memeorandum: Sen. Angela Paxton files bill that would allow her husband, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton … (Emma Platoff/The Texas Tribune)

1:20 PM ET, February 17, 2019

Top Items:

Carole Cadwalladr / The Guardian:

Mueller questions Cambridge Analytica director Brittany Kaiser — Second former employee of controversial data firm to be questioned by special counsel's inquiry into Russia collusion — A director of the controversial data company Cambridge Analytica, who appeared with Arron Banks …

Discussion: Axios and Raw Story

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:

‘The Trump-Russia Story’: Cue the Stage Lights — In this drama, the stakes are enormous. — The Trump-Russia story is a drama that has unfolded in four acts. — Act I: Denial — George Stephanopoulos: “Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you or your campaign and Putin and his regime?”

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Fox News' Chris Wallace Repeatedly Nails Stephen Miller on National Emergency: ‘Answer My Question!’ — Fox News host Chris Wallace relentlessly pushed Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller on Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency on Sunday, and nailed him particularly hard …

Discussion: Political Wire

Quint Forgey / Politico:

Miller goes to bat for Trump over emergency declaration — White House senior adviser Stephen Miller on Sunday defended President Donald Trump from accusations of executive overreach, arguing Trump's is national emergency declaration was sanctioned by the “plain statute” of a law passed by Congress more than four decades ago.

Discussion: ABC News and The Week

NPR:
What Presidential Powers Trump Has During A National Emergency

Discussion: Big League Politics and Breitbart

Press Herald:

Maine paid for 40 rooms at Trump hotel for LePage, staff — Newly released receipts reveal nearly a dozen trips to the president's luxury hotel, part of $170,000 in out-of-state travel by the former Maine governor in recent years. — AUGUSTA — Former Gov. Paul LePage and his staff members paid …

CNN:

Police sources: New evidence suggests Jussie Smollett orchestrated attack — Chicago (CNN)Two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation tell CNN that Chicago Police believe actor Jussie Smollett paid two men to orchestrate an assault on him that he reported late last month.

CBS Chicago:

Jussie Smollett Case: Brothers Questioned By Police Were Paid $3,500 To Stage Attack, Which Was Rehearsed Days Before, Sources Say — CHICAGO (CBS) — Jussie Smollett paid two brothers to stage an attack against him, directed them to buy items used in the alleged assault and actually rehearsed it with them, sources say.

Discussion: Associated Press, Townhall, CWB Chicago, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Beast, Daily Wire, twitchy.com and Front Page Magazine

Sara Dorn / Page Six:
Jussie Smollett hires Michael Cohen's criminal defense lawyer

Discussion: TheBlaze, National Review and TMZ.com

New York Times:

Heather Nauert Withdraws From Consideration as U.N. Ambassador — PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump's pick to serve as ambassador to the United Nations withdrew from consideration on Saturday, citing family concerns. — His intended nominee, Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman …

Discussion: Splinter, Bloomberg, The Hill and Outside the Beltway

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:
Heather Nauert, Trump's pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, withdraws from consideration

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Week, Deadline and The Guardian

Christopher Bing / Reuters: Trump's choice for U.N. ambassador withdraws: State Department

Zachary Basu / Axios:
Heather Nauert withdraws name from UN ambassador consideration

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Townhall and Associated Press

David Wallace-Wells / New York Times:
Time to Panic — The planet is getting warmer in catastrophic ways.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

New York Times:

Rift Between Trump and Europe Is Now Open and Angry — MUNICH — European leaders have long been alarmed that President Trump's words and Twitter messages could undo a trans-Atlantic alliance that had grown stronger over seven decades. They had clung to the hope that those ties would bear up under the strain.

New York Times: Merkel Rejects U.S. Demands That Europe Pull Out of Iran Nuclear Deal

Eleanor Clift / The Daily Beast:

How Pat Caddell's Political Life Took Him From Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump — The pollster who won Carter the White House and created Bulworth with Beatty ended his life a MAGA man. — I learned through the network of people who worked for Jimmy Carter that Pat Caddell …

Discussion: Townhall

Jon Ward / Yahoo News:
Patrick Caddell, pollster who helped Carter channel voter disaffection, dies at 68

Discussion: Breitbart

Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Patrick Caddell, Self-Taught Pollster Who Helped Carter to White House, Dies at 68

Discussion: Breitbart and Outside the Beltway

Emma Platoff / The Texas Tribune:

Sen. Angela Paxton files bill that would allow her husband, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, to issue exemptions from securities regulations — Billed as a consumer protection effort, the proposal would allow approved individuals to serve as investment advisers without registering with the state board …

Lia Eustachewich / New York Post:

Anthony Weiner released from prison, will register as sex offender … Convicted ex-congressman Anthony Weiner has been sprung from prison — and is now part of a federal re-entry program in New York, records show. — Weiner has been transferred from Federal Medical Center in Devens …

Discussion: TMZ.com, Law & Crime, Big League Politics and Political Wire

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

In Trump's World, He Never Loses — His Rose Garden speech declaring a national emergency and his decades of self-aggrandizement are more closely related than you might think. — Hanging on a wall behind the omelet bar at President Donald Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones

Dwight Garner / New York Times:

In ‘The Threat,’ Andrew McCabe Issues the Latest Warning Call About Trump's America — On the back cover of his new book, “The Threat: How the F.B.I. Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” Andrew G. McCabe looks preposterously fit (he competes in triathlons). His hands are at his hips, gunslinger style.

Mark Penn / Fox News: To get Trump, FBI and Justice Department officials trampled the Constitution

Andrew McCarthy / Fox News:
McCabe, Rosenstein and the real truth about the 25th Amendment coup attempt

Discussion: The Hill and RedState

Janet Hook / Los Angeles Times:

The Obama primary: Which Democrat can claim his legacy in 2020? … Sen. Kamala Harris has been called the “female Barack Obama.” Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke has been dubbed “Barack Obama, but white.” Sen. Cory Booker sings from the Obama hymnal of hope and optimism.