memeorandum: Inside 'America's Got Talent': Ousted Judges Had Complained of Toxic Culture (EXCLUSIVE) (Matt Donnelly/Variety)

7:55 AM ET, November 28, 2019

Top Items:

Richard Spencer / Washington Post:

I was fired as Navy secretary. Here's what I've learned because of it. — Richard Spencer is the former secretary of the Navy. — The case of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was charged with multiple war crimes before being convicted of a single lesser charge earlier this year …

Discussion: NBC News, USA Today, Associated Press, Fox News, HuffPost, Breitbart, NPR, New York Post, CNN, The Hill, The Stranger, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, LeadingViews and Axios

CNN:
Worry rises in military over Trump's decision-making

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite and Outside the Beltway

ProPublica:

Multiple Women Recall Sexual Misconduct and Retaliation by Gordon Sondland — Three women recall Sondland made unwanted sexual contact in business settings. One says he exposed himself. All recall professional retaliation after they rejected him. Sondland denies the allegations.

Discussion: Althouse, The Guardian, The Moderate Voice, Sputnik International, Politico, Mediaite, New York Times, Washington Times, Law & Crime, The Daily Caller, PJ Media Home, The Hill, New York Post, Trump, Inc., Axios, The Week, The Daily Beast and The Independent

Portland Monthly:
Multiple Women Recall Sexual Misconduct and Perceived Retaliation by Gordon Sondland

Discussion: Mother Jones, Portland Mercury and Raw Story

Andrew O'Reilly / Fox News:
Sondland denies report accusing him of sexual harassment, calling it ‘fundamentally false’

Discussion: Redstate, The Guardian and Washington Times

Karen Freifeld / Reuters:

Giuliani calls Trump to tell him he was joking about having an ‘insurance policy’ — NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, called the president this week to reassure him that he had been joking when he told media outlets he had “insurance” …

Discussion: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Axios, CNN, Patterico's Pontifications, Mediaite and Political Wire

Washington Post:

Giuliani was in talks to be paid by Ukraine's top prosecutor as they together sought damaging information on Democrats — President Trump's personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, negotiated earlier this year to represent Ukraine's top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months …

Discussion: CNN, Sputnik International, Vanity Fair, The Daily Beast, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams, Daily Kos, New York Post and The Week

New York Times:

Giuliani Pursued Business in Ukraine While Pushing for Inquiries for Trump — The president's private lawyer explored agreements with Ukrainian officials for hundreds of thousands of dollars. — As Rudolph W. Giuliani waged a public campaign this year to unearth damaging information …

Daniel Friedman / Mother Jones:
Rudy Giuliani Has a Foreign-Lobbying Problem, and It Just Got Bigger

Discussion: The Independent, CNN, National Review and Daily Kos

Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal:
Giuliani Weighed Doing Business With Ukrainian Government

Discussion: Mediaite, The American Independent and VICE

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
Rudy Giuliani gives shifting answers on seeking information from Ukrainian oligarch

Discussion: Daily Kos, Mediaite and Raw Story

Adam Goldman / New York Times:

Russia Inquiry Review Is Expected to Undercut Trump Claim of F.B.I. Spying — The F.B.I. never tried to place undercover agents or informants inside the Trump campaign, a highly anticipated inspector general's report is expected to find. — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's inspector general found …

Discussion: emptywheel, Vanity Fair, The Last Refuge, The Gateway Pundit, HotAir, Law & Crime, CNN, Raw Story, Townhall, KTLA, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Washington Post:

Witness testimony and records raise questions about account of Trump's ‘no quid pro quo’ call — President Trump was cranky when they spoke on the phone in September, Ambassador Gordon Sondland told members of Congress, but his words were clear: Trump wanted no quid pro quo with Ukraine.

Discussion: Raw Story, Sputnik International, VICE, Vox, HotAir, NB Blog and Slate

Page Six:

Hunter Biden's ‘baby mama’ Lunden Roberts was stripper at club he frequented — The woman suing Hunter Biden for paternity was a stripper at a Washington, DC, club he frequented around the time he was dating his brother's widow, sources told The Post. — Biden was repeatedly seen …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Redstate, PJ Media Home and Twitchy

The Daily Beast:

Sondland's Ties to Romanian Official Set Off Alarms at National Security Council — Sources say the ambassador grew increasingly close to a Romanian politician with a worrisome record on corruption. — Even before Gordon Sondland's work in Ukraine set off alarm bells …

Discussion: Raw Story

John Hudson / Washington Post:

Trump official who suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan now responsible for arms control issues — A former conservative talk radio host and naval intelligence officer who suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks now works on arms control issues …

Discussion: ABC News and Occupy Democrats

CNN: Trump official who promoted fringe conspiracy theories now senior adviser at State Department

HuffPost:

Trump Has Spent $115 Million On Golf Trips ― Or 287 Years Of Presidential Salary — Trump often boasts of donating his White House pay, but taxpayers are shelling out much larger sums for his hobby. — With his Thanksgiving vacation, President Donald Trump's golf hobby has now cost Americans …

Discussion: Common Dreams

Matt Donnelly / Variety:

Inside 'America's Got Talent': Ousted Judges Had Complained of Toxic Culture (EXCLUSIVE) — In April of this year, former late night host Jay Leno visited NBCUniversal in Los Angeles to appear as a guest judge on the network's unscripted program “America's Got Talent,” a variety show that seeks …

Discussion: PAPER, The Hill, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Jezebel, The Root, The Independent and Mediaite

Yashar Ali / Vulture:
Gabrielle Union Criticized the Culture at America's Got Talent. Now She's No Longer There.

Discussion: Consequence of Sound, Page Six and Fox News

Laura Vozzella / Washington Post:

Ken Cuccinelli walked into a bar. And Martin O'Malley lit into him. — A liberal ex-governor walks into a bar, followed by a conservative Trump administration official. — Instead of a punchline, what followed, one witness said, was a “shame-invoking tirade” by Martin O'Malley …

Orion Rummler / Axios:

Trump signs bill expressing support for Hong Kong protestors — President Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act on Wednesday, reaffirming U.S. support for the city's autonomy after months of pro-democracy protests. — Why it matters: The bill, which was passed …

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, Breitbart, One America News Network, Small Dead Animals, The Daily Caller, Reuters and The Hill

New York Times:
Trump Signs Hong Kong Democracy Legislation, Angering China

Discussion: CNBC, Florida Politics, Fortune, The Stranger and Townhall

Emilio Casalicchio / Politico:

YouGov: Boris Johnson on course for 68-seat majority in UK election — LONDON — Boris Johnson is on course to win a 68-seat majority in the U.K. general election, according to a major new poll. — The YouGov seat prediction survey — which accurately predicted that Theresa May would lose …

Discussion: YouGov and One America News Network

Colin Kalmbacher / Law & Crime:

Devin Nunes Subpoena Aimed at ‘Cow’ and ‘Mom’ Twitter Accounts Was Improperly Filed — Today is a day ending with the letter “y” so that means Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has been mocked. This time, however, the ridicule comes by way of a court filing in Virginia.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump's electoral college advantage may be deepening. Do Democrats have a plan for that? — The big gubernatorial victories in Kentucky and Louisiana have unleashed optimism in the Democratic Party. They underscored the story we've seen again and again in the Trump era …

Discussion: NBC News

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Apple alters Maps and Weather to show Crimea as a Russian territory — But the change only applies for people using Apple's apps in Russia — When used within Russia, Apple's Maps and Weather apps now list Crimea as being a Russian territory. The move, reported by BBC News …

Breitbart:

Chick-Fil-A Donates to Extremist Southern Poverty Law Center — Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records show that Chick-fil-A is not only stopping donations to Christian organizations but is funding left-wing extremist groups, including the anti-Christian Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Discussion: American Greatness, The Post Millennial and Big League Politics

Spencer Hsu / Washington Post:

Appeals court stays ruling that former White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with House subpoena — A federal appeals court on Wednesday evening stayed a lower-court ruling that former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena after the administration appealed …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jonathan S. Tobin / JNS.org:

Who can speak for American Jews against anti-Semitism? Not the ADL — While British Jewry has pulled together against the threat of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, American Jews seem more focused on partisan grudges then on combating hate. — Earlier this week, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis …

Elizabeth Tsurkov / The New York Review of Books:

Who Are Turkey's Proxy Fighters in Syria? — A small Turkish flag was standing on the desk of the offices of the Turkish-backed faction in a residential area of Şanlıurfa, in southern Turkey. The men in the room, most of them veteran fighters from eastern Syria …

Scott Stedman / Forensic News:

Deutsche Bank Executive Who Signed Off On Trump Loans Kills Himself At Age 55 — Thomas Bowers, a former Deutsche Bank executive and head of the American wealth-management division, killed himself in Malibu, California, on Tuesday, November 19th, according to the Los Angeles county coroner's initial report.

Discussion: Law & Crime and Joe.My.God.