Top Items:
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge partially blocks Trump border wall plan — A federal judge has partially blocked President Donald Trump's plan to fund construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. — The preliminary injunction issued Friday immediately halts a $1 billion transfer of Pentagon counterdrug funding …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Rolling Stone, Law & Crime, Slate, TheBlaze and The New Civil Rights Movement
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Jose A. Del Real / New York Times:
Judge Blocks Part of Trump's Plan to Build Border Wall — President Trump's efforts to build a wall along the southwest border hit a roadblock Friday evening when a federal judge in California granted a preliminary injunction against the administration that prevents it from redirecting funds from other agencies toward the barrier.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Washington Post and Outside the Beltway
The Hill:
Federal judge partially blocks Trump's $1 billion border wall plan — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Friday, partially blocking President Trump's plan to fund a border wall with Mexico using money from the Defense Department. — California U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Joel Rose / NPR:
Judge Blocks Trump Use Of Emergency Power To Build Border Barrier With Military Funds — A federal judge in California has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from transferring funds from military accounts to begin building additional border fencing.
Discussion:
The Root
Shane Harris / Washington Post:
Barr could expose secrets, politicize intelligence with review of Russia probe, current and former officials fear — President Trump's new executive order giving the attorney general broad authority to declassify government secrets threatens to expose U.S. intelligence sources and could distort …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Breitbart, New York Times and Hot Air
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Sonam Sheth / Business Insider:
Spy agency veterans are horrified at Trump's decision to grant AG Barr sweeping power to declassify Russia intelligence: ‘Lives are on the line’ — President Donald Trump's decision to grant Attorney General William Barr sweeping authority to declassify intelligence related to the Russia investigation …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Raw Story, The Federalist and Crooked Media
Natasha Bertrand / Politico:
Trump puts DOJ on crash course with intelligence agencies
Trump puts DOJ on crash course with intelligence agencies
Discussion:
RedState
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Facebook acknowledges Pelosi video is faked but declines to delete it — No requirement that posts be true, the social media company says — When an edited video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) began spreading across the Web this week, researchers quickly identified it as a distortion …
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John Harwood / CNBC:
Nancy Pelosi frustrates Democratic activists on impeachment but party strategists like what she's doing
Rebecca Morin / USA Today:
‘It is sexist trash’: Hillary Clinton slams Trump after he tweets edited Pelosi video
‘It is sexist trash’: Hillary Clinton slams Trump after he tweets edited Pelosi video
Discussion:
Althouse, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Conservative News Today, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media and The Wrap
Devan Cole / CNN:
Ex-GOP congressman calls for impeachment, says Trump an ‘illegitimate president’
Ex-GOP congressman calls for impeachment, says Trump an ‘illegitimate president’
Discussion:
Slate, twitchy.com and Raw Story
New York Times:
In Shift, Trump Will Pick Kenneth Cuccinelli to Oversee Legal Immigration — Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the immigration hard-liner who was expected to be President Trump's pick to coordinate immigration policy, will instead be chosen to take over for the embattled official who has overseen …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Julia Ainsley / NBC News:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director asked to resign — L. Francis Cissna oversaw the agency during the final iteration of the travel ban, attempts to repeal status for “Dreamers” and repeated attempts to limit undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border.
Discussion:
Bipartisan Report, CNN and ImmigrationProf Blog
Trent England / USA Today:
Rural Americans would be serfs if we abolished the Electoral College — Elections are confusing. Learn what the Electoral College is in under a minute. — If the National Popular Vote drive kills the Electoral College, rural and small town Americans who supply our food and energy will lose their voice.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Breitbart and Lawyers, Guns & Money
David R. Lurie / The Daily Beast:
Trump's Public Enemies List Is an Impeachable Offense — What he and William Barr are doing is potentially worse than anything in the Mueller Report. — Long before becoming president, Donald Trump called for the jailing of his adversaries. Aided by Attorney General William Barr …
Discussion:
RedState, Washington Examiner and Raw Story
Wade Heath / Mediaite:
Exclusive: Former CNN Pro-Trump Contributors Allege Network ‘Openly Despises Conservatives’ — Finding a pro-Trump voice on CNN got more difficult this week as it was reported that the president has called upon former Virginia Attorney General and CNN contributor Ken Cuccinelli to fill a Homeland Security post.
Discussion:
NB Blog, The Daily Caller, Conservative News Today, Fox News and Daily Wire
RFE / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
UN Maritime Tribunal Rules Russia Must ‘Immediately’ Release Ukrainian Sailors, Ships — A UN maritime tribunal has ruled that Russia must “immediately” release 24 Ukrainian sailors and three Ukrainian naval vessels captured by Russia in November. — The Hamburg-based International Tribunal …
Chris Cillizza / CNN:
How YouTube comments are the best way to understand Donald Trump — Does Trump use Twitter for ‘telling the truth?’ (2018) … Cillizza: You've been doing this show off-Broadway. Why did you turn to this overtly political material? And how did the crowd respond? — Quinn: Politics is everything.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Washington Post:
20 questions Mueller will actually be able to answer — Robert Litt is a former general counsel for the director of national intelligence. Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. — Republicans and Democrats alike have called …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
National Rifle Association Hit with $100 Million Counter-Suit — Ackerman McQueen, the gun group's longtime PR firm, accuses the NRA of false demands and ulterior motives — Ackerman McQueen is biting the hand that feeds it. The longtime PR firm for the National Rifle Association …
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
DNC boss says candidates to be involved in debate lottery — Democratic candidates for president or their representatives will be involved when the Democratic National Committee (DNC) does a lottery to determine who stands on stage during the party's initial two-day debate …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Lisa Rein / Washington Post:
Trump administration to pull out of rural Job Corps program, laying off 1,100 federal workers — The Trump administration announced Friday that it will kill a Forest Service program that trains disadvantaged young people for wildland fire fighting and other jobs in rural communities …
Discussion:
Axios
Benjamin Siegel / ABC News:
Robert Mueller wants to avoid ‘political spectacle’ before Congress: Nadler — Special counsel Robert Mueller is eager to avoid the politics swirling around his investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia's 2016 influence efforts and doesn't want to testify publicly on Capitol Hill about his findings …
Discussion:
Breitbart