Top Items:
Washington Post:
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:
NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Townhall, Hot Air, Associated Press and The Daily Beast
RELATED:
Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Michael Flynn Is Owed an Apology — One year after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, there is still no evidence that he is a traitor. — Remember when Michael Flynn was a traitor? It was early 2017. Democrats were still stinging from their defeat at the hands of Donald Trump.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Hill Reporter, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Balloon Juice, Dan Bongino, HuffPost and Mediaite
Washington Post:
Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, scheduled to be sentenced — Under questioning from a federal judge, President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn conceded Tuesday he was aware lying to the FBI was a crime when he did so and declined to withdraw …
Discussion:
Power Line, RedState, Mother Jones, Los Angeles Times, The New Neo, Raw Story, The Week, Balloon Juice and Hill Reporter
Axios:
Judge postpones Michael Flynn's sentencing — Lawyers for former national security advisor Michael Flynn asked a federal judge to delay his sentencing until his cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller's team is complete — setting the next status report on his sentencing for March 13 …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Political Wire and New York Times
Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:
Judge Rips Flynn, Asks About Treason Ahead Of Sentencing For Lying To FBI — The former national security adviser to President Donald Trump admitted to lying about his contacts with the Russians. — WASHINGTON Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Wonkette
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:
Shareblue Media, HuffPost, twitchy.com and Mediaite
New York Times:
Judge Postpones Sentencing of Michael Flynn After Harshly Rebuking Him
Judge Postpones Sentencing of Michael Flynn After Harshly Rebuking Him
Discussion:
Contemptor
emptywheel:
Mike Flynn Steps in It: In a Bid to Feed the Frothy Right, He Leads to Release of Damning …
Mike Flynn Steps in It: In a Bid to Feed the Frothy Right, He Leads to Release of Damning …
Discussion:
CNN, Raw Story and Hullabaloo
James Gordon Meek / ABC News:
Judge says Michael Flynn's crime is serious: ‘Arguably, you sold your country out!’
Judge says Michael Flynn's crime is serious: ‘Arguably, you sold your country out!’
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, NPR, Reuters and Media Matters for America
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:
Vox, Axios, CNN, Wonkette, OpenSecrets.org, Washington Free Beacon, The Guardian, AOL, The Week, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, IJR and Law & Crime
RELATED:
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, Politico, Daily Kos, Daily Wire, Shakesville, Conservative News Today, CNBC, The Daily Beast, Shareblue Media, Splinter, Mediaite and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:
Trump Foundation to Close After Lawsuit by New York Attorney General
Trump Foundation to Close After Lawsuit by New York Attorney General
Discussion:
Gothamist, Orlando Weekly and The Mahablog
Washington Post:
White House signals it will back down on President Trump's demand for border wall funding and avert a partial government shutdown — The Trump administration wants to avoid a partial government shutdown and has found other ways to get the border wall money it wants, spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Tuesday.
Discussion:
Political Wire
RELATED:
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.
John Parkinson / ABC News:
White House backing off Trump's $5 billion border wall demand as shutdown looms
White House backing off Trump's $5 billion border wall demand as shutdown looms
Discussion:
Washington Post, Conservative Review, Breitbart and POLITICUSUSA
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
RELATED:
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 …
RELATED:
Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Arizona governor taps Martha McSally to fill Senate seat once held by McCain
Arizona governor taps Martha McSally to fill Senate seat once held by McCain
Discussion:
Fox News and The Gateway Pundit
Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
Donald Trump Hates Christmas Parties — On Monday and Wednesday this week, Donald Trump will leave the Oval Office in the West Wing in the late afternoon and walk eastward to the White House residence, where he will meet Melania Trump. Together, they will head downstairs at 5:15 to the Grand Foyer …
Discussion:
Raw Story
RELATED:
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 …
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:
Politico, Law & Crime, Raw Story, Wonkette, Hill Reporter, Just Security and Talking Points Memo
Dominic Holden / BuzzFeed News:
Trump Bans Bump Stocks, Saying They Must Be Destroyed Or Surrendered To The Government — The Trump administration on Tuesday issued a final rule that bans so-called bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly, saying tens of thousands of them around …
Discussion:
Townhall, Associated Press, No More Mister Nice Blog, IJR and The Week
RELATED:
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 …
Discussion:
The Federalist, The Daily Caller, The Week, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Times
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump launches unprecedented reelection machine — President Donald Trump is planning to roll out an unprecedented structure for his 2020 reelection, a streamlined organization that incorporates the Republican National Committee and the president's campaign into a single entity.
Discussion:
CNN, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Mediaite
New Yorker:
Senator Amy Klobuchar on How Democrats Can Defeat Trump in 2020 — As she mulls a run for the Presidency, the Minnesota lawmaker advises potential candidates, “You go not just where it's comfortable but where it's uncomfortable.” — Whether we like it or not, the 2020 race for President is on.
Mark Stevenson / Associated Press:
US pledges $10.6B aid for Central America, southern Mexico — MEXICO CITY (AP) — The United States pledged $5.8 billion in aid Tuesday for strengthening government and economic development in Central America, and another $4.8 billion in development aid for southern Mexico.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
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:
Contemptor
Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
New York Times assailed for Alice Walker interview endorsing ‘anti-Semitic’ conspiracy theorist — Critics call it anti-Semitic, saying it places Holocaust revisionism at the center of an odious and addled worldview. Its title has been borrowed by followers of QAnon, a conspiracy movement …
Howard Berkes / NPR:
An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It … Greg Kelly's grandson, Caden, scampers to the tree-shaded creek behind his grandfather's house to catch crawdads, as Kelly shuffles along, trying to keep up. Kelly's small day pack holds an oxygen tank with a clear tube clipped to his nose.
Petula Dvorak / Washington Post:
A mother's leap of faith at an African airport, and a 15-year mystery — The story of Tom and Maya and Zainab is about trust, about listening to your heart over your mind, and about that gut feeling you have when you meet a good person. — And it's a story that could've gone horribly wrong.
Alex Kotch / Sludge:
Beto O'Rourke Removed From ‘No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge’ Following Sludge Report — In the wake of a Sludge investigation showing multiple contributions from oil and gas executives, Oil Change USA took O'Rourke's name off the list of political candidates who promised to reject fossil fuel donations over $200.
Discussion:
The Atlantic
Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:
Right to bear ... nunchucks? Federal judge strikes down ban on weapon as violation of Second Amendment — Just blame Bruce Lee. Back in 1974, New York state decided to ban the possession of nunchucks as lawmakers feared they were becoming enticing tools of violence among hooligan children …
Discussion:
Hit & Run and Daily Wire
Daniel Victor / New York Times:
Walt Mossberg, Veteran Technology Journalist, Quits Facebook — Walt Mossberg is far from alone in giving up on Facebook. But as a leading technology journalist who has spent decades chronicling the impact of Silicon Valley's policies, his exit from the social network speaks louder than most.
Discussion:
Walt Mossberg and Mashable
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
Rising Instagram Stars Are Posting Fake Sponsored Content — Tapping through Palak Joshi's Instagram Stories recently, you might have come across a photo that looked like standard sponsored content: a shiny white box emblazoned with the red logo for the Chinese phone manufacturer OnePlus and the number six …
Chris Buskirk / American Greatness:
Death of The Weekly Standard Signals Rebirth of the Right — Neoconservatism is dead, long live American conservatism. That's what I thought when I learned The Weekly Standard would be shuttered by longtime owner Clarity Media. The Standard was a creature of a particular time and place …
Discussion:
Conservative Review and The Daily Caller
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Yes, Russian Trolls Helped Elect Trump — Social media lies have real-world consequences. — This year, researchers at Ohio State University tried to measure the impact that fake news had on the 2016 election. They based their analysis on a postelection survey in which they'd asked voters 281 questions …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »
USA Today:
Poll: Most Americans don't believe Trump's denials, setting a rocky landscape ahead — WASHINGTON - A USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll has sobering findings for President Trump: Most Americans don't believe his denials that his campaign colluded with Russians in the 2016 campaign.