memeorandum: Major cuts to National Security Council staff expected as soon as next week, sources say (CNN)

7:25 PM ET, February 8, 2020

Top Items:

CNN:

CNN poll: Sanders leads as Buttigieg grabs momentum in New Hampshire — Buttigieg and Sanders both claim victory in Iowa — (CNN)Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders heads into the New Hampshire primary still holding a lead over his top rivals for the Democratic nomination, but with Pete Buttigieg …

Discussion: The Week, USA Today, Mother Jones and New York Post

Walter Shapiro / New Republic:

Joe Biden Is Collapsing — Joe Biden brought his “No Malarkey” tour to a New Hampshire debate stage on Friday night. But in promising to tell the truth, he accidentally exposed his own doleful (or I should say, Bob Dole-ful) prospects in Tuesday's opening-gun primary.

Discussion: CNBC

Colin Kalmbacher / Law & Crime:

Pete Buttigieg Funded by Russian-Linked Oligarch Who Supports Trump and McConnell — Democratic presidential candidate and former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg is facing questions after recent revelations that his 2020 effort has taken campaign contributions from an infamous …

Discussion: Mediaite

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Journalists shouldn't make political predictions. I learned this lesson the hard way. — Of all the lessons the mainstream media should have learned over the past four years, one of them is inexcusably obvious: We're bad at predictions. — Who can forget poll analyses, the infographic needles …

Associated Press:

Biden mocks rival Buttigieg's record as small city mayor — MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Scrambling to salvage his presidential campaign, Joe Biden escalated his criticism of Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, mocking Buttigieg's experience as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and warning that he would struggle without …

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart and Washington Post

FiveThirtyEight:
Who Won The New Hampshire Democratic Primary Debate?

Discussion: Political Wire

CNN: Amy Klobuchar raises over $2 million dollars after debate, campaign says

Sarah Mucha / CNN:
Biden on Buttigieg: 'This guy's not Barack Obama'

Discussion: HuffPost, The Hill and The Week

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite: Bernie Sanders Support with Black Voters Cratered by More Than Half in a Week

The Boston Globe:
Buttigieg opens slight lead over Sanders in N.H., Globe/WBZ/Suffolk poll shows

Discussion: New York Post, Axios and Politico

Julie Pace / Associated Press:
Democrats on edge after 2020 election season's ragged launch

Discussion: PJ Media Home, Breitbart, Associated Press and Axios

CBS Boston:
Exclusive NH Tracking Poll: Buttigieg Takes Lead Over Sanders In Tight New Hampshire Race

Discussion: BuzzFeed News

New York Times:
How Pete Buttigieg Became the Surprise of the Iowa Caucuses

Discussion: UPI, NB Blog and Mediaite

TMZ.com:

Trump's ‘Orange Face’ Photo Appears Edited to Show Stark Contrast … DT took to Twitter Saturday, writing ... “More Fake News. This was photoshopped, obviously, but the wind was strong and the hair looks good? Anything to demean!” The black and white rendition of the pic was also posted by this Moon guy.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Vox, Althouse, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Sputnik News and The Guardian

Getty Images:

President Trump Arrives To White House From North Carolina — U.S. President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. Trump is sending top surrogates to New Hampshire ahead of the contentious Democratic primary.

Discussion: Mediaite

David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:
Friday Night Massacre's Just the Beginning for Acquitted Trump

Discussion: Raw Story

CNN:

Major cuts to National Security Council staff expected as soon as next week, sources say — Key impeachment witness and his brother fired from White House — Washington (CNN)National security adviser Robert O'Brien is expected to make major cuts to the National Security Council staff …

Discussion: Contemptor, Raw Story and Rolling Stone

New York Times:

Republican Senators Tried to Stop Trump From Firing Impeachment Witness — A handful of senators reached out to the White House to warn the president not to dismiss Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who testified in the House hearings. But Mr. Trump went ahead anyway.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politico, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller and CNN

Vivian Salama / CNN:
Firing of House impeachment witnesses raises questions over US-Ukraine policy

Discussion: East Bay Times and The Gateway Pundit

John Gans / New York Times:
Col. Vindman and the Trumpification of the National Security Council

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Brussels Times, Mediaite and Vox

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed News:

The Democratic Primary Is A Mess. Michael Bloomberg Is Taking Advantage. — NORFOLK, Virginia — While the rest of the Democratic field showed up in New Hampshire still unclear about who, exactly, won the Iowa caucuses, Mike Bloomberg was elsewhere. — He was in Philadelphia …

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Trump used Philly girl's story to attack ‘failing government schools.’ But she's at one of the city's most desired charters. — President Donald Trump turned a Philadelphia fourth grader into a poster child for the school-choice movement Tuesday when he told the nation that thousands of students were …

Discussion: Slate, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Lisa Rein / Washington Post:

VA chief Wilkie sought to dig up dirt on woman who complained of sexual assault, agency insiders say — The Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general is reviewing a request from a top House leader to investigate allegations that VA Secretary Robert Wilkie sought to dig up dirt …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Jezebel

Washington Post:

‘Tempted to despair’: Trump's resilience causes Democrats to sound the alarm — Anxiety is coursing through the Democratic Party as President Trump emerges from his impeachment proceedings as a potent threat for reelection, with party leaders and activists uncertain about how to beat …

Heather Knight / San Francisco Chronicle:

The Castro's shame: Addiction and mental illness devastate iconic SF neighborhood — Heading up Market Street the other day from City Hall to the Castro, we spotted her: a woman sitting on a concrete median in the middle of Duboce Avenue, her skinny, sore-covered legs and bright orange shoes hanging dangerously into traffic.

Associated Press:

Actor-comedian Orson Bean, 91, hit and killed by car in LA — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Orson Bean, the witty actor and comedian who enlivened the game show “To Tell the Truth” and played a crotchety merchant on “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” was hit and killed by a car in Los Angeles, authorities said.

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Power Line and The Wrap

Washington Post:

Coronavirus death toll surpasses fatalities from SARS epidemic; first American and Japanese deaths reported — The global death toll from the novel coronavirus reached more than 800 on Sunday, Chinese health officials said, surpassing the total number of fatalities attributed to the outbreak of the SARS coronavirus in 2002 and 2003.

The Times of Israel:

Kushner: It will take ‘couple of months’ to prepare maps ahead of any annexation — Trump envoy says joint Israeli-US commission to finalize ‘conceptual’ proposal, ensure ‘contiguous territory’ for Palestinian state; urges Palestinians to join talks — Jared Kushner, the chief architect …

Brittany Shammas / Washington Post:

Meet the 71-year-old staging a one-man protest in his Trump-loving retirement community — For most of his life, Ed McGinty kept his political beliefs to himself. — Raised Irish Catholic in Philadelphia, the 71-year-old retired real estate broker has always been a Democrat, just like his parents before him.

Discussion: Raw Story

Jon Levine / New York Post:

AOC, boyfriend talk about ‘combating racism as a white person’ in Instagram stories — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a rare appearance with boyfriend Riley Roberts while taking questions from fans in an Instagram story Friday night. — The freshman Queens socialist enlisted her man …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, BizPac Review and Twitchy