memeorandum: How Trump's hawkish approach to Venezuela was spurred by a chance Oval Office encounter (Jonathan Swan/Axios)

9:15 AM ET, February 25, 2019

Top Items:

Maggie Severns / Politico:

GOP donors: Trump campaign lacks a strategy to win in 2020 — Late last month, more than 100 major Republican donors gathered at the Trump International Hotel for a presentation from the president's campaign manager Brad Parscale and other top political hands on their plans to keep the White House …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Natasha Korecki / Politico:

Warren shuts down donor dinners, insider access — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced Monday her campaign will shun fundraising through some of the old-fashioned means: dinners, donor calls and cocktail parties. — In an email to supporters Monday, Warren also said she won't sell access …

Discussion: Axios

MJ Lee / CNN:
Elizabeth Warren's new promise: No fundraisers, phone calls with wealthy donors

Discussion: The Week

Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Warren Passes on Big-Ticket Fundraisers in Primary Campaign

New York Times:
Rust Belt, Sun Belt or Both? Democrats Seek the Best Route to the White House

Discussion: Althouse

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Former senior national security officials to issue declaration on national emergency — A bipartisan group of 58 former senior national security officials will issue a statement Monday saying that “there is no factual basis” for President Trump's proclamation of a national emergency to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Discussion: CNN, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, FOX2now.com and The Week

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Concerns rise over Neomi Rao, Trump's D.C. Circuit nominee — A new obstacle has emerged in the path to Neomi Rao replacing Brett Kavanaugh on the powerful D.C. Circuit Court. — The state of play: A source close to the White House confirmation process told me that Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has …

Discussion: CNN, FOX2now.com and RedState

Mark Leibovich / New York Times: How Lindsey Graham Went From Trump Skeptic to Trump Sidekick

The Bulwark: Time For the GOP to Take a Stand

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Ex-Clinton staffers slam Sanders over private jet flights — In his campaign launch video last week, Bernie Sanders singled out the fossil fuel industry for criticism, listing it among the special interests he planned to take on. But in the final months of the 2016 campaign …

Discussion: Splinter

Julia Marsh / New York Post:
Mayor de Blasio trash talks Clinton, praises Trump in Iowa

Discussion: Breitbart

New York Post: Bill de Blasio stranded in Iowa motel after blizzard hits

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

How the Upper Middle Class Is Really Doing — Since 1980, the incomes of the very rich have grown — faster than the economy. The upper middle class — has kept pace with the economy, while the middle class and poor have fallen behind. — CHANGE IN — INCOME: — Top 0.01%

Stephen Collinson / CNN:

The stakes could not be higher for Trump in extraordinary split screen week — (CNN)Even by the combustible standards of Donald Trump, the spectacle set to unfold around his presidency in time zones 12 hours apart in the next few days could defy description.

Discussion: Just Security, Political Wire, Politico and Mediaite

Foster Klug / Associated Press:
Vietnam vows ‘maximum level’ security for Trump-Kim summit

Discussion: Politico

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Senate Dems demand ‘serious diplomatic plan’ ahead of Trump-Kim summit

Discussion: shanghaiist, Washington Press, One America News Network, ABC News, The Guardian and Mother Jones

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

How Trump's hawkish approach to Venezuela was spurred by a chance Oval Office encounter — Many observers see Trump's hawkish approach to Venezuela as a foreign policy aberration. In reality, though, it's pure Trump. Over a week of interviews, people with intimate knowledge …

Discussion: The American Conservative and Bloomberg

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
How Mike Pence wields foreign policy power

Discussion: The Week and Raw Story

Katie Rogers / New York Times:
On Foreign Trips, Pence Steps Out of Trump's Shadow but Always Stays on Message

Discussion: The Week

Casey Newton / The Verge:

The Trauma Floor — The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America — She spent the past three and a half weeks in training, trying to harden herself against the daily onslaught of disturbing posts: the hate speech, the violent attacks, the graphic pornography.

more at Mediagazer »

The Daily Beast:

Trump Tells His Lawyers: Stay for the Coming Legal Hellscape — The president has made private admissions that federal investigations bedeviling his first term in office will be haunting him for possibly years to come. — Late last year, over the course of three separate conversations …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Liberty Unyielding

Justin Chang / Los Angeles Times:

Oscars 2019: ‘Green Book’ is the worst best picture winner since ‘Crash’ … “Green Book” is the worst best picture Oscar winner since “Crash,” and I don't make the comparison lightly. — Like that 2005 movie, Peter Farrelly's interracial buddy dramedy is insultingly glib and hucksterish …

Discussion: The Wrap, The Week, Observer, twitchy.com, The Daily Beast and Vox, more at Mediagazer »

Zachary Warmbrodt / Politico:

House Democrats target Trump's personal finances — House Democrats are planning to cross one of President Donald Trump's red lines: investigating his personal finances. — With special counsel Robert Mueller expected to wind up his work soon, Democrats are launching an investigation …

Discussion: Raw Story

Aaron Rodriguez / CREW:

New Report: Trump Appears to Have Committed Multiple Crimes — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — New Report: Trump Appears to have Committed Multiple Campaign Finance-Related Crimes — Washington — There is compelling evidence that President Trump may have personally committed …

Discussion: Raw Story

Will Bunch / Philly.com:

Robert Kraft, Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump and a day of reckoning for America's billionaires — He could have gone anywhere, but Robert Kraft — one of the 100 richest men in America, owner of the Super Bowl champion (sigh) New England Patriots — went to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa …

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Pat Eaton-Robb / Washington Times:

Transgender sprinters finish 1st, 2nd at Connecticut girls indoor track championships — NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Andraya Yearwood hears the comments, usually from adults and usually not to her face. — She shouldn't be running, they say, not against girls. — Yearwood, a 17-year-old junior …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Young Conservatives

Alan Suderman / Associated Press:

Virginia's Fairfax compares himself to lynching victims — RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Embattled Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax compared himself to Jim Crow-era lynching victims in a surprise speech Sunday, as he resists widespread calls to resign prompted by allegations of sexual assault.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Week, Front Page Magazine, Liberty Unyielding, Townhall, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Axios

Patrick Wilson / Richmond Times-Dispatch:
In Senate speech, Fairfax cautions against ‘political lynchings’ and says ‘the truth is on my side’

Discussion: Splinter

New York Post:

Where in the world does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez live? … She may be America's most famous freshman congresswoman, but in New York, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a virtual ghost. — She has no district office and no local phone number, unlike the state's three other freshman members.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, twitchy.com, Front Page Magazine, Louder With Crowder and Young Conservatives