Top Items:
Washington Post:
Trump's claim that he didn't violate campaign finance law is weak — and dangerous — The case against the president would be far stronger than the case against John Edwards was. — Last week, in their case against Michael Cohen, federal prosecutors in New York filed a sentencing brief concluding that …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, Bloomberg, Joe.My.God., Law & Crime, Fox News Insider, Daily Wire, Dan Bongino and ABC News
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George Stephanopoulos / ABC News:
Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen says Trump knew it was wrong to make hush-money payments during campaign — Donald Trump directed Michael Cohen to arrange hush-money payments with two women because then-candidate Trump “was very concerned about how this would affect the election” …
Discussion:
NPR, Vox, Mother Jones, HuffPost, Reuters, Fox News Insider, Breitbart, Wonkette, IJR, Daily Wire, Joe.My.God., The Gateway Pundit, Chicks On The Right, The Daily Caller, AOL, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, CNBC, The Hill, VICE News, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Times, Daily Kos, USA Today, Bloomberg, LifeZette, Townhall, Washington Press, Washington Post, Law & Crime, Roll Call, Sputnik International, New York Times, Raw Story and RedState
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Michael Cohen just dealt another big blow to Trump's hush-money defense — President Trump's defense against allegations that he directed Michael Cohen to carry out criminal hush-money payments on his behalf is essentially as follows: Cohen was his longtime fixer, and all Trump did was ask …
Discussion:
Fox News Insider, Business Insider and Joe.My.God.
George Stephanopoulos / ABC News:
Michael Cohen talks to George Stephanopoulos: TRANSCRIPT — Michael Cohen, the president's former personal attorney and fixer, said Donald Trump directed him to make payments to two women who said they had affairs with the then-candidate because Trump “was very concerned about how this would affect the election.”
Discussion:
RedState and Washington Times
Tom Winter / NBC News:
Trump was in the room during hush money discussions, NBC News confirms
Trump was in the room during hush money discussions, NBC News confirms
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Press, Outside the Beltway, Daily Wire, CNN, Daily Kos, Just Security, Contemptor, Hot Air, HuffPost, ThinkProgress, Fox News Insider, Law & Crime, Breitbart, Chicks On The Right, The Gateway Pundit, Bloomberg, VICE News, Raw Story, IJR, Joe.My.God., ABC News, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Axios, Wonkette and Salon, more at Mediagazer »
Los Angeles Times:
Trump increasingly isolated as aides leave, friends flip and investigations advance
Trump increasingly isolated as aides leave, friends flip and investigations advance
Discussion:
Raw Story
The Daily Beast:
Jared Kushner Replaced Michael Cohen as Trump's National Enquirer Connection — The president's son-in-law grew tight with David Pecker during the early months of the administration. — Shortly after the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was handed …
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez / Arizona Republic:
Jon Kyl will resign from the U.S. Senate on Dec. 31, setting up another appointment by Ducey to John McCain's seat — U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl will resign from the U.S. Senate on Dec. 31, The Arizona Republic has confirmed, setting up a second appointment by Gov. Doug Ducey to the seat once occupied by the late John McCain.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Washington Post and The Daily Caller
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James Arkin / Politico:
Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl to resign, prompting new appointment to McCain seat
Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl to resign, prompting new appointment to McCain seat
Discussion:
ABC News
Washington Post:
7-year-old migrant girl taken into Border Patrol custody dies of dehydration, exhaustion — A 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock after she was taken into Border Patrol custody last week for crossing into the United States illegally with her father and a large group …
Discussion:
Vox, ABC News, Politico, BuzzFeed News, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, Common Dreams, Conservative News Today, Wonkette, Shakesville, The Daily Caller, Shareblue Media, Splinter, The Resurgent, Talking Points Memo, fox13now.com, Washington Monthly, Al Jazeera, Breitbart, Mediaite, Balloon Juice, Axios, Seymour Tribune, Media Matters for America and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Richard Gonzales / NPR:
7-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Of Dehydration And Shock In U.S. Border Patrol Custody
7-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Of Dehydration And Shock In U.S. Border Patrol Custody
Discussion:
Conservative News Today, Media Matters for America, HuffPost, Breitbart and The Crime Report
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine critical of Trump, to shutter after 23 years — New York (CNN Business)The Weekly Standard, the magazine that espouses traditional conservatism and which has remained deeply critical of President Donald Trump, will shutter after 23 years …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Real Clear Politics
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HuffPost:
Trump Considering Son-In-Law Jared Kushner For Next Chief Of Staff — The president is in the third round of his search for a job not many people seem to want. — WASHINGTON Having run through his first choices for his chief of staff vacancy without any luck, President Donald Trump is considering his own son-in-law for the job.
Discussion:
Jewish Insider, Reuters, The Daily Beast, Shakesville, Breitbart, East Bay Times, Chicks On The Right, Raw Story, Hot Air, Mediaite, Spectator USA, Booman Tribune, CBS News, KXLF-TV, Splinter, Joe.My.God., twitchy.com, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, NESN.com, Liberty Unyielding, Townhall, Law & Crime, AOL and The Daily Caller
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Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump meets with Chris Christie to discuss chief of staff role
Trump meets with Chris Christie to discuss chief of staff role
Discussion:
One America News Network, CNN, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God., Breitbart and Washington Times
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Inauguration Spending Under Criminal Investigation by Federal Prosecutors — Probe looking into whether committee misspent funds and top donors gave money in exchange for access to the administration — Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump's …
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, Washington Post, Chicks On The Right, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media, New York Times, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Vox, Al Jazeera, HuffPost, Splinter, POLITICUSUSA, Daily Wire, Law & Crime, Liberty Unyielding, The Guardian, FOX2now.com, The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice, AOL, Breitbart, Joe.My.God., Axios, twitchy.com, Political Wire and Mediaite
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New York Times:
Trump Inaugural Fund and Super PAC Said to Be Scrutinized for Illegal Foreign Donations — WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors are examining whether foreigners illegally funneled donations to President Trump's inaugural committee and a pro-Trump super PAC in hopes of buying influence over American policy …
Discussion:
Middle East Eye, Raw Story, CNN, Chicks On The Right and Talking Points Memo
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook bug exposed up to 6.8M users' unposted photos to apps — Reset the “days since the last Facebook privacy scandal” counter, as a Facebook has just revealed a Photo API bug gave app developers too much access to the photos of up to 5.6 million users.
Discussion:
The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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George Packer / The Atlantic:
The Corruption of the Republican Party — Why has the Republican Party become so thoroughly corrupt? The reason is historical—it goes back many decades—and, in a way, philosophical. The party is best understood as an insurgency that carried the seeds of its own corruption from the start.
Lisa Girion / Reuters:
Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder — A REUTERS INVESTIGATION A REUTERS INVESTIGATION — Facing thousands of lawsuits alleging that its talc caused cancer, J&J insists on the safety and purity of its iconic product.
Discussion:
KXLF-TV
Dan Morain / CALmatters:
Chief justice of the California Supreme Court leaves the Republican Party, citing Kavanaugh — California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has quietly given up her Republican registration and re-registered as a no-party-preference voter, saying Thursday she had become increasingly uncomfortable …
Discussion:
NBC News, New York Times, Raw Story and HuffPost
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Morgan Gstalter / The Hill:
Chief Justice of California Supreme Court leaves GOP over Kavanaugh confirmation
Chief Justice of California Supreme Court leaves GOP over Kavanaugh confirmation
Discussion:
CALmatters and San Francisco Chronicle
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
“This Is Not a Normal Time”: Trump and the Rapidly Expanding “Witch Hunt” — The criminality of the key figures in the President's inner circle is now established, and they have started to implicate Trump himself. — Shortly after 11 a.m. on Thursday, Senator Jeff Flake, of Arizona, took to the Senate floor for his farewell speech.
Lawfare:
The Steele Dossier: A Retrospective — The dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele remains a subject of fascination—or, depending on your perspective, scorn. Indeed, it was much discussed during former FBI Director Jim Comey's testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Dec. 7.
New York Times:
Behind CBS's Secret $9.5 Million Settlement With the Actress Eliza Dushku — In March 2017, Eliza Dushku, an actress known for her work on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” signed on to play a major role in three episodes of the CBS prime-time drama “Bull,” and there were plans to make her a full-time cast member.
Discussion:
VICE News, WGN-TV, AOL, twitchy.com, IndieWire and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »
Dylan Scott / Vox:
Medicare-for-all's big problem — Passing single-payer means disrupting health insurance for 160 million people who get coverage through their jobs. — Jessica Salfia knew the pay wasn't going to be great when she became a teacher in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but she did have really good health coverage.
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
The biggest Pinocchios of 2018 — It's time for our annual roundup of the biggest Pinocchios of the year. — Once again, we face the challenge posed by President Trump, who could easily dominate this list if we're not careful. There has been no serial exaggerator in recent American politics like the president.
Christine Stapleton / Palm Beach Post:
BREAKING: Trump plans 16-day holiday visit to Mar-a-Lago — President Donald Trump is expected to spend 16 days at Mar-a-Lago over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, according to an alert issued by the Federal Aviation Administration this morning. — The alert warns pilots to avoid …
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight, Florida Politics, HuffPost, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA and ThinkProgress
Greg Bluestein / politics.myajc:
Ossoff strikes populist tone as he mulls Senate bid — Cornelia - Jon Ossoff's bid for Georgia's 6th District brought him to all corners of Atlanta suburbs, but late Thursday he arrived at a new setting: A crowded library meeting hall in deeply-conservative Habersham County.
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, Political Wire and The Guardian
Wall Street Journal:
GE Powered the American Century—Then It Burned Out — How the company that was once America's biggest, the maker of power turbines, the seller of insurance, the broadcaster of ‘Seinfeld,’ became a shadow of its former self — They came by the dozens in luxury sedans, black Ubers and sleek helicopters.
Washington Post:
‘Her skills are real’: How Pelosi put down a Democratic rebellion in bid for speaker — Rep. Nancy Pelosi's opponents knew they had an opportunity. But what they really needed was an alternative. — This past summer, they thought they had identified the perfect candidate to replace Pelosi …
Discussion:
New York Times, Politico and Political Wire
Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:
New Jersey Democrats' Diabolical Gerrymandering Scheme Is an Affront to Democracy — Behind closed doors, state lawmakers hatched a plan to entrench their majority in the Legislature by carving up districts along partisan lines. Party leaders figured out how to push through the measure at record speed …
Discussion:
NJ Spotlight, Outside the Beltway and Mother Jones