memeorandum: US troops' withdrawal from Syria to create prospects for political solution, says diplomat (TASS)

2:25 AM ET, December 20, 2018

Top Items:

Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria startles aides and allies — In April, President Trump repeated his campaign promise to end U.S. military involvement in Syria. “I want to get out,” he said. “I want to bring our troops back home.” — In September, senior administration aides …

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Raw Story, USA Today, CNN, The Atlantic and NPR

Poolreports / Public Pool:

by a Senior Administration Official on Syria — SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hi, everybody. This is a spokesperson for the NSC. Just real quickly, I just want to reinforce this is on background for a “senior administration official.” And as the moderator indicated, it's embargoed until just after the call ends.

Washington Post:

Mattis, once one of ‘my generals,’ loses his influence with Trump — President Trump's decision to abruptly withdraw troops from Syria is a clear rebuke to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the last remaining member of a retinue of military men Trump once fondly called “my generals.”

Discussion: CNN, Hill Reporter, Raw Story, Political Wire, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Washington Free Beacon and Task & Purpose

TASS:
US troops' withdrawal from Syria to create prospects for political solution, says diplomat

Discussion: Breaking Defense

New York Times:
Trump Withdraws U.S. Forces From Syria, Declaring ‘We Have Won Against ISIS’

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Trump undermines his entire national security team on Syria

Discussion: ABC News, LewRockwell, ThinkProgress, CNBC, Axios, New York Times, Townhall, The American Conservative and Balloon Juice

Washington Post:
Trump snubs Corker, as critics and allies alike lambaste Syria decision

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico and Mediaite

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Trump Courts Catastrophe in Syria

Discussion: The Daily Beast, NBC News, Hit & Run, Instapundit and Hot Air

Wall Street Journal:

Trump's Attorney General Pick Criticized an Aspect of Mueller Probe in Memo to Justice Department — William Barr said obstruction of justice inquiry by special counsel is ‘fatally misconceived’ — WASHINGTON—William Barr, President Trump's choice for attorney general …

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, CNBC, The Week, Raw Story and Mediaite

Michele Anderson:

Der Spiegel journalist messed with the wrong small town — In February 2017, my husband and I attended a concert at our local theater, and were sipping some wine in the lobby before the show started. Several people came up to us at separate times excitedly, and asked, “did you meet the German guy yet?!”

Discussion: New York Times, The American Conservative and Instapundit

Kate Connolly / The Guardian:

Der Spiegel says top journalist faked stories for years — Publication says Claas Relotius committed journalistic fraud ‘on a grand scale’ — The German news magazine Der Spiegel has been plunged into chaos after revealing that one of its top reporters had falsified stories over several years.

Discussion: NPR and Samizdata

New York Times:

Secret Experiment in Alabama Senate Race Imitated Russian Tactics — As Russia's online election machinations came to light last year, a group of Democratic tech experts decided to try out similarly deceptive tactics in the fiercely contested Alabama Senate race, according to people familiar with the effort and a report on its results.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Daily Wire

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:

BREAKING: John McCain Associate Gave Dossier To BuzzFeed — A longtime associate of late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain provided a copy of the infamous Steele dossier to BuzzFeed News, according to an explosive court filing released Wednesday. — David Kramer, a former State Department official …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:
BuzzFeed News Has Won A Lawsuit Over Its Decision To Publish The Trump Dossier

Discussion: Townhall

Haley Britzky / Axios:
Judge sides with BuzzFeed in defamation lawsuit over Steele Dossier

Discussion: KXLF-TV and New York Times

emptywheel:

In Defense of Emmet Sullivan: Van Grack Suggested Mueller Did Review Whether Flynn's Behavior Amounted to Treason — I'd like to defend Judge Emmet Sullivan's intemperate mentions of unregistered foreign agents and treason in the Mike Flynn sentencing hearing yesterday.

Discussion: National Review, CANNONFIRE, Lawfare, Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Taylor Marsh and The Atlantic

Michael Ledeen / Wall Street Journal: The Real Story of the Flynn Hearing

Washington Post: We were FBI agents. We want to know why Flynn lied to the bureau.

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Testimony From Decades Ago Indicates Knowledge of Campaign-Finance Laws — Legal experts say that could be critical if investigators pursue a case over hush-money payments to women in the 2016 campaign — Sworn statements by President Trump dating back several decades indicate …

Discussion: Law & Crime and Mediaite

Anna Massoglia / OpenSecrets.org:

Trump 2020 campaign used a shell company to pay ad buyers at the center of alleged illegal coordination scheme with NRA — The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC …

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:

GoFundMe campaign for border wall aims for a billion (at least) — President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to shut down the government over funding for his border wall. But as the question of money for his campaign proposal once again roils Congress, one man thinks he may have found a solution: Crowd-funding.

Discussion: Splinter, The Daily Beast and Breitbart

Derek Hunter / The Daily Caller:
Coulter Unloads: ‘A Joke Presidency’ That ‘Scammed The American People’ With Promises Of A Wall

Discussion: Townhall, CNBC, Mediaite, Contemptor, Talking Points Memo, RedState, IJR, Hot Air and The Week

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Trump sensitive to criticism about so-far failed border wall promise

Discussion: Hot Air, New Republic, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos and KXLF-TV

Washington Post:

Mueller seeks Roger Stone's testimony to House intelligence panel, suggesting special counsel is near end of probe of Trump adviser — Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III asked the House Intelligence Committee on Friday for an official transcript of Trump adviser Roger Stone's testimony …

Discussion: Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime, The Week, Townhall, Mediaite and Shareblue Media

Page Six:

Rudy Giuliani spotted chuckling about Mueller investigation — Turns out Rudy Giuliani isn't any more discreet about his biggest client's case at his local cigar club than he is on cable news. — Giuliani — who, for an active attorney, is surprisingly open about the Mueller investigation on TV …

Discussion: Raw Story

Salt Lake Tribune:

Tribune editorial: Chaffetz has made his choice — By The Salt Lake Tribune — Jason Chaffetz has made his choice. — The former Utah congressman has not just taken a break from a career as a media-savvy and slightly wonkish politician, someone who might reasonably have aspired …

Carrie Levine / Center for Public Integrity:

Wilbur Ross said he divested a stock holding — but he didn't — Failure to dump BankUnited shares is the latest inaccurate statement by Trump's Commerce secretary. — U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross twice submitted sworn statements to ethics officials saying he had divested stock …

Discussion: The Week and Splinter

Rebecca Traister / The Cut:

The Imagined Threat of a Woman Who Governs Like a Man — On Tuesday, Politico posted a provocative, anonymously sourced piece claiming that New York congresswoman elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be planning, in concert with Justice Democrats, to recruit a Democratic primary challenger …

Discussion: The Wrap, IJR, twitchy.com and Observer

Timothy Cama / The Hill:
House climate change panel unlikely to have subpoena power

Discussion: HuffPost, Common Dreams, Splinter, Washington Post and twitchy.com

Adolfo Flores / BuzzFeed News:

A 5-Month-Old Girl Has Been Hospitalized With Pneumonia After Being Detained By Border Patrol — A five-month-old girl who traveled with the migrant caravan has been hospitalized with pneumonia after spending five days inside freezing cells operated by border authorities in California, her mother said.

Discussion: Splinter

Washington Post:
Attorneys for father of deceased migrant girl say border agents did not provide water

Discussion: Daily Kos

Jim Siegel / The Columbus Dispatch:

Citing ‘rotten, stinking politics,’ Kasich vetoes gun bill — Jim Siegel The Columbus Dispatch @phrontpageRandy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch @RandyLudlow — Saying that signing a gun rights measure “would be detrimental to the safety of all of our citizens,” Gov. John Kasich vetoed …

Discussion: Townhall

Zach Baron / GQ:

The Fresno Bee and the War on Local News — Local newspapers like The Fresno Bee have long been an endangered institution in America, and that was before California Rep. Devin Nunes began waging a public campaign against his hometown paper. Zach Baron spent time with the reporters fighting …

NBC News:

United States added to list of most dangerous countries for journalists for first time — At least 63 professional journalists were killed doing their jobs in 2018, a 15 percent increase over last year, Reporters Without Borders said. — PARIS — The murder of the Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi …

Discussion: The Hill, Daily Wire, twitchy.com, TIME, Fortune, National Review, Breitbart and The Daily Caller

Albert Burneko / The Concourse:

Visionary Brain Genius Elon Musk Has Invented The World's Worst And Most Expensive Subway — If you are anything like me, many times you have been riding the subway and have had the thought, “What is wrong with this dang subway is that it is not exponentially more expensive and slower than this.”

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Breitbart and Big Think

Helena Andrews-Dyer / Washington Post:

Barack Obama dons a Santa hat and hands out gifts in surprise visit to D.C. children's hospital — Watch out, Santa: Former president Barack Obama is coming for your sleigh. — With a fluffy red cap and a bulging bag slung over his shoulder, Obama delivered presents (and more than a few gasps) …

Kim Tong-Hyung / Associated Press:

N. Korea says it won't denuclearize unless US removes threat — SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Thursday it will never unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons unless the United States removes its nuclear threat first, a statement that raises further doubts on whether leader Kim Jong Un …

Eliza Dushku / BostonGlobe.com:

I worked at CBS. I didn't want to be sexually harassed. I was fired — The narrative propagated by CBS, actor Michael Weatherly, and writer-producer Glenn Gordon Caron is deceptive and in no way fits with how they treated me on the set of the television show “Bull” and retaliated …

Discussion: East Bay Times, KXLF-TV, Deadline, AOL and IndieWire, more at Mediagazer »

Paul Sonne / Washington Post:

They tested positive for HIV. Then the military kicked them out. — Testing positive for HIV was difficult enough. Getting forced out of the military by the Air Force because of the diagnosis proved even harder. — So say two U.S. airmen who filed suit on Wednesday …

Hayley C. Cuccinello / Forbes:

The World's Highest-Paid Comedians Of 2018 — Once again, Jerry Seinfeld is the King of Comedy. — The Seinfeld creator earned $57.5 million in 12 months, before taxes and fees, claiming the top spot on our list of the world's highest-paid comedians. He collected multimillion-dollar dividends …

Discussion: Daily Wire and The Daily Caller

Dan Mangan / CNBC:

New secret filing in case of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen placed in NY federal court vault — A document that is sealed from public view was placed in a New York federal court vault in a criminal case against President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen.

Discussion: Raw Story and The Root

Jack Shafer / Politico:

Stop the Stupid Tucker Carlson Boycott — By now you've heard that the boycott brigade has come for Tucker Carlson, demanding that the advertisers of his nightly Fox News Channel show dump him from their budgets for saying immigrants make the United States “poorer and dirtier.”

Discussion: The Wrap, Bloomberg, New Republic, Contemptor, RealClearPolitics, Shareblue Media and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Mick Mulvaney as chief of staff: Let Trump be Trump — Outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly tried and failed to bring a military discipline to the West Wing. Mick Mulvaney doesn't plan to try. — Mulvaney will approach the job far differently than Kelly, according to six sources close …

Discussion: ABC News