memeorandum: Christopher Steele Whacks Mueller Report and ‘Bad Faith’ Team Trump (Nick Mutch/The Daily Beast)

9:10 AM ET, March 7, 2020

Top Items:

Trump picks Mark Meadows to be new White House chief of staff — WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump announced Friday that he has selected outgoing Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) as his next White House chief of staff, tapping one of his most stalwart congressional allies to run the White House …

Discussion: The Week, Outside the Beltway, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Beast, Breitbart, ABC News and FOX6Now.com

Tamara Keith / NPR:

Mick Mulvaney Out, Mark Meadows In As White House Chief Of Staff — Updated at 9 p.m. ET — For the fourth time in three years, President Trump has a new chief of staff. — With his administration grappling with the response to coronavirus — and just months ahead of the next election …

Discussion: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, HuffPost and Raw Story

New York Times:

Trump Names Mark Meadows Chief of Staff, Ousting Mick Mulvaney — President Trump said Friday that Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina and a stalwart conservative ally, will become White House chief of staff, replacing Mick Mulvaney, who has served as the acting chief for more than a year.

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Week, New York Post, Big League Politics, HuffPost, Breitbart and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, more at Mediagazer »

John Harwood / CNN:
Trump waves off economists' prescriptions for preventing US coronavirus slowdown

Discussion: Reason, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal

CNN:
Trump replaces Mick Mulvaney with Mark Meadows as chief of staff

Discussion: IJR, Raw Story, Roll Call, The Daily Caller and The Guardian

Associated Press: Trump names Rep. Mark Meadows his new chief of staff

Steven Nelson / New York Post:
How the White House protects Trump and his staff from coronavirus

Discussion: The Intellectualist, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller

Ryan Saavedra / The Daily Wire: ‘A TOTAL LEGEND’: How Dan Scavino Became One Of Trump's Most Important Advisers

CNN:

Six former wrestlers say Rep. Jim Jordan knew about abusive OSU doctor — Watch Drew Griffin's report on what Jim Jordan knew about the OSU abuse allegations at 5 p.m. ET, on CNN's “The Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer. — (CNN)Tito Vazquez says he still remembers the day three decades ago when …

Discussion: HuffPost, The Columbus Dispatch, The Gateway Pundit, POLITICUSUSA, The Intellectualist and Law & Crime

Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times:

Barr Increasingly Appears Focused on Undermining Mueller Inquiry — A judge's criticism cast light on the first in a series of steps by the attorney general to take aim at the Russia investigation. — WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr testified before Congress last spring that …

Discussion: Redstate, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo, Law & Crime, Reason, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Another judge orders review of Russia-probe related document — A federal judge in Washington has ordered the National Security Agency to turn over to her a memo that details an unusual conversation in which President Donald Trump pleaded with former NSA chief Adm. Mike Rogers to take action …

Discussion: Letters from an American

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

‘Maybe I have a natural ability’: Trump plays medical expert on coronavirus by second-guessing the professionals — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — President Trump likes to say that he fell into politics almost by accident, and on Friday …

Joanne Kenen / Politico:

How testing failures allowed coronavirus to sweep the U.S. — On Saturday Jan. 11 — a month and a half before the first Covid-19 case not linked to travel was diagnosed in the United States — Chinese scientists posted the genome of the mysterious new virus, and within a week virologists …

New York Times:

With Test Kits in Short Supply, Health Officials Sound Alarms — Despite efforts by President Trump and others to reassure the public that tests are getting disseminated quickly, several states, doctors and patients complained that access was limited. — President Trump claimed again …

Discussion: CNBC

Robinson Meyer / The Atlantic:
Exclusive: The Strongest Evidence Yet That America Is Botching Coronavirus Testing

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, Slate, VICE, Outside the Beltway, Los Angeles Times, FactCheck.org, The Daily Dot, Roll Call, SELF, Bloomberg, Press Watch, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Balloon Juice, The Verge and ProPublica

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
21 people on Grand Princess cruise ship test positive for coronavirus, Pence says

Discussion: Politico

Wall Street Journal:

WSJ News Exclusive | Top Saudi Royal Family Members Detained — Saudi Arabian authorities took into custody two of the kingdom's most prominent figures, clearing away key rivals to the throne for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and further consolidating his power.

Discussion: Common Dreams, Bloomberg and Informed Comment

New York Times:

Saudi Prince Detains Senior Members of Royal Family — Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has detained a brother of the king, a former crown prince and a cousin, royals who may have been seen as threats to his rule. — In a fresh episode of Saudi palace intrigue, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman …

Mark Murray / NBC News:

President Trump plays on Sanders' supporters dislike of Joe Biden — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has been eager to play up the divisions within the Democratic presidential race, especially when it comes to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' supporters. — “It's being rigged against …

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, New York Times and The Hill

Sean McMinn / NPR: Biden Outperforming Sanders In Counties With Lower Incomes, More Voters Of Color

Kurt Bardella / USA Today:
Dear Bernie, black voters propelled Biden comeback, and they're not elite or establishment

Discussion: The Guardian, New York Times and Vox

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
Elizabeth Warren's exit interview is a warning for the dirtbag left

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Politico, Fox News, Breitbart, The Week, New York Times and Washington Post

Chantal Da Silva / Newsweek:
Warren Urged by National Organization for Women Not to Endorse Sanders: He Has ‘Done Next to Nothing for Women’

Discussion: Jezebel

Masha Gessen / New Yorker:

The Innocuous Story of Bernie Sanders's Trip to Russia — On Thursday night, the Times published an article titled “As Bernie Sanders Pushed for Closer Ties, Soviet Union Spotted Opportunity.” The subtitle: “Previously unseen documents from a Soviet archive show how hard Mr. Sanders worked …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, New York Times and Townhall

Greg Olear / PREVAIL:
Bern & Rave at Close of Day / Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Campaign

Discussion: Mother Jones and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Nick Mutch / The Daily Beast:

Christopher Steele Whacks Mueller Report and ‘Bad Faith’ Team Trump — The former head of MI6's Russia desk was speaking publicly for the first time since his dossier on Trump's relationship with Russia was published in 2017. — OXFORD, England—Christopher Steele, a former British spy …

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Trump Says Coronavirus Will Help the Economy by Stopping All Travel — Last night, President Trump made an attempt to reassure the public on the state of the economy. It was not very reassuring. His answer implied that, however low your assessment of his grasp of the economy beforehand …

Discussion: Political Wire

Chris Sommerfeldt / The Seattle Times:

Biden and Sanders expected to be alone in qualifying for next debate — Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are likely to go head-to-head for the first time this month. — Democratic presidential candidates must have picked up at least 20% of the convention delegates disbursed so far to qualify …

Zach Montellaro / Politico:
DNC sets up Biden vs. Bernie clash in next debate

Discussion: Reason, Fox News, Washington Free Beacon, Breitbart, NBC News, The Daily Beast, Townhall and Dem Primary Tracker 2020

KGO / ABC7:

Live coronavirus updates: Stanford canceling all in-person courses for remainder of winter quarter amid COVID-19 concerns — SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The outbreak of novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, is having a major impact across the world but also in cities across Northern California.

Discussion: New York Post, KRON4, NPR and CBS San Francisco

Matthew Choi / Politico:

Trump calls Inslee a ‘snake’ over criticism of coronavirus rhetoric — President Donald Trump on Friday called Washington Gov. Jay Inslee “a snake” for criticizing his administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak. — Speaking in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …

Discussion: Financial Times, HuffPost, The Hill and PJ Media Home

New York Times:

The Bernie Sanders Personality Test — Bernie Sanders was several takes into a video delivering a message he desperately needed to convey last fall — that he was healthy enough to soldier on after his heart attack — when his team realized something was not clicking.

Tristan Justice / The Federalist:

Obama's Homeland Security IG Indicted On Fraud, Theft Charges — Former Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Charles Edwards and his former aide Murali Yamazula Venkata were indicted Friday on charges of stealing government property to defraud the U.S. government.

U.S. Department of Justice:
Former Acting Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Indicted on Theft …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime and Granite Grok, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Coronavirus in N.Y.: City Pleads for More Tests as Cases Rise — The city told the federal government that a shortage of tests for the virus had “impeded our ability to beat back this epidemic.” — New York City officials pleaded in a letter to the federal government on Friday to send …

Discussion: Gothamist