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.
Discussion:
National Review, Hill Reporter, Washington Post, The Defense Post, Observer, The Atlantic, Raw Story, ABC News, NY State of Politics, CNBC, USA Today, FDD's Long War Journal, NPR, Bloomberg, Commentary, KXLF-TV, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, Test Feed Using Fields, Common Dreams, Roll Call, WORLD, Outside the Beltway, Middle East Eye, Conservative Review, twitchy.com, The Week, The DC Chronicle, CBS Denver, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Breitbart, Jewish Insider and Mediaite
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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 …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Daily Beast, CNN, Bloomberg, Politico, Hit & Run, Vox, Washington Free Beacon, Splinter, The Defense Post, The Week, The Mahablog, FOX2now.com, Task & Purpose, The American Conservative, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, RedState, Townhall, Daily Wire, Military Times, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Axios and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
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.
Discussion:
Axios, New York Times, NBC News, Raw Story, Hit & Run, Balloon Juice and The Atlantic
Jessica Hopper / ABC News:
President Trump's troop withdrawal from Syria a ‘huge’ mistake: Senator Lindsey Graham
President Trump's troop withdrawal from Syria a ‘huge’ mistake: Senator Lindsey Graham
TASS:
US troops' withdrawal from Syria to create prospects for political solution, says diplomat
US troops' withdrawal from Syria to create prospects for political solution, says diplomat
Discussion:
Breaking Defense
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, Townhall, Political Wire, Law & Crime, Mediaite and Shareblue Media
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
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Pete Kasperowicz / Washington Examiner:
Jeff Flake strikes out: Senate blocks his third push to protect Robert Mueller
Jeff Flake strikes out: Senate blocks his third push to protect Robert Mueller
Discussion:
Axios
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 »
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Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:
BuzzFeed News Has Won A Lawsuit Over Its Decision To Publish The Trump Dossier
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
Judge sides with BuzzFeed in defamation lawsuit over Steele Dossier
Discussion:
Politico
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 …
Discussion:
New Republic, Hot Air, Hullabaloo, Splinter, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, Hill Reporter, IJR and Politico
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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, Raw Story, CANNONFIRE, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Atlantic
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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.
Discussion:
USA Today, Washington Post, Media Matters for America, Taylor Marsh, ABC News and WORLD
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 …
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 …
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Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
How to Delete Facebook — Lost faith in Facebook after data leakages …
How to Delete Facebook — Lost faith in Facebook after data leakages …
Discussion:
Hill Reporter, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and FOX2now.com, more at Techmeme »
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed News:
Apps Are Revealing Your Private Information To Facebook And You Probably Don't Know It
Apps Are Revealing Your Private Information To Facebook And You Probably Don't Know It
Discussion:
Mashable, The Daily Caller, DCist, The Guardian and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Derek Hunter / The Daily Caller:
Coulter Unloads: ‘A Joke Presidency’ That ‘Scammed The American People’ With Promises Of A Wall — On today's podcast we cover a lot of ground. Bestselling author Ann Coulter talks about the apparent walk-back of President Donald Trump's demand for $5 billion to build the border wall …
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Saagar Enjeti / The Daily Caller:
Is Trump Blowing His Last Chance To Get The Wall?
Is Trump Blowing His Last Chance To Get The Wall?
Discussion:
RedState, Washington Post, Mediaite and Hill Reporter
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.
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.
Discussion:
Board of Governors … and The Week
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Heather Long / Washington Post:
Federal Reserve cuts its outlook for U.S. economy; stocks plunge
Federal Reserve cuts its outlook for U.S. economy; stocks plunge
Discussion:
The Week
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
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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, National Review, TIME, Fortune, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com
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:
KXLF-TV, Deadline, AOL and IndieWire, more at Mediagazer »
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 …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Politico, NY State of Politics, The Week, The Hill, Law & Crime, Wonkette, Splinter, Axios, Balloon Juice, The Root, ThinkProgress, Washington Times and Mediaite
RELATED:
Kate Sullivan / CNN:
Trump signed letter of intent for Trump Tower Moscow project despite Giuliani insisting he didn't
Trump signed letter of intent for Trump Tower Moscow project despite Giuliani insisting he didn't
Discussion:
Roll Call, Raw Story, Vox, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, The Independent, New York Post, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, IJR, twitchy.com, Hill Reporter, AOL, The Week, Shakesville and Axios
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
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.
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 …
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
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:
Bloomberg, The Wrap, Washington Post and RealClearPolitics, more at Mediagazer »
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.
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?
Discussion:
The Guardian, twitchy.com and Samizdata, more at Mediagazer »
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 …
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