memeorandum: The Border Patrol Has Been a Cult of Brutality Since 1924 (Greg Grandin/The Intercept)

10:20 AM ET, January 13, 2019

Top Items:

Trump has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with Putin from senior officials in administration — President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession …

Paulina Dedaj / Fox News:
Trump tells Judge Jeanine Pirro that Dems must ‘come to their senses’ on border security

Discussion: Townhall, The Week and twitchy.com

Washington Post:

Americans blame Trump and GOP much more than Democrats for shutdown, Post-ABC poll finds — By a wide margin, more Americans blame President Trump and Republicans in Congress than congressional Democrats for the now record-breaking government shutdown, and most reject the president's assertion …

Discussion: CNBC, Political Wire, twitchy.com, Mediaite, POLITICUSUSA, Axios and Balloon Juice

Sofi Sinozich / ABC News:

Trump, GOP blamed for shutdown; no crisis seen but fewer oppose wall (POLL) — A majority of Americans hold Donald Trump and congressional Republicans mainly responsible for the partial federal shutdown, now the longest in history, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

CNN:

CNN Poll: Trump bears most blame for shutdown — WASHINGTON (CNN)Amid the longest government shutdown in US history, a majority say Donald Trump bears more responsibility for it than the Democrats in Congress, and the President's disapproval rating has climbed five points since last month, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

Kris Schneider / ABC News:

Durbin to Trump: ‘Put an end to this shutdown and put everything on the table’ — As the partial government shutdown enters its fourth week, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that he believes President Donald Trump needs to …

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

Report on the Trump FBI Investigation — This is the most astounding evidence of Oval Office criminality since the release of the “smoking gun” tape in 1974. — Deep in — The New York Times's latest bombshell — is one singularly deadly word, a lethal bit of shrapnel aimed directly …

New York Times:

Trump Tweets Lengthy Attack on F.B.I. Over Inquiry Into Possible Aid to Russia — WASHINGTON — President Trump on Saturday unleashed an extended assault on the F.B.I. and the special counsel's investigation, knitting together a comprehensive alternative story in which he had been framed by disgraced …

Discussion: CNN, The Guardian, Lawfare, Mediaite, Front Page Magazine, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Tamar Auber / Mediaite:

Trump Doesn't Deny He's a Russian Agent When Asked By Fox News' Jeanine Pirro — On Saturday, President Donald Trump called into Jeanine Pirro's Fox News show. — During that interview, host Jeanine Pirro asked Trump about a New York Times report that claimed that the FBI opened an investigation …

Discussion: Raw Story, AOL and Breitbart

Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump touts shutdown plan, but advisers say ‘no one knows what he will do’

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications and IJR

NBC News:
Trump's firing of Comey triggered an FBI counterintelligence investigation. Here's what ‘counterintelligence’ entails.

Discussion: Washington Post, Lawfare, Fox News and Hot Air

Dion Nissenbaum / Wall Street Journal:

White House Sought Options to Strike Iran — State and Pentagon officials were rattled by the request — WASHINGTON—On a warm night in early September, militants fired three mortars into Baghdad's sprawling diplomatic quarter, home to the U.S. Embassy. — The shells—launched …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Defense One

Neal Rothschild / Axios:

Ocasio-Cortez is driving more Twitter conversation than the top 5 news companies combined — Note: Kamala Harris tweets under both a private and a Senate account. Her total is combined; Data: CrowdTangle; Chart: Chris Canipe/Axios — A freshman congresswoman who has held office for less …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line: Ocasio-Cortez whines about criticism by Daily Caller

CNN:

Make no mistake — this is a GOP shutdown — Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, and author, with Kevin Kruse, of the new book “Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

Discussion: Splinter

Washington Post:
‘In the White House waiting’: Inside Trump's defiance on the longest shutdown ever

Discussion: The Guardian, One America News Network, Breitbart, Deadline, Washington Press, Al Jazeera, Raw Story, Politico, Fox News Insider, Townhall and Talking Points Memo

Associated Press:
Pence's pickle: How to bargain when no one speaks for Trump

Discussion: KTLA

Darren Sands / BuzzFeed News:

In A Private Meeting, Kirsten Gillibrand Signaled She Will Run For President — New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Saturday signaled to a group of about 20 influential women that she will run for president, according to a person familiar with the meeting. — Gillibrand made her intentions clear …

Jacey Fortin / New York Times:

Infowars Must Turn Over Internal Documents to Sandy Hook Families, Judge Rules — The families of victims in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School must receive access to internal documents at Infowars, the internet and radio show whose host, Alex Jones, has spread the false claim …

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:
Infowars Makes a Stealth Return to YouTube

Discussion: Hartford Courant, LGBTQ Nation, Splinter and The Daily Dot

Ashe Schow / Daily Wire:

She Accused Him Of Rape. Text Messages Proved It Was A Lie. — A college student claimed she was forcibly raped by a man and reported him to police. Now she's been arrested for filing a false accusation. — On Dec. 16, 2018, Nikole P. Tucker reported that she had been forcibly raped …

Salena Zito / Washington Examiner:

Rick Scott chased the Hispanic vote and got it — Nine years ago Rick Scott, then a Florida businessman, sat down with a group of self-described jaded Republican strategists to discuss what it would take for him to run for governor. — “You are not going to get anywhere with Hispanic voters …

Washington Post:

William Barr's confirmation hearing expected to be a battle over Mueller's future — Two years of simmering tension between the White House, the Justice Department and Congress will culminate in Tuesday's confirmation hearing of William P. Barr to be the next attorney general …

James Randerson / Politico:

Jeremy Corbyn: We will do ‘everything’ to prevent no-deal Brexit — U.K. opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would do “everything we can” to prevent a no-deal Brexit. — Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Corbyn said that if MPs reject Theresa May's Brexit deal …

Discussion: One America News Network

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Nancy Pelosi Spanks the First Brat — WASHINGTON — Two men, sons of immigrants, rising to be the head of their own empires, powerful forces in their ethnic communities. Both dapper and mustachioed with commanding personalities. And both wielding a potent influence on the children …

Discussion: Althouse, Raw Story and Mediaite

Kimberly Ross / RedState:

Senator Tim Scott Excoriates the GOP For Being Silent on Rep. Steve King & Racism in Blistering Op-Ed — U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, left, speaks to the media during a news conference as South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley looks on at the South Carolina Statehouse on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Columbia …

Discussion: The Guardian, Mediaite and WGNO