Top Items:
Caroline Kelly / CNN:
Rudy Giuliani says Trump didn't collude with Russia but can't say if campaign aides did — (CNN)Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he never denied President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign, only that the President himself was not involved in collusion.
Discussion:
Bloomberg and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Michael Burke / The Hill:
Giuliani: ‘I never said there was no collusion’ between the Trump campaign and Russia — President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said Wednesday that he “never said there was no collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. — “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Axios, Just Security, Politico, AOL, Daily Kos and The Week
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Rudy Giuliani just contradicted nearly all the Trump team's past collusion denials
Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
Trump Must Be a Russian Agent; the Alternative Is Too Awful
Trump Must Be a Russian Agent; the Alternative Is Too Awful
Discussion:
Raw Story, American Greatness, Law & Crime, The Nation and Washington Free Beacon
Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:
Rudy Giuliani: ‘I never said there was no collusion’ between Trump campaign and Russia
Rudy Giuliani: ‘I never said there was no collusion’ between Trump campaign and Russia
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA and Joe.My.God.
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Crisis
POLITICO Playbook: Crisis
Discussion:
The Guardian, Wall Street Journal and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Michael McFaul / Washington Post:
Sorry, but Trump is not ‘tough on Russia’
New York Times:
In a West Wing in Transition, Trump Tries to Stand Firm on the Shutdown — WASHINGTON — President Trump has insisted that he is not going to compromise with Democrats to end the government shutdown, and that he is comfortable in his unbendable position. But privately, it's sometimes a different story.
Discussion:
CNBC, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Atlantic and Joe.My.God.
Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
Poll: Trump Approval Down, Slips With Base — While the longest government shutdown in U.S. history continues, President Trump's approval rating is down, and there are cracks showing with his base. — A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds Trump's approval rating down and his disapproval rating up from a month ago.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Political Wire
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PBS NewsHour:
57 percent of voters say they won't support Trump in 2020 — With the 2020 presidential election already underway, 57 percent of registered voters said they would definitely vote against President Donald Trump, according to the latest poll from the PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist.
Discussion:
Joe.My.God. and Political Wire
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The Shutdown Is Hurting Trump's Approval Rating. But Will It Hurt Him in 2020?
The Shutdown Is Hurting Trump's Approval Rating. But Will It Hurt Him in 2020?
Discussion:
Raw Story
Wall Street Journal:
Poll-Rigging for Trump and Creating @WomenForCohen: One IT Firm's Work Order — Behind the scenes, Michael Cohen hired RedFinch Solutions, then allegedly stiffed it—and his boss — In early 2015, a man who runs a small technology company showed up at Trump Tower to collect $50,000 …
Discussion:
Axios, Political Wire, The Guardian, Gizmodo, The Week, Joe.My.God., Contemptor, Raw Story, Mediaite and The New Civil Rights Movement
Washington Post:
‘She wields the knife’: Pelosi moves to belittle and undercut Trump in shutdown fight — House Democrats on Wednesday were making plans to undermine President Trump at his Jan. 29 “State of the Union” address. Just past 8:30 a.m., the leadership's communications arm sent an email …
Discussion:
Politico
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Jeff Greenfield / Politico:
Nancy Pelosi Might Have Just Blown Up the State of the Union. And That's OK.
Nancy Pelosi Might Have Just Blown Up the State of the Union. And That's OK.
Discussion:
Vox, Breitbart, Hullabaloo, National Review and ThinkProgress
Eliza Relman / Business Insider:
‘#WheresMitch?’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other freshman Democrats are moving blame for the shutdown from Trump to Mitch McConnell — Freshman House Democrats marched through the halls of Congress on Wednesday to deliver a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, demanding that he hold a vote to reopen the government.
Discussion:
Hot Air, twitchy.com and Shareblue Media
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Eliza Collins / USA Today:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a social media star, to school House Democrats on Twitter use
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a social media star, to school House Democrats on Twitter use
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, AOL, The Onion, abc7ny.com, WTKR-TV, The Verge, Splinter, TheBlaze, Billboard and Talking Points Memo
Juliegrace Brufke / The Hill:
House passes disaster relief bill to fund government through Feb. 8
John Solomon / The Hill:
FISA shocker: DOJ official warned Steele dossier was connected to Clinton, might be biased — When the annals of mistakes and abuses in the FBI's Russia investigation are finally written, Bruce Ohr almost certainly will be the No. 1 witness, according to my sources.
Discussion:
Front Page Magazine and The Gateway Pundit
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Sara Carter / Sara A. Carter:
Stunning: Ohr Testimony Reveals Top DOJ Officials Briefed About Steele Before FISA
Stunning: Ohr Testimony Reveals Top DOJ Officials Briefed About Steele Before FISA
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
Washington Post:
Top HUD official's departure follows disagreements over housing policy and Puerto Rico disaster funds — A top Department of Housing and Urban Development official is leaving the agency Thursday following disagreements with other members of the Trump administration over housing policy …
New York Times:
Will We Ever See Mueller's Report on Trump? Maybe. — WASHINGTON — The swirl of speculation surrounding the Russia investigation often assumes that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, will release a report of his findings that will serve as the definitive explanation …
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Guardian, emptywheel and Outside the Beltway
RELATED:
Kate Sullivan / CNN:
House Judiciary chair says they'll subpoena Mueller report if necessary
House Judiciary chair says they'll subpoena Mueller report if necessary
Discussion:
KAJ-TV
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
BREAKING: Cumming man threatened to attack White House, authorities say — Federal authorities on Wednesday announced a terrorist case against a metro Atlanta resident accused of plotting to destroy the White House and other Washington D.C. government buildings.
Discussion:
Townhall, Associated Press, RT, USA Today, Instapundit, Washington Free Beacon, Jihad Watch, Mediaite, WXIA-TV, TheBlaze, Daily Wire and Breitbart
RELATED:
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
GOP Congressmen Meet With Holocaust-Denying Troll Chuck Johnson — The two Republican lawmakers say they didn't know about the alt-right troll's past. — Notorious alt-right figure and Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson met with two Republican lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Yoni Appelbaum / The Atlantic:
Impeach Donald Trump — On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump stood on the steps of the Capitol, raised his right hand, and solemnly swore to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and, to the best of his ability, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Discussion:
Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Daily Kos and The Week
Erin Banco / The Daily Beast:
Rick Gates Tells Mueller About Trump Team's Dealings With Israeli Intelligence Firm — Psy Group delivered plans for ‘social media manipulation’ in 2016 and the special counsel is digging in as part of his probe into Mideast influence. — Rick Gates, the former campaign aide to Donald Trump …
Discussion:
Boing Boing, Joe.My.God. and Raw Story
Michael Levenson / BostonGlobe.com:
As they head to Harvard, Gary Cohn and Heidi Heitkamp criticize shutdown — Gary Cohn, President Trump's former top economic adviser, and Heidi Heitkamp, a former Democratic senator from North Dakota, got to know one another when he was president of Goldman Sachs and she was on the Senate Banking Committee.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Barbara Starr / CNN:
Trump is fraying nerves inside the Pentagon — Washington (CNN)Two years into his presidency, Donald Trump is fueling unprecedented uncertainty and anxiety inside the Pentagon. In private conversations over the past month, many of them unsolicited, more than a dozen key military officers …
Facebook:
Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior from Russia — Today we removed multiple Pages, groups and accounts that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram. The two operations we found originated in Russia, and one was active in a variety of countries while the other was specific to Ukraine.
Beto O'Rourke:
A lot of big trucks rolling down Pancake Blvd and there aren't any sidewalks. Gloomy early morning sky in Liberal Kansas. Snow melt on the side of the road where I'm running. I find a vacant lot to cut through to another street, also busy and without sidewalks.
Discussion:
The Atlantic, ABC News, Raw Story, CNN, Politico, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, twitchy.com, Splinter and National Review
FiveThirtyEight:
Most Personality Quizzes Are Junk Science. Take One That Isn't. — Compare your results to those of your friends and family. — What's your personality, and what can it tell you about your true self? Those questions have launched a thousand online personality quizzes.
TASS:
Russian security chief warns Ukraine could lose statehood — “The Kiev authorities are doing everything to split Ukraine, implementing the West's scenario to break Ukraine away from Russia, while ignoring the interests of its own people,” said Nikolai Patrushev — /TASS/.
Ivan Pentchoukov / theepochtimes.com:
EXCLUSIVE: In Closed-Door Testimony, Papadopoulos Identified Alleged Spy in Trump Campaign — Former Trump campaign adviser also told lawmakers FBI asked him to wear a wire to record Maltese professor in London — George Papadopoulos, the former foreign policy adviser …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
New York Times:
White House Redefines Who Is Essential to Get Parts of Government Moving Again — WASHINGTON — As the government shutdown stretches into its fourth week, the Trump administration is reinterpreting longstanding rules to open the federal government piece by piece, forcing thousands of workers …
Discussion:
NTEU News Releases
Catherine Thorbecke / ABC News:
Potential 2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris shares advice for young women: 'Don't let anybody tell you who you are, you tell them who you are' — Sen. Kamala Harris, who went from being the daughter of immigrants to a potential 2020 presidential candidate, said in an interview with …
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Everything You Need to Know About Milo and Eric Metaxas — Eric Metaxas invited Milo Yiannopoulos on his show because we live in the worst possible timeline. — Want to check in on the state of American Christianity? Look no further than the radio show of pop theologian Eric Metaxas …
Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
Have Aliens Found Us? A Harvard Astronomer on the Mysterious Interstellar Object 'Oumuamua — On October 19, 2017, astronomers at the University of Hawaii spotted a strange object travelling through our solar system, which they later described as “a red and extremely elongated asteroid.”
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
There's Nothing Wrong With Open Borders — Why a brave Democrat should make the case for vastly expanding immigration. — The internet expands the bounds of acceptable discourse, so ideas considered out of bounds not long ago now rocket toward widespread acceptability.
Discussion:
Mediaite
Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:
A Lawsuit Claims Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Retaliated Against A Staffer Who Planned To Sue The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Over An Alleged Rape — The woman, identified by a pseudonym, claimed in a lawsuit that she was raped by a former employee of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
Discussion:
Townhall and Front Page Magazine
Bloomberg:
It's Official: Wall Street Topped $100 Billion in Profit — The six biggest U.S. banks have never had a $100 billion year. Until now. — Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and their peers have already reported more than $111 billion of profit for 2018.
Discussion:
Washington Post and FiveThirtyEight