Top Items:
New York Times:
Trump and His Associates Had More Than 100 Contacts With Russians Before the Inauguration — Among these contacts are more than 100 in-person meetings, phone calls, text messages, emails and private messages on Twitter. Mr. Trump and his campaign repeatedly denied having such contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.
Discussion:
The Week, Talking Points Memo, The Root, POLITICUSUSA and Joe.My.God.
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Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
Stone Indictment Underscores That There Was No Trump-Russia Conspiracy — Will the Justice Department ever correct the record? — Roger Stone is the shiny object. The obstruction charges in his long-anticipated indictment, made public on Friday, are not the matter of consequence for the United States.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Splinter, The New Neo, The Intercept, Politico, The Guardian and New York Times
Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
Dithering GOP Stalls House's New Trump-Russia Probe
Dithering GOP Stalls House's New Trump-Russia Probe
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Raw Story
New York Times:
Trump Meets With Hard-Right Group Led by Ginni Thomas — WASHINGTON — President Trump met last week with a delegation of hard-right activists led by Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, listening quietly as members of the group denounced transgender people and women serving …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Joe.My.God.
CNN:
Inside the White House, aides and advisers are despondent over a wasted month — Washington (CNN)As President Donald Trump announced in the Rose Garden on Friday that his quixotic bid to secure more than $5 billion for a border wall would end with no money, he was met with applause from his Cabinet secretaries and senior aides.
Discussion:
New York Times, NPR, Raw Story and Conservative News Today
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Peter Baker / New York Times:
For a President Consumed With Winning, a Stinging Defeat — WASHINGTON — President Trump famously declared that in his administration the nation would become tired of all the winning. So on Friday he tried a little losing. — After the longest government shutdown in history …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Slate, Mother Jones, New York Daily News, POLITICUSUSA, ThinkProgress, The Resurgent and Al Jazeera
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: What we've learned post-shutdown
POLITICO Playbook: What we've learned post-shutdown
Discussion:
TheBlaze, Wall Street Journal and Joe.My.God.
Washington Post:
‘Prisoner of his own impulse’: Inside Trump's cave to end shutdown without wall
‘Prisoner of his own impulse’: Inside Trump's cave to end shutdown without wall
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Mahablog, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and The Daily Caller
Gabby Orr / Politico:
‘All for nothing’: Trump's wall retreat bewilders allies
‘All for nothing’: Trump's wall retreat bewilders allies
Discussion:
Raw Story, ABC News, USA Today, Washington Post and The Daily Beast
Quint Forgey / Politico:
Trump warns border security compromise ‘will not be easy’
Trump warns border security compromise ‘will not be easy’
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, Deadline and Breitbart
Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
‘Complete, total surrender’: Why Trump waved the white flag
‘Complete, total surrender’: Why Trump waved the white flag
Discussion:
Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA and Hit & Run
Mike Allen / Axios:
Trump's self-inflicted slump — Yesterday was a devastating day for President Trump as he heads into his reelection campaign and an era of divided government. — As Axios' Jonathan Swan puts it: He blinks; he disappoints the people who still love him; he gets no credit for reopening the government …
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Pelosi / Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Pelosi Statement on Special Counsel Indictment and Arrest of Trump Campaign Advisor Roger Stone — Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after Special Counsel Mueller released a seven-count indictment of top Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone, for lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction:
Julian Sanchez / New York Times:
Mueller's Real Target in the Roger Stone Indictment
Mueller's Real Target in the Roger Stone Indictment
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post
Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:
‘I Will Piss on Your Grave’: Emails Reveal Roger Stone's Abuse of Frenemy Randy Credico
‘I Will Piss on Your Grave’: Emails Reveal Roger Stone's Abuse of Frenemy Randy Credico
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News
Zachary Basu / Axios:
House Intelligence to hand over transcripts to Mueller investigation
House Intelligence to hand over transcripts to Mueller investigation
Discussion:
ABC News, POLITICUSUSA and Fox News Insider
Abigail Tracy / Vanity Fair:
“We Can See Collusion”: With the Stone Indictment, Mueller Begins Making His Case
“We Can See Collusion”: With the Stone Indictment, Mueller Begins Making His Case
Discussion:
The Guardian, TheBlaze and Mediaite
New York Times:
A Bruised Trump Faces Uncertain 2020 Prospects. His Team Fears a Primary Fight. — With his approval rating sinking, and foes within the party wooing potential Republican challengers, aides to the president are working to shore up his support. — Mr. Trump, close associates acknowledge …
Discussion:
Washington Press, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, Axios, Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God. and twitchy.com
Willie Brown / San Francisco Chronicle:
Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what? — I've been peppered with calls from the national media about my “relationship” with Kamala Harris, particularly since it became obvious that she was going to run for president. Most of them, I have not returned. — Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago.
Discussion:
Political Wire
Telegraph:
Melania Trump - An Apology — Following last Saturday's (Jan 19) Telegraph magazine cover story “The mystery of Melania”, we have been asked to make clear that the article contained a number of false statements which we accept should not have been published.
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Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
Ex-Starbucks CEO Could Get Trump Re-elected — Before there was Jill Stein, there was Ralph Nader. Before there was Nader, there was Ross Perot. — None won. All argued that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party were basically the same, and the only way to make real change was to ditch them both.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Hullabaloo
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Washington Post:
Donald Trump's demand for a border wall shut down the government. At the same time, his company was firing undocumented workers. — OSSINING, N.Y — They had spent years on the staff of Donald Trump's golf club, winning employee-of-the-month awards and receiving glowing letters of recommendation.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Ayaz Gul / Voice of America:
U.S.-Taliban Agree on Troop Withdrawal Plan, Sources Tell VOA — The United States and the Taliban may have agreed on a plan for American troops to leave Afghanistan, sources privy to the development told VOA Saturday. In return, the insurgent group has given assurances …
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Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Yes, Venezuela Is a Socialist Catastrophe — In the age of A.O.C., the lesson must be learned again. — Conspicuous by its relative absence in much of the mainstream news coverage of Venezuela's political crisis is the word “socialism.” Yes, every sensible observer agrees …
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, Front Page Magazine and Instapundit
David Roth / The Concourse:
You Can't Get There From Here — “It's not going to change a damn thing,” the President of the United States told an assemblage of news anchors at an off-the-record White House meeting some weeks ago. “But I'm still doing it.” To a certain extent, that groaning is just standard Trump shit …
Discussion:
Eschaton
Frank Bruni / New York Times:
The Loneliness of the Moderate Democrat — ‘It takes a lot of spine to be a centrist in America today.’ — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — I did it. I found a significantly accomplished, defensibly qualified Democratic officeholder who isn't flirting with — and hasn't fantasized about — a presidential run in 2020.
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 …
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