memeorandum: ‘We are not a banana republic’: National security adviser defends Vindman dismissals (Natasha Bertrand/Politico)

8:45 AM ET, February 12, 2020

Top Items:

New Hampshire primary: Sanders leads, Buttigieg and Klobuchar fight for second — Polls are closed in New Hampshire, and as of 8:30 p.m. ET, the primary is leaning toward Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg is in second place and Amy Klobuchar in third. CBS News projects Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren are not on pace to win any delegates.

Discussion: CBS Boston, The Daily Caller, Spectator USA and The Week

Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:

Andrew Yang Is Dropping Out. Here's Why. — KEENE, N.H.— Even after Donald Trump broke all the rules of politics, there shouldn't have been room in this presidential race for Andrew Yang. Yet here he was yesterday, just before midnight on the last event of a six-event day …

Discussion: Big League Politics and Balloon Juice

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:

Power Up: Bernie Sanders's ‘revolution’ may not materialize after narrow New Hampshire primary win — Until next time, New Hampshire. And our condolences to the #YangGang and James Carville. Hope you get a few hours of shut-eye today before everyone flocks to Nevada. Thanks for waking up with us.

Discussion: New York Times, The Atlantic and COURIER

New York Times:

Elizabeth Warren, in New Memo, Outlines Her Path and Rivals' Flaws — Seeking a revival, Ms. Warren's campaign manager sent a letter to supporters expressing optimism about her path forward while taking a skeptical view of her leading opponents. — MANCHESTER, N.H. …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Free Beacon, Vanity Fair, Team Warren and Politico

Catherine Garcia / The Week:

In Twitter rampage, Trump attacks federal judge set to sentence Roger Stone — President Trump on Tuesday night attacked the judge presiding over his friend and adviser Roger Stone's criminal case. — Stone was found guilty last year of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a House investigation.

Discussion: ABC News, Reason, The Hill, Raw Story and HuffPost

Washington Post:
Andrew Yang drops out of presidential race

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, The Week, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, The Federalist, Reason, HuffPost, Breitbart, The Independent, PBS NewsHour, The Daily Beast, Joe.My.God., Lawyers, Guns & Money, Slate and UPI

Ebony Bowden / New York Post:
The spectacular collapse of Joe Biden as Democratic frontrunner

Discussion: Althouse

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Sanders won, but he's not the big story coming out of New Hampshire

Discussion: Bloomberg, Mediaite, Coffee House, VTDigger and Mother Jones

Michael Scherer / Washington Post: Georgia Rep. Lucy McBath endorses Mike Bloomberg's presidential campaign

Annie Linskey / Washington Post:
Warren's campaign at a crossroads as once-rising star confronts disappointing finishes

Discussion: Vox

Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:
How Amy Klobuchar Pulled Off the Big Surprise of the New Hampshire Primary

Discussion: The Guardian

Ryan Lizza / Politico:
Sanders ekes one out, but the revolution has yet to arrive

Discussion: Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, The Nation, CNN and WHDH-TV

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:
Klobuchar nabs third place in New Hampshire, exclaims, ‘Hello, America!’

Discussion: The Daily Beast, MSNBC and VTDigger

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Sanders wins New Hampshire primary

Discussion: The Federalist and The Daily Beast

Charlie Mahtesian / Politico:
Live analysis of the 2020 New Hampshire Primary

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Axios, The Week, The Root and CNN

ABC News:
Sanders projected to eke out narrow win in New Hampshire primary. Buttigieg and Klobuchar were close on his heels.

Discussion: NB Blog, Axios, Mother Jones, Joe.My.God., Star Tribune, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, Breitbart, Washington Free Beacon, UPI, The Week, Washington Post and The Hill

New York Times:
Bernie Sanders Scores Narrow Victory in New Hampshire Primary

Discussion: Full Feed and The Wrap

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine: 'They've Both Taken on the Stench of Death.' Are Biden and Warren Making It Out of N.H. Alive?

Axios:

Scoop: Trump pulls nomination for former U.S. attorney for D.C. to Treasury post — President Trump is withdrawing his nomination for former U.S. attorney for D.C. Jessie Liu to serve as the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, a top position overseeing economic sanctions …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, NBC News, Redstate, Fox News, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The Week, POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

NBC News:

Barr takes control of legal matters of interest to Trump, including Stone sentencing — Barr's intervention in Roger Stone's case wasn't the first time senior political appointees reached into a case involving ab ex-Trump aide, officials say. — WASHINGTON — The U.S. attorney who had presided …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Hill, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, The Week, HuffPost, Common Dreams, Palmer Report, POLITICUSUSA, MSNBC, The American Independent, Law & Crime, Axios, The Moderate Voice and Balloon Juice

Washington Post:

Trump withdraws Treasury nomination of former U.S. attorney for D.C. Jessie K. Liu after criticism of her oversight of Mueller prosecutions — President Trump on Tuesday withdrew the nomination of former U.S. attorney Jessie K. Liu of Washington, D.C., to a high-ranking Treasury Department post …

Discussion: Vox and The Hill

Washington Post:

Justice Dept. to reduce sentencing recommendation for Trump associate Roger Stone, official says, after president calls it ‘unfair’ — The Justice Department plans to reduce its sentencing recommendation for longtime President Trump confidant Roger Stone, after top officials were apparently blindsided …

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

The Justice Department becomes a political hit squad for an unleashed president — President Trump, empowered by acquittal in his impeachment trial and allowed free rein by his Republican Senate allies, has waged a war of vengeance and retribution against those who declined to enable his impeachable conduct.

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, The Bulwark, Common Dreams and CNN

New York Times:
Prosecutors Quit Roger Stone Case After Justice Dept. Intervenes on Sentencing

Discussion: The Hill, The Week, Letters from an American, Patterico's Pontifications, The Moderate Voice, BuzzFeed News, CNBC and Washington Post

Harry Litman / Washington Post:
The Justice Department's reputation is on life support

Discussion: BizPac Review, Sputnik News, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Jordain Carney / The Hill: Harris demands Barr testify over Roger Stone sentence recommendation

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Trump Fires Defense Official for Refusing to Break the Law on His Behalf — Two days after Senate Republicans acquitted President Trump on both counts of impeachment, the Trump administration fired a number of national-security officials: European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland …

Discussion: Washington Post, American Oversight, Joe.My.God. and The Week

Natasha Bertrand / Politico:

‘We are not a banana republic’: National security adviser defends Vindman dismissals — National security adviser Robert O'Brien on Tuesday defended the dismissal of Lt. Cols. Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman from the National Security Council, suggesting that the officials were trying to undermine the president.

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News and Raw Story

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Trump suggests military should consider additional discipline for Vindman — President Trump on Tuesday suggested the military should consider additional disciplinary action against Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who provided damaging testimony against Trump in the impeachment inquiry and was reassigned from his White House job last week.

Discussion: Bloomberg and Vanity Fair

Washington Post:
Trump escalates campaign of retribution as Republican senators shrug

Discussion: The Guardian

Steven Nelson / New York Post:
White House expected to drop Pentagon nominee Elaine McCusker amid Ukraine fallout

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, The Guardian, Just Security, The Atlantic, Law & Crime and The Week

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Paging Michael Bloomberg — Democrats need to nominate the right person to prevent Trump from winning a second term. — My fellow Americans, we face a national emergency. Never before have we had a president so utterly lacking in personal integrity, so able to lie and abuse his powers …

Discussion: Althouse

Megan Messerly / The Nevada Independent:

In new flyer, Culinary Union warns members Sanders would ‘end’ their health care if elected president — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during a Culinary Union town hall in Las Vegas on Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent) — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders would …

Discussion: NBC News, Bloomberg, CNN, Raw Story, VICE and The Intercept

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:

Four major journalistic errors in just 10 hours — If you think the news industry's credibility problem is bad now, you haven't seen anything yet. — It is going to get much, much worse the closer we get to Election Day, if Tuesday's slipshod news reporting and commentary is any indication.

Discussion: Washington Post, NB Blog, Redstate, New York Times and NPR

Tarini Parti / Wall Street Journal:

Michael Bloomberg to Open New Hampshire Campaign Office—After Primary — Former New York mayor says he will keep the office open through November, regardless of whether he is on the ballot — CONCORD, N.H.—As Democratic presidential campaigns shut down their operations in the Granite State …

Discussion: The Hill

CNN:
This should disqualify Michael Bloomberg

Discussion: Redstate

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Senate GOP blocks three election security bills — Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to unanimously pass three election security-related bills on Tuesday, marking the latest attempt to clear legislation ahead of the November elections — Democrats tried to get consent …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Daily Kos

Jordain Carney / The Hill: Dems pick up new GOP support to rein in Trump's Iran war powers

Kaylie Piecuch / Fox News:

Meet the New Hampshire voter who made $12G from Andrew Yang's ‘Freedom Dividend’ — Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has famously called for implementing a universal basic income (UBI) where every American adult gets $1,000 a month from the government — but one New Hampshire family already cashed in on the idea.

Discussion: Politico, One America News Network, Vox, The Daily Caller and New York Post

NBC News:
Andrew Yang drops out of presidential race

Discussion: Redstate and Axios

Wall Street Journal:

GOP Fight Over Georgia Senate Seat Intensifies — Campaign vendors are pressured not to work with Rep. Doug Collins, who plans to challenge Sen. Kelly Loeffler in November — An intraparty Republican fight over a Georgia Senate seat is intensifying, as campaign vendors face pressure …

Election Results:

Featured Races — Here you can find recent or upcoming elections that we think are important. You can also use the nav-menu in the upper left and explore our archives, dashboards, and interactive tools by election year or search for a specific election using our search tool in the upper right if you signup for a FREE account.

Discussion: The Dispatch and Twitchy