memeorandum: Corey Stewart, the firebrand Virginia Republican, will leave politics in December (Antonio Olivo/Washington Post)

12:00 PM ET, January 8, 2019

Top Items:

Benjamin Weiser / New York Times:

Russian Lawyer in Meeting at Trump Tower Is Charged in Case That Shows Kremlin Ties — [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] — Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who in 2016 met with Trump campaign officials in Trump Tower …

Discussion: Axios, Daily Kos, Political Wire and Mediaite

Washington Post:

Russian lawyer at Trump Tower meeting charged in separate case — A Russian lawyer whose role at a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower has come under scrutiny from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III was charged Tuesday in a separate case with obstructing justice in a money-laundering investigation.

Discussion: Raw Story

Sarah Ferris / Politico:

House GOP leaders fear support eroding for Trump's shutdown fight — Several dozen House Republicans might cross the aisle this week to vote for Democratic bills to reopen shuttered parts of the federal government, spurring the White House into a dramatic effort to stem potential GOP defections.

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo and The Week

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
As shutdown effects loom for normal Americans, Trump is feeling pressure to solve the stalemate

Discussion: NBC News, Raw Story, Media Matters for America and Political Wire

Brian Stelter / CNN:
Trump's border address sparks extraordinary debate inside and outside TV networks

Discussion: Washington Post, The Root, The Week and POLITICUSUSA, more at Mediagazer »

The Hill:
Pelosi cranks up shutdown pressure on Trump, GOP

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Undecided on Emergency Declaration for Border Wall, Officials Say

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:
Why Mike Pence Couldn't End the Shutdown

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:
Trump aides lay foundation for emergency order to build wall, saying border is in ‘crisis’

Discussion: Vox, Bloomberg, Associated Press, ABC News, BuzzFeed News, Contemptor, Mediaite, Joe.My.God., The Week and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: W.H.'s new strategy: Humanitarian and security ‘crisis’ at the border

Discussion: Power Line, BuzzFeed News and Raw Story

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:

Kellyanne Conway Corrects Sarah Sanders' Border Terrorist Claim: ‘Unfortunate Misstatement’ — Kellyanne Conway said her colleague, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, made an “unfortunate misstatement” on illegal immigration at the border on Fox News.

Discussion: Splinter, Politico, Los Angeles Times and Shareblue Media

Julia Ainsley / NBC News:

Only six immigrants in terrorism database stopped by CBP at southern border in first half of 2018 — The low number contradicts statements by Trump administration officials. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered only six immigrants on the U.S-Mexico border in the first half …

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Ex-Border Patrol Agent Suggests Trump Admin Lying About Only Six Suspected Terrorists Detained — National Border Patrol Council president and Fox News regular Brandon Judd bashed NBC on Tuesday for their report on how many terrorists U.S. Customs and Border Protection supposedly stopped at the southern border.

Nicholas Rasmussen / Just Security:
Terrorists and the Southern Border: Myth and Reality

Discussion: Washington Post and New York Times

Department of Homeland Security:
MYTH/FACT: Known and Suspected Terrorists/Special Interest Aliens

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Times and IJR

New York Times:

Bolton Walked Back Syria Statement. His Disdain for Debate Helped Produce It. — WASHINGTON — John R. Bolton found himself last weekend in a familiar but dangerous spot for any White House aide: cleaning up after his boss, President Trump, announced the withdrawal of 2,000 troops from Syria …

Discussion: Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Al-Monitor, The Week, Washington Post, Fox News, Hit & Run, TheBlaze, Vox, The Guardian, Bloomberg and Shakesville

Kareem Fahim / Washington Post:

Turkish leader Erdogan scolds and snubs Bolton over Kurdish fighters — ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan scolded and snubbed visiting White House national security adviser John Bolton on Tuesday, saying that he had made a “very serious mistake” by demanding protection for U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria.

Discussion: New York Times, Hit & Run, The American Conservative, Defense One, Al Jazeera and Just Security

DailySabah: A soft coup against Donald Trump

DailySabah: Bolton departs Turkey without meeting with Erdoğan

Ilya Somin / Reason:

Eminent Domain, Emergency Powers, and Trump's Wall — President Donald Trump claims he can use an “emergency” declaration to secure funding to use eminent domain to acquire land for his border wall, even without any additional congressional authorization. The validity of this claim is dubious at best.

Discussion: Just Security, Vox, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, Washington Post, Lawfare, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Little Green Footballs and USA Today

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
National Emergency Powers and Trump's Border Wall, Explained

Discussion: American Prospect, HuffPost, Washington Post, NPR, Front Page Magazine, Althouse, Lawfare, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog and Balkinization

Andrea Pitzer / Washington Post:
If Trump declares a state of emergency, he might actually cause one

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite and Hit & Run

Kurt Bardella / USA Today:

News networks should not air Trump Wall speech without fact-checking first — On the same day Donald Trump asked broadcast networks for air time, he attacked the news media as ‘the enemy of the people.’ — President Donald Trump announced Monday that he “will Address the Nation …

Discussion: Washington Post, Reuters, Townhall and IJR

CNN:
Broadcast networks deliberating whether to air Trump's prime time immigration address

Discussion: Vox, The Nation, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Joe.My.God., IJR, fox8.com, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, Hot Air, Mediaite and Splinter

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Networks giving Trump free airtime on Tuesday refused to air Obama's 2014 immigration speech

Discussion: National Review, IJR, Shakesville, Common Dreams, The Week, CNN, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Breitbart, Contemptor and ImmigrationProf Blog, more at Mediagazer »

Brad Plumer / New York Times:

U.S. Carbon Emissions Surged in 2018 Even as Coal Plants Closed — WASHINGTON — America's carbon dioxide emissions rose by 3.4 percent in 2018, the biggest increase in eight years, according to a preliminary estimate published Tuesday. — Strikingly, the sharp uptick in emissions occurred …

Discussion: CNN, The Guardian, Rhodium Group, The Atlantic, The Week and Mashable

Washington Post:
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions spiked in 2018 — and it couldn't happen at a worse time

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg and Common Dreams

Jim Swift / The Bulwark:

Trolls and Grifters: David Reaboi and Charlie Kirk Edition — “The crazies have started rolling into Kandahar like it's a f—king bathtub drain.” — It is axiomatic that while change creates opportunity, chaotic change creates the most dramatic opportunities for the most unsavory actors.

Discussion: twitchy.com, Townhall, Mediaite and Fox News Insider

Max Boot / Washington Post:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shouldn't approach her facts the way Trump does

Discussion: The Hill, RedState, IJR, twitchy.com, Washington Examiner, Tennessee Star, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire and Mother Jones

Joe Bruno / WSOC-TV:

Emergency Exit: Mark Harris trips alarm trying to evade Channel 9 in uptown — CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After Republican 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris finished addressing Mecklenburg County Republicans at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center Monday night, reporters …

Discussion: Political Wire, Joe.My.God. and Talking Points Memo

Los Angeles Times:

Second body found in West Hollywood home of Democratic donor Ed Buck — A man's body was found early Monday in the West Hollywood home of prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck, authorities said. — Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's West Hollywood station responded …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Advocate, CBS Los Angeles, The Week, Joe.My.God., Breitbart, WEHOville, Daily Wire, Splinter, twitchy.com, TheBlaze, Raw Story and Washington Free Beacon

Hugo Daniel / The Daily Beast: Protesters Chant ‘Arrest Him Now’ After Second Man Dies Inside Home of Wealthy Democratic Donor

Patricia Mazzei / New York Times:

'It's Just Too Much': A Florida Town Grapples With a Shutdown After a Hurricane — MARIANNA, Fla. — A federal prison here in Florida's rural Panhandle lost much of its roof and fence during Hurricane Michael in October, forcing hundreds of inmates to relocate to a facility in Yazoo City, Miss., more than 400 miles away.

Discussion: Vox, CNN, Daily Kos and Eschaton

Antonio Olivo / Washington Post:

Corey Stewart, the firebrand Virginia Republican, will leave politics in December — Corey A. Stewart, the Republican firebrand whose fights to crack down on illegal immigration and preserve Confederate monuments reflected the nation's increasingly polarized political landscape …

DW.COM:

Trump administration downgrades EU mission to US — The Trump administration has downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Union's delegation to the United States, an EU official has confirmed to DW. The demotion happened at the end of last year without notice.

Discussion: Splinter

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
U.S. Downgraded E.U.'s Diplomatic Status (but Didn't Say Anything)

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

U.S. Still Leans Conservative, but Liberals Keep Recent Gains — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' assessment of their political ideology was unchanged in 2018 compared with the year prior when 35% on average described themselves as conservative, 35% as moderate and 26% as liberal.

Discussion: NTK Network

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

A bulwark against Trump and Trumpism — In December, the Weekly Standard — regarded as among the premier conservative news outlets and certainly the one least under the spell of the current president — was closed by its owner, Clarity Media Group. The loss of a punchy …

Discussion: twitchy.com

Margaret Brennan / CBS News:

U.S. envoy working on Qatar dispute resigns from State Department — Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine Corps general and former head of U.S. Central Command who has been working as an envoy for the Trump administration to resolve a dispute with Qatar, has resigned from his position with the State Department.

Discussion: Task & Purpose

Jon Levine / The Wrap:

Tucker Carlson Loses Another Sponsor After Comments About Immigration, High-Paying Women — Red Lobster says it reserves the right to pull ads from any program “when the dialogue is no longer in line” with the company's core values — Tucker Carlson has lost another advertiser …

Discussion: Observer

Mike Allen / Axios:

The next juicy White House memoir comes out in 3 weeks, and ABC scored the first interview with its author — President Trump is curious — and White House aides, alumni and reporters are anxious — ahead of the Jan. 29 publication of the tightly embargoed “Team of Vipers,” a delicious, unsparing memoir by former Trump aide Cliff Sims.

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Political Wire

Reuters:

Exclusive: New documents link Huawei to suspected front companies in Iran, Syria — LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) - The U.S. case against the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Canada last month, centers on the company's suspected ties to two obscure companies.

Tami Luhby / CNN:

US spends twice as much on health care as its peers — (CNN)Despite many efforts to rein in US health care costs in recent years, spending is still on the rise. — Americans spend more than twice as much on health care per person as their peers in developed nations, according to a new analysis …

James Arkin / Politico:

Romney gets chilly reception from GOP senators after Trump attack — Sen. James Lankford will occasionally take issue with President Donald Trump's tactics and rhetoric. But he's not sure what Mitt Romney was thinking with his biting condemnation of the president before he was even sworn into office.

Discussion: American Thinker