to his involvement in real estate deals in Russia on behalf of Donald Trump.

Discussion: Mediaite, Townhall, FiveThirtyEight, Talking Points Memo, Detroit News and The Daily Caller

Harry Litman / Washington Post:

The stunning implications of the Manafort-Trump pipeline — Harry Litman teaches constitutional law at the University of California at San Diego. He has served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and deputy assistant attorney general.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Booman Tribune, The Atlantic, Raw Story, Salon, New York Times, JONATHAN TURLEY, Politico and Washington Press

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
3 key takeaways from Michael Cohen's new plea deal

Discussion: Political Wire, Vox and Sara A. Carter

NBC News:
Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying about Trump Tower project in Moscow

Discussion: Washington Post and VICE News

CBS News:
Trump says Michael Cohen “is lying” and “trying to get a reduced sentence”

Discussion: Washington Press, The Gateway Pundit, CNN and CBS Boston

Washington Post:
Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Moscow project

Discussion: ABC News, New Republic, Shareblue Media, Politico, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, The Intellectualist, VICE News, Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Trump cancels meeting with Putin at G20 summit

Discussion: One America News Network

Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
Trump calls Cohen a ‘liar,’ says he did ‘nothing wrong’ in considering project in Moscow during 2016 campaign

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and Breitbart

MSNBC:

Key Mueller witness: I lied and I'm ready to die in jail — In a blockbuster interview, key Mueller witness and Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi admits to MSNBC's Ari Melber that he lied to Congress, that he tried to get stolen Clinton emails back to the Trump campaign in 2016, that he …

Discussion: New Republic

Popular Information:

The great unraveling — Welcome to a bonus edition of Popular Information, a newsletter with original research and fresh insight into the political news that matters most — written by me, Judd Legum. This is a bonus edition normally available only to paid subscribers.

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox and Just Security

Washington Post:

Trump's night-owl calls to Roger Stone in 2016 draw scrutiny in Mueller probe — The calls almost always came deep into the night. — Caller ID labeled them “unknown,” but Roger Stone said he knew to pick up quickly during those harried months of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Discussion: Law & Crime, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Beast, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Mediaite, Booman Tribune, HuffPost, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly and Politico

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
The Emerging Russia-WikiLeaks-Trump Connection

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post and Daily Wire

Wall Street Journal:
Manafort Lied About Business Dealings, Mueller's Team Believes

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, CNN, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Mediaite, National Review, Bloomberg, Political Wire, ABC News, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Hullabaloo, TheBlaze, ThinkProgress, HuffPost and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

Deutsche Bank Offices Are Searched in Money Laundering Investigation — One hundred seventy officers searched the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt and five other sites in the area early Thursday as part of a money-laundering investigation involving hundreds of millions of euros, prosecutors in Frankfurt said.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Shakesville, Common Dreams and NPR

Bloomberg:

Deutsche Bank Raided by Police in Money-Laundering Probe — 170 German officials involved in searches of bank offices — Probe stems from Panama Papers, not role in Danske laundering — German authorities descended on Deutsche Bank AG, including its downtown Frankfurt headquarters …

Discussion: Washington Post and The Guardian

BBC: Deutsche Bank headquarters raided over money laundering

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Mic has laid off the majority of its staff — The publisher is trying to sell the remainder of the company to Bustle Digital Group. — Mic is laying off the majority off its staff while the digital publisher works on a deal to sell the remainder of its assets to Bustle Digital Group.

Discussion: Splinter and Gothamist, more at Mediagazer »

Heather Caygle / Politico:

Pelosi shuts down critics in tense meeting — Nancy Pelosi was having none of it. — A trio of her fiercest Democratic critics — lawmakers trying to bar her from reclaiming the speaker's gavel — were trying to pin her down on exactly when she planned to relinquish power.

Discussion: Front Page Magazine, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Vox, Washington Free Beacon, The Root and Daily Wire

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Key Dem, in reversal, will back Pelosi

Discussion: Political Wire

Lenny Bernstein / Washington Post:

U.S. life expectancy declines again, a dismal trend not seen since World War I — Life expectancy in the United States declined again in 2017, the government said Thursday in a bleak series of reports that showed a nation still in the grip of escalating drug and suicide crises.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Gizmodo

New York Times:
‘The Numbers Are So Staggering.’ Overdose Deaths Set a Record Last Year.

Discussion: Associated Press, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, Mother Jones and Centers for Disease Control

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

Jeffrey Epstein's Horrific History of Sex Crimes — Making the click-through worthwhile: an abominable tale of the rich and powerful escaping serious consequence for years of horrific criminal behavior, with disturbing questions about what two presidents knew and when; Stormy Daniels trusts …

Discussion: Breitbart, Boing Boing, The American Conservative and FiveThirtyEight

Anita Kumar / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Trump labor secretary out of running for attorney general after Miami Herald report

Discussion: Mother Jones, Political Wire and Common Dreams

The Daily Beast:
Stormy Daniels: Michael Avenatti Sued Trump For Defamation Against My Wishes

Chicago Sun-Times:

Federal agents still inside Ald. Ed Burke's City Hall office after morning raid — Federal agents showed up unannounced at the City Hall office of Finance Committee Chairman Ed Burke, kicked everyone out and papered over the windows Thursday morning. — The nature of their visit was not known, but Ald.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, The Intellectualist and Political Wire

Scott Wong / The Hill:

Ryan casts doubt on ‘bizarre’ California election results — Weeks after House Republicans lost their majority, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday cast serious doubts about the “bizarre” election system in California, where it appears that seven GOP-held seats will flip to Democratic control.

Discussion: Shareblue Media and CNN

Washington Post:

How Donald Trump appeals to men secretly insecure about their manhood — From boasting about the size of his penis on national television to releasing records of his high testosterone levels, President Trump's rhetoric and behavior exude machismo. His behavior also seems to have struck a chord with some male voters.

Discussion: Raw Story

David Pierson / Los Angeles Times:

What is this meat hoodie and why is it following me around the internet? — The biggest complaint about advertising today is that it is creepily precise. Ads seem to know where we shop, what we like, and the exact color and size. Many live in a state of paranoia that our mobile devices …

Joe Sexton / ProPublica:

“I Don't Want to Shoot You, Brother” — A shocking story of police and lethal force. Just not the one you might expect. — A partnership with Frontline Dispatch. — PART I. — Nine Minutes in Weirton — THE DISPATCHER for the Weirton Police Department took the 911 call at 2:51 a.m. on May 6, 2016.

Discussion: Raw Story

abc7.com:

OC Southwest gate agent mocks 5-year-old girl's name, posts boarding pass on social media — A Southwest Airlines gate agent at John Wayne Airport is accused of being awful in front of a five-year old girl - and on social media - because of her unique name.

Discussion: New York Daily News, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Raw Story, Daily Wire and KFOR-TV

New York Post:

Trump slams special counsel after retweeting image of Rosenstein behind bars … WASHINGTON - It was no accident that President Trump Wednesday retweeted an image of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein locked up. — When asked during an interview with The Post: “Why do you think he belongs behind bars?”

Discussion: Shareblue Media, IJR, POLITICUSUSA, Shakesville, Politico, Patterico's Pontifications, The Hill, Raw Story, Breitbart, CNN, Washington Post, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Bjorn Lomborg / New York Post:

The media got it all wrong on the new US climate report … Activists tend to exaggerate the impacts of climate change while underestimating the costs of tackling it. The reception to the new US climate assessment was instructive. The report largely attempts to remain soberly scientific …

Nida Khan:

What The G20 Should Focus On: Right-Wing Nationalism — It's that time again; the gathering of world leaders for the G20 summit. This year's forum, held in Argentina on November 30th and December 1st, will focus on many things from the global economy, trade and transatlantic relations …

Associated Press:

AP Exclusive: Mormons support GOP, but Trump approval lags — WASHINGTON (AP) — About two-thirds of Mormon voters nationwide favored Republicans in the midterm elections, but President Donald Trump's approval rating among members of the faith lagged behind, according to a nationwide survey of midterm voters.

Erin Banco / The Daily Beast:

Team Trump Had Many Ties to Israeli Intel Firm in Mueller's Crosshairs — The company promised to use social media manipulation to get Trump elected. And several members of Trump's inner circle were very, very interested. — At least three members of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign staff reached …

Discussion: Raw Story

Alex Shephard / New Republic:

What Is Chuck Schumer Thinking? — When the 116th Congress begins in just over a month, President Donald Trump's dream of a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border will be all but dead. Massive gains in the midterm elections will give Democrats a sizable majority in the House of Representatives …

Discussion: Vox, New York Magazine, CNBC and IJR

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:

Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor Just Came Out Swinging Against Policing for Profit — Tyson Timbs just wants his car back. In 2015, Timbs was charged with selling heroin to undercover officers in Indiana to fund his opioid addiction. After he pleaded guilty, a private law firm filed …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Hot Air, NPR, Washington Free Beacon and Reason

Maggie Severns / Politico:

Super PACs were biggest spenders in 2018 midterms, report finds — Super PACs aligned with the two major political parties spent more in the 2018 midterms than the parties' congressional committees did, the first time that's happened in a midterm election cycle and a milestone that shows …

Phil McCausland / NBC News:

Veterans Affairs Dept. tells Capitol Hill it won't repay underpaid GI Bill benefits recipients — The news conflicts with a promise VA officials made to a House committee earlier this month that it would reimburse those veterans who received less than the full amount they were due.

Eliana Johnson / Politico:

U.N. ambassador hunt drags on as top candidate fades — The hunt for a new United Nations ambassador — a job for which State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert was once considered a lock but is now out of contention — has faced repeated delays and is running up against Nikki Haley's end-of-year departure date.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo