Top Items:
Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:
Paul Erickson, Russian Agent Maria Butina's Boyfriend, Indicted for Fraud — The federal indictment in South Dakota alleges that he ran a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018 using a chain of assisted living homes. — Betsy Woodruff — Paul Erickson, the American political operative …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Political Wire and The Guardian
RELATED:
U.S. Department of Justice:
Sioux Falls Man Charged with Wire Fraud and Money Laundering — United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 11 counts of Wire Fraud and Money Laundering. — Paul Erickson, age 56, was indicted on February 5, 2019.
HuffPost:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Abuse Of Staff Scared Off Candidates To Manage Her Presidential Bid — At least three people withdrew from consideration to lead the senator's nascent campaign — in part because of Klobuchar's history of mistreating her staff. — At least three people have withdrawn …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hot Air and Washington Free Beacon
Kaitlyn Folmer / ABC News:
Rep. Bobby Scott learned of sexual assault allegation against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax a year ago from the accuser: Aides — Virginia Democratic Congressman Bobby Scott was made aware of allegations of sexual assault against now-Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax over a year ago by the alleged victim herself, ABC News has learned.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Axios, Splinter, Political Wire, The Last Refuge, Outside the Beltway, CNN and Mediaite
RELATED:
Ben Paviour / Community Idea Stations:
Fairfax Retained Kavanaugh's Lawyers After Allegations Surfaced
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Democrats rallied around Christine Blasey Ford. Will they do the same with Vanessa Tyson?
Discussion:
Power Line, New York Times, Essence and The Week
Marc Caputo / Politico:
‘Utterly shocked and terrified’: Fairfax accuser details alleged assault
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Hot Air, WHYY, The Daily Beast and RedState
Jack Crowe / National Review:
National Organization for Women Calls on Fairfax to Resign
Discussion:
National Organization …, Breitbart and KTLA
Associated Press:
Fairfax accuser Vanessa Tyson releases statement: ‘I suffered from both deep humiliation and shame’
Discussion:
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Townhall
Chris Cillizza / CNN:
The Virginia Democratic Party is totally imploding
Discussion:
Politico, The American Conservative, The Week and Washington Free Beacon
Associated Press:
Virginia Attorney General Says He Wore Blackface at College Party — Richmond, Va. (AP) — Virginia sank deeper into political turmoil Wednesday when another top Democrat — Attorney General Mark Herring — admitted putting on blackface in the 1980s, when he was a college student.
Discussion:
Breitbart, Power Line, The Resurgent, RedState, Instapundit, Jezebel, Joe.My.God., The Last Refuge, Vox, Daily Wire and Washington Examiner
RELATED:
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Hillary Clinton Blackface Hoax Explodes After Virginia Scandals — The photo is clearly not the 2016 Democratic nominee. And yet, it's finding its way around pro-Trump Twitter. — See What's Happening in Right-Wing Media From the Safety of Your Inbox. — Blackface scandals …
Discussion:
NaturalNews.com
Avery Anapol / The Hill:
Florida state GOP lawmaker says high school blackface photo is ‘decontextualized’
Discussion:
Orlando Sentinel, Raw Story and Splinter
Paul Schwartzman / Washington Post:
On a political roll, Virginia Democrats now awash in scandal
Discussion:
Mediaite and Talking Points Memo
Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
House Expands Russia Inquiry as Pelosi Declares Democrats Will Not Be Cowed — WASHINGTON — The House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday launched a broad inquiry into the potential influence that Russia and other foreign powers may be exercising over President Trump, acting just hours …
Discussion:
U.S. House of …, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, The Week, Hullabaloo, Common Dreams and Jamie Dupree - AJC
RELATED:
Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
House Intel Democrats Just Restarted and Supercharged the Trump-Russia Probe — Armed with subpoena power, Schiff will look at whether anyone connected to Trump was at risk of being co-opted by a foreign power—and if ‘those in Congress’ obstructed any probes.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
CNN:
House intelligence chair announces sweeping investigation into Trump's finances and Russia
Discussion:
Washington Press, The Gateway Pundit, ThinkProgress, The Last Refuge, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, Law & Crime, IJR, Daily Kos, Axios, Joe.My.God., twitchy.com and Mediaite
Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump to make last-ditch wall pitch on U.S.-Mexico border
Discussion:
CBS News, One America News Network, ThinkProgress and Daily Kos
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump blasts Schiff as ‘political hack’ over new investigation
Discussion:
The Root and Joe.My.God.
Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:
Beto O'Rourke Was Once Adrift in New York City. Now He's Searching Again. — As the former Texas congressman weighs a run for president, his rebel-in-moderation youth offers revealing parallels to his search for direction now. — All at once, New York City seemed to be conspiring against Beto O'Rourke.
Julie K. Brown / miamiherald:
Justice Department opens probe into Jeffrey Epstein plea deal — The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta's role in negotiating a controversial plea deal with a wealthy New York investor accused of molesting more than 100 underage girls in Palm Beach.
Discussion:
Splinter and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Pete Williams / NBC News:
Justice Department opens probe into Jeffrey Epstein's plea deal
Discussion:
Axios, Politico, Law & Crime, CNBC and The Daily Beast
Joseph Cox / Motherboard:
Big Telecom Sold Highly Sensitive Customer GPS Data Typically Used for 911 Calls — A Motherboard investigation has found that around 250 bounty hunters and related businesses had access to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint customer location data. — Around 250 bounty hunters and related businesses …
Discussion:
The Verge
RELATED:
Sophie Tatum / CNN:
CNN to host town hall with Howard Schultz — Howard Schultz: Both parties have failed at immigration — Washington (CNN)CNN will host a town hall next week in Houston with former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz as he mulls a presidential bid in 2020. — Schultz, who said last month …
Discussion:
twitchy.com
Washington Post:
‘It will take off like a wildfire’: The unique dangers of the Washington state measles outbreak — VANCOUVER, Wash. — Amber Gorrow is afraid to leave her house with her infant son because she lives at the epicenter of Washington state's worst measles outbreak in more than two decades.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
Stacy Cowley / New York Times:
Consumer Protection Bureau Cripples New Rules for Payday Loans — Payday lenders won a major victory on Wednesday after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved to gut tougher restrictions that were to take effect later this year. — The industry has spent years trying to fend off the new rules …
RELATED:
Allison Pecorin / ABC News:
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announces plans to scrap pending rule on payday lending
Discussion:
Daily Wire, Mother Jones and Common Dreams
Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed News:
This Altered Photo Of Women Lawmakers In KKK Hoods Is Spreading And Twitter Is Refusing To Stop It — Twitter is allowing an altered photo comparing women members of Congress who wore white to the State of the Union to the KKK to continue to circulate on its platform on Wednesday despite …
Discussion:
RedState and Media Matters for America
Tim Mak / NPR:
Trump Ally Tries To Remove Parkland Fathers From Gun Violence Hearing — A longtime Trump ally pushed to have two fathers of Parkland victims tossed out of a congressional hearing on gun violence — a reflection of the vociferous nature of the debate Democrats have made a priority in the new Congress.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Hill and Newsweek
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Delay, Deny, and Deal Flow: Two New York Times Reporters Cash in on Seven-Figure Facebook Opus — The book, acquired by HarperCollins, suggests the extent to which the publishing industry is willing to bet on politically adjacent reportorial blockbusters. — Over the past few months …
Discussion:
Mediaite
David Gauvey Herbert / New York Magazine:
The Five Families of Feces The porta-potty business is as dirty as you'd think. But one man keeps coming up smelling like roses. — Charles W. Howard is the porta-potty king of New York City. The seat of his vast empire is Broad Channel, Queens; from this windswept rock in Jamaica Bay …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Many popular iPhone apps secretly record your screen without asking — And there's no way a user would know — Many major companies, like Air Canada, Hollister and Expedia, are recording every tap and swipe you make on their iPhone apps. In most cases you won't even realize it.
Discussion:
9to5Mac and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
‘This One Here Is Gonna Kick My Butt’—Farm Belt Bankruptcies Are Soaring — Throughout much of the Midwest, U.S. farmers are filing for chapter 12 bankruptcy protection at levels not seen for at least a decade, a Wall Street Journal review of federal data shows.
Discussion:
Axios
Nick Wadhams / Bloomberg:
U.S. Erupts in Fury as Germany Deports Terrorist to Turkey — Whitaker says Germans helped Turkish man ‘escape justice’ — Convicted terrorist accused in deaths of two U.S. servicemen — The Trump administration escalated its dispute with Germany over the transfer of a terror suspect sought …
John Solomon / The Hill:
Mueller hauled before secret FISA court to address FBI abuses in 2002, Congress told — Robert Mueller, the former FBI director and current special prosecutor in the Russia case, once was hauled before the nation's secret intelligence court to address a large number of instances …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Christine Kay, Editor on Prizewinning Times Projects, Dies at 54 — Christine Kay, a veteran editor at The New York Times who had a strong hand in shaping prizewinning articles and investigative projects and who helped conceive “Portraits of Grief,” a celebrated series of remembrances …
David Harsanyi / The Federalist:
The State Of American ‘Fact-Checking’ Is Completely Useless — With a veneer of impartiality, fact-checkers engage in a uniquely dishonest style of partisanship. — If media wants to challenge the context and politics of Republican arguments, that's their prerogative.
Discussion:
National Review, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com
Debra J. Saunders / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Trump: Dean Heller lost re-election because he didn't excite voter base — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called former Sen. Dean Heller “a terrible senator” who lost his re-election bid because he had been “extraordinarily hostile” to Trump during the 2016 election.
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
Associated Press:
Pelosi says Trump ‘threats’ have no place in Congress — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's suggestion in his State of the Union address that Democrats abandon their investigations of his administration is a “threat” that has no place in Congress. — Pelosi told reporters Wednesday …
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, USA Today and Talking Points Memo
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