memeorandum: ‘A recipe for disaster’? Trump's border emergency drags the GOP into a risky fight ahead of 2020. (Washington Post)

7:55 AM ET, February 16, 2019

Top Items:

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:

Trump's National Emergency Just Got Its First Legal Challenge — Legal advocacy group Public Citizen filed suit on behalf of landowners in Texas and an environmental group. More lawsuits are expected. — Reporting From — Washington, DC — WASHINGTON - A consumer advocacy group filed …

Discussion: Axios, Hit & Run, Mother Jones, Law & Crime, The Week and ThinkProgress

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

Trump Isn't Just Defying the Constitution. He's Undermining SCOTUS. — The president defended his national emergency by boasting that he'll win at the Supreme Court because it's full of his judges. — In a Rose Garden speech Friday morning announcing that he was declaring a national state …

Discussion: Just Security, Washington Post and Law & Crime

David French / National Review:

Trump's Emergency Declaration Is Contemptuous of the Rule of Law — This is no Trump v. Hawaii; the president's discretion is dramatically limited. — One thing that is abundantly clear from reading the full text of President Trump's declaration of a national emergency on the southern border …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Beast, RedState, Cronkite News, Politico, Vox, Constitution Daily, The White House and NPR

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:

Ann Coulter Fires Back at Trump: ‘The Only National Emergency Is That Our President Is an Idiot’ — The president said she had gone ‘off the reservation’ during his Rose Garden address declaring a national emergency for the wall. — Matt Wilstein — Ann Coulter says she's thankful …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Contemptor and Hot Air

Washington Post:

How President Trump came to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall — President Trump knew that lawmakers were unlikely to ever give him the billions of dollars he wanted to build a wall on the southern border, so in early 2018, he gave aides a directive: Find a way to do it without Congress.

Discussion: Raw Story, Gay Star News, Mother Jones, ABC News, Politico and Orlando Weekly

Jeff Greenfield / Politico:
Why Trump's Going to Win on the National Emergency

Discussion: Breitbart

Lawfare:
What Authorities Is President Trump Using to Build a Border Wall?

Discussion: Foreign Policy, AAF and The Gateway Pundit

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Trump just plunged the country into dangerous new territory. Here's what's really at stake.

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story and CNBC

Josh Blackman / Lawfare:
How Congress and President Obama Made Trump's Wall Possible

Discussion: New York Times

President Donald J. Trump / The White House:
President Donald J. Trump's Border Security Victory

Discussion: Public Pool, KOAA-TV, Hill Reporter, Daily Wire, Cronkite News and Washington Free Beacon

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Trump Declares a National Emergency, and Provokes a Constitutional Clash

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

Special counsel prosecutors say they have communications of Stone with WikiLeaks — Washington (CNN)Prosecutors said for the first time that they have evidence of Roger Stone communicating with WikiLeaks, according to a new court filing from special counsel prosecutors.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Gateway Pundit and VICE News

USA Today:

Mueller's office seeks prison sentence of 20 years or more for ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort — WASHINGTON - Russia special counsel Robert Mueller asked a federal judge on Friday to send former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to prison for between 20 and 24 years for his conviction on multiple financial fraud charges.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

CNN:

Exclusive: WH press secretary Sarah Sanders interviewed by special counsel's office — Washington (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has interviewed White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, she told CNN on Friday. — “The President urged me, like he has everyone in the administration …

Discussion: KVOA-TV, Washington Post, Townhall, Law & Crime, Associated Press, Politico, CNBC, Daily Kos, ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Zachary Basu / Axios:

Mueller says Paul Manafort should serve 19-24 years in prison — Prosecutors for special counsel Robert Mueller said in a new court filing that President Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort should serve between 19.5 and 24.5 years in prison for the financial crimes for which he was convicted in a Virginia court last August.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Politico

Fox News:
Judge imposes partial gag order in Roger Stone case

Discussion: Associated Press, Daily Wire and Townhall

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Judge gags Roger Stone from Mueller comments around D.C. courthouse

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, One America News Network, ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, TheBlaze, Reuters, Axios and The Week

Chicago Tribune:

Aurora mass shooting updates: 6 dead, including gunman, and 5 officers wounded in attack at Illinois manufacturing firm — Six people, including a gunman, died in a shooting at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora on Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire, officials said.

Discussion: abc7chicago.com, WTKR-TV, Breitbart, CBS Chicago, The Daily Caller and TheBlaze

Washington Post:

At least 5 civilians dead and 5 officers wounded in shooting in Aurora, Ill., officials say — Five people were killed and five police officers wounded Friday afternoon when a gunman opened fire inside of a warehouse in Aurora, Ill., police say. — Aurora Police Chief Kristin Zimen confirmed the suspect …

Discussion: Splinter

Daily Herald:
Suspect in custody after multiple Aurora cops, civilians shot

Discussion: CNN, WGN-TV and Breitbart

Doha Madani / NBC News:
Several injured, shooter apprehended at Aurora, Ill., manufacturing plant

Discussion: Perez Hilton, KOAA-TV, KVOA-TV, Vox, Raw Story and CBS Chicago

Washington Post:

‘A recipe for disaster’? Trump's border emergency drags the GOP into a risky fight ahead of 2020. — President Trump's decision to unilaterally attempt to build his promised wall at the Mexico border is pulling his party into a tailspin of drama and unease — a move that could help …

Discussion: Philly.com, Raw Story, The Atlantic, Vox and AOL

Shannon Vavra / Axios:
House Judiciary to investigate Trump's emergency declaration

Discussion: The Guardian and ABC News

The Bulwark:
A Defining Moment for the GOP

Discussion: Raw Story and Hill Reporter

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
There's an emergency — and it's Trump's power grab

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Beast and Vox

Henry Olsen / Washington Post:

Words are a president's strongest weapon. Trump is terrible at words. — The lawyers will fight over the legality and constitutionality of President Trump's national emergency declaration. What his legal team can't salvage is the American people's assessment of his ability to do his job.

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:
Trump's bewildering national emergency press conference, annotated

Discussion: Daily Wire, The Moderate Voice, Althouse and Mother Jones

Washington Post:
Fact-checking Trump's announcement of a national emergency

Discussion: PolitiFact and New York Times

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

How Dumb Is Ocasio-Cortez? — The two hottest commodities in the Democratic Party are Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Earlier this week, Omar exhibited stunning ignorance in her hostile questioning of Elliott Abrams. Similarly, Ocasio-Cortez has often displayed a surprising lack …

Discussion: twitchy.com, Breitbart and Washington Free Beacon

Nolan Hicks / New York Post:
De Blasio rips into AOC's Amazon opposition: Working people ‘want jobs’

Discussion: The New Neo, Chicks On The Right, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Free Beacon and The Hill

New York Times:
Why the Amazon Deal Collapsed: A Tech Giant Stumbles in N.Y.'s Raucous Political Arena

Discussion: Vox, naked capitalism and Outside the Beltway, more at Techmeme »

Andrew Desiderio / Politico:

Cummings: 2 Trump attorneys may have lied about Cohen payments — House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said on Friday that his panel received new documents showing that two attorneys for President Donald Trump may have lied to government ethics officials about Trump fixer Michael …

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story and Political Wire

Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal: Ethics Office Notes Show ‘Evolving Stories’ on Trump's Reimbursement of Michael Cohen, House Oversight Committee Says

CNN:

Russia is backing a viral video company aimed at American millennials — New York (CNN)Three online video channels designed to appeal to millennials have collected tens of millions of views on Facebook since September. But the pages pushing the videos do not disclose that they are backed by the Russian government.

Discussion: Alliance For Securing …

Chico Harlan / Washington Post:

Ex-cardinal McCarrick defrocked by Vatican for sexual abuse — ROME — The Vatican on Saturday said it had stripped ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick of the rights of the priesthood, leveling a historic penalty against a onetime church power broker and former archbishop of Washington who has been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

Steve Benen / MSNBC:

A quote Trump may come to regret: 'I didn't need to do this' — Donald Trump delivered a series of rambling comments this morning about his emergency declaration, which was then followed by a rambling press conference. And while the president made a series of odd claims …

Katherine Tully-McManus / Roll Call:

Capitol Police crackdown on press escalates to physical altercation — A Capitol Police crackdown turned physical Thursday afternoon, when officers clashed with reporters attempting to speak with senators in a location known as key territory for lawmakers and media to mix: the Senate basement.