memeorandum: 2020 Democrats are ready to talk about racial inequality (Alexi McCammond/Axios)

9:20 AM ET, January 27, 2019

Top Items:

Julian Sanchez / New York Times:

Mueller's Real Target in the Roger Stone Indictment — It was probably not Stone himself, but rather his electronic devices. — Mr. Sanchez is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. — For many, Friday's arrest of Roger Stone, the veteran political trickster and longtime adviser to Donald Trump …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Beast, The Intercept, Washington Monthly and Just Security

Washington Post:

Trump advisers lied over and over again, Mueller says. The question is, why? — They lied to the public for months before Donald Trump was elected — and then repeatedly after he took office. — They lied to Congress as lawmakers sought to investigate Russia's attack on American democracy in 2016.

Peter Zeidenberg / The Daily Beast:

No Escape for Roger Stone: Mueller's Case Is a Slam Dunk and He's Too Slimy to Get Flipped — Prosecutor who helped convict Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby for lying and obstruction says the case against Trump's old pal is virtually perfect. — The long-anticipated indictment …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Breitbart

Ken Dilanian / NBC News: Roger Stone indictment: Is this all Mueller has, or is he closing in on Trump?

Elie Honig / CAFE:
Flipping Roger Stone

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, Sun-Sentinel and Mediaite

Associated Press: In Trump ally Stone's case, Mueller finds crime in cover-up

Chuck Rosenberg / Lawfare: Roger Stone's Arrest Was Appropriate, Not Heavy-Handed

New York Times:

Jared Kushner, a Confident Negotiator, Finds Immigration Deal to Be Elusive — WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, was confident in his ability as a good-faith negotiator who could find a compromise to end the government shutdown. — His pitch to Democratic lawmakers was simple …

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Washington Post

CNN: Axelrod: Trump has boxed himself into a corner

Alex Horton / Washington Post:
‘He lied about it’: Ann Coulter rips Trump for failing to secure border wall funding

Discussion: Slate, Chicks On The Right and WTVR-TV

Dara Lind / Vox:

Trump claimed women were gagged with tape. Then Border Patrol tried to find some evidence. — An internal email, sent 2 weeks after Trump started making the claim, asked agents for “any information” about what Trump was describing. — It's become a staple of President Donald Trump's riffs …

Discussion: New York Times

Molly O'Toole / Los Angeles Times:

Trump ordered 15,000 new border and immigration officers — but got thousands of vacancies instead … Two years after President Trump signed orders to hire 15,000 new border agents and immigration officers, the administration has spent tens of millions of dollars in the effort — but has thousands more vacancies than when it began.

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: Conservative News Today, CNN, New York Times, fox13now.com, Splinter, Washington Press, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, The Daily Caller, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Bernard Condon / Associated Press:

12 immigrant workers at Trump golf course fired, lawyer says — NEW YORK (AP) — A dozen immigrant workers at one of President Donald Trump's golf clubs in New York who are in the U.S. illegally were fired this month even though managers had known about their legal status for years, a lawyer for the workers said Saturday.

John Harwood / CNBC:

Americans fault Trump for chaotic government shutdown, as more believe US is ‘on the wrong track’: NBC-WSJ poll — An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll showed that by 63 percent to 28 percent , a margin greater than two to one, Americans believe the country is “off on the wrong track” rather than “headed in the right direction.”

Mark Murray / NBC News:

‘Wrong track’: Public sours on nation's direction after shutdown — Sixty-three percent of Americans say the nation is on the wrong track, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. — WASHINGTON — After the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history …

Associated Press:

20 Dead as Bombs Target Sunday Mass in Philippine Cathedral — Jolo, Philippines (AP) — Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding 81 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said.

Discussion: NPR

New York Times:

A Bruised Trump Faces Uncertain 2020 Prospects. His Team Fears a Primary Fight. — President Trump's defeat in his border-wall standoff with Congress has clouded his already perilous path to a second term in 2020, undercutting Mr. Trump's cherished image as a forceful leader and deft negotiator …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

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 in the military …

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, Washington Press, Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and Talking Points Memo

Associated Press:

Search on for Louisiana man suspected in 5 deaths — NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities in Louisiana said they are searching for an “armed and dangerous” 21-year-old accused of killing his parents and three others in two separate but related shootings Saturday.

CNN:
5 dead after shooting spree in Louisiana

Discussion: WVUE-TV and Daily Kos

Mitch Daniels / Washington Post:

The State of the Union is a tasteless, classless spectacle. It must go. — Mitch Daniels, a Post contributing columnist, is president of Purdue University and a former governor of Indiana. — One needn't be a hidebound traditionalist to appreciate the value of our national civic ceremonies …

Dick Polman / The Atlantic:

Democrats Are Newly Emboldened on Gun Control — In July 2001, at a meeting in Indianapolis, national Democratic chairman Terry McAuliffe told party brethren that gun control was an issue they were wise to avoid. Nobody in the ballroom challenged him. The consensus at the time was that Democrats …

Greenville, NC:

FIRST ON WITN: Congressman Walter Jones in hospice — FARMVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Congressman Walter Jones is in hospice, his wife Joe Anne Jones confirmed Saturday at their home in Farmville. — The family declined to give any other details about his condition.

Discussion: illegal immigration …

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez / Arizona Republic:

Conservative Kelli Ward to lead Arizona Republican Party after upset — Kelli Ward, the bomb-throwing conservative former state senator and loyalist to President Donald Trump, upended the race to lead the Arizona Republican Party by beating the establishment favorite and incumbent GOP chairman, Jonathan Lines.

Discussion: Breitbart and The Daily Caller

Alexi McCammond / Axios:

2020 Democrats are ready to talk about racial inequality — After the 2016 election, Democrats focused on winning back white working-class voters who supported Donald Trump. The 2020 target voter is already different. — Driving the news: Democrats running for president in 2020 …

New York Times:

U.S. and Taliban Edge Toward Deal to End America's Longest War — KABUL, Afghanistan — The United States and the Taliban are closing in on a deal to end America's longest war after six days of some of the most serious Afghan peace negotiations to date wrapped up on Saturday.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Task & Purpose