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 …
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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
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
Trump's AG nominee: Mueller should be allowed to finish work
Discussion:
Politico, The Right Scoop and One America News Network
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 …
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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
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
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 …
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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
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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
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Tara Palmeri / ABC News:
Interpreter from Trump-Putin summit may be forced into congressional spotlight
Interpreter from Trump-Putin summit may be forced into congressional spotlight
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Monthly, CNN and Hullabaloo
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
Rachael Bade / Politico:
Trump backs off national emergency with no end to shutdown in sight — President Donald Trump on Monday appeared to rule out — at least for now — declaring a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, setting aside one of the White House's leading options for ending the 24-day partial government shutdown.
Discussion:
The Hill, Political Wire and The Moderate Voice
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Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Scoop: Trump dressed down Mulvaney in front of congressional leaders
Scoop: Trump dressed down Mulvaney in front of congressional leaders
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Vox, Sputnik International, Politico, Raw Story, The Week, Washington Press, CNN, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite
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.
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 …
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.
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
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
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 …
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 …