memeorandum: Republicans think they've found Biden's big weakness. But there's a problem. (Greg Sargent/Washington Post)

10:35 PM ET, February 18, 2021

Top Items:

Ted Cruz's Cancún Trip: Family Texts Detail His Political Blunder — The Texas senator faced fierce blowback for fleeing his state as a disaster unfolded. Text messages sent by his wife revealed a hastily planned trip away from their “FREEZING” family home.

Michael Hardy / New York Magazine:

Ted Cruz Abandons Millions of Freezing Texans and His Poodle, Snowflake — After jaunting off to Cancún with his family Wednesday night, Senator Ted Cruz explained that he was merely escorting his teenage girls on a vacation trip with their friends. In an apparent bid for sympathy …

Discussion: UPROXX and Raw Story

Fox News:

Ted Cruz flew to Cancun with his family amid power crisis in Texas: source — Millions in Texas without power, at least 20 dead — Texas outages is proof we need to expand energy options: Wesley Hunt — Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, with his family this week as Texas dealt …

Lauren Larson / Texas Monthly:

13 Curses to Mutter Against Ted Cruz While You Boil Snow to Drink — May you make direct eye contact with your neighbor during your yard pee. — NOTES — This week, as millions of Texans were left without power and water as temperatures dropped to record lows, one man said no—not me.

CNN:

Ted Cruz has repeatedly slammed politicians for vacationing during crisis — (CNN)Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is facing backlash for traveling to Mexico as a winter disaster ravages his home state, has repeatedly criticized politicians who vacationed or took part in leisure activities during times of crisis, a CNN KFile review finds.

Discussion: Insider, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, Houston Public Media, Bulwark+ and UPROXX

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
Ted Cruz Is No Hypocrite. He's Worse.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Twitchy, The Daily Beast and CNN

Christopher Hahn / Occupy Democrats:
Ted Cruz's Cancun scandal is a second Alamo for Texas Republicans

Discussion: The Hill and Washington Post

Associated Press:
AP source: Sen. Cruz went to Mexico on vacation amid storm

Washington Post:
Live updates: Power restored to 2 million homes in Texas; death toll tops 30

Discussion: The Hill, NPR, CBS News, Washington Examiner and CNN

CNN:
Cruz responds to fury over his Cancun trip

Discussion: Forbes, HuffPost, Politico, USA Today, Washington Post, UPROXX, Insider, Raw Story, Washington Times, IJR, The Week, Mediaite, Vox, United States Senator …, VICE, Variety, Breitbart and Political Wire

Washington Post:
Sen. Ted Cruz faces storm of controversy for flying to Cancun as Texas grapples with power outages caused by severe weather

New York Times:
Senator Ted Cruz left Texas for Cancún as the state was battered by a brutal winter storm.

Discussion: The Guardian, NBC News, Earther, Mediaite, HuffPost, Law & Crime, Pharyngula, New Republic, The Daily Caller, Occupy Democrats, Eater Houston, The Daily Beast, McSweeney's, The Wrap, Vanity Fair and Insider

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
Ted Cruz honestly surprised so many people want him around

Discussion: The American Independent, Insider and UPROXX

Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:
Barbs fly at Ted Cruz for heading to Cancun as millions in Texas freeze without power

Discussion: HuffPost, New York Post, CNBC, Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Daily Kos, UPROXX, Al Jazeera, UPI, IJR, Mediaite, LGBTQ Nation, The Wrap, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, KSAT-TV and Crooks and Liars

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:
Sen. Ted Cruz comes under fire after photos show him traveling to Cancún as Texans freeze

Discussion: Reuters, TheBlaze, HotAir and Wall Street Journal

Philip Jankowski / Austin American-Statesman:
‘Complete and utter hypocrites’: Ted Cruz chided Austin mayor for Cabo trip. Then he flew to Cancun.

Discussion: Raw Story, UPROXX, Occupy Democrats and Washington Post

New York Times:

Manhattan D.A. Recruits Top Prosecutor for Trump Inquiry — The Manhattan district attorney has enlisted a former federal prosecutor who is an expert on white-collar crime to join the team investigating the Trump family business. — As the Manhattan district attorney's office steps …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner, Grand Forks Herald, Law & Crime, Political Wire and Raw Story

CNN:
The Supreme Court is still sitting on Trump's tax returns, and justices aren't saying why

Discussion: New York Daily News, Digby's Hullabaloo, HotAir and Raw Story

Erin Douglas / The Texas Tribune:

Texas was “seconds and minutes” away from catastrophic monthslong blackouts, officials say — Officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said that grid operators implemented blackouts to avoid a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months. — Copy link

Discussion: The Hill, The Western Journal, Houston Public Media, New York Times, The Guardian, HuffPost, Snopes.com, Forbes, Insider, Grist, National Review, Raw Story, Eschaton and WFAA-TV

Whitney Wild / CNN:

6 Capitol Police officers suspended, 29 others being investigated for alleged roles in riot — (CNN)Six US Capitol Police officers have been suspended with pay, and 29 others have been placed under investigation, for their actions in the January 6 riot, a department spokesman said Thursday.

Discussion: Political Wire and Liberty Unyielding

Lindsay Watts / WTTG-TV:

6 Capitol police officers suspended, 35 under investigation after Capitol riot, spokesperson says — Member of Congress suing Trump over Capitol riot — A member of Congress is suing former President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and members of the far-right Proud Boys group over the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Michael Balsamo / Associated Press:
AP source: Police suggest keeping Capitol fence for months

Discussion: Townhall, Twitchy and Washington Examiner

New York Times:

Biden Administration Formally Offers to Restart Nuclear Talks With Iran — President Biden campaigned on restoring an accord limiting Iran's nuclear program. It remains unclear if Tehran, which is demanding that sanctions be lifted, will accept the offer to talk.

Discussion: Politico, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg and Associated Press

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Biden can't negotiate with Iran as its proxies attack U.S. troops

Discussion: Brookings

Michelle Nichols / Reuters: U.S. rescinds Trump White House claim that all U.N. sanctions had been reimposed on Iran

Joe Cirincione / Responsible Statecraft:
Why hasn't Biden returned to the Iran nuclear deal?

Discussion: NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Politico:

Trump snubs Haley — SCOOP: NIKKI HALEY reached out to former President DONALD TRUMP on Wednesday to request a sit-down at Mar-a-Lago, but a source familiar tells Playbook that he turned her down. The two haven't spoken since the insurrection on Jan. 6, when Haley blasted Trump for inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol.

HuffPost:
Trump Ramps Up Efforts To Retain Control Of The Republican Party By Attacking McConnell

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CNN, Forbes, Mother Jones and Raw Story

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
It's still too soon to suggest that Jan. 6 prompted any massive GOP exodus

Discussion: KARK-TV and Daily Kos

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic:

Don't Read This If You Were a Rush Limbaugh Fan — As a radio broadcaster, Rush Limbaugh, who died yesterday, was a great success: He pioneered his genre, attracted millions of listeners for several decades, and grew fantastically wealthy. Many good people were used to his daily company …

Discussion: The Week, The 19th, Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, Newsbusters, Vox, Hollywood in Toto and Human Events, more at Mediagazer »

Leah Barkoukis / Townhall:
What Rush Limbaugh Discussed on His Final Radio Show

Discussion: National Review and Fox News

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Why We're Taught to Not Speak Ill of the Dead

Discussion: Three Martini Lunch, RedState and Issues & Insights

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Ivanka Trump will not run against Marco Rubio for one of Florida's Senate seats. — Ivanka Trump will not run for the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2022, according to people close to her as well as an aide to Senator Marco Rubio, who holds the seat. — Since the final days …

Discussion: USA Today, Associated Press, Politico, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Times of Israel, Vanity Fair, Breitbart, HotAir, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, New York Post, CBS News and Washington Times

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Immigration Overhaul Would Offer 8-Year Path to Citizenship for Millions

Washington Post:

White House announces $4 billion in funding for Covax, the global vaccine effort that Trump spurned — The White House is throwing its support behind a global push to distribute coronavirus vaccines equitably, pledging $4 billion dollars to a multilateral effort the Trump administration spurned.

Discussion: Financial Times, Politico, Forbes, Roll Call, The Hill, KFF and The Week

Ben Gittleson / ABC News:
Biden to announce US will donate $4 billion for COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries

Discussion: Politico, NPR and Los Angeles Times

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Republicans think they've found Biden's big weakness. But there's a problem. — In recent days, Republicans have tried to project confidence that they've found a killer attack line on President Biden: They can use the increasing anger of parents over the failure of schools to reopen to win back the suburban voters they've lost.

Discussion: HotAir and Raw Story

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:

James Murdoch, Who Publicly Broke With Family Over Climate Change, Took $2.2 Million In ‘Personal’ Flights On Corporate Jet — James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, took $477,000 in personal flights on his family company's corporate jet in 2018, his last year as CEO of 21st Century Fox, records show.

Jessica Testa / New York Times:

Ella Emhoff Drops a Small (Very Small) Collection of Knits — The second daughter turned model released a five-piece collection. Only one of each item was made. — Ella Emhoff, the 21-year-old knitwear designer who signed a major modeling contract in January, has released …

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Washingtonian

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

Trump probably should be allowed back on social media, Bill Gates says — Bill Gates told CNBC that social media companies should eventually take their muzzles off former President Donald Trump, despite his “corrosive” election fraud conspiracy theories. — He said the sites could slap Trump's future false posts with labels.

Discussion: The Hill, Sara A. Carter, RedState, Breitbart, IJR and New York Post

Politico:

‘Recipe for disaster’: Dem fears mount over immigration overhaul — “Biden is going to be dealing with a minority in Congress if he continues down some of these paths,” said one Democratic congressman. — Migrants are loaded onto a bus by U.S. Border Patrol agents after being detained …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, The Hill, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Orange County Register, Washington Post, UPI, BizPac Review, KTAB, Associated Press and CNBC

Joe Sneve / Argus Leader:

AG Jason Ravnsborg charged with three misdemeanors in crash that killed Highmore man — South Dakota's Attorney General will face misdemeanor charges for his role in a crash that killed a Highmore man more than five months ago. — The Hyde County State's Attorney's Office announced Thursday …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, TheBlaze and The Hill