memeorandum: 'The Worst I've Ever Seen It': Lean Stone Crab Season Follows Red Tide in Florida (Patricia Mazzei/New York Times)

5:10 PM ET, December 16, 2018

Top Items:

Giuliani Said on ABC That President Knew Cohen Pushed Trump Tower Moscow ‘Up To November 2016’ — Rudy Giuliani claimed in an ABC interview that President Donald Trump knew that his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was working on the Trump Tower Moscow deal “all the way up to...November of 2016.”

Discussion: ABC News and Daily Kos

Jordyn Phelps / ABC News:

President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani blasts former personal attorney Michael Cohen as pathetic — President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani blasted the president's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen as “pathetic” and a “serial liar” when questioned about Cohen's claim …

Discussion: Splinter and Breitbart

David Edwards / Raw Story:

Giuliani melts down defending Trump lies about Cohen: 'Unless you're god, you'll never know what the truth is' — Rudy Giuliani, an attorney representing President Donald Trump, insisted that Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, could not be believed when it comes to allegations …

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Giuliani: ‘I can produce 20 witnesses’ to defend hush money payments

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Washington Post

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post: ‘Over my dead body’: Giuliani dismisses prospect of Trump interview with Mueller

Eli Watkins / CNN:
Elijah Cummings calls for Cohen testimony in January

Discussion: Law & Crime, Bloomberg and Talking Points Memo

Zachary Basu / Axios: Giuliani on Trump sitting down with Mueller: “Over my dead body”

John Harwood / CNBC:

Voters are growing uneasy over the probes swirling around Trump, as a clear majority believe he hasn't been honest: NBC-WSJ poll — A robust 62 percent majority say Trump has not been honest about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, up from 56 percent in August.

Discussion: Political Wire

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Poll: 62 percent say Trump isn't telling the truth in Russia probe — More Americans want Democrats — not Trump — in charge of setting policy, a new national NBC News/WSJ poll finds. — WASHINGTON — Six in 10 Americans say President Donald Trump has been untruthful about the investigation …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Aaron Zitner / Wall Street Journal:
Americans Have Mixed Feelings About Economy, Trump Presidency, WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds

Discussion: TheStreet

Washington Post:

New report on Russian disinformation, prepared for the Senate, shows the operation's scale and sweep — The report, a draft of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is the first to study the millions of posts provided by major technology firms to the Senate Intelligence Committee

more at Techmeme »

Kris Schneider / ABC News:

Sen. Dick Durbin: Obamacare ruling ‘once again puts Republicans in Washington on the spot’ — Just days after a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, the Senate minority whip said Sunday the ruling is bad news for Republicans in Congress.

Discussion: Bloomberg, CNN, RedState, Politico, HuffPost and Breitbart

ABC News:
‘This Week’ Transcript 12-16-18: Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Susan Collins

Discussion: The Daily Beast and emptywheel

Ben Kamisar / NBC News:
Schumer: Trump's ‘temper tantrum’ over wall funding is leading to shutdown

Discussion: Vox

Mark Scott / Politico:

British officials line up for second referendum: reports — LONDON — Theresa May, the British prime minister, faces renewed domestic pressure over Brexit after a series of high-profile U.K. politicians threw their support behind a second referendum, according to media reports.

Discussion: The Times & The Sunday Times, BBC, The Guardian and One America News Network

Caroline Wheeler / The Times & The Sunday Times:
No-deal Brexit travel warning: don't go on holiday after March 29

Discussion: Telegraph

Michael Savage / The Guardian: Senior Tories urge free vote on second referendum

Connor O'Brien / Politico:

Trump adviser: We will ‘do whatever is necessary to build the border wall’ — White House senior adviser Stephen Miller on Sunday said the Trump administration would “do whatever is necessary” to build its signature wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, even if it means shutting down the government.

Discussion: Axios, Associated Press and Breitbart

CBS News:
Sunday: Miller, Klobuchar, Barrasso, Davis, Potter

Discussion: Mother Jones and Raw Story

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Horrifying indifference to children's lives — The Post reported this week: … The Department of Homeland Security's statement in response to reports of the child's death was a moral and legal disgrace: … For starters, the federal government is responsible for the health and welfare …

Discussion: Daily Wire, Salon and New York Times

Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:
The 7-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody was healthy before she arrived, father says

Discussion: BuzzFeed News

Tamar Auber / Mediaite:
Father of Little Girl Who Died in Border Control Custody Says He Has No Complaints With Treatment

Discussion: IJR and twitchy.com

Sonia Perez D. / Associated Press:
Girl who died fled intensely poor Guatemalan village

Discussion: Breitbart, FOX6Now.com and Annunciation House

TMZ.com:

HQ Trivia Co-Founder and CEO Colin Kroll Dead at 35 of Apparent Drug Overdose — Colin Kroll, the CEO and co-founder of HQ Trivia, has died of an apparent drug overdose ... TMZ has learned. — Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, Kroll's girlfriend called police early Sunday and asked …

Discussion: New York Post, New York Times, AOL, The Daily Beast, The Verge, Gothamist, fox8.com, Mashable and Full Feed, more at Mediagazer »

Tom Gara / BuzzFeed News:

Here's How The Chief Palestinian Negotiator Described His Last Meeting With Jared Kushner — DOHA, Qatar— Things continue to not look great for Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner's push for a Middle East peace deal. — How could this be? It's not for a lack of meetings …

Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:

Trump says he'll review case of Matt Golsteyn, a Special Forces veteran who faces murder charge — The Army veteran is accused of killing an alleged Taliban bombmaker without permission. — President Trump tweeted Sunday that he will review the case of a former Special Forces officer …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Politico, KXLF-TV, The Hill and ABC News

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:

The Weekly Standard's Dismantling Is Terrible News for Conservatism and Journalism — The Weekly Standard shut down on Friday after 23 years of publication. In an unceremonious execution, MediaDC, the magazine's owner, instructed staff to clear out their desks by the end of the day.

Discussion: The Intercept and The Atlantic, more at Mediagazer »

David Brooks / New York Times:
Who Killed The Weekly Standard?

Discussion: Althouse

Patricia Mazzei / New York Times:

'The Worst I've Ever Seen It': Lean Stone Crab Season Follows Red Tide in Florida — A prolonged red tide in Southwest Florida has hurt the iconic stone crab — and the fishermen, whose family businesses go back generations, who catch it. — EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. — On a good day …

Kurt Bardella / USA Today:

I became a Democrat a year ago and found my own voice. It changed everything. — I wrote my truth, held my breath and waited. I now care about lots more things than I used to, and I've finally embraced my Asian-American identity. — CONNECT — One year ago, I published a column …

Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:

O'Rourke marvels at Beto-mania, conceding it's ‘a great question’ whether he's ready for White House — WASHINGTON — TMZ trails him around the capital. Fans still check his Facebook page to see if he's going live again anytime soon. Democratic activists keep trying to lure him to Iowa and New Hampshire …

Discussion: Des Moines Register, Outside the Beltway, CNN and Breitbart