memeorandum: Full-court press — A review of Justice on Trial … (Andrew C. McCarthy/The New Criterion)

3:45 PM ET, August 30, 2019

Top Items:

A Fox host's tirade against Trump exposes depths of the president's corruption — The impunity is the point. — For days now, President Trump has been embroiled in a public feud of sorts with Fox News, because he's angry that the network isn't functioning dutifully enough as his 24/7 propaganda channel.

Discussion: USA Today, Raw Story, ThinkProgress and The Hill

Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:

'We don't work for you': Fox News's Neil Cavuto rebukes Trump for slamming network — Fox News host Neil Cavuto delivered a scorching rebuke on Thursday to President Trump's recent criticism that the cable network “isn't working for us anymore,” and called out his tenuous relationship with the media.

Discussion: The Week, The Wrap and Splinter

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Fox News's commendable — and necessary — rebuke of Trump's demand for sycophancy

Discussion: HuffPost, Deadline and Washington Press

Joe Concha / The Hill:
Fox's Cavuto roasts Trump over criticism of network

Discussion: Washington Times, BizPac Review, Splinter and Raw Story

New York Times:

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.

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: The Root, One America News Network, Fox News, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Trump heads into buzzsaw in North Carolina

Discussion: Reuters, The Week and Raw Story

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Getting Fired Ain't the Story

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart and Mediaite

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Comey IG report exposes the hypocrisy of the ‘Russia hoax’ crowd — To hear the Trump team tell it, the media's biggest sin was reporting on potential collusion and obstruction of justice. When special counsel Robert S. Mueller III concluded there was no criminal conspiracy and punted on obstruction …

Discussion: RedState and Right Wing Watch

Kevin R. Brock / The Hill:
The worst is still to come for Jim Comey

Discussion: New Republic, Washington Examiner and The Independent

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Sneaky, Leaky James Comey

Discussion: Power Line, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Examiner

Jonathan Turley / The Hill:
James Comey wants an apology? This is myth becoming madness

Discussion: Townhall, Fox News, PJ Media Home, Politico and New York Times

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: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, The Intellectualist and Washington Press

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Pull it together, Joe Biden — As you may have heard, speaking to an audience in New Hampshire, Joe Biden told a very moving story about his interaction with a war hero. The only problem is that he got just about every detail in the story wrong, as a Post investigation subsequently revealed.

Discussion: The Federalist, Townhall and RedState

Jonathan Capehart / Washington Post:
Transcript: Jonathan Capehart interviews Joe Biden

Discussion: IJR, Washington Times, Breitbart and Splinter

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Union from Biden campaign's backyard ticked off at primary front-runner

Discussion: NPR, RedState and Breitbart

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.

Discussion: Washington Post, Post and Courier, The Daily Caller and The Hill

Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report: The 2020 Democratic Candidates and Their Coalitions

Carol Rosenberg / New York Times:

Trial for Men Charged With Plotting 9/11 Attacks Is Set for 2021 — WASHINGTON — A military judge on Friday set Jan. 11, 2021, as the start of the joint death-penalty trial at Guantánamo Bay of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four men charged with plotting the Sept. 11, 2001 …

Discussion: CNN, National Review, American Military News, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller and New York Post

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: Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, RAPPLER, CNN and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Sui-Lee Wee / New York Times: China Expels Wall Street Journal Reporter After Article on Xi's Cousin

David Harrison / Wall Street Journal:

Historic Asset Boom Passes by Half of Families — Scant wealth leaves families vulnerable if recession hits, economists say — The decadelong economic expansion has showered the U.S. with staggering new wealth driven by a booming stock market and rising house prices. — But that windfall has passed by many Americans.

Discussion: The Intellectualist

Leah Askarinam / Inside Elections:

North Carolina 9: McCready Has Narrow Lead in New Bipartisan Poll — By Nathan L. Gonzales and Leah Askarinam — Democrat Dan McCready has a narrow advantage over Republican Dan Bishop heading into the final days of the Sept. 10 redo election in North Carolina's 9th District, according to a new bipartisan poll for Inside Elections.

Discussion: Political Wire and Roll Call

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: NPR, New York Times, Politico, Just Security, Bleeding Heartland, CNN, Slate, UPI, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos and Splinter

Associated Press:
DNC to recommend scrapping Iowa, Nevada virtual caucus plans

Discussion: Axios, The Week and Talking Points Memo

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 …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Anna Merlan / Jezebel:

Emily Yoffe Back on Her Bullshit—Here's What an Alleged Victim Says She Left Out in Her Latest Contested MeToo Story — Emily Yoffe, a current contributing editor at the Atlantic and Slate's former advice columnist, has a specialty, of sorts: as I wrote in the prehistoric days of 2015 …

bellingcat:

Suspected Assassin In The Berlin Killing Used Fake Identity Documents — What we know so far … A joint investigation between Bellingcat, the German newspaper Der Spiegel, and The Insider (Russia), has established that the assassin travelled to Berlin via France under a validly issued …

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: CNBC, The Week, The Independent, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
Fox Business Host Stuart Varney Tells Joe Walsh: Trump Has Never Lied

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Washington Post

Mark Hemingway / Real Clear Politics:

24 Hours of Media Malpractice — In the Trump era, it increasingly appears that journalistic standards are on life support. Consider, if you will, what a day in the life of contemporary journalism now looks like. — Late Tuesday afternoon, some conservatives on Twitter started grumbling …

Tom Hamburger / Washington Post:

Longtime lobbyist and former congressman Vin Weber resigns from consulting firm — Vin Weber, the former Minnesota congressman who has provided guidance to Republican presidential candidates and corporate executives, resigned his position Friday as a partner in a prominent consulting firm …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Yaron Steinbuch / New York Post:

Former Canadian prime minister roots for Dorian to hit Trump's Mar-a-Lago — Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell said she is hoping for a bull's-eye hit by Hurricane Dorian on Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's prized Florida resort and so-called Winter White House. — “I'm rooting for a direct hit on Mar a Lago!”

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Breitbart, Daily Wire and The Daily Caller

Brad McElhinny / WV MetroNews:

West Virginia Poll: If Manchin gets in, right now he would beat Justice — CHARLESTON, W.Va. — If Senator Joe Manchin were to enter the race for governor, right now he would beat incumbent Gov. Jim Justice, according to the latest version of the MetroNews Dominion Post West Virginia Poll.

Andrew C. McCarthy / The New Criterion:

Full-court press — A review of Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court by Mollie Hemingway — The process is broken. Of this, there can be no doubt, particularly now that we have the definitive account. In Justice on Trial …

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 …

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Prosecutors call for Flynn sentencing amid impasse with defense attorneys — Prosecutors said Friday they're prepared for former national security adviser Michael Flynn to be sentenced in late October or early November, nearly two years after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts …

Discussion: Fox News

Ryan Teague Beckwith / Bloomberg:

Elizabeth Warren Once Wrote a Book on How to Get Rich — ‘All Your Worth’ came out in 2005, when she was a professor — It discusses many of the same economic issues she's running on — A few years out of college, Sarah Sparkman was struggling with debt.

Discussion: The Week

Reuters:

Exclusive: Amid crisis, China rejected Hong Kong plan to appease protesters - sources — HONG KONG (Reuters) - Earlier this summer, Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, submitted a report to Beijing that assessed protesters' five key demands and found that withdrawing …

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times, TheBlaze, Bloomberg, VICE, The Diplomat, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP and Fox News

Ed Mazza / HuffPost:

World's ‘Saddest’ Rally? Donald Trump Jr. Mocked For Speaking To Mostly Empty Arena — Just a couple hundred people turned out for the event meant to help Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R). — Don't expect to hear much bragging about this crowd. — Donald Trump Jr., son of President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, The Root and Raw Story