memeorandum: First signs of border wall construction spotted at National Butterfly Center (Silvia Foster-Frau/ExpressNews.com)

2:50 PM ET, February 5, 2019

Top Items:

Secret Files Show How Trump Moscow Talks Unfolded While Trump Heaped Praise On Putin — As a candidate, Donald Trump had a lot of praise for Vladimir Putin — and no business, he kept insisting, in Russia. These documents tell a different story. — When Michael Cohen …

Discussion: Shakesville, Raw Story, emptywheel and Mediaite

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

The 7 big investigations of Trump, explained — News broke Monday night that federal prosecutors issued a subpoena in the burgeoning investigation of the Trump inaugural committee. And we can add that one to the list of serious investigations President Trump has faced, including of himself …

Discussion: The National Memo, Law & Crime and The Week

emptywheel:
Felix Sater Promised a Putin Meeting with Michael Cohen Minutes after Don Jr Promised to Revisit Magnitsky Sanctions

Discussion: Hullabaloo

New York Times:

Trump Inaugural Committee Ordered to Hand Over Documents to Federal Investigators — Trump Inaugural Committee Is Ordered to Give Documents to Investigators — Federal prosecutors demanded documents about the committee's finances and activities, showing interest in whether it received illegal foreign donations.

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:

Power Up: ‘Tom Brady’ of leakers roils Trump White House before State of Union — Good morning, Power friends. Happy Chinese new year! 2019 is the Year of the Pig, which represents wealth and treasure in Chinese culture. So gong hay fat choy (wishing you happiness and prosperity) to everyone celebrating .

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Sanders on Trump inaugural committee subpoena: ‘This has nothing to do with the White House’

Discussion: Breitbart and Politico

Brad Reed / Raw Story:
Sarah Sanders: Corruption in Trump's inauguration has ‘nothing to do with the White House’

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Hullabaloo

New York Times:
For Trump, the State of the Union Is a Spectacle, and He Is Ready for It

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week, Associated Press, Balloon Juice, Politico and Talking Points Memo

Nancy Cook / Politico:

The plan to keep Trump's taxes hidden — The new House Democratic majority is widely expected to test one of Donald Trump's ultimate red lines by demanding the president's personal tax returns — and the Trump administration has been gearing up for months to fight back hard.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The Week and Raw Story

John Cassidy / New Yorker:
The Shrunken State of Donald Trump's Presidency

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Media Matters for America and Breitbart

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
We may finally see Trump's tax returns, and Republicans are panicking

Discussion: Politico

Sarah McCammon / NPR:

Woman Alleging Sexual Assault By Virginia's Lt. Gov. Hires Washington Law Firm — A California woman who has accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assaulting her 15 years ago, has hired the same law firm that represented Christine Blasey Ford in her allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Virginia lieutenant governor's accuser retains law firm that represented Kavanaugh accuser

Discussion: Political Wire, Law & Crime, NRCC and IJR

Carrie Johnson / NPR:
Neomi Rao, Picked For D.C. Circuit Court, Faces Scrutiny Over Earlier Views On Rape

Discussion: The Federalist, RealClearPolicy, Washington Free Beacon, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Intercept

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Fox Guest Warns: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Trying to ‘Assimilate Us’ to ‘Latin American Values’ — “Instead of us assimilating them, they are assimilating us,” Peter Morici said of Ocasio-Cortez and her likeminded colleagues. — A week after former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw faced intense backlash …

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Showing Us the Future of Politics. Sort of.

Gregg Re / Fox News:
‘Green New Deal’ details emerge, as Ocasio-Cortez preps big reveal of WWII-level mobilization

Discussion: RedState, Daily Wire and Financial Times

Anna Silman / The Cut:

How I Get It Done: Merchants of Truth author Jill Abramson — In her new book Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts, out February 5, Jill Abramson chronicles the upheaval that has rocked the media industry over the past decade, as told through the stories of four outlets …

Kim Severson / New York Times:

Los Angeles Times Will Revive Its Separate Food Section — New hires are part of a rebuilding effort at a newspaper that has experienced hard times. — The Los Angeles Times said Tuesday that it would resume publishing a stand-alone print section dedicated to food, and that it had added new staff members to fill its pages.

Brad Reed / Raw Story:

‘I trusted you!’ Trump voters seethe after realizing they're getting screwed by the GOP's tax plan — Multiple supporters of President Donald Trump over the past couple of weeks have taken to Twitter to air their grievances about the president's signature tax cut plan.

Edward Conard / Wall Street Journal: Tax Reform Is Covering Its Costs

The White House:

Special Guests for President Trump's Second State of the Union Address — Here are the special guests who will join the President and First Lady at the U.S. Capitol when President Donald J. Trump delivers the second State of the Union Address of his presidency.

FiveThirtyEight: 3 Reasons That State Of The Union Speeches Don't Matter

David Harsanyi / The Federalist:

Why Democrats Can't Talk Honestly About Abortion — The truth is unconscionable in a modern world. — Democrats will protect American children from the evils of trans fats and gay conversion therapy, but not from doctors who will kill them through negligent homicide in the first few hours of their lives.

Discussion: WORLD, twitchy.com and Townhall

LifeSiteNews:
BREAKING: Democrat Patty Murray blocks Senate bill banning infanticide after failed abortions

Discussion: The Bulwark, National Review, Hot Air, Daily Wire, Louder With Crowder, The Resurgent, Breitbart and Townhall

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Senate Dems block Sasse measure meant to respond to Virginia bill

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Signal

Ryan Grim / The Intercept:

Top Nancy Pelosi Aide Privately Tells Insurance Executives Not to Worry About Democrats Pushing “Medicare for All” — Less than a month after Democrats — many of them running on “Medicare for All” — won back control of the House of Representatives in November, the top health policy aide …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Week and Splinter

Tucker Reals / CBS News:

Pope Francis confirms priests' abuse of nuns included “sexual slavery” — Nuns have suffered and are still suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and bishops, and even being held as sexual slaves, Pope Francis confirmed on Tuesday. The abuse was so severe in one case …

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Associated Press:

Ex-Gov. Weld back in the GOP as he mulls Trump challenge — BOSTON (AP) — Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld has changed his party registration from Libertarian back to Republican as he mulls a possible primary challenge against President Donald Trump. — Weld served as a Republican governor from 1991 until 1997.

Discussion: Political Wire and Outside the Beltway

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

Former White House Staffer Cliff Sims on Trump's Emotional Life and the Fine Points of Leaking — When I met him on Thursday morning, Cliff Sims was just a few blocks away from the White House, the place he worked for the “500 extraordinary days” that provided most of the material for his memoir, Team of Vipers, released last week.

Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:

Top Progressive Firm Tells Dems to Leave Starbucks Alone — SKDKnickerbocker lists Starbucks as a client. And they want to separate the company from the presidential ambitions of its former CEO. — One of the top Democratic firms in the country is privately urging top officials in the party …

Discussion: CNBC

Alex Johnson / NBC News:

Runner kills mountain lion that attacked him on Colorado trail — “In the event of a lion attack, you need to do anything in your power to fight back, just as this gentleman did,” a state wildlife official said. — A trail runner fought off and killed a mountain lion in self-defense …

Discussion: Denver Post and twitchy.com

Broderick Turner / Los Angeles Times:

Lakers pull out of Anthony Davis trade talks amid ‘outrageous’ requests by Pelicans … The Lakers have “pulled out” of any more conversations in trying to acquire New Orleans All-Star Anthony Davis because of the Pelican's “outrageous” trade requests, according to a person with knowledge …

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:

Trump, Kushner met with contractors to discuss building border wall — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met with contractors at the White House to discuss building the border wall late last week, two sources with knowledge of the meeting told CNN.

Discussion: Breitbart and Political Wire

Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost:

Trump Called Nepal And Bhutan ‘Nipple’ And ‘Button’ In Intel Briefing: Time's John Walcott — The national security reporter says on CNN that the president is alarmingly out of touch in White House intelligence sessions. — President Donald Trump mispronounced Nepal and Bhutan as “Nipple” …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Daily Kos

Haley Byrd / CNN:

Senators make a bipartisan push to limit Trump's trade powers — (CNN)As President Donald Trump prepares to once again make a bipartisan appeal in his State of the Union address Tuesday, members of Congress are linking arms on one of his favorite issues: trade.

John Feehery / The Hill:

Trump, like Apple, has smashed the status quo — Who knew that the one throwing the hammer would be a loudmouth billionaire with a unique hairstyle? — Sunday marked 35 Super Bowls since Apple unveiled its iconic 1984 commercial. — In that ad, a young woman, Anya Major …

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Socially Liberal, Fiscally Conservative Voters Preferred Trump In 2016 — The conventional wisdom is that a socially liberal, fiscally conservative independent presidential candidate — like, say, Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, who is considering just such a run …

YouTube:

An Inside Look At The World's Biggest Gun Show | Shot Show 2019 … The Washington Free Beacon sent reporter Stephen Gutowski to Las Vegas to cover the biggest gun show on the planet. From range day to the exhibit floor to the nightlife, get an inside look at what Shot Show is really like.

Rachel Silberstein / Albany Times Union:

Cuomo: State facing $2.3 billion shortfall — ALBANY — New York state is facing an unexpected $2.3 billion shortfall — the most significant in eight years — due to a sharp drop in income tax collections for December and January, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo revealed on Monday.

Discussion: Front Page Magazine, News 12 Long Island, Breitbart and Washington Free Beacon