memeorandum: The Senate's Russia Probe Is Facing a Reckoning (Natasha Bertrand/The Atlantic)

8:10 AM ET, February 15, 2019

Top Items:

‘Off the rails’: Inside Trump's attempt to claim victory in his border wall defeat — After three weeks of pained negotiations to keep the federal government open, President Trump almost blew the whole thing up again on Thursday. — Headed for another defeat on his signature promise …

ABC News:

National emergency will be blocked by courts temporarily, DOJ warns White House — A senior official said the White House would win an appeal. — 16m ago

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and The Week

Melanie Zanona / Politico:

Trump shocks GOP with emergency declaration — The surprise announcement Thursday that President Donald Trump will use his emergency powers to try and build his border wall blindsided some Republicans, confused others and sent the Senate GOP into a general state of shock.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Week, Raw Story and Breitbart

Washington Post:

An emergency declaration by Trump will lead to lawsuits. Lots of them. — If President Trump declares a national emergency to construct a wall on the southern border, only one thing is certain: There will be lawsuits. Lots of them. From California to Congress, the litigants will multiply.

Discussion: The Week and Front Page Magazine

Bloomberg:

Trump Plans $8 Billion for Border Wall Invoking His Own Authority — Plans to redirect nearly $7 billion approved for other uses — Congress approved spending package averting second shutdown — Donald Trump plans to use unilateral authority to spend about $8 billion …

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Trump's Face-Saving Way Out of Crisis Raises Fears Over Rule of Law — WASHINGTON — The White House's announcement Thursday that President Trump would claim emergency powers to build his border wall without congressional approval was a way out of the political crisis he created over shutting down the government.

Discussion: Law & Crime and Vox

Matt Latimer / Politico:

Trump's National Emergency Is Great News for Future President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — I hope President Donald Trump and his short-sighted supporters have been enjoying the fun they've had at the Green New Deal's expense. Unfortunately for them, the president's plan to declare a national emergency …

Discussion: The Week, IJR and Breitbart

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Trump Will Declare a National Emergency. What Happens Next? — Congress has tools to override the president's declaration, but opponents most likely do not have the votes to overcome a veto. — WASHINGTON — In declaring a national emergency to try to build his long-promised border wall …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Week and The Nation

New York Times:
Trump Plans National Emergency to Build Border Wall as Congress Passes Spending Bill

Discussion: USA Today, Advocate, Bloomberg, Corey Robin, Washington Post, Breitbart, Raw Story, Archpaper.com, POLITICUSUSA, Hit & Run and Media Matters for America

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump liked the idea of a national emergency because it's the maximalist, most dramatic option

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico and Breitbart

Washington Post:
House Democrats to challenge Trump's emergency declaration; Republicans divided on action

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politico, Vox, Raw Story, Mother Jones and Breitbart

New York Times:
A Trump-Made Emergency — The president decides that fulfilling …

Discussion: KCBD-TV, Daily Kos, CNBC, Breitbart and Contemptor

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: The national emergency, and how it messes up Washington for Trump

Discussion: Washington Post and Talking Points Memo

Allan Smith / NBC News:
NBC News, MSNBC, Telemundo to host first Democratic presidential primary debate

Discussion: Politico and The Week

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Pelosi warns GOP: Next president could declare national emergency on guns

Discussion: Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Trump technically obese, despite doctor's clean bill of health

Discussion: ABC News, One America News Network and Washington Post

Ken Klukowski / Breitbart:
President Trump Must Ensure Spending Bill Does Not Cancel Emergency Powers

Discussion: The American Spectator

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Trump Keeps Doubling Down On The Same Failed Strategy

Discussion: Axios, The Daily Beast and CNBC

NBC News:
Trump to declare national emergency, announce $8 billion for border wall

Discussion: WFMY-TV, The Week, Roll Call and Boing Boing

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Trump declaring a national emergency to build border wall with McConnell's support will come back to haunt conservatives

Discussion: The Bulwark, Hot Air, Townhall and Viking Pundit

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN: Trump once called executive action on immigration dangerous, unconstitutional and impeachable

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Republicans pay the price for Trump's wall crusade

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, KBZK and ImmigrationProf Blog

Sean Hannity / Fox News:
How Trump can take Congress' garbage deal, and stick the wall down their throats

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

USA Today:
Donald Trump's weight up, cholesterol down, president's doctor discloses after physical exam

Discussion: The Bulwark, The Week, The Topline and Political Wire

CNN:
Trump will sign bill to avoid shutdown, then declare national emergency to free billions for border wall, official says

Discussion: The Daily Beast, FOX2now.com, Breitbart, Newsmax, Reason, Chicks On The Right, Daily Wire, KBZK, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, KFOR-TV, WGN-TV, Daily Kos, The Week, fox8.com and WPIX 11 New York, more at Mediagazer »

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

Andrew McCabe's disturbing account of working for Sessions and Trump — Greg Miller is national security correspondent for The Washington Post, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of “The Apprentice: Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American Democracy.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal, KBZK and Raw Story

Laura Stampler / Fortune:

Amazon Will Pay a Whopping $0 in Federal Taxes on $11.2 Billion Profits — Those wondering how many zeros Amazon, which is valued at a trillion dollars, has to pay in federal taxes might be surprised to learn that its check to the IRS will read exactly $0.00.

Discussion: The American Spectator, The Atlantic and The Daily Caller

Bloomberg:
Amazon Was Holding Talks Wednesday to Make NYC Deal Happen

more at Techmeme »

Brad Stone / Bloomberg:
Amazon's Escape From New York

Discussion: BloombergQuint, The Verge, The Guardian and Forbes

J. David Goodman / New York Times:
Amazon's Retreat on New York City Headquarters Followed Unexpected Backlash

Dylan Byers / NBC News:
'That's pretty firm': Why Amazon is done negotiating with New York

Discussion: Mediaite and National Review

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
New York is better off without Amazon's HQ2

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Beast, NY State of Politics, Tennessee Star, Gothamist and Mother Jones, more at Techmeme »

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

We're entering a new phase of the Trump-Russia investigation — President Trump has been insisting for so long that any investigation of his personal finances would cross a “ red line ” that people may have overlooked the outrageousness of his claim. But this self-declared immunity is about to change.

Discussion: Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Natasha Bertrand / The Atlantic:

The Senate's Russia Probe Is Facing a Reckoning — About two years ago, Republican Representative Devin Nunes, then the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, went on a “midnight run” to the White House that changed everything. — Nunes embarked on the late-night excursion …

Discussion: Raw Story

abc7chicago.com:

Sources: Police investigating whether Jussie Smollett staged attack with help of others, allegedly being written off ‘Empire’ — Chicago police confirmed Thursday that detectives are talking to two persons of interest in connection with the alleged attack on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

Discussion: Townhall, Hit & Run and TMZ.com

The Daily Beast:

Boyfriend's Email: Butina ‘Manipulated’ Russian Spy Agency for NRA Trip — According to her boyfriend, Russian agent Maria Butina had major sway with the FSB officers “assigned” to her. — The boyfriend of confessed Russian agent Maria Butina wrote that she “manipulated” …

Discussion: Raw Story

CNN:

Top US general disagrees with Trump over Syria troop pullout — Muscat, Oman (CNN)The US commander who has been leading the war against ISIS told CNN Friday that he disagreed with Donald Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria and warned that the terror group was far from defeated, in a stark public break with the President.

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

New York Times:

Blaming Political Climate, Trumps Give Up on New Hotels — In the early months of the Trump administration, with the president no longer running his family business, his eldest sons embarked on a plan to roll out two new hotel lines in dozens of American cities.

Discussion: CNN and Raw Story

Tucker Carlson / The American Conservative:

Why Are These Professional War Peddlers Still Around? — One thing that every late-stage ruling class has in common is a high tolerance for mediocrity. Standards decline, the edges fray, but nobody in charge seems to notice. They're happy in their sinecures and getting richer.