memeorandum: Trump administration poised to strip protections from up to 80% of California waters, millions of acres nationwide (Evan Halper/Los Angeles Times)

6:35 PM ET, December 10, 2018

Top Items:

CNN:

Accused Russian spy Maria Butina appears to reach plea deal — Washington (CNN)Accused Russian spy Maria Butina appears to have reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors. — Butina is accused of trying to infiltrate Republican political circles and party leaders during the 2016 campaign …

Discussion: Vox

Pete Madden / ABC News:

Maria Butina, accused Russian agent, reaches plea deal with prosecutors that includes cooperation — Maria Butina, a 30-year-old Russian gun rights activist who stands accused developing a covert influence operation in the United States, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and cooperate with federal …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Boing Boing and National Newswatch

Washington Post:

Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina poised to plead guilty in case involving suspected Kremlin attempts to influence NRA — Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist, is poised to plead guilty in a case involving accusations that she was working as an agent for the Kremlin in the United States, according to a new court filing.

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Moms Demand Action …, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos, Above the Law, Politico, Axios and Balloon Juice

Anna Massoglia / OpenSecrets.org:

NRA leader, Jack Abramoff and GOP operative tied to alleged Russian spy Maria Butina have long history as foreign agents lobbying together — Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina has changed her plea to guilty, according to a new joint motion filed by her attorneys this morning.

Discussion: Shakesville

Politico:
Meadows: Being W.H. chief of staff would be an ‘honor’

Discussion: Hit & Run, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and electionlawblog.org

Rahm Emanuel / The Atlantic:

Trump Doesn't Want a Chief of Staff — Before a president begins thinking about who should be his White House chief of staff, he has to define both the job and the moment. There's nothing magical about the chief of staff's corner office in the West Wing. How any individuals perform …

Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Meadows would give Trump a skilled brawler in the White House

Discussion: Associated Press, Breitbart, Raw Story and Mediaite

Wall Street Journal:
White House Digs In for Chief of Staff Hunt

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Post, ABC News, Axios and Associated Press

Tarini Parti / BuzzFeed News:
Who Will Be Trump's Next Chief Of Staff? It Doesn't Really Matter.

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times and Shareblue Media

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
James Comey Is Proving that He's a Partisan

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Beast and The Gateway Pundit

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Everybody Says Mueller Is Almost Done. What If He Isn't? — In late 2015, the British spy agency GCHQ, and then other Western intelligence agencies, learned of suspicious interactions between Russian agents and Donald Trump's inner circle. By the summer of 2016, James Comey testified Friday …

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post and Washington Monthly

Washington Examiner: Want to avoid legal trouble? …

Julia Ainsley / NBC News: Manafort plans to file a response to the Mueller memo this week

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Sources: Dan Bongino Out at NRATV — Trump loves the guy. But the gun rights group is downsizing its media operation and his show appears to be a casualty of those plans. — The National Rifle Association's media arm has dropped pro-Trump firebrand Dan Bongino from its lineup …

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Dan Bongino Out at NRATV — Trump loves the guy. But the gun rights group is downsizing its media operation and his show appears to be a casualty of those plans. — The National Rifle Association's media arm has dropped pro-Trump firebrand Dan Bongino from its lineup of conservative commentators …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Joe.My.God.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump's latest rage-tweets expose the depth of his own corruption — The news contained in the fusillade of new legal filings relating to President Trump can be summed up this way: Federal prosecutors are now alleging that Trump personally directed a criminal conspiracy that helped get him elected …

Discussion: Mediaite, Fox News Insider and Bloomberg

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Sudden shift in get-Trump talk; now it's campaign finance, not Russia

Discussion: Hit & Run and Shareblue Media

Streiff / RedState:
President Trump Is Going To Be Impeached the Question Is How Much Damage It Does

Discussion: Crooked Media and Washington Post

Adam Cancryn / Politico:

Establishment looks to crush liberals on Medicare for All — The united front that helped Democrats save Obamacare just a year ago is falling apart over single-payer health care. — Deep-pocketed hospital, insurance and other lobbies are plotting to crush progressives' hopes of expanding …

Discussion: Hot Air and Washington Post

Alex Thompson / Politico: LinkedIn co-founder backs $35 million voter data project in ‘existential threat’ to Democratic Party

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Meet the Bottomless Pinocchio, a new rating for a false claim repeated over and over again — It was President Trump's signature campaign promise: He would build a wall along the nation's southern border, and Mexico would pay for it. — Shortly after becoming president, Trump dropped the Mexico part …

Discussion: Political Wire, Washington Monthly, Joe.My.God., IJR, Splinter, The Root and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Supreme Court declines to review rulings that blocked efforts to end Planned Parenthood funding — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review lower court decisions that blocked efforts in two states to end public funding to Planned Parenthood, refusing for now to get involved in state battles over abortion rights.

Discussion: CNN, Los Angeles Times, Politico, Breitbart, Vox, The Resurgent, ThinkProgress, Shakesville, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, ABC News and Axios

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Brett Kavanaugh sides with liberal justices in declining to hear Planned Parenthood defunding case

Discussion: Townhall and Conservative News Today

Kathy Kiely / Washington Post:

Michael Bloomberg still doesn't seem to understand how journalism works — The former New York mayor says he might end political coverage at his news service if he runs for president. — Kathy Kiely is the Lee Hills chair in free press studies at the Missouri School of Journalism.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Observer

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Bloomberg: Democrats are looking for a ‘middle-of-the-road’ strategy

Discussion: ABC News

F.H. Buckley / New York Post:

Why ‘No Hate Here’ signs are actually pretty hateful — My walks with my dog take me to a quiet off-street, with middle-class houses made expensive because they're inside the Beltway. Their owners are mostly youngish attorneys who work as assistant-deputy-director-somethings in some government department or other.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and No More Mister Nice Blog

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

YouTube Bans Proud Boys Founder Gavin McInnes — YouTube banned Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes on Monday, marking the latest social-media blow for the man who started the far-right men's group. McInnes had amassed more than 220,000 subscribers on YouTube before the ban …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Daily Wire, Mediaite, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller and Splinter, more at Mediagazer »

Harry Enten / CNN:

An insane amount of people turned out to vote in the midterm elections — (CNN)President Donald Trump solved a problem that no other president before him could: Getting people to vote in a midterm election. — Whether they were voting for or against his agenda, it is now clear that voters turned out in record numbers in 2018.

Andy Kroll / Rolling Stone:

Talk About Pizzagate — The former Clinton campaign chairman is among the victims still recovering from a vile conspiracy theory that ended in gunfire — WASHINGTON — John Podesta has given it a lot of thought and believes the best way to deal with the trolls is to ignore them.

Discussion: The Mahablog and Washington Monthly

Suyin Haynes / TIME:

TIME Announces 2018 Person of the Year Shortlist on Today Show — The shortlist of candidates for TIME's 2018 Person of the Year was unveiled Monday on NBC's Today show. Since 1927, TIME has identified the Person of the Year, recognizing the person or group of people who most influenced …

Discussion: Splinter, IJR, CBS Boston, abc7ny.com, Daily Wire, AOL, Conservative Review, twitchy.com and The Daily Caller

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

What Good Did USA Today's Ambushing Kyler Murray Do Anyone? — Congratulations to Kyler Murray for winning the Heisman — and in a year during which Tua Tagovailoa was playing football, no less. And all shame to Scott Gleeson, of USA Today, who waited until the exact moment that Murray …

Discussion: Mother Jones and Hot Air

The Babylon Bee: Heisman Winner Proves If You Work Hard And Believe In Yourself, You Too Can Have Journalists Try …

New York Times:

Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They're Not Keeping It Secret — Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it's anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is. — The millions of dots on the map trace highways …

Discussion: CityLab, BREAKER and Gothamist, more at Techmeme »

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:

US starts to withdraw troops from Trump border mission — WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. this week will begin withdrawing many of the active duty troops sent to the border with Mexico by President Donald Trump just before the midterm election in response to a caravan of Central American migrants, U.S. officials said Monday.

Discussion: Splinter and Joe.My.God.

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:

A Former Trump Campaign Staffer Was Ordered To Pay $25,000 For Violating Her Nondisclosure Agreement — WASHINGTON — Jessica Denson, a former staffer for President Donald Trump's campaign, is fighting an order to pay nearly $25,000 for violating a nondisclosure agreement, according to court papers.

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Des Bieler / Washington Post:

Colin Kaepernick reportedly ‘ready and willing’ to play for the Redskins — The Redskins' increasingly makeshift situation at quarterback has done nothing to end questions about why the team has been hesitant to sign Colin Kaepernick. For his part, the noted free agent was reported Sunday to be …

Discussion: ESPN, NESN.com, The Daily Caller and USA Today

Evan Halper / Los Angeles Times:

Trump administration poised to strip protections from up to 80% of California waters, millions of acres nationwide … The Trump administration is poised to roll back Clean Water Act protections on millions of acres of streams and wetlands, including up to 80% of California's inland waters …

Jordan Libowitz / CREW:

CREW Sues FBI for Giuliani Leak Records — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — The FBI is in violation of the law for failing to turn over documents related to the FBI's investigation into the leak of information to Rudy Giuliani in October 2016 that then-FBI Director James Comey was going to reopen …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reveals Jewish ancestry at Hanukkah celebration — Hanukkah celebrates the miracle that oil thought to be enough for only one day burned instead for eight. So the Jewish festival of lights is also, in a way, a celebration of surprise.

Discussion: New York Times, The Forward, Conservative News Today, Breitbart, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and twitchy.com

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Paul Ryan's long con — He betrayed his promises and left a legacy of debt and disappointment. — House Speaker Paul Ryan's legacy can be summed up in just one number: $343 billion. — That's the increase between the deficit for fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2018 — that is …

Discussion: Splinter

Jared Holt / Right Wing Watch:

YouTube's Biggest Personality Promoted an Anti-Semite — Felix Kjellberg, a Swedish YouTube personality best known online by his account name “PewDiePie,” promoted, in one of his video offerings, another YouTube account that has posted white nationalist and anti-Semitic content.

Discussion: The Verge