memeorandum: New Hampshire Democrats invite rising star Beto O'Rourke to the crucial presidential primary state (Brian Schwartz/CNBC)

4:00 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 …

New York Times:

Trump's Recall of Moscow Deal Matches Cohen's, President's Lawyers Say — President Trump's recollection of discussions about building a Trump Tower in Moscow aligned with those of his longtime fixer Michael D. Cohen, the president's lawyers said on Thursday after Mr. Cohen admitted in court …

Discussion: Axios, CNBC, Mediaite, ThinkProgress and Law & Crime

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, Detroit News, FiveThirtyEight, Talking Points Memo 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, Raw Story, Salon, New York Times, The Atlantic, JONATHAN TURLEY, Politico and Washington Press

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

Discussion: Political Wire, Sara A. Carter and Roll Call

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

Discussion: Washington Post and VICE News

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

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

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

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

Discussion: ABC News, Mother Jones, New Republic, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Balloon Juice, The Intellectualist, Raw Story, Breitbart, VICE News and Mediaite

Wall Street Journal:
Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress About Effort to Build Moscow Tower

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Amie Ferris-Rotman / Washington Post:
Kremlin says Trump, Putin have agreed to meet at G-20 summit on Saturday

Discussion: The Atlantic, Slate, Vox, Hot Air, The Daily Beast, CNN, Breitbart, BBC, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Axios

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 …

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox and Just Security

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
Is WikiLeaks a Russian Front?

Discussion: Axios, Common Dreams, Daily Wire and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Trump's night-owl calls to Roger Stone in 2016 draw scrutiny in Mueller probe

Discussion: The Intellectualist, The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, POLITICUSUSA, Politico, East Bay Times, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Mediaite, Booman Tribune and HuffPost

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

Discussion: Washington Post and The Guardian

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, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Vox, New York Times, Washington Free Beacon, The Root and Daily Wire

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

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: Washington Post, Associated Press, Washington Free Beacon, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, Mother Jones and Centers for Disease Control

Anita Kumar / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Trump labor secretary out of running for attorney general after Miami Herald report — WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta is out of the running to be President Donald Trump's attorney general following a Miami Herald report that he oversaw a sweetheart deal for a wealthy financier accused …

Discussion: Political Wire, Mother Jones and Common Dreams

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Jeffrey Epstein's Horrific History of Sex Crimes

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

Chicago Sun-Times:

Feds remain at Burke's City Hall office after raid; wrapping up at ward office — 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: The Hill, Raw Story, LifeZette, The Gateway Pundit, The Intellectualist, WGN-TV and Political Wire

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:

EXCLUSIVE: CNN Fires Marc Lamont Hill Following Israel Comments — CNN severed ties with contributor Marc Lamont Hill on Thursday, following comments the university professor made in a speech at the United Nations. — “Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN,” a CNN spokesperson told Mediaite.

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: New Republic, twitchy.com and Raw Story

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Tucker Carlson, neo-Nazi favorite — Research cited by BuzzFeed finds that Fox News host Tucker Carlson is the most favored commentator on Andrew Anglin's vile, racist website, the Daily Stormer. From BuzzFeed's Joseph Bernstein: … The analysis marks a vindication of Carlson's apparent …

Discussion: Splinter, Contemptor and BuzzFeed News, more at Mediagazer »

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 …

T.L. Stanley / Adweek:

Payless Opened a Fake Luxury Store, ‘Palessi,’ to See How Much People Would Pay for $20 Shoes — The answer? A hell of a lot — If you serve fast food on white tablecloths in a tony-looking restaurant, people sometimes think it's haute cuisine. (At the very least …

Discussion: KFOR-TV, The Root, Observer, WGN-TV and Boing Boing

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

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

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 …

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

New Hampshire Democrats invite rising star Beto O'Rourke to the crucial presidential primary state — Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who lost a surprisingly tight race against Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, has been invited to New Hampshire to speak with voters and meet experienced political operators in the key primary state.

Discussion: Washington Times

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: Shareblue Media and Raw Story

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.

Discussion: Axios

Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:

Google Shut Out Privacy and Security Teams From Secret China Project — The secrecy surrounding the work was unheard of at Google. It was not unusual for planned new products to be closely guarded ahead of launch. But this time was different. The objective, code-named Dragonfly …

Discussion: Big Think and Nextgov, more at Techmeme »