memeorandum: Huge Trove of Leaked Russian Documents Is Published by Transparency Advocates (Scott Shane/New York Times)

5:05 AM ET, January 26, 2019

Top Items:

Gabby Orr / Politico:

‘All for nothing’: Trump's wall retreat bewilders allies — Before President Donald Trump finished speaking from the Rose Garden, putting a temporary end to the five-week government shutdown, a running group text between several of his former aides lit up with complaints.

Discussion: ABC News, USA Today and Breitbart

Washington Post:

‘Prisoner of his own impulse’: Inside Trump's cave to end shutdown without wall — His poll numbers were plummeting. His FBI director was decrying the dysfunction. The nation's air travel was in chaos. Federal workers were lining up at food banks. Economic growth was at risk of flatlining …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

Pro-Trump Media Stars Despair After Trump Caves on Shutdown — ‘Trump is a broken man,’ lamented Mike Cernovich, while Ann Coulter called the president a ‘the biggest wimp.’ — President Trump's top supporters among right-wing media despaired on Friday after he agreed to a three-week deal …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Hot Air, twitchy.com and The Daily Caller

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:

‘Complete, total surrender’: Why Trump waved the white flag — President Donald Trump touted GOP unity for 33 days of a partial government shutdown. But by the 34th day, it was clearly gone — and so was the shutdown by the end of the 35th. — Senate Republicans had finally …

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState, POLITICUSUSA and Splinter

John Bresnahan / Politico:

'She's not one to bluff': How Pelosi won the shutdown battle — Two months ago, Nancy Pelosi was battling an internal Democratic rebellion trying to bar her from the speakership. — Pelosi faced doubts over whether she was the right person to lead the new Democratic majority …

Discussion: Boing Boing

Washington Post:

Trump signs bill to open the government, ending the longest shutdown in history — President Trump on Friday agreed to temporarily reopen the federal government without getting any new money for his U.S.-Mexico border wall, retreating from the central promise of his presidency, for now, in the face of intense public anger.

New York Times:

Trump Announces Deal to Reopen Government, in Surprise Retreat From Wall — WASHINGTON — President Trump agreed Friday to reopen the federal government for three weeks while negotiations proceeded over how to secure the nation's southwestern border, backing down after a monthlong standoff failed …

Discussion: checkyourfact.com, Opinion Today, Washington Press, Contemptor, Politico, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, IJR, Splinter and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Washington Post:
‘Trump caves’ or ‘Genius’: Right wing splits after Trump ends shutdown with no wall funding

Discussion: Breitbart and Raw Story

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Trump just caved. Democrats can now take control of the immigration debate.

Discussion: Jamie Dupree - AJC

Washington Post:
Poll: Majority of Americans hold Trump and Republicans responsible for shutdown

Alex Wagner / The Atlantic:
Pelosi Won, Trump Lost

Discussion: VICE and AOL

Gary Langer / ABC News:
Shutdown blame stays on Trump, with his approval at a historic low

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Shareblue Media

New York Times:
Trump Likely to Announce Deal to End Government Shutdown for Three Weeks

Discussion: American Prospect, Jacobin and Contemptor

John Parkinson / ABC News:
Trump signs bill to reopen government for 3 weeks

Discussion: New York Daily News, New York Times, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, RT, Joe.My.God., FiveThirtyEight, Mother Jones and The Resurgent

Wall Street Journal:
Trump, Congress Reach Tentative Deal to Reopen Government for Three Weeks

Discussion: Daily Wire

Power Line:

Roger Stone's Arrest: What's Scandalous, and What Isn't — Let's start with what isn't scandalous: the charges against Roger Stone. Scott embedded Robert Mueller's indictment here. Byron York has a good summary of the charges. — The salient point is that Mueller's indictment …

Discussion: New York Times, RedState and The Rush Limbaugh Show

Jeremy Herb / CNN:

How CNN captured video of the Roger Stone raid — (CNN)The rare, dramatic video from CNN Friday capturing the early morning FBI raid of longtime Donald Trump confidante Roger Stone's Florida home was the product of good instincts, some key clues, more than a year of observing comings …

Matt Ford / New Republic:

Uh-Oh — Criminal indictments are typically written in the dry, terse active voice of American legalese. Special counsel Robert Mueller's criminal indictment of Roger Stone, who was arrested by FBI agents in the wee hours on Friday, is no different—with one notable exception.

Discussion: Hit & Run, National Review, The Guardian and The Week

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
What did the president know, and when did he know it?

Discussion: USA Today, Salon, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

John Podesta / Washington Post:
It might now be Roger Stone's time in the barrel

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Times, Raw Story and Politico

Paul Seamus Ryan / Just Security:
Roger Stone Indictment Implicates Trump Campaign in Election Law Violations

Discussion: Washington Post, Slate, New York Times and Hullabaloo

Quinta Jurecic / Lawfare:
Document: Indictment of Roger Stone

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Sputnik International, Media Matters for America, FRONTLINE, Breitbart, Vox, Reuters, KRIV and Jackson Free Press

Marshall Cohen / CNN:
6 takeaways from the Roger Stone indictment

Discussion: Raw Story and Daily Wire

Todd S. Purdum / The Atlantic: Trumpworld Follows a Godfather Script—Literally

New York Times:
Indicting Roger Stone, Mueller Shows Link Between Trump Campaign and WikiLeaks

Michael Kruse / Politico:
Roger Stone's Last Dirty Trick

Discussion: Bloomberg, USA Today, Right Wing Watch and The Daily Beast

New York Times:
Roger Stone's Dirty Tricks Put Him Where He's Always Wanted to Be: Center Stage

Discussion: The Atlantic and Washington Press

Scott Shane / New York Times:

Huge Trove of Leaked Russian Documents Is Published by Transparency Advocates — A group of transparency advocates on Friday posted a mammoth collection of hacked and leaked documents from inside Russia, a release widely viewed as a sort of symbolic counterstrike against Russia's dissemination …

The Hill: Transparency advocate group releases trove of hacked Russian documents

Hunter Walker / Yahoo News:

Bernie Sanders set to announce 2020 presidential run — WASHINGTON—Three years after fighting a surprisingly competitive Democratic primary race against Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is making another run for the White House. — Two sources with direct knowledge …

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Townhall, Sputnik International and twitchy.com

Alex Pareene / Columbia Journalism Review:

The digital winter turns apocalyptic — This week, as a long-predicted collapse seemed to hit digital media, we saw a few of the tried-and-true ways managers use to explain to employees why they're laying them off. — BuzzFeed chose the language of corporation-as-family …

Discussion: CNN, Breitbart and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

The Daily Beast:
BuzzFeed Staff Unload on CEO Jonah Peretti After Massive Layoffs: You Make ‘Same Mistakes Over and Over’

Discussion: Recode, Breitbart and Splinter, more at Mediagazer »

Rafi Schwartz / Splinter:
We Now Go Live to BuzzFeed's ‘Ask Jonah Anything’ Slack Channel

Discussion: New York Times and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Collins / NBC News:

4chan trolls flood laid off HuffPost, Buzzfeed reporters with death threats — The threats are part of a coordinated campaign organized on the far-right message board. — Shortly after he tweeted the news of his own layoff, Nick Wing checked his inbox at the Huffington Post and saw an email with a few pictures from a troll.

Ryan Grim / The Intercept:

Richard Ojeda Drops Out of Presidential Race — Former West Virginia State Sen. Richard Ojeda ended his long-shot presidential bid on Friday. A leader of the state's teachers strikes last year, Ojeda concluded that the campaign ultimately wasn't winnable and told his supporters …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:
Richard Ojeda Becomes First 2020 Democrat to Drop Out of Race

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

Arson Suspected at Comet Ping Pong, the D.C. Restaurant Made Famous by Pizzagate — The D.C. pizzeria targeted by far-right conspiracy theorists was on fire Thursday, cops said. No one was injured. — An arsonist allegedly started a fire Thursday night at Comet Ping Pong, the Washington …

Discussion: Eschaton

WTTG-TV: Fire at Comet Ping Pong pizza shop was intentionally set, DC fire officials say

Reuters:

Exclusive: Kremlin-linked contractors help guard Venezuela's Maduro - sources — MOSCOW (Reuters) - Private military contractors who do secret missions for Russia flew into Venezuela in the past few days to beef up security for President Nicolas Maduro in the face of U.S.-backed opposition protests …

Discussion: Front Page Magazine and Instapundit

Ezra Klein / Vox:

The vindication of Nancy Pelosi — How Pelosi delivered Trump the most humiliating loss of his presidency. — Flashback 40 days and Nancy Pelosi's return to the speakership was a hard-won prize marred by Democratic grumbling. — After the midterm elections, 15 House Democrats signed …

Media Matters for America:

Lou Dobbs slams Trump's shutdown cave: “Illegal immigrants are surely pleased” — VIDEO ››› January 25, 2019 ››› MEDIA MATTERS STAFF — From the January 25 edition of Fox Business News' Lou Dobbs Tonight: — Loading the player reg...

Discussion: twitchy.com

Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:

Trump's Zombies Applaud as He Lights Himself on Fire — It was funny, watching Trump trying to persuade America that this wasn't a colossal failure for which he alone was responsible. But it wasn't fun. — Michael Tomasky — What a joke. What a fraud. As Bugs Bunny used to say, what a maroon.