memeorandum: In France, les deplorables strike back (Anne-Elisabeth Moutet/New York Post)

12:25 PM ET, December 8, 2018

Top Items:

Mueller Is Telling Us: He's Got Trump on Collusion — The special counsel is connecting the dots and it doesn't paint a pretty picture for Trump. — For nearly two years, since the U.S. intelligence community released its report on the Russian campaign to assist Donald Trump in the 2016 election …

Discussion: Politico, POLITICUSUSA, One America News Network, The Guardian, Raw Story, Associated Press, Algemeiner.com, Mother Jones, ABC News and Observer

New York Times:

Is This the Beginning of the End for Trump? — Sentencing memos reveal damning evidence about collusion and campaign finance violations. — Mr. Berke is a lawyer specializing in white-collar criminal defense. Mr. Bookbinder is a former federal corruption prosecutor.

Discussion: Politico, Roll Call, Spectator USA, Common Dreams, TheBlaze, ThinkProgress, Salon, Lawyers, Guns & Money, ABC News, Washington Monthly, The Guardian, AOL, Fox News Insider and NPR

Garrett M. Graff / Wired:

The Mueller Investigation Nears the Worst Case Scenario — WE ARE DEEP into the worst case scenarios. But as new sentencing memos for Trump associates Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen make all too clear, the only remaining question is how bad does the actual worst case scenario get?

Discussion: The Week and Althouse

Mike Allen / Axios:

When Russia approached, Trump officials gladly obliged — The flashing siren in the “known knowns” of the Russia probe is how often people close to Vladimir Putin approached people close to Donald J. Trump — and how often they gladly connected. And then lied about it.

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart and The Daily Beast

Lawfare:

‘Totally Clears the President’? What Those Cohen and Manafort Filings Really Say — President Trump responded to today's filings from federal prosecutors in the cases of Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort with a Twitter cry of triumph: … Don't spend a lot of time looking through …

Discussion: NPR, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit, Balloon Juice, Mediaite and CNBC

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:

The latest filings show that nobody can save Trump now — At the end of the day Friday, we learned what federal prosecutors in New York think of Michael Cohen: … This is bad news for Cohen, but there's something else interesting in the filing: Prosecutors explicitly state that Cohen coordinated …

Discussion: The Week and Hot Air

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

A Home Run by Trump — In nominating William Barr for AG, the president could not have done better — In 2007, the Justice Department was in disarray. Though it was largely exaggerated, a controversy over the firing of some United States attorneys, the intrusion of politics …

Discussion: Variety, Washington Post and RealClearPolitics

Ken White / The Atlantic:

Manafort, Cohen, and Individual 1 Are in Grave Danger — Federal prosecutors filed three briefs late on Friday portending grave danger for three men: the former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, the former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, and President Donald Trump.

Discussion: USAPP

Elie Honig / CNN:

Mueller is putting the puzzle pieces together on Trump — Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor, is a CNN legal analyst and a Rutgers University scholar. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN. — (CNN)President Trump …

Discussion: KBZK

Just Security:

Mueller's Roadmap: Major Takeaways from Cohen and Manafort Filings — Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and from the Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed significant documents in the criminal cases of President Donald Trump's former personal attorney …

David French / National Review:

The Special Counsel's Cohen Sentencing Brief Is Ominous for Trump — Friday evening, the Special Counsel's Office and the Southern District of New York filed three key documents: two sentencing memos for former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and a sentencing memo for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Discussion: Associated Press, FOX6Now.com, Washington Press, Raw Story, Chicks On The Right and CNBC

Reuters: Trump says prosecutors have found no evidence of Russia collusion

The Daily Beast:
Michael Cohen Was Paid More Than $4 Million by Promising Access to Trump, Prosecutors Say

Discussion: Sputnik International, HuffPost and Law & Crime

Adam Rawnsley / The Daily Beast:
Mueller: Manafort Lied About Contacts With Trump Officials

Discussion: Axios

Mikhaila Fogel / Lawfare:
Document: Special Counsel's Office Files Submission in Support of Breach Determination in Manafort Case

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Washington Monthly

Michael Balsamo / Associated Press: Prosecutors: Illegal hush-money paid at Trump's ‘direction’

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The Department of Justice Calls Donald Trump a Felon

Discussion: New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Press, Vox, Common Dreams and The American Conservative

New York Times:
Michael Cohen, Trump's Ex-Fixer, Should Get Prison Term of About 4 Years, Prosecutors Say

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Contemptor, The Week, Mediaite, The Root, Common Dreams, Mother Jones and New Republic

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Mueller Weaves Trump, Manafort and Cohen Ever Closer

Discussion: NPR, CNN and Mediaite

Washington Post:
Mueller says Manafort told ‘discernible lies,’ …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Axios, emptywheel, Hullabaloo, The Daily Beast, Spectator USA, Joe.My.God., Vox, Politico and New York Times

New York Times:

The Wooing of Jared Kushner: How the Saudis Got a Friend in the White House — Senior American officials were worried. Since the early months of the Trump administration, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and Middle East adviser, had been having private, informal conversations …

Discussion: Raw Story

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
How a chilling Saudi cyberwar ensnared Jamal Khashoggi

Discussion: Boston Magazine

Anne-Elisabeth Moutet / New York Post:

In France, les deplorables strike back — PARIS — Glittering shops from Louis Vuitton to Dior are boarded up on both sides of the Champs-Élysées. The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre will be closed. Paris has hunkered down for the latest Yellow Saturday, the fourth in a row …

New York Times:
Police Crack Down on ‘Yellow Vests’ in France With Tear Gas and Hundreds of Arrests

Discussion: Vox, Politico, ThinkProgress, Townhall, CNN, Axios, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Daily Caller News Foundation, Outside the Beltway and The Week

Kim Willsher / The Guardian:
Gilets jaunes: police use teargas to clear Paris protesters

Discussion: Daily Wire

Annie Karni / New York Times:

Eric Trump Weighs In on Kellyanne Conway's Husband. He Doesn't Like Him. — WASHINGTON — George Conway, a prominent conservative lawyer, is married to Kellyanne Conway, a White House counselor well known to cable viewers as a passionate defender of President Trump.

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

McConnell resists pressure to move on criminal justice overhaul, angering some Republicans — Republican supporters of legislation overhauling prison sentencing rules have a message for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): It's now or, most likely, never.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Trump leans on McConnell to vote on criminal justice reform

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Post and Hit & Run

New York Times:

Mattis Erupts Over Niger Inquiry and Army Revisits Who Is to Blame — WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was livid last month when he summoned top military officials to a video conference at the Pentagon to press them about an investigation into a 2017 ambush in Niger that killed four Americans on a Green Beret team.

Discussion: Task & Purpose

Christina Cauterucci / Slate:

I'm So Sorry to Report that Ted Cruz's New Beard Looks Great — I have no particular fondness for this subject and it brings me no pleasure to cover it. But as a truth-seeking journalist, I feel I must write what follows: Sen. Ted Cruz's new beard looks great.

Discussion: Althouse

Daniel Strauss / Politico:

GOP power grabs pour gas on ‘resistance’ in key Midwest states — Republican efforts to weaken incoming Democratic governors in Michigan and Wisconsin have reignited the grass-roots fervor that flipped both states in November, turning the typically sleepy post-election period …

Washington Post:

Self-professed neo-Nazi James A. Fields Jr. convicted of first-degree murder in car-ramming that killed one, injured dozens — CHARLOTTESVILLE — An avowed supporter of neo-Nazi beliefs who took part in the violent and chaotic white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in this city last year …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, NBC News, Common Dreams, HuffPost, KBZK, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God., The Root, Balloon Juice, The Week, Shareblue Media, Splinter, Little Green Footballs and Axios

Denise Lavoie / Associated Press:
Man who drove into crowd convicted of first-degree murder

Discussion: SARAH PALIN, New York Times and New Republic

Mairead McArdle / National Review:

Virginia Teacher Fired after Refusing to Call Trans Student by Preferred Pronoun — A Virginia high-school teacher was fired on Thursday after refusing to address a transgender student by the student's preferred pronoun. — The school board of the West Point Consolidated School District …

Discussion: The American Conservative