memeorandum: How Team Trump keeps changing its story in the Russia investigation (CNN)

9:15 AM ET, February 13, 2019

Top Items:

Ed Clowes / Gulf News:

Trump backer Tom Barrack defends Saudi Arabia — Real estate developer said that kingdom was misunderstood by the West — Dubai: America is in no moral position to criticise Saudi Arabia, according to financier and key Trump backer Tom Barrack. — Speaking on stage at the Milken Institute MENA Summit …

Discussion: Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg: EU Blacklists Saudi Arabia in Fight Against Money-Laundering and Terror Financing

Abdullah Alaoudh / New York Times:
The Farce of Justice in Saudi Arabia

Discussion: Just Security

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Schumer recruits famed fighter pilot to challenge McConnell in 2020 — Chuck Schumer is actively recruiting a high-profile fighter pilot to take on Mitch McConnell in 2020 — a calculated act of aggression against a leading Republican foe. — Schumer met with Amy McGrath …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Townhall

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Is the border wall deal in danger of falling apart? — DRIVING THE DAY — BORDER SECURITY DEAL UNRAVELING? ... LATE LAST NIGHT, we started getting text messages that the border security deal was unraveling a bit as senior aides and lawmakers were drafting it.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, San Francisco Chronicle and TheBlaze

CNN:

How Team Trump keeps changing its story in the Russia investigation — Over the past two years, President Donald Trump and his team have offered changing accounts regarding key matters in the Russia investigation. Their denials have been debunked, Trump has contradicted his senior aides …

Washington Post:
How Manafort's 2016 meeting with a Russian employee at New York cigar club goes to ‘the heart’ of Mueller's probe

Discussion: Raw Story

Daniel Friedman / Mother Jones:
Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats Dispute Claims That Russia Probe Found No Collusion

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, illegal immigration … and NB Blog

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Trump, No Stranger to Jewish Stereotypes, Rejects Ilhan Omar's Apology — WASHINGTON — President Trump demanded on Tuesday that a freshman lawmaker from Minnesota resign after she posted tweets deemed anti-Semitic even by fellow Democrats, but those tweets echoed some of the same insinuations …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Nation and Breitbart

Dave Orrick / Twin Cities:
MN Jewish leaders talked with Ilhan Omar about anti-Semitism last year. Why they remain frustrated.

Discussion: Clarion Project, Hmm Daily and Washington Post

Lori Lowenthal Marcus / Sara A. Carter:
Omar Received Tens of Thousands of Dollars from PACs and Lobbyists

Discussion: Algemeiner.com, Geller Report, Big League Politics and The Gateway Pundit

Abe Greenwald / Commentary:
Apology Unaccepted — On Monday, Democrats called on Rep. Ilhan Omar …

Discussion: Power Line

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:

President Trump wants the press to check out the Great Tariff Debate of 1888. Okay! — On tariffs, what can 1888 tell us about 2019? — Many things happened at President Trump's El Paso rally on Monday night. A BBC cameraman was violently attacked by a #MAGA supporter; you can read his colleague's account of that here.

Discussion: Salon, Politico and New York Times

Jon Sopel / BBC:

Why the attack on our cameraman was no surprise — I would really love to be able to say when I heard about the attack on our cameraman Ron Skeans that I was surprised. Or shocked even. I wasn't. — Once I found out that he was OK, and that the rest of the team were OK, I thought this was a pretty unsurprising event.

Discussion: CNN, IJR and VICE News, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Trump intends to sign border deal to avoid another shutdown — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump intends to sign the border security deal to avoid another partial government shutdown, according to two sources who have spoken directly with the President.

Discussion: Axios, Fox News, POLITICUSUSA, Outside the Beltway, Political Wire, myfox8.com, Mediaite, Common Dreams, Washington Post, Hit & Run, RealityChek and The Hill

Mike Allen / Axios:

House Democrats plan vast Russia probe — Mueller is just the beginning. House Democrats plan a vast probe of President Trump and Russia — with a heavy focus on money laundering — that will include multiple committees and dramatic public hearings, and could last into 2020.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

McCarthy blames Republican loss of House majority on GOP health care bill — Speaking privately to his donors, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy squarely blamed Republican losses in last year's midterm elections on the GOP push to roll back health insurance protections for people …

Discussion: Splinter

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Michael Bloomberg's $500 million anti-Trump moonshot — Billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg is preparing to spend at least $500 million from his own pocket to deny President Trump a second term, according to Democratic operatives briefed on his plans.

Discussion: National Review

David R. Lurie / The Daily Beast:

Trump Is Immune From Impeachment if Mueller Can't Share His Evidence — Attorney General nominee William Barr sounds likely to try to keep what the special counsel finds out from Congress. Thanks to Watergate, there's a way around him. — Donald Trump's next attorney general may attempt …

Discussion: CBS News, POLITICUSUSA, Politico, Raw Story and The Resurgent

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Howard Schultz's campaign is based on 3 ideas, and they're all wrong — Howard Schultz isn't solving America's problems. He's reinforcing them. — On Tuesday night, CNN hosted a live town hall with former Starbucks CEO, and potential presidential candidate, Howard Schultz. It didn't go particularly well.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, CNN and Jacobin

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Chris Christie talks his time with Trump at Manhattan soirée — Chris Christie told Trump stories for nearly an hour last night at the Manhattan home of hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen. — What he's saying: Standing in front of 10-foot-high windows on the first floor of a home …

Michael Collins / USA Today:

National debt tops $22 trillion for the first time as experts warn of ripple effects — President Trump is proposing a $4 trillion-plus budget that projects a $1 trillion or so federal deficit. AP's Economic Reporter Josh Boak says the plan is like a ‘Christmas list, a wish list’ that amounts amounts to a ‘massive bet’.

Discussion: CNBC, Bloomberg and The Week

Martin Crutsinger / Associated Press:
National debt hits new milestone, topping $22 trillion

Discussion: Axios

Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times:

The official fast food French fry power rankings — Look, it's been a long two years for everyone. We're tired, our brains have been melted to a thin pap by the news cycle, and we've soundly backslid into our slothful ways despite resolving to exercise off all the cookies we cry-ate over the holiday.

Discussion: Mother Jones

Christian Gollayan / New York Post:

Brie Larson isn't letting ‘Captain Marvel’ press tour be ‘overwhelmingly’ white and male … Brie Larson is on a mission to save the world — and not just in her latest flick, superhero blockbuster “Captain Marvel.” — The Academy Award-winning actress might be the star …

Discussion: Fox News, Louder With Crowder, RedState and Daily Wire

Megan Brenan / Gallup:

Trump Approval, Economic Confidence Rebound — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump's job approval rating has risen to 44% after the conclusion of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. While views of Trump have improved, the public's heightened positivity does not extend …

Jeremy Stahl / Slate:

A Veep Joke About Leg-Shaving Was Inspired by a Rumor About Amy Klobuchar — Last week, in the lead-up to Amy Klobuchar announcing her presidential run, HuffPost and BuzzFeed published stories in which several anonymous former staffers confirmed long-circulating rumors that the Minnesota senator …

Discussion: Mediaite, Daily Wire and Washington Free Beacon

Ellen McCarthy / Washington Post:

‘Makes going to work look easy’: Decades before she was House speaker, Nancy Pelosi had an even harder job — Last month, Nancy Corinne Prowda was watching television when her mother, Nancy Pelosi, came on the screen. Pelosi had disinvited President Trump from giving his State of the Union speech …

Los Angeles Times:

‘Finish the wall’? Facing failure, Trump tries rebranding … For President Trump, chants and signs saying “Build the wall” are so 2016 — “Finish the wall” is his new rallying cry. Yet two years into his term, not one new mile of a barrier has been erected along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

Discussion: Daily Wire and IJR

Washington Post:

‘You can feel it now’: New Democrats push party, and 2020 candidates, to the left on divisive issues — A new generation of Democrats is using far-reaching policy ideas and a brash social media presence to upend the party — pushing it to the left on divisive issues such as health care …

Discussion: Axios, CNBC and The Week

David Harsanyi / The Federalist:
Political Journalists Are Trying To Gaslight America

Discussion: Instapundit, Vox, The Daily Beast and NB Blog

U.S. Department of Justice:

Multiple White Supremacist Gang Members among 54 Defendants Charged in RICO Indictment — Charges Include Solicitation of Murder, Kidnapping, Maiming, and Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine — Dozens of members of a white supremacist gang allegedly responsible for multiple acts …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Carol Morello / Washington Post:

Pompeo shrugs off expected no-shows ahead of U.S.-hosted conference on Middle East — WARSAW — Arriving in Poland to host an international conference on Middle East peace and security, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Tuesday that more than 30 foreign ministers would attend.

Discussion: The American Conservative, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Boing Boing

CNN:

Warner splits with Burr on collusion question — Sen. Burr: Our involvement in Comey firing done — (CNN)Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, rejected Republican Chairman Richard Burr's recent statements that the committee has not found evidence of collusion …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Examiner, Raw Story and emptywheel

Shahien Nasiripour / Bloomberg:

Before Bezos Fight, Enquirer Publisher AMI Faced Steep Losses — AMI had negative net worth as of Sept. 30, documents show — Losses spurred borrowing, leading to more than $1 billion debt — The publisher of the National Enquirer, currently under attack by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos …

Discussion: The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Stieb / New York Magazine:

Trump Proposes Fourth of July Parade in D.C., Which Already Exists — President Trump kicked off Tuesday's Cabinet meeting by announcing his desire to hold a “Salute to America” parade on the National Mall. “We're thinking about doing, on the Fourth of July or thereabouts, a parade, a ‘Salute to America’ parade,” said Trump.

Washington Post:

The Senate just passed the decade's biggest public lands package. Here's what's in it. — The bipartisan measure would create more than 1.3 million acres of wilderness out West, add three national park units and expand eight others. — The Senate on Tuesday passed the most sweeping …

Discussion: The Week and Axios

Andrew Desiderio / Politico:

'This wasn't on people's radar': Khanna set for victory in Yemen vote — In 2004, a little-known 27-year-old lawyer ran one of the first campaigns centered on opposition to military intervention at the height of the Iraq war. He lost by 54 points. — Fifteen years later, Rep. Ro Khanna …

Discussion: The American Conservative

Washington Post:

Gov. Larry Hogan informs Redskins he is withdrawing effort to build new stadium at Maryland site ‘at this time’ — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has informed the Washington Redskins that he is withdrawing from efforts to persuade the team to build its next stadium in Oxon Cove Park …

Discussion: ProFootballTalk

Katie Honan / Wall Street Journal:

New York City Legislation Would Make it Cheaper to Rent an Apartment — Two council members are proposing bills that would limit brokers' fees and security deposits — Two New York City Council members will introduce a package of bills on Wednesday that aim to make renting apartments more affordable.