memeorandum: Trump says a border wall would ‘help stop drugs.’ El Chapo's smugglers suggest it won't. (Kristine Phillips/Washington Post)

2:50 PM ET, January 16, 2019

Top Items:

Emily Stewart / Vox:

Nancy Pelosi uninvites Trump from the State of the Union until the shutdown is over — She also says he can deliver it in writing if he wants. — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has uninvited President Donald Trump from delivering the State of the Union address because of the partial government shutdown …

Discussion: National Review, Politico, WORLD, CNN and twitchy.com

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Pelosi asks Trump to reschedule SOTU because of the shutdown — Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday asked President Donald Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address — or deliver it in writing — as long as the government remains shut down. — The president was set to give his annual speech to Congress on Jan. 29.

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, Townhall, ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Breitbart, Daily Wire and CNBC

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Bipartisan Senate group presses Trump to end shutdown — Senators in both parties are racing to deliver a letter to President Donald Trump indicating that if the government reopens, they are willing to work on a border security package with the president, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Vox, Axios and The Daily Caller

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Pelosi gets revenge against one of the Dem rebels — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exacted revenge against one of her most outspoken detractors Tuesday night, blocking Rep. Kathleen Rice from landing a seat on the high-profile House Judiciary Committee. — Pelosi lobbied for other members …

Discussion: Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, IJR, ABC News, The Daily Caller and Townhall

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Pelosi Sends Letter to President Trump Concerning the State of the Union Address

Discussion: The Federalist, USA Today, Washington Press, Conservative News Today, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The American Mirror, Observer, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, Outside the Beltway, TheBlaze, Chicks On The Right, POLITICUSUSA, Conservative Review, Axios, Roll Call, CBS Boston and Towleroad Gay News

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
Pelosi asking Trump to postpone his State of the Union is her latest power play in this shutdown impasse

Discussion: Raw Story, Fox News Insider and The Atlantic

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Pelosi asks Trump to postpone State of the Union address because of government shutdown — or deliver it in writing

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway and Contemptor

Reuters:

Four U.S. troops reported among 16 dead in north Syria attack — BEIRUT (Reuters) - A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State killed U.S. troops in northern Syria on Wednesday, weeks after President Donald Trump said group was defeated there and he would pull out all American forces.

Discussion: Bloomberg, CBS News, Task & Purpose, Defense One, VICE News, The Gateway Pundit, Chicks On The Right, FDD's Long War Journal, The Right Scoop and CNN

Jennifer Hansler / CNN:
Pence declares ‘ISIS has been defeated’ on the same day as deadly Syria attack

Discussion: Townhall, The Daily Beast, NPR and Shareblue Media

Louisa Loveluck / Washington Post:
Islamic State claims blast in U.S.-patrolled city in Syria; monitoring group, local media report casualties

Discussion: Vox and New York Times

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite: Mike Pence Says ‘ISIS Has Been Defeated’ Hours After Deadly Bombing Kills American Troops

Washington Post:

T-Mobile announced a merger needing Trump administration approval. The next day, 9 executives had reservations at Trump's hotel. — Last April, telecom giant T-Mobile announced a megadeal: a $26 billion merger with rival Sprint, which would more than double T-Mobile's value and give it a huge new chunk of the cellphone market.

Discussion: CNN, Vox, Shakesville, Daily Kos and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: The theatrical shutdown

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Axios:

Exclusive excerpt: Chris Christie torches Jared — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie settles scores in “Let Me Finish,” a memoir out Jan. 29 from Hachette Books, writing that President Trump “trusts people he shouldn't, including some of the people who are closest to him.”

Discussion: National Review, Joe.My.God., Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Chicks On The Right, Splinter and Mediaite

Jim Tankersley / New York Times:

Shutdown's Economic Damage Starts to Pile Up, Threatening an End to Growth — WASHINGTON — The partial government shutdown is inflicting far greater damage on the United States economy than previously estimated, the White House acknowledged on Tuesday, as President Trump's economists doubled projections …

Discussion: ABC News, What The Fuck …, Daily Kos, Mediaite, CNN, Splinter, Outside the Beltway and The Week

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump advisers are cynically feeding his raging ego, and we're all the victims — Remember when that anonymous administration official caused a political explosion with a clandestine op-ed piece, smuggled out to the public, informing us that there is a heroic internal resistance toiling away …

Discussion: The Mahablog

Washington Post:

Fake editions of The Washington Post handed out at multiple locations in D.C. — Fake editions of The Washington Post claiming that President Trump was leaving office were handed out Wednesday morning at multiple locations in Washington, D.C. — The print papers — dated May 1, 2019 …

Discussion: Axios, NPR, FOX31 Denver and Liberty Unyielding, more at Mediagazer »

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Fake editions of Washington Post falsely claim Trump steps down

Discussion: Political Wire, Mediaite and twitchy.com

The Intercept:

Amid Internal Investigation Over Leaks to Media, the Center for American Progress Fires Two Staffers — The Center for American Progress fired two staffers suspected of being involved in leaking an email exchange that staffers thought reflected improper influence by the United Arab Emirates within …

Nick Turse / Yahoo News: Despite denials, documents reveal U.S. training UAE forces for combat in Yemen

Charles Sykes / The Bulwark:

When It Comes to Trump and Russia, Should We Apply Hanlon's Razor or Occam's? — It's getting harder to believe that this can be explained by stupidity rather than malice. — This is, I suppose, an awkward time to bring up razors, since we are in the midst of a heated debate …

New York Times:

Theresa May Survives Confidence Vote in British Parliament — LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May narrowly survived a vote of no-confidence in Parliament on Wednesday, but the result did little to quell the turmoil gripping the British government over her plan for leaving the European Union …

Discussion: EU Press Room, The Week, Outside the Beltway, Women in the World and Althouse

Eliot Brown / Wall Street Journal:

WeWork's CEO Makes Millions as Landlord to WeWork — Adam Neumann has bought properties and leased them to his co-working startup, sparking conflict of interest concerns — For more than two months after employees at International Business Machines Corp. moved into a Manhattan building managed …

Discussion: The Real Deal New York

The Daily Beast:

Deripaska's Rusal Flouts Sanctions Pledge With New Kremlin Stooge — The move further concerned lawmakers already worried that the changes made to comply with Treasury's demands would prove cosmetic. — Putin-friendly oligarch Oleg Deripaska's aluminum empire is trying to make nice …

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

Kenneth P. Vogel / New York Times: Republicans Break Ranks Over Move to Lift Sanctions on Russian Oligarch's Firms

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

If Only Obama Had Done the Things Obama Actually Did — Matt Stoller, who has repeatedly dismissed the Obama administration as a failure, tells the New York Times that candidates who sound like Obama will face suspicion from voters. “We tried that and it didn't work,” Stoller said.

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

Pew Research Center:

Most Border Wall Opponents, Supporters Say Shutdown Concessions Are Unacceptable — Partisan divide on whether shutdown is ‘very serious’ problem — With the partial shutdown of the federal government in its third week, both opponents and supporters of expanding the U.S.-Mexico border …

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Vox and Politico

Rebecca Klein / HuffPost:

Karen Pence Is Working At A School That Bans LGBTQ Employees And Kids — The school discriminates against LGBTQ people in its job application and says LGBTQ kids aren't welcome. — Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, started at a job this week teaching art at Immanuel Christian School in Northern Virginia.

Discussion: RedState, The White House, Politico, Washington Post, New York Times, Newsweek, Friendly Atheist, AOL, New York Post, twitchy.com, IJR, CNN, Towleroad Gay News, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., USA Today and The Daily Beast

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump and Putin Have Met Five Times. What Was Said Is a Mystery. — WASHINGTON — The first time they met was in Germany. President Trump took his interpreter's notes afterward and ordered him not to disclose what he heard to anyone. Later that night, at a dinner …

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, 1A, National Review, Law & Crime, Portland Mercury, Politico, Common Dreams, The Week, Daily Kos, CNN, Front Page Magazine and Mediaite

Emily Peck / HuffPost:

Exactly How Bad Is Trump At Making Deals? Even Worse Than You Think. — The shutdown stalemate highlights how the president's strategies contradict best practices, negotiation experts explain. — There is an actual art (and science) to deal making. And after three-plus weeks of government shutdown …

Juan Escalante / HuffPost:

Donald Trump's Shutdown Tantrum Isn't Actually About The Border Wall — For the past three weeks, we have watched and heard as the president shut down the government while making a weak attempt to sell his border wall to the nation. In a televised primetime speech that was broadcasted last week …

Barry Meier / New York Times:

Sacklers Directed Efforts to Mislead Public About OxyContin, New Documents Indicate — A filing in a Massachusetts lawsuit contains dozens of internal Purdue Pharma documents suggesting the family was far more involved than the company has long contended. — Members of the Sackler family …

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Daily Caller and The Week

Anna Giaritelli / Washington Examiner:

Border rancher: 'We've found prayer rugs out here. It's unreal' — LORDSBURG, N.M. — Ranchers and farmers near the U.S.-Mexico border have been finding prayer rugs on their properties in recent months, according to one rancher who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by cartels.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Liberty Unyielding

Ben Schreckinger / Politico:

Trump's bloody hand injury attracts armchair doctors — The White House told POLITICO that the president, who is due for his annual physical, suffered a minor injury. — President Donald Trump is often called thin-skinned. It's usually not meant literally.

Discussion: The Root, Joe.My.God. and The Week

James Pindell / BostonGlobe.com:

Seth Moulton to speak in N.H., restarting buzz he may run for president — US Representative Seth Moulton, Democrat of Salem, will travel to New Hampshire in two weeks, sources familiar with the planning tell The Boston Globe. — The trip to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state …

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

Hoping to keep his seat and wary of angering the base, McConnell defers to Trump on the shutdown — During former President Barack Obama's tenure, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., first as the Senate minority leader and later majority leader, assumed the mantle of lead policy maker and negotiator for his party.

Discussion: twitchy.com and Daily Kos

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

“He's not a guy who likes a plan”: How Trump takes his strategic cues from Mike Tyson — When a frustrated adviser once tried to convince President Trump to consider a strategic plan, the president launched into a story about his friend Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight boxing champion.

Discussion: Raw Story and IJR

Alexander Avilov / The Moscow Times:

Official Data Vastly Underestimates Russian Emigration - Report — At least six times more Russians are leaving the country than officially estimated, a comprehensive study conducted by the Proekt news outlet said on Wednesday. — Proekt's report highlights discrepancies between official data …

Matt Welch / Hit & Run:

How Is It OK for CNN to Hire Possible Presidential Contender John Kasich? — “Welcome to the team,” CNN's Chris Cuomo said to former Ohio governor John Kasich last night, shaking the long-rumored presidential candidate's enormous right hand. “We are benefited by your presence.”

Discussion: twitchy.com and Hot Air