memeorandum: Amid raging bushfire, Rupert Murdoch's Australian media empire turns a blind eye to climate crisis (Madeline Peltz/Media Matters for America)

8:25 AM ET, January 7, 2020

Top Items:

Mike Pompeo Is Said to Decide Against Running for Senate in Kansas — The secretary of state's decision most likely ends Republicans' hopes of securing a potentially dominant candidate for the open seat in Kansas, his home state. — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday told Mitch McConnell …

Discussion: Politico, Vanity Fair, FiveThirtyEight, The Nation, Washington Post, CNN, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Alternet.org, Axios and Mediaite

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Romney wants ‘to hear from John Bolton’ in impeachment trial — Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said on Monday that he wants to hear from John Bolton after the national security advisor offered to testify in President Trump's impeachment trial if subpoenaed. — Romney, leaving a briefing …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Washington Post

John Bresnahan / Politico:

GOP moderates side with McConnell over Bolton testimony — Despite John Bolton's willingness to testify about the Ukraine scandal, the GOP-controlled Senate has no immediate plans to subpoena him in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial — a win for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the White House.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post, NBC News, Talking Points Memo and Breitbart

John Bolton PAC:

STATEMENT OF JOHN R. BOLTON — During the present impeachment controversy, I have tried to meet my obligations both as a citizen and as former National Security Advisor. My colleague, Dr. Charles Kupperman, faced with a House committee subpoena on the one hand, and a Presidential directive …

Benjamin Wittes / The Atlantic: Pelosi and McConnell Are Playing High-Stakes Poker

Washington Post:
Bolton's willingness to testify in Trump's impeachment trial ramps up pressure on Senate Republicans

Discussion: The Hill and Politico

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
ANALYSIS: Behind Bolton's decision

Discussion: The Morning Dispatch, Washington Post and Raw Story

New York Times:
Bolton Is Willing to Testify in Trump Impeachment Trial, Raising Pressure for Witnesses

Discussion: Washington Post, Blue Delaware, Bloomberg, Alternet.org, Vanity Fair, Common Dreams, POLITICUSUSA, Crooked Media, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Raw Story, HuffPost, Axios, Breitbart, Politico, Daily Kos, The Week and Law & Crime

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell has the votes to block Democrats' witness demands in Trump impeachment trial

Discussion: Redstate and JONATHAN TURLEY

Associated Press:

Stampede kills 32 at funeral for Iran general killed by US — TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A stampede erupted on Tuesday at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general killed in a U.S. airstrike last week, killing 32 people and injuring 190 others, state television reported.

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC, VICE, The Week, Raw Story, Соб … and Axios

New York Times:

Khamenei Wants to Put Iran's Stamp on Reprisal for U.S. Killing of Top General — In a departure from Iran's usual tactics of hiding behind proxies, the country's supreme leader wants any retaliation for the killing of a top military commander to be carried out openly by Iranian forces.

Discussion: Financial Times, New Yorker, The Week, Fox News, The American Independent and Foreign Policy

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

The Nightmare Stage of Trump's Rule Is Here — Unstable and impeached, the president pushes the U.S. toward war with Iran. — There are no more adults in the room. — After three harrowing years, we've reached the point many of us feared from the moment Donald Trump was elected.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Slate and The American Independent

Thomas Gibbons-Neff / New York Times:
How U.S. Troops Are Preparing for the Worst in the Middle East

Discussion: Associated Press, Task & Purpose, Stars & Stripes and Washington Post

Max Fisher / New York Times:
What Is Trump's Iran Strategy? Few Seem to Know

Discussion: Washington Post, Defense One, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, Daily Kos, Redstate, Foreign Policy and UPI

New York Times:

Pentagon Rules Out Striking Iranian Cultural Sites, Contradicting Trump — The defense secretary acknowledged that “the laws of armed conflict” prohibited attacking antiquities and said the military had no plans to do so, even though the president declared them targets.

Discussion: The Bulwark, The Guardian, Observer, National Geographic, Al Jazeera, The Grayzone, POLITICUSUSA, Alternet.org, The Week, NPR, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, Politifact.com Truth …, The Atlantic and PJ Media Home

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
“War Crimes” Hysteria on the Left

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post and Marginal REVOLUTION

Gabby Orr / Politico:
Trump awaits Iranian retaliation as White House security tightens

Discussion: The Economic Collapse

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:
Kellyanne Conway defends Trump threat to target Iranian cultural sites

Discussion: HuffPost

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:
Pentagon rejects Trump threat to hit Iranian cultural sites

Discussion: UPI, Raw Story, Letters from an American, Redstate, The Hill, NBC News and One America News Network

James Barnett / The Hill:

Why Trump should fear Sanders much more than Warren in 2020 — It is conventional political wisdom that President Trump stands his best chance in 2020 if Democrats nominate a far left candidate like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. That is half right. I have witnessed both of these candidates …

Discussion: Vox and Politico

Cameron Easley / Morning Consult:
A Month Ahead of Iowa Caucuses, Biden Is Democrats' Best Bet to Beat Trump

Discussion: The Hill

Andrew Romano / Yahoo News:
Three ways the next 28 days could reset the Democratic primary

Discussion: Washington Post and National Review

Garrett Haake / NBC News:
Sanders shuttle: Trump trial could trap candidates in D.C. One senator has an escape plan.

Discussion: The Hill

Chris Cillizza / CNN:
What Elizabeth Warren's statements on Qasem Soleimani really tell us

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Twitchy, NB Blog, Washington Post and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Washington Post:

Trump administration begins drafting possible sanctions against Iraq following Trump's economic threat — No decision has been made on whether to implement the penalties, but aides scrambled following presidential warning to Baghdad — Senior administration officials have begun drafting sanctions …

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, Соб …, Alternet.org, Foreign Policy, Mediaite, Mother Jones and The Root

Eli Clifton / Responsible Statecraft:

U.S. Media Outlets Fail to Disclose U.S. Government Ties of ‘Iranian Journalist’ Echoing Trump Talking Points … The Trump administration is adamant that Iranians welcome the assassination of Qassem Soleimani. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Iraqis were “dancing in the street …

Discussion: NB Blog and The Daily Caller

Masih Alinejad / Washington Post:
Don't believe Iranian propaganda about the mourning for Soleimani

Discussion: Foreign Policy, ABC News, NB Blog, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, The Mahablog and CBS San Francisco

France 24: Meant to cripple Iran's clout, US strike unites its allies

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
One of the worst outcomes with Iran would be for Trump to fail

Discussion: Breitbart, The Briefly Series and LewRockwell

Irin Carmon / The Cut:

The 57-Page PowerPoint Harvey Weinstein's Team Is Sending Reporters — As New York prepared to publish this week's look at the coming trial of Harvey Weinstein, along with a portfolio of women who have made allegations against him, I reached out to his current publicist, Juda Engelmayer, for comment.

Discussion: Page Six, New York Times, BuzzFeed News, Common Dreams and Jezebel, more at Mediagazer »

Dominic Patten / Deadline: Harvey Weinstein To Seek Delay In NYC Rape Trial After Being Charged With Sexual Assault In L.A.

Foreign Policy:

Trump Administration Blocks Iran's Top Diplomat From Addressing the U.N. Security Council — Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had sought to give a speech condemning the U.S. assassination of Qassem Suleimani. — The Trump administration is barring Iran's top diplomat from entering …

Discussion: Common Dreams, Law & Crime, Raw Story, HuffPost, Mediaite and Outside the Beltway

Mark Binelli / Rolling Stone:

How Lindsey Graham Lost His Way — The senator once enjoyed respect on both sides of the aisle. Why has he become a blind loyalist to Trump? — Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump were born nine years and one month apart. Trump came first, but when they appear side by side …

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

Iranian-Americans Questioned at the Border: 'My Kids Shouldn't Experience Such Things' — Up to 200 people were held by border agents, with some of them reportedly asked to share their opinions about the situation in Iran and Iraq. — SEATTLE — Arriving at the United States border …

Discussion: Slate, CAIR, Daily Kos and Q13 FOX News

Agence France-Presse:

Trump says Zuckerberg told him he's Facebook's ‘number one’ — Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump boasted Monday that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told him at dinner he is “number one” on the global social media platform. — “I had dinner with Mark Zuckerberg the other day and he …

CNN:

Top general says letter suggesting US would withdraw troops from Iraq was a ‘mistake’ — Washington (CNN)The top US general said Monday a letter suggesting the US would withdraw troops from Iraq was released by mistake and poorly worded, telling reporters “that's not what's happening.”

Discussion: The Daily Beast, CNBC, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story and KTLA

Tess Owen / VICE:

ICE Detention Center Captain Was on a Neo-Nazi Website and Wanted to Start a White Nationalist Group — A senior employee at a for-profit immigrant detention center in Nevada was active on the neo-Nazi site Iron March and aspired to establish a white nationalist chapter in his area.

Pete Williams / NBC News:

FBI seeks Apple's help unlocking phones of suspected Pensacola naval station gunman — Phones thought to belong to the Saudi air force member accused in the deadly attack are password-protected. — The FBI is asking Apple Inc. to help unlock two iPhones that investigators think were owned …

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

“The March to War Is a Hell of a Drug”: With Trump's Iran Conflict, the Media Is Under a Microscope — Still living down the 2003 Iraq war disgrace, under pressure from multiple sides, and dealing with a truth-challenged administration, anchors and reporters struggle to calibrate their coverage.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Banter and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Albert Burneko / The Outline:
Remember when literally all of this happened already?

Discussion: American Greatness

Washington Post:

Facebook to ban deepfakes, sources say, but new policy may not cover controversial Pelosi video — Facebook plans to issue new rules as soon as Tuesday that would ban users from posting computer-generated, highly manipulated videos, known as deepfakes, seeking to stop the spread of a novel form …

Discussion: About Facebook, TechCrunch, New York Times and The Verge, more at Techmeme »