memeorandum: Gay valedictorian banned from speaking at Covington graduation ‘not surprised’ by D.C. controversy (Ben Kesslen/NBC News)

9:05 AM ET, January 23, 2019

Top Items:

Azeen Ghorayshi / BuzzFeed News:

Trump's Lawyer Said There Were “No Plans” For Trump Tower Moscow. Here They Are. — Trump's lawyer claims the Moscow tower was barely more than a notion. “There were no drafts. Nothing in the file.” Documents obtained by BuzzFeed News tell a different story.

Discussion: Raw Story, FiveThirtyEight, Toronto Star, Washington Press, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, Feeds, Pacific Standard, Mediaite, CNN, Vox and Talking Points Memo

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Trump exasperated by gaffe-prone Giuliani — Rudy Giuliani has a growing list of enemies in the White House — which now includes his boss, President Donald Trump. — Trump was apoplectic after a pair of weekend media interviews by his personal lawyer, in which Giuliani said that the president …

Discussion: CNN, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, New York Times and Mediaite

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“Trump Is Screaming. He's So Mad at Rudy”: Giuliani's Fate Is Uncertain After Botched Interviews — As Giuliani's unforced errors pile up, former West Wing officials and 2016 campaign veterans are privately debating what's gone wrong with Rudy. — Every time Rudy Giuliani opens his mouth …

Discussion: Above the Law, Contemptor, Raw Story, CNN, ThinkProgress and Daily Kos

USA Today:

Trump pursued a deal in Russia and hid it from voters — Rudy Giuliani vs Chris Cuomo again on CNN...this time it's over collusion. Veuer's Nick Cardona has that story. — Candidate misled voters about ‘nothing to do with Russia.’ He signed a Trump Tower Moscow letter on the day of a presidential debate: Our view

Discussion: Washington Post

Associated Press:

Giuliani's media blitz draws ire of Trump and some allies — NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani's latest media blitz, which was filled with a dizzying array of misstatements and hurried clarifications, agitated President Donald Trump and some of his allies, who have raised the possibility …

Discussion: The Week and Mediaite

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Understanding the Senate's vote plan

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Breitbart

Washington Post:
Trump's lies on his business dealings in Russia were a profound betrayal of voters

Discussion: Daily Wire and CNN

Scott Stedman:
IC Expert CEO Andrey Rozov behind mysterious purchase of NY building tied to Felix Sater and Aras Agalarov

Discussion: The Guardian

CNN:
Republicans: Cohen lawyer says key topics off-limits for congressional hearing

Discussion: Observer and KTLA

Ben Kesslen / NBC News:

Gay valedictorian banned from speaking at Covington graduation ‘not surprised’ by D.C. controversy — A gay student who was barred by the Covington diocese from speaking at his 2018 graduation, is “not surprised” by the Covington Catholic High School video.

Discussion: PinkNews, The Daily Beast, AOL, Cincinnati.com, Splinter, USA Today and twitchy.com

Washington Post:

A viral story spread. The mainstream media rushed to keep up. The Trump Internet pounced. — The online supporters of the president were ready for a moment like the Covington Catholic controversy. — The video, taken from an Instagram account and reposted to Twitter, went viral with the caption …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Resurgent, Front Page Magazine, TheBlaze and Daily Wire

David French / National Review:

Nathan Phillips's Interview with CNN Is Full of Falsehoods, Inconsistencies, and Nonsense — As I wrote on the home page today, it's disturbing to see the left-wing hate that is still being directed at the Covington Catholic students — days after the initial framing of the story was thoroughly debunked.

Discussion: Detroit Free Press, Hot Air, Conservative News Today and myfox8.com

Jason Williams / Cincinnati.com: Who knew? Trump's top White House attorney is Covington Catholic High School graduate

Nick Robins-Early / HuffPost:
House Intelligence Committee Looking Into Tweet About Viral MAGA Hat Teen Video

Discussion: Washington Post, The Guardian and The Stranger

CBS News:

Pelosi has edge over Trump on budget negotiations, CBS News poll shows — Seven in 10 Americans don't think the issue of a border wall is worth a government shutdown, which they say is now having a negative impact on the country. But partisans don't want their own side to budge …

Discussion: Political Wire

Nicole Goodkind / Newsweek:

Federal Employees Going Through ‘a Little Bit of Pain’ but Border Wall Is ‘Bigger Than’ Them Says Lara Trump — The 800,000 furloughed federal employees and 400,000 working without pay due to the government shutdown over $5 billion dollars in funding for a wall on the U.S. southern border are going through …

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Cathleen Decker / Washington Post:

Pete Buttigieg joins the Democratic race for the 2020 presidential nomination — South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has signaled for months that he would try to leap from local to presidential politics, announced Wednesday that he will join the burgeoning cast of Democratic candidates in the 2020 race.

Discussion: Politico, CBS News and Political Wire

Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:

Pete Buttigieg Thinks All the 2020 Democrats Are Too Old — Pete Buttigieg, the Millennial mayor of South Bend, Indiana, will formally launch an exploratory committee on Wednesday and make official the presidential run he's been not-so-subtly edging toward for the last year and a half.

Discussion: Axios

Politico:

Ocasio-Cortez and liberal freshmen join Oversight Committee — The House Oversight Committee is adding a group of progressive flamethrowers to its ranks. — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Axios, RT, Hot Air, WPIX 11 New York, Splinter, Daily Wire, National Review and twitchy.com

Tom Rogan / Washington Examiner: No, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this ain't World War II

Media Matters for America:
MSNBC contributor Hugh Hewitt: Joe Biden has “transgendered into Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez”

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

A “go big” idea to end the shutdown — A new immigration idea has been circulating over the past 24 hours at senior levels inside the White House and on Capitol Hill: Give a path to green cards to the 700,000 current DACA recipients, three sources familiar with the conversations tell Axios.

Discussion: Raw Story

Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump's liaison to Congress eyeing exit

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:

Hundreds of IRS employees are skipping work. That could delay tax refunds. — Hundreds of Internal Revenue Service employees have received permission to skip work during the partial government shutdown due to financial hardship, and union leaders said Tuesday they expected absences to surge …

Discussion: CNN, The Week and Axios

Colin Campbell / Baltimore Sun:

Baltimore-raised Pulitzer Prize winner Russell Baker dies at 93 — Former Baltimore Sun foreign correspondent Russell Baker is pictured at his Virginia home in 2012. (Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun) — Russell Baker, a Baltimore-raised, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist …

Discussion: NPR

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Russell Baker, Times Columnist and Celebrated Humorist, Dies at 93

Discussion: WTKR-TV and KTLA, more at Mediagazer »

Rebecca Morin / Politico:

Poll: Shutdown, Russia drive Trump to all-time high disapproval — President Donald Trump's disapproval rating is at an all-time high amid a historically long partial government shutdown and concerns about the president's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

Discussion: Political Wire, The Week, POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite

Washington Post:

‘Knock them in the teeth.’ How Trump turns crises into leverage. — The 800,000 federal workers who are expected to miss their second paycheck in the coming days are the most extreme example yet of a negotiating tactic President Trump has used repeatedly since taking office.

Discussion: The Week

Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Trump is being the adult in the room on the shutdown

Discussion: IJR, Inside Higher Ed and CNBC

Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:

‘Unacceptable’: Coast Guard's top officer criticizes lack of payment in government shutdown — The Coast Guard's top admiral said Tuesday that members of the armed forces should not be expected to shoulder the burden of the partial government shutdown, citing the “anxiety and stress” …

Discussion: Indian Country Today, The Week, CNN and Mediaite

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post: Here's a better chant for Trump's base than ‘build the wall’

Audrey McNamara / The Daily Beast:

Four Accused of Plotting to Attack Muslim Community — Police in Greece, New York, have arrested and charged four suspects who allegedly planned to attack a nearby Muslim community. The four men were each charged with three counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of conspiracy.

Jeff Pegues / CBS News: 4 arrested in plot to attack Muslim community in New York

Sara Murray / CNN:

Mueller wants to know about 2016 Trump campaign's ties to NRA — Washington (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has expressed interest in the Trump campaign's relationship with the National Rifle Association during the 2016 campaign. — “When I was interviewed by the special counsel's office …

Discussion: The Week, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:

Sen. Bernie Sanders changes his message to black voters: ‘Racism is alive’ — COLUMBIA, S.C. — With the state capitol behind him and a crowd of hundreds in front of him, Sen. Bernie Sanders celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by telling a rare personal anecdote: He was in Washington …

Discussion: Politico

McClatchy Washington Bureau: Campaign workers demand minimum wage, progressive culture from 2020 Dems

New York Times:

Senate Leaders Plan Competing Bills to End Shutdown — Senate Leaders Plan Competing Bills on Shutdown — With dueling votes planned for Thursday, the Senate will finally move off the sidelines a month into the partial government shutdown. — Both measures face long odds …

Discussion: The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Shareblue Media, Joe.My.God. and New Republic

Ben Terris / Washington Post:

Love a candidate but don't think she can win? You've been infected with Pundititis. — The night Elizabeth Warren won reelection, Krista Magnuson started showing symptoms. — Magnuson, a 41-year-old political junkie, had come to Warren's victory party in downtown Boston that November evening to celebrate the swelling blue wave.

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

How Trump Offered NASA Unlimited Funding to Go to Mars in His First Term — Donald Trump nearly derailed a televised call to the International Space Station after he got distracted, first by a sudden fantasy of going to Mars before the end of his first term in the White House …

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

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation:

KFF Health Tracking Poll - January 2019: The Public On Next Steps For The ACA And Proposals To Expand Coverage — Ashley Kirzinger , Cailey Muñana, and Mollyann Brodie — Key Findings: — Half of the public disapproves of the recent decision in Texas v. United States …

Discussion: Washington Post and CNN

John Solomon / The Hill:

How the Clinton machine flooded the FBI with Trump-Russia dirt ... until agents bit — When at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That's what Hillary Clinton's machine did in 2016, eventually getting the FBI to bite on an uncorroborated narrative that Donald Trump and Russia were trying to hijack the presidential election.

Alex French / The Atlantic:

‘Nobody Is Going to Believe You’ — Over the past two decades, Bryan Singer's films—The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie, Superman Returns, four of the X-Men movies—have earned more than $3 billion at the box office, putting him in the top tier of Hollywood directors.

Discussion: IndieWire, Daily Kos, Towleroad Gay News and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Revives Transgender Ban for Military Service — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the Trump administration's request to allow it to bar most transgender people from serving in the military while cases challenging the policy make their way to the court.