Top Items:
New York Times:
Barr Assigns U.S. Attorney in Connecticut to Review Origins of Russia Inquiry — WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr has assigned the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to examine the origins of the Russia investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Post, Daily Kos, The Week, Althouse, Breitbart, Raw Story, Mediaite, JustOneMinute, TheBlaze and RedState
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Michael Balsamo / Associated Press:
AP source: Prosecutor to examine Russia probe origins — WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr has appointed a U.S. attorney to examine the origins of the Russia investigation and determine if intelligence collection involving the Trump campaign was “lawful and appropriate,” …
Discussion:
Daily Wire, Fox News, PJ Media Home, Axios and IJR
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Why was FBI so wrong in Trump-Russia wiretap warrant?
Why was FBI so wrong in Trump-Russia wiretap warrant?
Discussion:
JustOneMinute and The Gateway Pundit
New York Times:
White House Reviews Military Plans Against Iran, in Echoes of Iraq War — WASHINGTON — At a meeting of President Trump's top national security aides last Thursday, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented an updated military plan that envisions sending as many as 120,000 troops …
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Steve Bullock / YouTube:
Fair Shot — About a hundred years ago, this was “the richest hill on earth.” — The men who owned it were called kings. — With their money, they bought politicians; attacked unions, exploited workers, and left us all with a toxic reminder of what happens when our democracy is put up for sale.
Discussion:
CNN, Fox News, Axios, The Guardian, FiveThirtyEight, Daily Kos, NPR, The Daily Beast and Washington Times
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Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Steve Bullock, Montana Governor, Is Running for President
Steve Bullock, Montana Governor, Is Running for President
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Political Wire, twitchy.com and The Atlantic
Michael Scherer / Washington Post:
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock jumps into crowded 2020 presidential race
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock jumps into crowded 2020 presidential race
Discussion:
ABC News
Washington Post:
Before Trump's purge at DHS, top officials challenged plan for mass family arrests — In the weeks before they were ousted last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and top immigration enforcement official Ronald Vitiello challenged a secret White House plan to arrest thousands …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, HillReporter.com, The Daily Caller, Fox News, The Week, Splinter, Slate, Axios and Mediaite
Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Don't Go Searching for Strategy in Trump's Tariffs — His nascent trade war with China is a reminder that some things for the president are always personal. — As China and the U.S. dig in for what may become a protracted and possibly very painful trade war, a lot of time is being wasted trying …
Discussion:
Politico, Mediaite and Washington Press
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Marianne LeVine / Politico:
Republicans surrender to Trump's China tariffs — The GOP is starting to give up on thwarting President Donald Trump's trade agenda. — Senate Republicans acknowledge that the president's latest tariff increase on Chinese imports are harming farm state economies, their own constituents and some of Trump's most reliable voters.
Discussion:
Shareblue Media and Breitbart
Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:
Democrats should be shouting Trump's trade failures from the rooftops — Markets crashing, farmers suffering, allies seething, manufacturing workers fretting about their job security. — These were all foreseeable consequences of President Trump's trade wars, which escalated in the past week …
Discussion:
The Atlantic and Daily Kos
Shahien Nasiripour / Bloomberg:
Trump Tower Is Now One of NYC's Least-Desirable Luxury Buildings — Most condo owners who sold since 2016 have recorded a loss — ‘No one wants in that building,’ says one former owner — Trump Tower, once the crown jewel in Donald Trump's property empire, now ranks …
Discussion:
CNN, Raw Story and HillReporter.com
Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed News:
YouTube's Newest Far-Right, Foul-Mouthed, Red-Pilling Star Is A 14-Year-Old Girl — “Soph” has nearly a million followers on the giant video platform. Its executives only have themselves to blame. — What does a 14-year-old girl dressed in a chador have to say on YouTube to amass more than 800,000 followers?
Gregg Re / Fox News:
Rosenstein unloads on Comey, says he broke ‘bright lines that should never be crossed’ — Rod Rosenstein unloaded on former FBI Director James Comey in remarks to the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) on Monday evening, slamming Comey's turn as a “partisan pundit,” reiterating that he deserved to be fired …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Post, RedState, Axios and New York Post
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Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:
Rosenstein criticizes Jim Comey as ‘partisan pundit,’ defends handling of Mueller probe
Rosenstein criticizes Jim Comey as ‘partisan pundit,’ defends handling of Mueller probe
Discussion:
Townhall, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Vanity Fair, The Week, Slate, Mediaite and The Guardian
David Shortell / CNN:
Rosenstein calls Comey a ‘partisan pundit’ in revealing speech
Justin Wise / The Hill:
Graham encourages Donald Trump Jr. to plead the Fifth — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that President Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. should comply with a Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena but refuse to answer the panel's questions.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Washington Post:
White House explores new farmer bailout plan as U.S.-China trade war heats up — White House officials are scrambling to come up with a new bailout plan to placate furious farmers after President Trump's initial idea of donating unused crops to poor countries came under scrutiny, people briefed on the planning said.
Discussion:
Political Wire
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Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:
NRA Legal Bills Raise ‘All Sorts of Red Flags’ — Ollie North claims the NRA faces unfathomably high legal expenses. Experts say his concerns are serious. ‘The IRS would definitely be interested in it,’ one tells The Daily Beast. — Betsy Woodruff — “One hundred thousand dollars a day?
Discussion:
Raw Story, ABC News and Talking Points Memo
Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:
It's clear why Trump likes autocrats. But why are American conservatives following him? — They were not members of the communist party, just sympathizers. They didn't carry out any murderous policies, just turned the other way when others did. Known as “fellow travelers,” …
Discussion:
The American Conservative, Slate and VICE News
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Mehul Srivastava / Financial Times:
WhatsApp voice calls used to inject Israeli spyware on phones — A vulnerability in the messaging app WhatsApp has allowed attackers to inject commercial Israeli spyware on to phones, the company and a spyware technology dealer said. — WhatsApp, which is used by 1.5bn people worldwide …
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, New York Times, VICE News, CBS Boston, middleeastmonitor.com, The Week, Quartz, The Verge, Al Jazeera, Gizmodo, Engadget, Mashable, News Agency UNIAN and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
David Siders / Politico:
‘When Biden announced, everything changed’ — First came the Cory Booker relaunch. Then a pivot from Kamala Harris. Now, Beto O'Rourke is hosting high-dollar fundraisers and courting national TV. — It's reset season in the presidential primary campaign.
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Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
China is using the Washington swamp against us — Lots of countries hire Washington lobbyists and lawyers, even adversaries, but China and its state-directed corporations are stepping up their campaign to buy up parts of the swamp. In Congress, there's an effort to stop that …
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Thomas Wright / The Atlantic:
Democrats Need to Place China at the Center of Their Foreign Policy
Democrats Need to Place China at the Center of Their Foreign Policy
Discussion:
The Federalist
Andrew Perez / The Intercept:
Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Donnelly's Rural Voter Project Tied To “Medicare For All” Opponents — A dark money organization designed to help Democrats win rural votes in 2020 is getting support from anti-Medicare for All forces — and pushing their message with a pair of former Democratic senators.
Discussion:
Splinter
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Judge set to rule on Trump's subpoena challenge — President Donald Trump's strategy of outright resistance to House subpoenas will face its first test in federal court on Tuesday, setting up a ruling that could boost Democrats' efforts to investigate the president's business dealings.
Discussion:
ABC News, Axios, Washington Post and Political Wire
Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic:
The Damage That Harvard Has Done — Defense attorneys often arouse what John Adams called a “clamor of popular suspicions and prejudices” when representing reviled clients. Just last week, the attorney Christopher Darden stopped representing a California man charged with killing …
Discussion:
The Ringer, Quillette and ProfessorBainbridge.com
Carliss Chatman / CNN:
What's behind the absurd gamble on women's rights and health — Companies halt production in Georgia over abortion law — Carliss Chatman is an assistant professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law and writes about corporate personhood, corporate governance, and ethics.
Discussion:
Washington Post
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Geoff Ziezulewicz / Navy Times:
The Navy's probe into sky penis — It prompted viral guffaws from some and online outrage from others. — There are shot glasses commemorating the event and it birthed memes ahead of the annual Army-Navy game. — But the inside story of how an EA-18G Growler jet crew drew a penis across …
The Guardian:
Steve Bannon sought alliance with FBI in 2017 White House meeting — Bannon, then Trump's closest adviser, told FBI officials to put their past differences with the White House ‘behind them’ — Steve Bannon urged two senior FBI officials to put their differences with the White House …