memeorandum: Senate overwhelmingly backs overhaul of criminal justice system (Washington Post)

10:05 PM ET, December 18, 2018

Top Items:

On Twitter, Trump comes out swinging in many directions — President Trump lashed out Tuesday morning at threats from many directions, taking aim at the special counsel's Russia inquiry, the Federal Reserve, social media companies and undocumented immigrants in tweets that spanned more than two hours.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Beast and Talking Points Memo

Erin Banco / The Daily Beast:

Mueller Ready to Pounce on Trumpworld Concessions to Moscow — New court filings by Mueller's office could answer a central question of the Russia investigation: What did the Kremlin hope to get from its political machinations? — For more than a year, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Wonkette, Law & Crime, Politico, Raw Story, Hill Reporter, Talking Points Memo and Just Security

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump backers just had their anti-Mueller hopes and dreams dashed — Watch live video from washingtonpost on www.twitch.tv — On Saturday, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro engaged in a bit of wishful fantasizing. — Earlier that week, Michael Flynn's attorneys seemed to imply that he was tricked into lying to the FBI.

Discussion: Axios, Shareblue Media, Politico, twitchy.com, Mediaite, ABC News, HuffPost and The Mahablog

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Judge's accusations mar Michael Flynn sentencing hearing

Discussion: Instapundit

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Michael Flynn Is Owed an Apology

Discussion: New York Magazine, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Hill Reporter, Breitbart, Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo

The Atlantic:
Michael Flynn's Lawyers Appear to Have Badly Miscalculated

Discussion: TalkLeft

Ken White / The Atlantic:
Note to Michael Flynn: Federal Court Is Not Twitter

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:
Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, scheduled to be sentenced

Discussion: Axios, Los Angeles Times, Vox, New Republic, The Week, Patterico's Pontifications, The New Neo, Raw Story, RedState, Power Line, Mother Jones and Balloon Juice

New York Times:
Judge Postpones Sentencing of Michael Flynn After Harshly Rebuking Him

Discussion: Washington Post, The Root, Contemptor and Daily Kos

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Russia ran a disinformation campaign against Mueller. It sounds just like Trump's.

Discussion: National Review, ABC News and Hot Air

Brad Reed / Raw Story:
‘You sold your country out!’ Judge delivers scathing smackdown of Michael Flynn during sentencing

Discussion: emptywheel and CANNONFIRE

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

Court orders company to comply with special counsel subpoena in mystery grand jury appeal — (CNN)Four days after attorneys secretly argued over a grand jury subpoena suspected to be related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election …

Discussion: KXLF-TV and Political Wire

Politico:

Mueller appears victorious in mystery subpoena dispute — The ruling offers the intriguing detail that the entity fighting the Mueller subpoena is a foreign-owned company, not a specific individual, as many had speculated. — A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a mystery corporation owned …

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
READ: Appeals Court Upholds Grand Jury Subpoena In Secret Mueller-Linked Case

Discussion: Townhall

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Washington's Mystery Witness Turns Out to Be a Corporation, Not a Person

Discussion: The Guardian and Lawfare

David Glovin / Bloomberg: U.S. Prevails in Subpoena Fight Against Mystery Corporation

New York Times:

As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants — Internal documents show that the social network gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and others far greater access to people's data than it has disclosed. — For years, Facebook gave some of the world's largest technology companies …

more at Techmeme »

Daniel Victor / New York Times:
Walt Mossberg, Veteran Technology Journalist, Quits Facebook

Discussion: Walt Mossberg, Breitbart and Mashable

NY State Attorney General:

A.G. Underwood Announces Stipulation Dissolving Trump Foundation Under Judicial Supervision, With AG Review Of Recipient Charities — News from the New York Attorney General's Office — Attorney General's Office Press Office / 212-416-8060 — nyag.pressoffice@ag.ny.gov

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times, CNN, The Guardian, OpenSecrets.org, Raw Story, Orlando Weekly, New Republic, Wonkette, The Week, POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime, Vox, AOL, Washington Free Beacon, IJR, Axios and The Mahablog

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

The Trump Foundation Gets Put to Sleep — New York's attorney general dissolves the president's personal piggy bank, but a lawsuit against the faux charity alleging fraud continues. — The Trump Foundation, a tiny New York outfit masquerading as a philanthropy but operating, essentially …

Discussion: Daily Kos

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

Trump agrees to shut down his charity amid allegations he used it for personal and political benefit — President Trump has agreed to shut down his embattled personal charity and give away its remaining funds amid allegations that he used it for his personal and political benefit, the New York attorney general announced Tuesday.

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Hot Air, RedState, Politico, CNBC, Gothamist, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, Splinter, Shareblue Media, Conservative News Today, The Daily Beast, Shakesville and Mediaite

Washington Post:

Senate overwhelmingly backs overhaul of criminal justice system — The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a sweeping overhaul of the criminal justice system, after a remarkable political shift from Republicans who voted in large numbers to save money by reducing prison sentences …

Discussion: Associated Press, Axios, NPR and Political Wire

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times: Senate Passes Bipartisan Criminal Justice Bill

CNN: The bill that wouldn't die: The unlikely story behind the criminal justice overhaul

Marianne LeVine / Politico:
Senate approves Trump-backed criminal justice overhaul

Discussion: Associated Press

Stephen Rex Brown / New York Daily News:

Second woman claims billionaire perv Jeffrey Epstein ‘directed’ her to have sex with Alan Dershowitz — A second alleged trafficking victim of Jeffrey Epstein says the billionaire pedophile “directed” her to have sex with Alan Dershowitz — a claim the prominent attorney adamantly denies.

Ken White / Popehat:

Alan Dershowitz Is Lying To You — Alan Dershowitz, famed Harvard Law School professor and successful trial and appellate lawyer, is lying to you. — He's lying about American law — the subject he ostensibly teaches, the subject on which he is called upon as an expert — for partisan reasons …

Discussion: Raw Story, Hot Air and The Hill

Washington Post:

White House says it wants to avoid government shutdown, will find other ways to fund border wall — The White House wants to avoid a partial government shutdown and has found other ways to get the border wall President Trump is demanding, spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Tuesday.

Michael Sykes / Axios:
White House asks federal agencies to contribute to border wall funding

Discussion: Breitbart, ABC News and Washington Post

Washington Post:
White House signals it will back down on President Trump's demand for border wall funding …

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Jenna Amatulli / HuffPost:

Here Are The Advertisers Boycotting Tucker Carlson's Show — The Fox News host is facing backlash after suggesting that immigrants make our country “poorer and dirtier and more divided” on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” — Fox News' Tucker Carlson is rapidly losing advertisers amid a controversy …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, NBC News, Contemptor, Media Matters for America, Washington Post and Hollywood Reporter, more at Mediagazer »

Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Advertisers abandon Fox News host Tucker Carlson's show over anti-immigration comments

Discussion: New York Times, Right Wing Watch, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and Contemptor

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:

All 83 Of The Ethics Complaints Against Justice Brett Kavanaugh Were Dismissed Because He's On The Supreme Court Now — WASHINGTON — All of the ethics complaints filed against Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation proceedings were dismissed on Tuesday after a panel of federal judges concluded …

Discussion: Axios and Splinter

Washington Post: Judiciary dismisses ‘serious’ misconduct complaints against Brett M. Kavanaugh

Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:

A black man tried to cash his paycheck. The bank called the cops. — Three weeks into his new job, Paul McCowns was ready to cash his first paycheck. — There were no issues when he first entered a Huntington Bank branch in Brooklyn, Ohio, on Dec. 1. The bank asked for two forms of ID …

Shannon Houser / Cleveland 19 News Cleveland, OH:
Cleveland man alleges racial profiling after bank refuses to cash check, calls 911

Discussion: Raw Story, Hill Reporter and The Root

New York Times:

Hacked European Cables Reveal a World of Anxiety About Trump, Russia and Iran — WASHINGTON — Hackers infiltrated the European Union's diplomatic communications network for years, downloading thousands of cables that reveal concerns about an unpredictable Trump administration and struggles …

Michael McFaul / Washington Post: Why Vladimir Putin is a terrible strategist

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“The Staff Is Fed Up He's Acting Like a Nut”: Trump's West Wing Braces for Christmas Madness, More Departures—And Mueller — Javanka blocked Bannon ally David Bossie for chief of staff—but bigger problems are looming. — Donald Trump plans to head to Mar-a-Lago for a 16 …

Discussion: Raw Story, Hullabaloo and Wonkette

Arizona Republic:

Martha McSally will be appointed to John McCain's Senate seat — Republican U.S. Rep. Martha McSally will replace retiring U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl to fill for the next two years the Senate seat long held by the late U.S. Sen. John McCain. — Gov. Doug Ducey's decision to appoint McSally …

Laura Davison / Bloomberg:

Mnuchin Backs Off Trump's Promise of 10% Middle-Class Tax Cut — Tax focus will be on technical fixes, Treasury secretary says — Trump floated idea of middle-class relief before elections — The Trump administration is setting aside a middle-class tax cut and planning to focus …

Discussion: CNBC and The Week

Dennis McLellan / Los Angeles Times:

Penny Marshall, who played feisty Laverne in ‘Laverne & Shirley’ before directing movies, dies at 75 — Penny Marshall, who costarred as a Milwaukee brewery worker in the top-rated 1970s and '80s sitcom “Laverne & Shirley” before becoming a director of hit movies such as “Big” and “A League of Their Own,” has died.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Page Six, The Week and The Daily Caller

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:

FBI Memo Raises New Questions About Timing Of Andrew McCabe's Firing — The FBI's top internal affairs official did not believe that the investigation of former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe could be resolved prior to his retirement, according to a memo released Tuesday.

Marissa J. Lang / Washington Post:

Rats are everywhere in D.C. Even on the White House lawn. — The District for years has been plagued by a growing mischief in its midst. Rats — the four-legged, bewiskered kind — have been spotted roaming the streets, scurrying across alleys and eating their way through trash cans.

Discussion: Conservative News Today

Riley Snyder / The Nevada Independent:

Nevada becomes first state with majority female Legislature — The Legislature and guests look on during Gov. Sandoval's State of the State address on Jan. 17, 2017. Photo by David Calvert — Nevada will become the first state in the country to have a majority female Legislature …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Laura Barrón-López / Politico:

Ocasio-Cortez weighs a new primary target: Hakeem Jeffries — Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is eyeing a new member of House Democratic leadership as a 2020 primary target: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). — Ocasio-Cortez, who ousted House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley earlier …