memeorandum: Chaffetz Said He Believes Town Hall Protestors Were Paid, Not From Utah (Kristin Salaky/Talking Points Memo)

1:05 PM ET, February 11, 2017

Top Items:

Reports of Raids Have Immigrants Bracing for Enforcement Surge — In Austin, Tex., undocumented women working in a laundromat cowered in the back of the room, petrified after seeing a video and a photograph of apprehensions outside a local grocery store and burger joint.

Discussion: ABC News, The Atlantic, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, ThinkProgress, PRI, TheBlaze, Mother Jones and CityLab

Abigail Hauslohner / Washington Post:
Federal agents conduct immigration enforcement raids in at least six states

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Associated Press, Hot Air, Around the Nation, The Week, Hit & Run, Business Insider, Occupy Democrats, KXAN-TV, The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, KQED News, The Nation, KTLA, Corey Robin and Eschaton

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:
Protests erupt in NYC over immigration enforcement raids

Discussion: RedState, CAIR COALITION, LAist, The Week and Los Angeles Times

Spokesman.com: Federal agents conduct sweeping immigration enforcement raids in at least 6 states

James Queally / Los Angeles Times:
ICE says L.A. immigration arrests were planned long in advance, not tied to new crackdown

Discussion: LAist, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, NBC News, The Guardian and KTLA

NBC News:

Russia Considers Returning Snowden to U.S. to ‘Curry Favor’ With Trump: Official — U.S. intelligence has collected information that Russia is considering turning over Edward Snowden as a “gift” to President Donald Trump — who has called the NSA leaker a “spy” and a “traitor” who deserves to be executed.

CNN:

US investigators corroborate some aspects of the Russia dossier — Washington (CNN)For the first time, US investigators say they have corroborated some of the communications detailed in a 35-page dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent, multiple current and former US law enforcement and intelligence officials tell CNN.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Infowars, Business Insider, AOL, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze, Occupy Democrats, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Boing Boing, Joe.My.God., The Week, Vox, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Mother Jones, New York Magazine and Politicus USA

Karoli Kuns / Crooks and Liars:

U.S. Intelligence Officials Able To Corroborate Parts Of Russia-Trump Dossier — CNN is reporting that intelligence officials in the United States have been able to corroborate some of the reports in the dossier gathered by a former MI-6 intelligence agent.

Discussion: alan.com

Kristin Salaky / Talking Points Memo:

Chaffetz Said He Believes Town Hall Protestors Were Paid, Not From Utah — Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said that the thousands of protestors who swarmed his town hall on Thursday night were not actually from his state and were “paid” to protest, the Deseret News reported Friday.

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Lisa Riley Roche / Deseret News:

Chaffetz says town hall crowd tried ‘bullying and intimidation’ — SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Jason Chaffetz said the raucous reception he received at Thursday evening's town hall meeting was “bullying and an attempt at intimidation” from a crowd opposed to President Donald Trump's election.

Discussion: The Verge, Hit & Run and Grist

Kelsey Snell / Washington Post:
Swarming crowds and hostile questions are the new normal at GOP town halls

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

CIA freezes out top Flynn aide — A top deputy to National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was rejected for a critical security clearance, effectively ending his tenure on the National Security Council and escalating tensions between Flynn and the intelligence community.

Discussion: New York Daily News, TheBlaze, NO QUARTER USA NET, Politicus USA, Washington Post, Towleroad, Informed Comment, Defense One, New York Times, Mother Jones, Media Matters for America, Fox News Insider, AOL, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and NPR

New York Times:
Trump Will ‘Look Into’ Reports That Flynn Discussed Sanctions With Russia

Discussion: The Hill, alan.com, Hullabaloo and Daily Wire

Diane Bartz / Reuters:

Trump says he will bring down the price of wall on Mexico's border — President Donald Trump pushed back early on Saturday on assertions that the wall he wants built on the U.S. border with Mexico would cost more than anticipated and said he would reduce the price.

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:
Trump: Border wall price ‘will come WAY DOWN’ when I negotiate

Discussion: RedState, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, KTLA, Mediaite, AOL, Axios, Politico, Business Insider, Sputnik International, Joe.My.God., The Week, Common Dreams and FiveThirtyEight

Peter W. Stevenson / Washington Post:
Donald Trump and the art of the super-awkward handshake

Discussion: WREG-TV, FOX6Now.com and twitchy.com

Scott Johnson / Power Line:

Somebody get me out of here — The federal courts of appeals routinely operate in randomly assigned panels of three judges. Appeals from their decisions may be taken to the United States Supreme Court and are heard mostly as a matter of the Supreme Court's discretion.

Discussion: New Yorker, Sense of Events, Washington Post, BuzzFeed and Althouse

The Hill:
Trump not planning to appeal travel ban ruling to Supreme Court

Discussion: The Geller Report, Infowars, NBC News, Balloon Juice, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, TheBlaze, Raw Story, CNN, ABC News, Townhall.com, Josh Blackman's Blog, Republic Report, Washington Post, Political Wire, Joe.My.God. and Mother Jones

Michael McConnell / Hoover Institution:
A Flawed Restraining of a Flawed Order

Discussion: Josh Blackman's Blog, Patterico's Pontifications, Power Line and National Review

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Al Franken to Maher: GOP senators privately express ‘great concern’ about Trump's temperament — Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said Friday night that his Republican Senate colleagues privately express “great concern” about President Trump's temperament, and he joked about the GOP eventually impeaching Trump.

Santiago Pérez / Wall Street Journal:

Mexicans Vow to Fight Trump by Jamming U.S. Courts — Group says it will urge compatriots targeted for extradition to fight in court; government allocates funds — MEXICO CITY—Influential Mexicans are pushing an aggressive and perhaps risky strategy to fight a likely increase in deportations …

Discussion: TheBlaze and Axios

Wall Street Journal:

Internal Nordstrom Data Show Sales Decline for Ivanka Trump Brand — Brand's 32% tumble occurred even as the chain's overall sales rose — Dueling social-media movements are urging people to boycott and buy brands based on their affiliation with President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Political Wire and Axios

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

The Justice Department Is Taking A Step Back From Efforts To Protect Transgender People Under Existing Law — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department took a step back Friday from its prior position of advancing transgender people's rights under existing civil rights laws.

Chris Johnson / Washington Blade:
DOJ nixes request to halt order against trans student protections

Discussion: Washington Post, LGBTQ Nation and Human Rights Campaign

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:

Stephen Miller: A key engineer for Trump's ‘America first’ agenda — As a young conservative in liberal Santa Monica, Calif., Stephen Miller clashed frequently with his high school, often calling in to a national radio show to lambaste administrators for promoting multiculturalism …

Elaina Plott / Washingtonian:

Exclusive: White House Has Interviewed Carl Higbie for Press Secretary — Carl Higbie has interviewed for the position of White House press secretary, according to two senior administration officials familiar with the matter. “Well, I can say that I've offered my services,” Higbie confirms for Washingtonian when reached by phone.

Discussion: BizPac Review, twitchy.com, Mediaite, Lawyers, Guns & Money and TheBlaze

Washington Post:

Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway hires a chief of staff — Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump and one of the most visible figures in the administration, is expanding her operation inside the White House by hiring a veteran congressional staffer as her chief of staff.

Discussion: Political Wire, Politico and Washington Monthly

Associated Press:
Under fire, Conway maintains support of the president

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, 105.9 FM and AM 630, fox8.com, The Week, CNN and ABC News, more at Mediagazer »

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:

Newspaper uses photo of Alec Baldwin on ‘SNL’ instead of Trump — Dominican newspaper El Nacional on Friday printed a photo of Alec Baldwin doing his impression of President Trump on “Saturday Night Live” in an article about Trump and Israel. — The photo was used side-by-side with a photo …

Discussion: RedState and The Week