memeorandum: GOP figure who said he tracked U.S. ambassador was previously involuntarily committed, records show (Washington Post)

1:10 AM ET, January 16, 2020

Top Items:

Lev Parnas, Key Player in Ukraine Affair, Completes Break With Trump and Giuliani — In an interview, he said the president knew everything about the effort to push Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election. — WASHINGTON — Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born businessman who played …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week, American Oversight and Outside the Beltway

Politico:

Democrats release more Parnas evidence, including voicemails with Trump associates — House impeachment investigators released a new set of evidence that was obtained from Lev Parnas, an indicted former associate of President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani — including voicemails …

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Daily Beast and Washington Post

Phil Helsel / NBC News:

Giuliani associate Parnas says Trump ‘knew exactly what was going on’ — The indicted associate of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said in an interview that Trump “knew exactly what was going on.” — Lev Parnas tells Maddow ‘Trump knew exactly what was going on’

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press, Politico, HuffPost, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Foreign Policy and BuzzFeed News

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Devin Nunes Now Remembers Call With Lev Parnas — TOTAL RECALL — House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) told Fox News on Wednesday night that he now remembers speaking on the phone with Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani actively involved …

Discussion: The Week and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:

GOP figure who said he tracked U.S. ambassador was previously involuntarily committed, records show — A Republican congressional candidate and former Marine who suggested last year that he was tracking a U.S. ambassador who had fallen out of favor with President Trump was once involuntarily committed …

Discussion: Politico, Vanity Fair, Slate and NBC News

Lee Fang / The Intercept:

Trump Supporter Who Discussed Surveillance of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch Has History of Stalking, Mental Health Issues — The man who relayed information about Marie Yovanovitch's location to Rudy Giuliani's Ukrainian associates was a known stalker with mental health issues.

Discussion: Fox News, Esquire, CNN, The CT Mirror, New York Times, Daily Kos, East Bay Times, HillReporter.com, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Hartford Courant and Talking Points Memo

MSNBC:

Lev Parnas tells Maddow ‘Trump knew exactly what was going on’ — Lev Parnas is breaking his silence in an exclusive interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. He says, “President Trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all my movements. I wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani, or the President.

Discussion: UPI, ABC News, Vanity Fair and The Week

Emily Singer / The American Independent:

Collins rejects new evidence in Trump trial after saying she'd welcome it — Collins said in December that seeing the evidence in the case was necessary to determine whether Trump should be removed from office. — Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said on Wednesday she doesn't think newly released evidence …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime and Slate

Nahal Toosi / Politico:
State Department abruptly cancels briefings on Iran, embassy security

Discussion: Washington Post, Letters from an American, The Hill, One America News Network, The Guardian, Law & Crime, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, New York Magazine, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, The Mahablog, Slate and Raw Story

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Who is Robert Hyde? The latest character in the Trump impeachment saga has a wild backstory

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico and The Week

Talking Points Memo:
House Dems Release New Tranche Of Evidence From Giuliani Pal Lev Parnas

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story and Digby's Hullabaloo

Melanie Zanona / Politico:
Republicans break with Robert Hyde, latest player in Ukraine drama

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Zachary Cohen / CNN: Trump administration abruptly cancels 4 classified Iran-related briefings

CNN:

Exclusive: Warren accused Sanders in tense post-debate exchange of calling her a ‘liar’ on national TV — Sanders responded that it was Warren who called him a liar and said they should not talk about it right then. — When the CNN/Des Moines Register debate concluded …

New York Times:

Warren Told Sanders After Debate, ‘I Think You Called Me a Liar on National TV’ — Following a tense debate during which Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders clashed over a disputed remark, the two exchanged words, but did not shake hands.

Discussion: CNN, Vanity Fair, Politico, Shadowproof, The Daily Wire, Washington Post, Sputnik News, KTLA, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Vox, The Atlantic, Mediaite, Slate, Washington Free Beacon, New York Post, The Hill and Talking Points Memo

CNN:
Bernie Sanders isn't facing enough scrutiny

Discussion: Washington Post and Fox News

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
If Sanders is lying, why doesn't Warren say so?

Discussion: Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Twitchy and The Hill

Associated Press:
Warren-Sanders rift has progressives nervous about fallout

Discussion: Associated Press

Washington Post:
Warren accused Sanders of calling ‘me a liar on national TV’ during tense exchange after Tuesday's presidential debate

Discussion: Political Wire

Walker Bragman / Paste - Recently Added: Elizabeth Warren Failed to Mention “Medicare-For-All” Once During Tuesday's Debate

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Rand Paul threatens fellow Republicans with explosive witness votes — Sen. Rand Paul is waging a fierce campaign to prevent the Senate from hearing witnesses in Donald Trump's impeachment trial, vowing to force tough votes on his fellow Republicans if they break with the president or back Democrats' demands for new evidence.

Miami Herald:
Pelosi impeachment manager is calling for McConnell's recusal from Trump Senate trial

Discussion: PJ Media Home

Aaron Feis / New York Post: Pelosi quotes ‘Irishman’ before signing impeachment articles against Trump

Alexander Nazaryan / Yahoo News:
Pelosi names impeachment managers, ending House delay

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post and Alaska Public Media

Tess Owen / VICE:

Virginia Declares State of Emergency After Armed Militias Threaten to Storm the Capitol — In response to what he described as “credible intelligence” of threats of violence at an upcoming gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam has declared a state of emergency …

Discussion: Big League Politics, Common Dreams and NPR

Aaron Gell / GEN:
Death Threats Are Sending the South's Only Socialist Lawmaker Into Hiding

Discussion: Washington Post

Laura Vozzella / Washington Post:
Northam temporarily bans firearms, other weapons on Virginia Capitol grounds

Discussion: Townhall

Ali Watkins / New York Times:

Lawsuit Claims Epstein Trafficked Girls in Caribbean Until 2018 — The attorney general of the Virgin Islands says Mr. Epstein and his associates used a database to track victims as young as 11 years old. — New evidence shows Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused and trafficked hundreds …

Discussion: CNBC, The Sun, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Sputnik News, UPI and New York Post

Daniel Chang / Miami Herald: Virgin Islands allege Jeffrey Epstein trafficked girls as young as 11 as recently as 2018

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

New book portrays Trump as erratic, ‘at times dangerously uninformed’ — President Trump reveals himself as woefully uniformed about the basics of geography, incorrectly telling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “It's not like you've got China on your border.” He toys with awarding himself the Medal of Freedom.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian, POLITICUSUSA, Digby's Hullabaloo, Vox, Talking Points Memo, The Week, The American Independent and Mediaite

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist: 27 Problems With Media's Latest Failed Attack On Attorney General William Barr

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Landmark Trade Deal With China; New York Times Hardest Hit — President Trump signed the “Phase One” trade agreement with China today at the White House. The agreement is far-ranging; you can read its entire text here. Among other things, it includes “commitments from Beijing …

Discussion: New York Times and Scroll.in

Doug Palmer / Politico:
Here's what's in the U.S.-China trade deal

Discussion: One America News Network and Associated Press

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Trump ‘broke the Chinese Communist Party’ with phase one trade deal, says Steve Bannon

Discussion: Fox Business

Martin Matishak / Politico:

Intel agencies push to close threats hearing after Trump outburst — The U.S. intelligence community is trying to persuade House and Senate lawmakers to drop the public portion of an annual briefing on the globe's greatest security threats — a move compelled by last year's session that provoked …

Aaron Rupar / Vox:

NPR's sanitizing of Trump's Milwaukee rally shows how he's broken the media — Trump at his rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday. Kyle Mazza/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images — In trying to be above taking sides, the mainstream media does Trump a favor by making order out of his chaos.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, PJ Media Home, Daily Kos and New York Times

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
This media failure really could help Trump politically

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo and Vox

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

John Bolton will speak in his book, if not at the Senate trial. — The Senate is still discussing whether it will hear witness testimony from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, who has said he would comply with a subpoena during the impeachment trial.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week and Mediaite

Andrew Kerr / The Daily Caller:

Dark Money Group Linked To Ocasio-Cortez To Spend $500,000 Attacking Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg — A dark money group with ties to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Tuesday it will spend over $500,000 on digital ads attacking former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Discussion: Fox News, HuffPost and Common Dreams

Quartz:
Dark-money group backing AOC spent $20,000 on anti-Biden Facebook ads

Discussion: Redstate

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:

Exclusive: Trump Campaign Names Kimberly Guilfoyle National Finance Chair of Trump Victory Finance Committee — President Donald Trump's reelection campaign has named Kimberly Guilfoyle as the new national finance chair of the Trump Victory Finance Committee, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.

Michelle Ye Hee Lee / Washington Post:
Wealthy donors now allowed to give over half a million dollars each to support Trump's reelection

Discussion: Raw Story

Rebecca Ingber / Washington Post:

If there was no ‘imminent’ attack from Iran, killing Soleimani was illegal — Soleimani's “horrible past,” as Trump put it, cannot justify the strike. — President Trump and officials in his administration have put forward shifting explanations to justify the strike on Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani …

Jon Sharman / The Independent:

Putin and Assad caught on video mocking Trump — Russian president jokingly urges counterpart to invite US leader to Syria — Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad have been caught on video mocking Donald Trump. — At a recent summit in Damascus the leaders were filmed discussing …