memeorandum: “Spend less or raise more revenue”: Jerome Powell tells Congress that the national debt matters (Courtenay Brown/Axios)

11:40 AM ET, February 27, 2019

Top Items:

Michael Cohen Plans to Call Trump a ‘Con Man’ and a ‘Cheat’ in Congressional Testimony — WASHINGTON — Michael D. Cohen plans to testify on Wednesday that President Trump is a “con man” and a “cheat” who knew a longtime adviser was communicating with WikiLeaks — and who implicitly instructed …

Andrew Desiderio / Politico:

Cohen testimony on Trump: ‘He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.’ — Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, will provide documents to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that he says prove Trump committed “illicit” acts, according to prepared congressional testimony obtained by POLITICO.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, BuzzFeed News, Al Jazeera, The Week, TheBlaze, IJR, Hullabaloo, Washingtonian, Splinter, ABC News, Raw Story, Mediaite, The Daily Beast and Unfogged

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Michael Cohen's explosive opening statement about Trump, annotated — Michael Cohen is set to deliver a stemwinder of an opening statement Wednesday morning to the House Oversight Committee in his debut public testimony. Cohen will say his former boss President Trump is “racist” and a “conman.”

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Axios:

Scoop: Check signed by Trump to be displayed at Cohen hearing — A $35,000 check signed by Donald Trump on Aug. 1, 2017 (after he became president) will be displayed during Michael Cohen's testimony to the House Oversight Committee today, a source close to Cohen tells Axios.

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Wire, POLITICUSUSA, AOL, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Raw Story and Breitbart

Washington Post:

Michael Cohen to testify that Trump knew of WikiLeaks plot. He will also call him ‘a racist’ and ‘a cheat.’ — Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, will tell Congress on Wednesday that Trump knew his longtime adviser Roger Stone was communicating with WikiLeaks about publishing stolen emails …

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, theGrio, Contemptor, Shareblue Media, Lawfare, Shakesville and Media Matters for America

Brian Stelter / CNN:

Television networks planning special reports for Michael Cohen's testimony — New York (CNN Business)A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here. — A pivotal moment for the Trump presidency — Michael Cohen will be everywhere on Wednesday.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Washington Post, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, NBC News, Contemptor and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:

As Trump meets Kim in Vietnam, he's undermined and distracted by Michael Cohen — HANOI — On President Trump's first full day here Wednesday, he sought to project American power. He announced billions of dollars in Vietnamese aircraft purchases, basked in the crowds lining the highways …

Discussion: Politico, Breitbart, ABC News, Shareblue Media, One America News Network, The Daily Beast, Raw Story and The Week

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Trump believes the investigations against him weaken his standing with foreign leaders — President Trump's advisers say one of his more frequent gripes about the scandals and investigations — both by Mueller and the Hill — is that they weaken his standing with foreign leaders.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and IJR

Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:
Trump Ally Rep. Matt Gaetz Insists He's Not Threatening Michael Cohen, Just ‘Witness Testing’

Manu Raju / CNN:
Michael Cohen will testify that Trump knew Roger Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC email dump

Discussion: The Week, Joe.My.God., Paste, myfox8.com and Washington Post

Adam Mill / The Federalist:
How Forcing Michael Cohen To Divulge Attorney-Client Communications Damages The Rule Of Law

Discussion: Townhall, Washington Press and Raw Story

David Brown / Politico:
How Trump and Kim could succeed in Hanoi

Discussion: Associated Press, Young Conservatives, ABC News and One America News Network

Chris Cillizza / CNN:
A high-profile Trump ally in Congress just straight-up threatened Michael Cohen

Discussion: Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, twitchy.com and Mediaite

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Rep. Matt Gaetz's very witness-tamper-y Michael Cohen tweet

Discussion: Politico, Axios, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Law & Crime, ABC News and POLITICUSUSA

Washington Post:
Michael Cohen's testimony: Trump's former personal lawyer expected to allege the president knew …

Discussion: CNN, Shareblue Media and Bloomberg

NBC News:
Michael Cohen plans to testify that Trump is ‘a racist’ and a ‘con man’

Discussion: The Bulwark, twitchy.com, Washington Post, Daily Wire, Mediaite and Raw Story

CNN:

Pakistan shot down two Indian jets inside its airspace, government claims, as border crisis escalates — New Delhi, India (CNN)India has disputed Pakistan's claims that its air force shot down two Indian fighter jets inside Pakistani airspace on Wednesday amid a potentially dangerous border crisis between the two nuclear-armed powers.

Discussion: BBC, Washington Post and Al Jazeera

Maria Abi-Habib / New York Times:

Pakistani Military Says It Downed Two Indian Warplanes, Capturing Pilot — NEW DELHI — Pakistan said Wednesday that it downed two Indian fighter jets and captured a pilot, escalating hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistani territory for the first time in five decades.

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Outside the Beltway, The Week and Vox

Washington Post:

White House bans four journalists from covering Trump-Kim dinner because of shouted questions — HANOI — The White House abruptly banned four U.S. journalists from covering President Trump's dinner here Wednesday with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un after some of them shouted questions at the leaders during their earlier meetings.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Vox, Mediaite, NPR, twitchy.com, Public Pool, The Daily Caller, Breitbart and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Bast / CBS News:
North Korea finding new ways to evade sanctions, secret U.N. report reveals

Discussion: CNBC and Axios

Susan E. Rice / New York Times: Can Trump Avoid Caving to Kim in Vietnam?

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

White House sours on Kris Kobach for Senate, Cabinet — Republican hardliner Kris Kobach's inner circle is hinting that he has President Donald Trump's support for either a Senate run or Cabinet position. — They're wrong. — White House officials have grown frustrated enough …

Discussion: Raw Story

Gregg Re / Fox News:
9th Circuit gets another Trump-picked judge, after White House bypasses consultation with Dems

Discussion: Townhall

CNBC: Gary Cohn is writing a memoir of his career, including his tenure in the Trump White House

Heidi Przybyla / NBC News:

House poised to pass first major gun bill in a generation — Legislation to strengthen background checks is expected to face stiff opposition in the Senate. — WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, for the first time in a generation, the U.S. House is poised to pass new gun control legislation.

Elizabeth Landers / CNN:
House to vote on guns background check bill with bipartisan support

Discussion: The Federalist

Bill Ruthhart / Chicago Tribune:

Chicago poised to elect first African-American female mayor after Lori Lightfoot, Toni Preckwinkle advance — The field of Chicago's mayoral candidates narrows from 14 to two as Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle head to a runoff. — Privacy Policy — Chicago will elect …

Discussion: theGrio, NPR and CBS Chicago

Fran Spielman / Chicago Sun-Times: Is Chicago ready for reform? Lightfoot, Preckwinkle poised for mayoral runoff

Alex Shephard / New Republic:

The Overdue Death of Democratic “Pragmatism” — It's an unwritten rule in political journalism today that Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator and Democratic candidate for president, must be described as “pragmatic.” — There isn't much mystery as to what the press means by this.

Discussion: Althouse

Greg P. / twitchy.com:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is furious at these photos of her and a staffer eating a hamburger and killing the planet — Apparently, when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says that Americans will have to eat fewer hamburgers to save the planet from global warming, she meant Americans who don't work for her.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Alana Goodman / Washington Examiner:
AOC ‘living wage’ rules allow her staff to dodge financial disclosure laws

Discussion: IJR and National Legal & …

Courtenay Brown / Axios:

“Spend less or raise more revenue”: Jerome Powell tells Congress that the national debt matters — No one could have predicted that it would take two hours for a member of the Senate to prod Fed Chair Jerome Powell about the Fed's political independence — or that the U.S. deficit would be such a central point of yesterday's hearing.

Discussion: One America News Network

Samantha Harris / New York Daily News:

Harvard attacks a defense attorney for doing his job: Ronald Sullivan could be penalized for daring to represent Harvey Weinstein — Harvard Law Prof. Ronald Sullivan, the university's first African-American faculty dean, is a criminal defense attorney who has devoted his life to the pursuit of justice …

Discussion: Instapundit

Robby Soave / Hit & Run:
A Harvard Law Professor Is Representing Harvey Weinstein. Students Say This Makes Them Unsafe, Demand His Resignation.

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, Instapundit and Breitbart

Emma Green / The Atlantic:

Conservative Christians Just Retook the United Methodist Church — The United Methodist Church has fractured over the role of LGBTQ people in the denomination. At a special conference in St. Louis this week, convened specifically to address divisions over LGBTQ issues …

Discussion: Juicy Ecumenism, RedState and The American Conservative

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:

Whitaker Agrees to Request to Return to House to Clarify Testimony — Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has agreed to meet a second time with House lawmakers to clarify public testimony he gave earlier this month, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said.

Discussion: Politico

James Pindell / BostonGlobe.com:

More than half of Mass. delegation holds off on backing Warren's White House bid — As Senator Elizabeth Warren jets off to Iowa, California, Georgia, and Puerto Rico looking for support for her budding presidential campaign, she may have some unfinished business back home.

Discussion: Political Wire, POLITICUSUSA and Politico

Burgess Everett / Politico:

GOP unloads border angst on Pence — Vice President Mike Pence faced a wall of resistance from Senate Republicans on Tuesday as he tried to sell President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration on the southern border, according to multiple GOP sources.