memeorandum: Pompeo to give Cairo address on U.S. role in Middle East (Nahal Toosi/Politico)

12:40 PM 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, Mediaite, New York Post, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Hill Reporter, The Week, twitchy.com and Shakesville

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: Axios, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Wonkette, Law & Crime, The Hill, The Root, Talking Points Memo, Splinter, Washington Times, Mediaite and Political Wire

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:
Giuliani Walks It Back: Trump Signed ‘Bullsh*t’ Letter Of Intent For Moscow Tower

Discussion: Balloon Juice

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

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Vox and Washington Post

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

Discussion: AOL

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: New Republic, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Bloomberg, NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, CBS Denver, Breitbart, Middle East Eye, CNBC, twitchy.com, Jewish Insider, Balloon Juice and The Week

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, Townhall, Mother Jones, Axios, The Defense Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Task & Purpose, Daily Wire, The American Conservative, The Week 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 and NPR

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

CNN:
Trump orders rapid withdrawal from Syria in apparent reversal

Discussion: Mediaite, The Week, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Reuters, more at Mediagazer »

Nahal Toosi / Politico:
Pompeo to give Cairo address on U.S. role in Middle East

Discussion: The American Conservative

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: Taylor Marsh, ABC News, WORLD, ThinkProgress, New York Times and Patterico's Pontifications

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: Washington Examiner and Power Line

Samantha Vinograd / Politico:

Why You Shouldn't Feel Sorry for Michael Flynn — I spent almost two years working from a closet in the West Wing that was part of the national security adviser's suite of offices. The Suite, as we called it, almost never slept. My boss, national security adviser Tom Donilon …

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 Raw Story

Ken White / The Atlantic:
Note to Michael Flynn: Federal Court Is Not Twitter

Discussion: Raw Story and TalkLeft

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, Just Security, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Politico, emptywheel, The American Spectator and New York Times

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 …

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 …

Discussion: New York Times, Vox and The Week, more at Techmeme »

openDemocracy: Revealed: Arron Banks Brexit campaign's ‘secret’ meetings with Cambridge Analytica

Washington Post:

Senate to pass bill that would keep government open, deny Trump wall funding — The Senate prepared Wednesday to pass a short-term spending bill that would keep the government open through the New Year but deny President Trump the money he wanted for his border wall — a stark retreat …

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

Sarah Ferris / Politico:
McConnell moves to avert shutdown disaster

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, ABC News and Talking Points Memo

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

Discussion: ThinkProgress

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

Discussion: Political Wire

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

Jonathan Shorman / Wichita Eagle:
More Kansas lawmakers switch parties: Sykes, Clayton leave GOP, become Democrats

Discussion: Axios

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: Hot Air, IJR, Hill Reporter and Political Wire

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, KXLF-TV, Bloomberg, Raw Story and EURACTIV.com

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 »

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: Splinter, No More Mister Nice Blog and Roll Call

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: New York Times, Axios, Washington Free Beacon, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, NPR and Associated Press

Kevin Freking / Associated Press:
Trump says he's eager to sign sweeping criminal justice bill

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Conservative News Today

Center for Public Integrity:

Why did Donald Trump's national security adviser want to meet with a Ukrainian billionaire? — An aide to National Security Adviser John Bolton sought to schedule a meeting for him with a Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk during Bolton's official trip to Ukraine last August …

Discussion: Bloomberg, ThinkProgress and POLITICUSUSA

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

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Cummings puts Trump on notice for wave of investigations — Democrats still have two weeks until they take control of the House, but a top Democratic investigator is already putting President Donald Trump on notice. — Incoming House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings …

Alana Goodman / Washington Examiner:

Exclusive: Nation of Islam receiving federal cash to teach prisoners — The Nation of Islam and its leaders have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the U.S. government since 2008 to teach religious study programs for federal prison inmates, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Geller Report

Ed Pilkington / The Guardian:

Sealed v Sealed: ruling sheds light on mystery case thought to involve Mueller — Secretive dispute over subpoena revealed to concern an unnamed corporation, but many questions remain — A mysterious case playing out in Washington amid tight secrecy - and presumed to involve …

Discussion: Vox, Politico, Washington Post and New York Times

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: Breitbart and Talking Points Memo

Jonathan Oosting / Detroit News:

GOP bid to strip power from Democratic secretary of state likely dead — Lansing — A Senate Republican power play proposal to shift campaign oversight from Democratic Secretary of State-elect Jocelyn Benson to a new political commission is poised to die in the Michigan House.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times:

Advertisers Flee Tucker Carlson's Fox News Show After He Derides Immigrants — The Fox News host Tucker Carlson has lost advertisers after saying on the air last week that allowing certain immigrants into the United States “makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided.”