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7:10 PM ET, December 19, 2018

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Trump Considering Full Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Syria  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump is considering pulling 2,000 United States ground troops out of Syria in a move that would seek to describe the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State as largely won, officials said Wednesday.
RELATED:
Dion Nissenbaum / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Military Preparing for a Full Withdrawal of Its Forces From Northeastern Syria  —  Move throws campaign against Islamic State into question  —  WASHINGTON—In an abrupt reversal, the U.S. military is preparing to withdraw its forces from northeastern Syria, people familiar with the matter …
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Trump undermines his entire national security team on Syria  —  On Monday, the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement publicly pledged that the U.S. commitment to Syria would not waiver.  The very next day, Trump reportedly decided to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops there.
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 …
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 …
ClickHole:
Legal Bombshell: Mueller Flipped Trump's Confidant's Lawyer's Friend's Associate Gorpman (Who Could Testify Against Bleemer!)  And It's Not Even Lunchtime  —  The day's just getting started, and the Trump house of cards is already crumbling.  This morning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller dropped …
Discussion: The Week
RELATED:
Pete Kasperowicz / Washington Examiner:
Jeff Flake strikes out: Senate blocks his third push to protect Robert Mueller
Discussion: Axios
Eliana Johnson / Politico:
‘It got a little heated’: GOP infighting almost killed criminal justice reform
Discussion: Splinter, Raw Story and Vox
David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:
South Carolina GOP could scrap 2020 primary to protect Trump  —  The South Carolina Republican Party could cancel its marquee presidential nominating contest in 2020 in a move to protect President Trump from any primary challengers.  —  Drew McKissick, chairman of the South Carolina GOP …
RELATED:
David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:   Iowa GOP to hold its 2020 presidential caucus, Republican challengers to Trump welcome
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 …
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.
RELATED:
Lawfare:
The Former National Security Advisor's Sentencing Hearing: Flynncompetent Judging  —  A number of years ago, a group of singing lawyers put together an excellent parody song about the egomania of federal district judges.  Set to the tune of the old Turtles song, “Happy Together,” it opens: “Imagine me as God—I do.
Washington Post:
D.C. attorney general sues Facebook over alleged privacy violations from Cambridge Analytica scandal  —  The attorney general for the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Facebook for allowing Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy, to gain access to the names …
RELATED:
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 …
RELATED:
Haley Britzky / Axios:
Judge sides with BuzzFeed in defamation lawsuit over Steele Dossier
Discussion: Politico
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
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 …
New York Daily News:
Rudy Giuliani admits President Trump signed ‘bulls—t’ letter of intent for Moscow tower during 2016 campaign  —  President Trump signed a “bulls—t” letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 campaign, Rudy Giuliani conceded Tuesday - just two days after the former …
RELATED:
Kate Sullivan / CNN:
Trump signed letter of intent for Trump Tower Moscow project despite Giuliani insisting he didn't
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 …
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Trump sensitive to criticism about so-far failed border wall promise  —  McConnell announces continuing resolution  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump has become increasingly sensitive to criticism that he's backing off his signature promise to build a wall along the US-Mexico border …
RELATED:
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
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Attorneys for father of deceased migrant girl say border agents did not provide water
Discussion: Daily Kos, HuffPost and BuzzFeed News
New York Times:
Illinois Attorney General Says Catholic Church Withheld Names of at Least 500 Accused Priests  —  A scathing report by the Illinois attorney general accused the Roman Catholic Church in the state of failing the victims of clergy sexual abuse by neglecting to investigate their allegations …
Discussion: The Week
Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
President Trump is telling allies he wants Vice President Mike Pence to stay on the ticket in 2020  — President Donald Trump has been telling his closest political advisors in recent weeks that he wants Vice President Mike Pence to be with him on the ticket in 2020, CNBC has learned.
Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Political Wire
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Why not indict the Trump Organization?  —  Legal scholars debate whether a sitting president can be indicted or only impeached.  If the latter, it's not clear given the statutes of limitation on most crimes whether he could ever be prosecuted for certain crimes.
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 …
Washington Post:
We were FBI agents.  We want to know why Flynn lied to the bureau.  —  He could have been covering his tracks — or hiding something worse.  —  Tuesday's sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, took an unexpected twist after his attempts to shift blame to the government backfired.
Spiegel Online:
Answers to the Most Important Questions  —  In recent years, DER SPIEGEL published just under 60 articles by reporter and editor Claas Relotius.  He has now admitted that, in several instances, he either invented stories or distorted facts.  —  What happened?
Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Federal judge strikes down Trump asylum rules for domestic and gang violence victims  —  In a ruling Wednesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan struck down large portions of Justice Department policies that made it harder for immigrants to claim asylum.  —  A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Justice …
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 and Observer
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.”
Karen K. Ho / Columbia Journalism Review:
Sinclair fires reporter as she battles cancer  —  Alex George had already been through a lot.  In the summer of 2017, four weeks after graduating from the University of Michigan, she moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the age of 22, to work as a general assignment reporter at WTVC, an ABC-affiliate, on a two-year-contract.
Discussion: Wonkette and AOL
Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Fed hikes rate, lowers 2019 projection to 2 increases  — Central bank officials now forecast two hikes next year, down from three rate raises previously projected.  — However, the Fed continued to include in its statement that further ‘gradual’ rate hikes would be appropriate.
Andrew Kerr / The Daily Caller:
Revealed: Antifa Leader Relied On Anonymity To Push Radical, Violent Communist Agenda  —  Editor's note: The subject of this story is being identified because he's pushed radical rhetoric and has advocated for politically-motivated violence from behind a mask.
Discussion: twitchy.com and Instapundit
Jeremy Pelzer / Plain Dealer:
John Kasich says he couldn't beat President Donald Trump in a GOP primary  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio—Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday voiced doubts about challenging President Donald Trump in 2020, saying right now he couldn't beat the president in a Republican primary.
Discussion: Breitbart
Bloomberg:
Markets Revolt as Steadfast Powell Downplays Recent Sell-Off  — S&P 500 careens to 15-month low as Fed chairman speaks  — Dollar firms and Treasury yields tumble on latest policy move  —  The Federal Reserve leaned dovish during its latest policy meeting.  Financial markets wanted more.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Laura Miller / Slate:
Why Alice Walker Got All That Space in the Times to Tout the Anti-Semitic Lizard People Guy
Paul Demko / Politico:
Obamacare sign-ups see late surge
Discussion: ACA Signups
Benjamin Siegel / ABC News:
Top Democrat sends more than 50 letters seeking documents from Trump administration
Discussion: Politico
Jeremy Herb / CNN:
Republicans question Lynch on Comey, tarmac meeting
Discussion: The Gateway Pundit
Rsadon / DCist:
D.C. Officially Hits 700,000 Residents For The First Time Since 1975
Francis Wilkinson / Bloomberg:
Trump Is Making Americans More Immigrant-Friendly
Alex Kotch / Sludge:
Facebook Took Money From White Nationalist Candidate to Promote Neo-Nazi Podcast
Discussion: Mediaite and HuffPost
New York Times:
The Most-Read New York Times Stories of 2018
 Earlier Items: 
Ilan Berman:
A Year Into Iran's Quiet Counterrevolution
Seth Freed Wessler / New York Times:
Is Denaturalization the Next Front in the Trump Administration's War on Immigration?
Susan Page / USA Today:
Impeach Trump? Lessons learned from Clinton's impeachment, 20 years later
Kriston Capps / CityLab:
Why Not Try a Cap-and-Trade System for Low-Income Housing?
Bloomberg:
Trump Poised to Lift Sanctions on Rusal as Deripaska Cuts Stake
Discussion: Law & Crime and Raw Story
Associated Press:
AP Investigation: Migrant kids held in mass shelters
Discussion: The Week
Cato Institute:
Bump Stock Rule Bumps Up Against the Constitution