memeorandum: Gordon Brown: Johnson ‘is tearing the country apart’ (Cristina Gallardo/Politico)

9:20 AM ET, August 30, 2019

Top Items:

Trump's Personal Assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, Steps Down — President Trump's personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, whose office sits in front of the Oval Office and who has served as the president's gatekeeper since Day 1 of his administration, resigned on Thursday, two people familiar with her exit said.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Axios, Raw Story, Mercury News, The New Civil Rights Movement, Breitbart, KTLA, The Sun, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, MARK HALPERIN'S WIDE WORLD …, Mediaite, New York Post and Washington Times

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Trump's executive assistant resigns from White House — President Donald Trump's longtime executive assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, abruptly resigned from the White House on Thursday, after coming under scrutiny for sharing intimate details about the president's family with reporters, according to two sources familiar with the move.

Discussion: Fox News and The Daily Caller

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Trump heads into buzzsaw in North Carolina — DRIVING THE DAY — SIREN ... NEW PARTY POLLING ... NEXT MONTH'S special election in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District is truly a squeaker. Internal Republican polling has shown GOP candidate DAN BISHOP anywhere …

Discussion: The Week, Reuters and Raw Story

Benjamin Wittes / Lawfare:

What That Comey Email Report Really Says — The inspector general of the Justice Department has determined that it is misconduct for a law enforcement officer to publicly disclose an effort to shut down his investigation. — Michael Horowitz would probably not describe his findings that way.

Discussion: CNN, Front Page Magazine, RedState, Breitbart and The Daily Caller

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:

Sneaky, Leaky James Comey — The inspector general takes apart the former FBI director's excuses for his actions. — Of all the tall tales James Comey has told, none compare to the line he fed President Trump at their infamous January 2017 dinner. As recounted in the former Federal Bureau …

Jonathan Turley / The Hill:

James Comey wants an apology? This is myth becoming madness — Two years ago, former FBI Director James Comey came out with a book that celebrated himself as a paragon of “ethical leadership,” a subject that he later taught at the College of William and Mary.

Discussion: PJ Media Home and New York Times

New York Sun:
It Seems Trump Was Right To Fire James Comey

Discussion: Instapundit

Wall Street Journal: Jim Comey's Higher Virtue

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Comey IG report exposes the hypocrisy of the ‘Russia hoax’ crowd

Discussion: Right Wing Watch

Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:

DNC will reject Iowa's virtual caucus plan, sources say, throwing the state's first-in-the-nation status into question — The Iowa caucuses are not first because they're important, they're important because they're first. Register opinion editor Kathie Obradovich gives a brief history lesson on the Iowa caucus.

Discussion: Just Security and Splinter

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:
Fearing Hackers, D.N.C. Plans to Block Iowa's ‘Virtual’ Caucuses

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Slate

Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:
DNC to tell Iowa and Nevada to dump virtual caucus plan for 2020

Discussion: Associated Press, One America News Network and The Week

Natasha Korecki / Politico:

Warren lovefest ending as 2020 competitors fear her rise — The Elizabeth Warren honeymoon may be coming to an end. — Warren's weak fundraising and Native American controversy out of the gate gave her the look of a second-rate candidate, and her rivals have treated her as such, even as she's rebounded from those early troubles.

Jamie Lovegrove / Post and Courier: ‘All in for Joe’: Biden looks to create firewall in SC as he maintains 2020 lead

Ryan Teague Beckwith / Bloomberg:
Elizabeth Warren Once Wrote a Book on How to Get Rich

Discussion: Political Wire

Tess Bonn / The Hill:
Top Sanders adviser: Warren isn't competing for ‘same pool of voters’

Discussion: Washington Post

Sonam Sheth / Business Insider:

US spies say Trump's G7 performance suggests he's either a ‘Russian asset’ or a ‘useful idiot’ for Putin — Current and former spies are floored by President Donald Trump's fervent defense of Russia at this year's G7 summit in Biarritz, France. — “It's hard to see the bar anymore since it's …

Discussion: Washington Press

Tina Nguyen / Vanity Fair:

Aides Admit Trump Was Faking Those “Phone Calls” With China — The president was reportedly “eager to project optimism that might boost markets,” which should hearten the Chinese. — At last week's G7 summit in Biarritz, Donald Trump gave an entire network of world leaders whiplash when he declared …

Discussion: CNN, Hullabaloo and Hot Air

USA Today:

James Mattis promotes a book that's silent about Donald Trump. It's a disservice. — Former Defense secretary extols the ‘great big experiment’ that is America but fails to serve it with insights into the commander in chief: Our view — Former Defense Secretary James Mattis has been called …

Discussion: Big League Politics, Hullabaloo and The Atlantic

NBC News:
Ex-aide to James Mattis claims Pentagon is holding up his memoir

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Raw Story, Vanity Fair and Washington Times

Washington Post:
Emerging from his silence, Mattis faces criticism for trying to take the ‘middle road’ on Trump

Discussion: Splinter, CNN, Breitbart and Slate

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:

Trump cancels trip to Poland, says he is staying in the U.S. to monitor Hurricane Dorian — President Trump announced Thursday that he is canceling a planned trip to Poland and will remain in the United States to monitor Hurricane Dorian, which is headed toward a potential landfall in Florida …

Discussion: One America News Network, Politico, The Week, Townhall and VICE

Steve Contorno / Tampa Bay Times:
Trump's Mar-a-Lago is in the projected path of Hurricane Dorian

Discussion: Bloomberg, UPI and Florida Politics

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis:
Governor Ron DeSantis Receives Hurricane Dorian Briefing at National Hurricane Center, Issues Updates on Preparedness

Discussion: NPR, Raw Story, CBS News, France 24 and Breitbart

Brian Niemietz / New York Daily News:

Mugshots show White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham after drunk driving arrests in 2013 and 2015 — Being Donald Trump's spokeswoman can drive a person to drink, but Stephanie Grisham had a record of drunk driving long before she got the job in June.

Discussion: The Big Lead

bellingcat:

Suspected Assassin in The Berlin Killing Used Fake Identity Documents — Last Friday, 23 August 2019, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen living in Germany, was assassinated in downtown Berlin while having lunch on the way to a mosque for Friday prayer.

Katie Glueck / New York Times:

Joe Biden Dismisses Report That He Told False War Story — After The Washington Post reported that Mr. Biden had conflated several stories into one anecdote, the former vice president insisted the contours of the tale were accurate. — Joseph R. Biden Jr., whose habit of verbal missteps …

Discussion: Fox News, Small Dead Animals, Washington Free Beacon and CNN

Washington Post:
As he campaigns for president, Joe Biden tells a moving but false war story

Mike Cason / al.com:

Gov. Kay Ivey apologizes for racist skit from time at Auburn — Gov. Kay Ivey is contacting state legislators, and apologizing for her role in a racist student skit from her time as an Auburn student. — Ivey was president of her Alpha Gamma Delta pledge class at Auburn.

Discussion: The Montgomery Advertiser, New York Post, NPR, Politico, CNN, The Auburn Plainsman, Fox News, Alabama Political Reporter, The Root, VICE, Slate, ThinkProgress and Splinter

Reis Thebault / Washington Post:
Alabama's Republican governor apologizes for wearing blackface in college, refuses to resign

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Rebecca Liebson / New York Times:

Uproar Over Anti-Semitic Video Produced by Republicans in N.Y. County — The video became a flash point in the fight over real-estate development by the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population. — Dark clouds roll in while ominous orchestral music swells in a video posted on Wednesday night by the Rockland County Republican Party.

Discussion: CNN, electionlawblog.org and The Forward

Eli Steinberg / The Forward:
No One Cares About Attacks Against The Orthodox Because You've Been Dehumanizing Us For Decades

Discussion: twitchy.com

New York Times:

How a Ring of Women Allegedly Recruited Girls for Jeffrey Epstein — After Mr. Epstein's suicide, his inner circle of girlfriends, employees and other associates is now under scrutiny by prosecutors. — Haley Robson was a 16-year-old South Florida high school student when an acquaintance …

Discussion: The Sun, New York Post and Gothamist

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

Why white evangelicals should panic — Much white evangelical support for President Trump is based on a bargain or transaction: political loyalty (and political cover for the president's moral flaws) in return for protection from a hostile culture. Many evangelicals are fearful that courts …

Will Wright / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Donald Trump Jr. touts Bevin to a mostly-empty arena in Kentucky coal country — Donald Trump Jr. spoke to a mostly-empty arena in Pikeville Thursday afternoon, hoping to muster support within a historically Democratic county for the reelection of Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Joe Concha / The Hill:

Fox's Cavuto roasts Trump over criticism of network — Fox News host Neil Cavuto tore into President Trump during his closing monologue on Thursday, defending his network from the president's criticism earlier this week that Fox “isn't working for us anymore.” — “Well I think the president watches Fox,” Cavuto began.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Times, HuffPost and BizPac Review

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

Here Are 7 ‘Left Wing’ Ideas (Almost) All Americans Can Get Behind — The Democrats' 2020 primary fight has featured many pitched battles over policy questions. But every debate over Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, tuition-free college, or any other intraparty wedge issue has been colored …

Gerry Shih / Washington Post:

China expels Wall Street Journal reporter over coverage of Xi's family — BEIJING — China effectively expelled a Wall Street Journal reporter from the country, one month after the newspaper published a report detailing allegations that a cousin of Chinese leader Xi Jinping was involved …

Discussion: New York Times, RAPPLER and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Hannah Gais / Splinter:

Leaked Emails Show How White Nationalists Have Infiltrated Conservative Media — Conservative institutions in the Donald Trump era have often sought to portray themselves as shocked and appalled by the so-called “alt-right.” White nationalists have also engaged in their own efforts …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Mediagazer »

Justin Fox / Bloomberg:

Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans — Middle-class people in the U.S. are losing ground to their peers in other rich countries. — Everybody knows that the U.S. version of capitalism is rougher and tougher than is the norm in other affluent countries.

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Women voters spell trouble for Trump in 2020 — Polls show President Trump losing women voters by huge margins, presenting his reelection campaign with a massive hurdle to overcome as he seeks a second term in office. — Perhaps most alarmingly for Trump, the president is losing support …