memeorandum: Trump critics celebrate as Flynn judge smashes right-wing conspiracy theory about Russia prosecution at hearing (Chris Baynes/The Independent)

2:00 PM ET, December 19, 2018

Top Items:

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.

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: Vox, Townhall, RedState, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, The Mahablog, The Defense Post, Axios, The Week, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The American Conservative, Military Times, Task & Purpose, Daily Wire and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

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: ThinkProgress, Hill Reporter, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and The Guardian

CNN:

Trump orders rapid withdrawal from Syria in apparent reversal — Washington (CNN)Planning is underway for a “full” and “rapid” withdrawal of US troops from Syria, a US defense official told CNN Wednesday. — The decision, which would be a reversal from previously stated US policy …

Discussion: Breitbart, Mediaite, Jihad Watch, The Week 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, Shakesville, IJR and Mediaite

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: McConnell moves to sidestep shutdown

Discussion: Politico and The American Conservative

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

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

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

Discussion: Balloon Juice

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: Media Matters for America, Taylor Marsh, ABC News, WORLD, ThinkProgress 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.

Chris Baynes / The Independent:

Trump critics celebrate as Flynn judge smashes right-wing conspiracy theory about Russia prosecution at hearing — 'It shows that the Trump people do not do well in the courts of law, when you're dealing with facts and evidence,' says former prosecutor — {{#singleComment}}{{total}} …

Wall Street Journal:
The Flynn Fiasco — A sentencing hearing devolves into a spectacle of misinformation.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Power Line

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Reality deals more blows to Trump's alternative narrative

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post and CNBC

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

Discussion: Raw Story

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

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

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

Konstantinos Papamiltiadis / Facebook:
Let's Clear Up a Few Things About Facebook's Partners

Discussion: Investor's Business Daily, TechCrunch, abc7chicago.com, AOL and East Bay Times, more at Mediagazer »

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: CNN, Hot Air, Splinter, Raw Story, IJR, Hill Reporter and KXLF-TV

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.

Griffin Connolly / Roll Call:
Rep. Adam Schiff: If Michael Cohen Goes to Jail, Why Wouldn't Trump?

Discussion: Washington Monthly

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

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

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 and Shareblue Media

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 …

Alan Gomez / USA Today: Federal judge blocks another attempt by Trump to limit asylum

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 …

John Wagner / Washington Post: Cummings seeks wide array of documents as Democrats prepare to step up oversight of Trump administration

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, Bloomberg, Politico, Forbes, Talking Points Memo, Axios, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

Sarah Ferris / Politico:
McConnell moves to avert shutdown disaster

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, ABC News and twitchy.com

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, The Guardian, Raw Story, KXLF-TV, Bloomberg, EURACTIV.com and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

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

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

careers.ap.org:

Temporary Newsperson, Politics … The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information.

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 Daily Caller

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Treasury Levies Fresh Sanctions Against Russian Agents for 2016 U.S. Election Interference And Nerve-Agent Attack — *U.S. Treasury Also Cites Russian Government Interference in Elections Worldwide In New Sanctions — *U.S. Treasury Blacklists Two Russian Companies For Alleged Role in Election Interference

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 and ThinkProgress

Cato Institute:

Bump Stock Rule Bumps Up Against the Constitution — This morning, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker signed the Trump Administration's new regulation banning bump stocks. The final rule is largely unchanged from the one put up for notice and comment several months ago …

Discussion: The Week, Associated Press and Townhall