memeorandum: Trump's AG nominee: Mueller should be allowed to finish work (Eric Tucker/Associated Press)

1:45 PM ET, January 14, 2019

Top Items:

CNN:

Transcripts detail how FBI debated whether Trump was ‘following directions’ of Russia — (CNN)In the chaotic aftermath at the FBI following Director James Comey's firing, a half-dozen senior FBI officials huddled to set in motion the momentous move to open an investigation into President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Shareblue Media, The Federalist, USA Today, Fox News Insider, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Daily Wire, The Atlantic, Law & Crime, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Washington Times, The Week, KTLA and Mediaite

Eric Tucker / Associated Press:

Trump's AG nominee: ‘Vitally important’ Mueller finish work — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general will tell senators at his confirmation hearing “it is vitally important” that special counsel Robert Mueller be allowed to complete his Russia investigation …

Discussion: ABC News, Axios, The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump's and Pompeo's weird non-denials about Trump working for Russia

Discussion: Associated Press, The Guardian, POLITICUSUSA and Breitbart

Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
Trump's AG nominee: Mueller should be allowed to finish work

Discussion: Politico, The Right Scoop and One America News Network

CNBC:
Trump says ‘I never worked for Russia,’ calls claim ‘a whole big fat hoax’ after explosive report of FBI probe

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Wall Street Journal, The Intercept, VICE News and The Root

Courier-Journal:

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is going to Canada for surgery — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery. — Paul, an ophthalmologist, said the operation is related to an injury in 2017 when his neighbor …

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

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed News:

Bernie Sanders Will Meet With Former Female Staffers About 2016 Campaign Sexism And Harassment — Bernie Sanders will meet on Wednesday with women who have said they experienced sexual harassment and gender discrimination while working on his 2016 presidential campaign …

Holly Otterbein / Politico:

Bernie Sanders staffs up for 2020 — Bernie Sanders is adding firepower to his political team ahead of a potential 2020 campaign, locking down digital alumni who were key to his surprise performance in 2016 and recruiting the media production company that helped launch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to prominence.

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Daily Caller

Michael Knowles / Fox News:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the voice of an ignorant generation

Discussion: twitchy.com

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Kremlin Blessed Russia's NRA Operation, U.S. Intel Report Says — When Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin's brought NRA bigwigs to Moscow, it wasn't a rogue mission. It was okayed from the very top, according to a report reviewed by The Beast. — Betsy Woodruff

Discussion: Joe.My.God., POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and The Week

Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:

'A 10 isn't enough': This UCLA gymnast's flawless floor routine just broke the Internet — As the first strains of Tina Turner's “Proud Mary” filled the Anaheim Arena on Saturday, Katelyn Ohashi came alive. — As she executed a quick body roll with a giant smile plastered across her face …

Discussion: abc7ny.com, Boing Boing, KTLA and FOX6Now.com

Kelly Yamanouchi / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Hartsfield-Jackson security lines more than an hour long amid federal shutdown — Security lines at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport stretched more than an hour long Monday morning, causing travelers to miss flights amid the partial federal shutdown.

Discussion: Politico

WSB-TV:
Atlanta passenger gets gun through TSA, alerts officials in Japan he still has it

Discussion: CNN, Hit & Run, Washington Post and CNBC

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:

Democrats' desire to subpoena interpreters in Trump, Putin meetings raises ethical questions — A bombshell Washington Post report that revealed over the weekend that President Trump had seized interpreter notes from a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin reignited Democrats' desire …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Atlantic and NB Blog

Tara Palmeri / ABC News:
Interpreter from Trump-Putin summit may be forced into congressional spotlight

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, CNN and Hullabaloo

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scoop: Trump dressed down Mulvaney in front of congressional leaders — President Trump chastised his new chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, over his handling of shutdown talks, creating an awkward scene in front of congressional leaders of both parties, according to two sources who were present.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Vox, Sputnik International, Raw Story, The Week, Washington Press, CNN, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Rachael Bade / Politico:
Trump backs off national emergency with no end to shutdown in sight

Discussion: The Hill, Political Wire, The Moderate Voice and Splinter

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:

Trump's DC Circuit Nominee — And Reported Supreme Court Contender — Wrote Inflammatory Op-Eds In College — WASHINGTON — Neomi Rao — President Donald Trump's pick for a powerful federal judgeship and a reported US Supreme Court contender — wrote a string of op-eds in college …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib photographed with pro-Hezbollah activist who says Israel has no right to exist — Freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was photographed with a Palestinian activist who praised the terrorist group Hezbollah, said Israel did not have the right to exist …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Daily Wire, Mediaite and twitchy.com

Rick Noack / Washington Post:

U.S. ambassador in Berlin warns Germans about Russian gas pipeline, triggering applause elsewhere — American ire over German reliance on Russian natural gas imports shows no signs of letting up, and over the weekend, Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador in Berlin, issued a warning …

Discussion: Bloomberg

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

GOP's John Kasich is looking to join CNN or MSNBC amid speculation he could run for president in 2020 — Republican John Kasich, who is thinking about running for president in 2020, is likely to announce this week that he will join a major cable news network.

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:

Tulsi Gabbard once touted working for anti-gay group that backed conversion therapy — (CNN)Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in the early 2000s touted working for her father's anti-gay organization, which mobilized to pass a measure against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and promoted controversial conversion therapy.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, ABC News, IJR, Roll Call, Joe.My.God., Talking Points Memo, Splinter, Breitbart, Washington Post, Mediaite and LGBTQ Nation

New York Times:

It's Time for T.S.A. Workers to Strike — The shutdown is painful, but it is also an opportunity for labor to take a stand. — Ms. Ehrenreich is the author of “Nickel and Dimed” and the founder of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Mr. Stevenson is a former labor organizer.

Washington Examiner:

Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono deserve scorn for effort to establish an anti-Catholic religious test — Sen. Kamala Harris is running for president in a very crowded field. Maybe the need to distinguish herself drove her to take the lead on anti-Catholicism.

Nika Shakhnazarova / The Sun:

SPIDERS OF MARS Skin-crawling moment hundreds of spiders ‘rain’ from the sky in Brazil leaving terrified residents running for cover — The 14-year-old who filmed the incredible moment said it left him ‘stunned and scared’ as the arachnids floated in the air

Discussion: Mashable

Stephen Rex Brown / New York Daily News:

Manhattan DA Vance alone among city's district attorneys in referring defendants to ICE — When Justo Santos beat a murder charge in 2014, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance wasn't done with him — he referred Santos to ICE for possible deportation. — The move, which Vance says is appropriate under …

David French / The Atlantic:

The Unmanning of Conservatism — In Trump's view of masculinity, cheap shots replace bravery and hostility replaces honor. — Donald Trump wants everyone to know that he's a tough guy. In 2017, the congressional candidate Greg Gianforte “body-slammed” the Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs …

John R. Kasich / USA Today:

Republican Party is mired in the 1950s and ignores today's America at its peril — Republicans need to break their own self-made mold of being naysayers instead of doers. It means designing solutions that actually solve problems. — CONNECT — It's a new year and almost two decades …

Discussion: Political Wire

New York Times:

Pentagon Officials Fear Bolton's Actions Increase Risk of Clash With Iran — WASHINGTON — Senior Pentagon officials are voicing deepening fears that President Trump's hawkish national security adviser, John R. Bolton, could precipitate a conflict with Iran at a time when Mr. Trump …

Discussion: Washington Post, Observer, Daily Wire, Axios, Center for Security Policy, ThinkProgress, The American Conservative, Splinter, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, naked capitalism, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo and POLITICUSUSA

Geoff Ziezulewicz / Navy Times:

Worse than you thought: inside the secret Fitzgerald probe the Navy doesn't want you to read — A scathing internal Navy probe into the 2017 collision that drowned seven sailors on the guided-missile destroyer Fitzgerald details a far longer list of problems plaguing the vessel …

Discussion: Task & Purpose

Mike Eckel / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

World-Renowned Scientific University Quietly Untangles Itself From Russian Billionaire — Nine years ago, Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg was welcomed with open arms by U.S. companies, universities, and even the government. — Washington's relations with Moscow were being reset …

Ariel Edwards-Levy / HuffPost:

Most Americans Hold Trump Responsible For Government Shutdown, New Polls Show — The latest surveys find the public increasingly concerned about the standoff and unhappy with everyone in Washington. — Most Americans hold President Donald Trump responsible for the partial government shutdown …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, CNN, Washington Post, Shakesville, IJR and The Root

Washington Post:

First snowstorm of 2019 packs a wallop: How much snow fell and how it happened — The long-duration storm dumped 6 to 12 inches, enough to set some records — This was not a heavy snowstorm of typical origin — not a nor'easter, which most often delivers the memorable snow events such as …

Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:

What's the Difference Between Steve King and Donald Trump? — The Republican Party is doing a little soul searching. Last week, Representative Steve King of Iowa drew harsh rebukes from some members of his party for his defenses of white nationalism and white supremacy.

Discussion: Vox, Mediaite and IJR

Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:

2020 Republican Primary Power Rankings — Get ready for the Trump primary! — Since 1964, nine sitting presidents have stood for re-election. — Five of them were challenged in the primaries. — If 2020 obeys the normal rules of political physics, President Trump will face a primary challenger.

Eva Dou / Wall Street Journal:

Chinese Court Sentences Canadian National to Death for Drug Crimes in Retrial — Legal experts see move as effort to pressure Canada over its arrest of Huawei executive; Canada's Trudeau expresses extreme concern — DALIAN, China—A Chinese court ordered the death penalty for a Canadian national …