memeorandum: Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld exploring primary challenge against Trump (Stephanie Murray/Politico)

9:50 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 …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Splinter

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Trump liked the idea of a national emergency because it's the maximalist, most dramatic option — President Trump liked the idea of declaring a national emergency because it's the maximalist, most dramatic option. — Between the lines: Trump never gravitates towards complexity.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico and Breitbart

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: Just Security, ThinkProgress, The Week, The Guardian, Washington Post, Splinter, 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: Shareblue Media and Front Page Magazine

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: Outside the Beltway, BuzzFeed News, Corey Robin, Law & Crime, Reason, Vox and Above the Law

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

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

Discussion: Washington Post and Chicks On The Right

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

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Breitbart and Axios

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Trump asked for a wall. He's forcing a constitutional crisis.

Discussion: The Week and Boing Boing

Washington Post:
Trump's border emergency: President plans a 10 a.m. announcement in the Rose Garden

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Guardian

Bloomberg:
Trump Plans $8 Billion for Border Wall Invoking His Own Authority

Discussion: Breitbart and CNN

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

Discussion: Washington Post and Shareblue Media

Carl Hulse / New York Times: In Wielding Emergency Powers, Trump Paves a Dangerous Path Forward

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
Trump Will Declare a National Emergency. What Happens Next?

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Common Dreams, Advocate, The Week, The Nation, Raw Story, Archpaper.com, Hit & Run and POLITICUSUSA

Matt Latimer / Politico:
Trump's National Emergency Is Great News for Future President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Discussion: Breitbart, One America News Network, The Week and IJR

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

Discussion: Politico, The Week and NY State of Politics

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

Discussion: ABC News and Washington Post

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

Discussion: The American Spectator, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

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

Discussion: USA Today, Roll Call, Raw Story, KCBD-TV and Daily Kos

Joe Battenfeld / Boston Herald:

Bill Weld launches GOP presidential exploratory committee — Announces in NH he's eyeing run against Trump — Former Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld is launching a presidential exploratory committee to challenge President Trump in the Republican primaries, saying the country is …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and NTK Network

Washington Post:

Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld says he will challenge President Trump for the Republican presidential nomination — The president remains popular with Republican voters, but Weld said he would attempt to defeat him or at a minimum hurt him with a primary challenge.

John DiStaso / WMUR:

Live: Republican William Weld announcing launch of presidential exploratory committee — Weld speaking at ‘Politics and Eggs’ event — BEDFORD, N.H. — Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld is announcing on Friday the formation of an exploratory committee for a potential Republican …

Discussion: Axios and Hit & Run

Stephanie Murray / Politico:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld exploring primary challenge against Trump — Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld said on Friday that he is exploring a challenge to President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020. — “Our president is simply too unstable to carry out the duties …

Discussion: One America News Network and WMUR

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

Ishaan Tharoor / Washington Post:

The massacre Trump's envoy to Venezuela wants us to forget — Sign up for the Today's WorldView newsletter. — “I fail to understand,” the congresswoman said at a hearing Wednesday, “why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful.”

Discussion: The Week, LewRockwell and Townhall

Associated Press:
AP Interview: Maduro reveals secret meetings with US envoy

Discussion: Political Wire

Francisco Toro / Washington Post: Venezuela's regime is using death squads today. Where is Ilhan Omar's outrage?

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

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

Jeremy Ben-Ami / The Atlantic:

Stop Alleging Anti-Semitism Just to Score Political Points — There's little doubt that Israel is shaping up to be one of the hottest of hot-button issues in the 2020 presidential-election cycle. While one might hope that a presidential campaign could feature a productive discussion …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and FITSNews

Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:
Anti-Semitism has spread through the Islamic world like a cancer

Discussion: New York Times

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

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.

Brad Stone / Bloomberg:

Amazon's Escape From New York — In retrospect, the helipad was probably a bad idea. — The proposed transportation hub for senior Amazon executives was supposed to sit atop one of the company's gleaming new skyscrapers along the East River, part of its planned second headquarters in Queens, New York.