memeorandum: U.S. weighs complete withdrawal of troops from Syria: U.S. officials (Reuters)

11:25 AM ET, December 19, 2018

Top Items:

Kate Sullivan / CNN:

Trump signed letter of intent for Trump Tower Moscow project despite Giuliani insisting he didn't — (CNN)A newly obtained document shows President Donald Trump signed a letter of intent to move forward with negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Russia, despite his attorney Rudy Giuliani claiming …

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, The Independent, New York Post, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Hill Reporter, The Week and twitchy.com

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: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Hill, The Root, Splinter, Political Wire and Mediaite

Zachary Basu / Axios:
CNN: Trump signed letter of intent to build Trump Tower in Moscow

Discussion: AOL

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: White House on the sidelines in spending fight

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post and Talking Points Memo

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: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Bloomberg, Breitbart, CNBC, Jewish Insider and Balloon Juice

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: RedState, Mother Jones, Axios, CNN, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Daily Wire, The Week, The American Conservative, KXLF-TV and Mediaite

Missy Ryan / Washington Post:

Trump administration plans to pull U.S. troops from Syria immediately, defense official says — The Trump administration has decided to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria, a defense official said on Wednesday. — The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision …

Discussion: Hill Reporter, Talking Points Memo, Task & Purpose and Reuters

Reuters:

U.S. weighs complete withdrawal of troops from Syria: U.S. officials — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is considering a total withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria as it nears the end of its campaign to retake all of the territory once held by Islamic State, U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Discussion: Washington Post and Mediaite

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: ABC News, New York Times, WORLD and ThinkProgress

Wall Street Journal:

The Flynn Fiasco — A sentencing hearing devolves into a spectacle of misinformation. — By The Editorial Board — Well, that was bizarre. We're referring to the fiasco Tuesday of what was supposed to be the sentencing of Michael Flynn. The sentencing was postponed until next year …

Discussion: Power Line

Ken White / The Atlantic:

Note to Michael Flynn: Federal Court Is Not Twitter — Former National-Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Tuesday got an unpleasant lesson on the difference between politically effective arguments and legally astute ones. Backed by an array of well-wishers, including President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Raw Story

Stephen Collinson / CNN:

Reality deals more blows to Trump's alternative narrative — Washington (CNN)Almost daily, reality deals another blow to the alternative narrative that President Donald Trump has constructed around his scandal-plagued presidency, campaign and business legacy.

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post and Media Matters for America

Washington Post:
'I'm not hiding my disgust, my disdain': Veteran judge upends hopes of Trump allies as he spotlights Flynn's misdeeds

Discussion: Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, The Guardian, Just Security, Wall Street Journal, Politico, New York Times, emptywheel and The American Spectator

Samantha Vinograd / Politico:
Why You Shouldn't Feel Sorry for Michael Flynn

Discussion: Raw Story

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

Discussion: Power Line and Instapundit

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

Discussion: TalkLeft

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 …

New York Times:
Facebook's Data Sharing: 5 Takeaways From Our Investigation

Discussion: The Week and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Senate to pass bill that would keep government open, deny Trump wall funding — The Senate intends to pass a short-term spending bill that would keep the government open through Feb. 8 but deny President Trump the money he wants for his border wall, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Wednesday.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Axios, ABC News, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, IJR and The Week

Jon Ward / Yahoo News:
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet says he is considering a run for Democratic presidential nomination

Discussion: Political Wire

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:
For Voters, Trump's Border Wall Is at the Bottom of Proposed Priorities

Discussion: ThinkProgress

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: IJR, Hill Reporter and Political Wire

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 …

Ed Pilkington / The Guardian:
Sealed v Sealed: ruling sheds light on mystery case thought to involve Mueller

Discussion: Vox and Washington Post

Politico:
Mueller appears victorious in mystery subpoena dispute

Discussion: Hullabaloo

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

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Lawfare and KXLF-TV

Jason Schwartz / Politico:

Ousted NPR news chief, ex-Fox News execs team up on new site — One was ousted from NPR amid allegations of sexual harassment. The other left Fox News shortly after writing a column widely panned as racist and anti-gay. Now they've been recruited to help launch a digital news startup …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Splinter, more at Mediagazer »

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 …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Bloomberg, Raw Story and EURACTIV.com

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: Axios, Townhall, Washington Free Beacon, Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, NPR and Associated Press

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

Discussion: The Week, Marijuana Moment and Mediaite

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

Discussion: KXLF-TV and Politico

Ben White / Politico:

How Trump the ‘Tariff Man’ could lose to ‘Dow Man’ Trump — President Donald Trump loves two things very much: tariffs and a rising stock market. It's becoming increasingly clear he can't have both. — Free-traders inside and outside the White House are now hoping that Trump's love …

Discussion: Raw Story

Financial Times:
Fed's Powell under pressure over rate rises

Discussion: Political Wire

Elisabeth Malkin / New York Times:

In Home Village of Girl Who Died in U.S. Custody, Poverty Drives Migration — SAN ANTONIO SECORTEZ, Guatemala — Claudia Maquin said goodbye to her 7-year-old daughter a few weeks ago, when the girl and her father left their small village with the dream of making a new life in the United States.

Discussion: NPR and Media Matters for America

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
Power Up: 'Cameras can't get in' is only reason Democrats say border patrol facility …

Discussion: Daily Wire

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:

Warning To Democrats: Most Americans Against U.S. Getting More Politically Correct — Heading into the 2020 Democratic primaries, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll has a warning for Democrats: Americans are largely against the country becoming more politically correct.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Roll Call

David E. Bernstein / Reason:

Everyone is Misreporting the Texas BDS Lawsuit — No, a Texas school district did not require speech pathologist Bahia Amawi to sign a “pro-Israel oath,” nor even to promise not to personally boycott Israel. — Speech pathologist Bahia Amawi, who works as a contractor …

Discussion: New York Times, Israellycool, The Daily Caller, middleeastmonitor.com and The American Conservative

Kate Riga / Talking Points Memo:

In Party Switch, 3 Kansas Lawmakers Will Start The New Session As Democrats — When the Kansas state government reconvenes in January, three of its formerly Republican members will report as freshly minted Democrats. — The two state senators and one state representative, all women …

Discussion: Shawnee Mission Post

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: Instapundit

Roula Khalaf / Financial Times:

FT Person of the Year: George Soros — For a man facing daily attacks for his activism and liberal vision of the world, George Soros was in a curiously buoyant mood on a sunswept afternoon in Marrakesh. He had just visited South Africa, home to his first philanthropic foray in the late 1970s …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo