memeorandum: The new clues we have about where the Mueller investigation is going (Garrett M. Graff/Axios)

9:40 AM ET, November 30, 2018

Top Items:

The Trump Organization Planned To Give Vladimir Putin The $50 Million Penthouse In Trump Tower Moscow — President Donald Trump's company planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the company negotiated the luxury real estate development during …

Matt Lewis / The Daily Beast:

Conservatives, Prepare Yourself Now for What Mueller May Find — How we react in the aftermath of the special counsel's findings will determine the future of the Republican Party and, possibly, the country. — Matt Lewis — Things are speeding up in Robert Mueller's universe.

Discussion: Raw Story

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“Trump Was Totally Caught Off Guard by the Cohen Plea”: Inside Trumpworld, Some Fear Mueller Has Laid a Perjury Trap — Rudy Giuliani is frustrated at Mueller's tactics. The White House is in a defensive crouch. “It's an untethered situation,” a person close to the president said.

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite and ThinkProgress

Hunter Walker / Yahoo News:

Mueller eyes Ivanka and Don Jr.'s work on Trump Tower Moscow — WASHINGTON - Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into President Donald Trump's efforts to build a skyscraper in Moscow has led him to ask questions about the role two of the president's children played in attempting …

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Politico, New York Times, Just Security, POLITICUSUSA, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, VICE News, Lawfare, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, Boing Boing, Vox and BuzzFeed News

Washington Post:

‘Individual 1’: Trump emerges as a central subject of Mueller probe — In two major developments this week, President Trump has been labeled in the parlance of criminal investigations as a major subject of interest, complete with an opaque legal code name: “Individual 1.”

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

Trump's inner circle has always been a cesspool — President Trump recently tweeted: “Did you ever see an investigation more in search of a crime?” — It is usually a bad idea to raise a rhetorical question when the answer is both obvious and unfavorable.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Federalist and Raw Story

Garrett M. Graff / Axios:

The new clues we have about where the Mueller investigation is going — Garrett M. Graff — author of a book focused on Mueller, and one of the investigation's best narrators — writes for Axios that we now have a host of new clues to Mueller coming attractions.

Discussion: ABC News

Emma Loop / BuzzFeed News:
House Intelligence Committee Will Investigate Trump Company's Plan To Give Putin A $50 Million Penthouse

Discussion: Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Trump talked up Russia during now-revealed secret Moscow project talks

Discussion: Mother Jones, New York Times, Lawfare and Mediaite

Politico:
‘The perfect witness’: Dems want Cohen to testify on the Hill

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and HuffPost

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic:
Donald Trump Gave Russia Leverage Over His Presidency

Discussion: Vox and Washington Post

Gabby Orr / Politico:
Mueller stalks Trump abroad — again

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, One America News Network, Political Wire, CNBC and Raw Story

David French / National Review:
Trump's Unacceptable Campaign Conduct and Two Other Takeaways from the Cohen Plea

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox and Viking Pundit

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Trump Is Compromised by Russia

Discussion: Daily Kos, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress, CNN and Mediaite

New York Times:
How a Lawyer, a Felon and a Russian General Chased a Moscow Trump Tower Deal

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Intercept, WTOP, Breitbart, Law & Crime, Hit & Run, Axios, Taylor Marsh and Splinter

Greg Farrell / Bloomberg: Cohen's Plea Suggests Russians Held ‘Kompromat’ on Trump

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
In Argentina, Trump keeps Mueller on his mind

Discussion: Washington Post and Axios

New York Times:
Trump's Recall of Moscow Deal Matches Cohen's, President's Lawyers Say

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

Discussion: CNN, Conservative News Today, Breitbart, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Little Green Footballs and Daily Kos

Chris Sommerfeldt / New York Daily News: Manafort lawyers fed confidential Mueller probe info to Trump's legal team, Giuliani says, raising criminal concerns

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:
The Legal Perils That Michael Cohen's Guilty Plea Poses for Donald Trump

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, Law & Crime, National Review, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Balloon Juice and The Intellectualist

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Canceling Planned Meeting With Russia's Putin Over Ukraine Situation

New York Times:

Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros — Sheryl Sandberg asked Facebook's communications staff to research George Soros's financial interests in the wake of his high-profile attacks on tech companies, according to three people with knowledge of her request …

Discussion: Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Gizmodo, Engadget, Politico, Boing Boing, Bloomberg, Washington Times, Mashable and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News:
Sheryl Sandberg Requested Research On Billionaire George Soros

Discussion: Jezebel and Financial Times

The State:

Scott to oppose Farr nomination to federal bench in NC, ending chances of confirmation — Sen. Tim Scott said Thursday he will oppose the nomination of Thomas Farr to the federal bench, assuring the controversial pick will not be confirmed. — The South Carolina Republican was the deciding vote …

Elana Schor / Politico:
Senate Republicans unload on Flake

Discussion: Vox, Shareblue Media and Raw Story

Marriott News Center:

Marriott Announces Starwood Guest Reservation Database Security Incident — Marriott has taken measures to investigate and address a data security incident involving the Starwood guest reservation database. On November 19, 2018, the investigation determined that there was unauthorized access …

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, NPR, Motherboard, Engadget, The Verge, CBS Pittsburgh, answers.kroll.com, Techaeris, WHDH-TV, VICE News and FOX 61, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Marriott Says Up to 500 Million Affected by Starwood Breach — Information in the breach includes names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers, and travel details — Marriott International Inc. said it has found a data breach in its Starwood guest reservation system …

Washington Post:

Certification in limbo in N.C. House race as fraud investigation continues — Mounting evidence of voter fraud in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District could indefinitely delay the certification of a winner, as state election officials investigate whether hundreds of absentee ballots were illegally cast or destroyed.

Discussion: HuffPost

Jim Morrill / The Charlotte Observer: ‘Tangled web’ in Bladen County has questions swirling about votes in the 9th District

Washington Post:

Trump scores political win with signing of new North American trade pact at G-20, but deal still faces a hurdle in Congress — BUENOS AIRES — President Trump celebrated a major political win Friday, joining the leaders of the Mexican and Canadian governments in signing a new North American trade deal …

Megan Cassella / Politico:
NAFTA 2.0 is signed — but it's far from finished

Discussion: One America News Network

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: Sacramento Bee, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Shareblue Media, IJR and Los Angeles Times

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
Paul Ryan isn't saying there was voter fraud in California. But . . .

Discussion: The Federalist, Townhall, Mercury News, IJR, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Press, HuffPost, Los Angeles Times and CNN

New York Times:

Louisiana School Made Headlines for Sending Black Kids to Elite Colleges. Here's the Reality. — T.M. Landry, a school in small-town Louisiana, has garnered national attention for vaulting its underprivileged black students to elite colleges. But the school cut corners and doctored college applications.

Discussion: Althouse

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:

On the Trump-Mood Beat — But Why? — “Let's start with the state of Donald Trump,” Fox News's Chris Wallace said at the outset of the president's latest on-camera interview, on Nov. 17, in the manner of a support-group facilitator pausing for a little check-in before an unpacking of recent events.

Richard Pollock / The Daily Caller:

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Raids Home Of Whistleblower On Clinton Foundation, Lawyer Says — The FBI raided the home of a whistleblower who was in possession of documents regarding the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One, according to the whistleblower's lawyer, Michael Socarras.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:

EXCLUSIVE: Google Employees Debated Burying Conservative Media In Search — Google employees debated whether to bury The Daily Caller and other conservative media outlets in the company's search function as a response to President Donald Trump's election — “Let's make sure …

Discussion: Louder With Crowder and RedState

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Federal Employees Are Warned Not to Discuss Trump ‘Resistance’ at Work — WASHINGTON — At workplaces across the United States, it is routine for Americans' conversations to turn to President Trump — whether his policies are good, whether he should be impeached, what to think about the “resistance.”

Discussion: Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

Christina Tudor / American Oversight:
New Guidance for Federal Employees' Political Activity Goes Too Far

Discussion: Washington Post

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

GOP governors call out Trump after midterm drubbing — SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Republican governors are warning President Donald Trump that he and the GOP need to make a sharp course correction after their midterm shellacking to avoid losing again in 2020. — While the president has hailed …

Discussion: Raw Story

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

House Democrats to unveil political reform legislation as ‘H.R. 1’ — House Democratic leaders are set to publicly unveil on Friday the outline of a broad political overhaul bill that will include provisions for public financing of elections, voting rights reforms and new ethics strictures for federal officials.