memeorandum: Fusion GPS founders say they were ‘shocked’ by contents of ‘Steele dossier’ (Max Greenwood/The Hill)

10:25 AM ET, January 3, 2018

Top Items:

David Smith / The Guardian:

Trump Tower meeting with Russians ‘treasonous’, Bannon says in explosive book … Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon has described the Trump Tower meeting between the president's son and a group of Russians during the 2016 election campaign as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” …

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, CNBC, Raw Story, IJR, The Week, Mediaite, Political Wire, Axios, The Daily Caller and Balloon Juice

New York Times:

The Republicans' Fake Investigations — A generation ago, Republicans sought to protect President Richard Nixon by urging the Senate Watergate committee to look at supposed wrongdoing by Democrats in previous elections. The committee chairman, Sam Ervin, a Democrat, said that would be …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Power Line, The Guardian, Taylor Marsh, The Last Refuge, Business Insider, Raw Story, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Politicus USA, Shareblue Media, The Week, Politico and CANNONFIRE

Grant Stern / Washington Press:

Trump-Russia dossier firm just told all in bombshell NY Times op-ed — The opposition research firm that prepared the Trump-Russia dossier just broke its silence in a revealing New York Times op-editorial story which debunks the Republican spin machine desperate to prop up Donald Trump's sinking presidency.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Fox News, Political Wire, Shareblue Media and National Review

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Fusion GPS founders say they were ‘shocked’ by contents of ‘Steele dossier’ — The founders of the private research firm that commissioned the controversial dossier detailing salacious allegations against President Trump — said Tuesday they were “shocked” by the information contained in the report …

Discussion: RedState

Mike Allen / Axios:

Some White House officials fear accidental war — President Trump's boast last night that he has a “bigger & more powerful” Nuclear Button (caps, Trump's) than North Korea has some administration insiders worried that we could blunder into war. — What they're saying …

Discussion: Associated Press, Shakesville, Raw Story, Mediaite, New York Times, The Daily Beast and JustOneMinute

CNN:

North Korea calls hotline to South Korea in diplomatic breakthrough — Seoul (CNN)North Korea and South Korea established contact for 20 minutes on a hotline that's been dormant for almost two years Wednesday, a major diplomatic breakthrough following a year of escalating hostility that could pave the way for future talks.

New York Times:
Trump Says His ‘Nuclear Button’ Is ‘Much Bigger’ Than North Korea's

Eli Watkins / CNN:
Trump taunts North Korea: My nuclear button is ‘much bigger,’ ‘more powerful’

Jake Sherman / Politico:
STAKES IN THE GOV'T SHUTDOWN FIGHT …

Discussion: Associated Press

Robin Wright / New Yorker:

Iran in Turmoil—to Trump's Delight — In the early days of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini famously dismissed an aide's concerns about rising inflation. Economics, the Supreme Leader quipped, was “for donkeys. The 1979 revolution was not about the price of watermelons.”

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, NPR, CNN, Breitbart, Washington Free Beacon and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Thomas Erdbrink / New York Times:
Hard-Liners and Reformers Tapped Iranians' Ire. Now, Both Are Protest Targets.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, The Week and The Gateway Pundit

Reuel Marc Gerecht / New York Times:
The Worst Thing for Iran's Protesters? U.S. Silence

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Bloomberg, Patterico's Pontifications and Washington Free Beacon

The Hill:
Trump ratchets up support for demonstrators in Iran

Discussion: Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera English

Terry Glavin / Macleans.ca:
The uprising in Iran: ‘This is what revolution looks like’

Discussion: Politico and The Federalist

Wall Street Journal:
Busting Illusions About Iran

Discussion: Betsy's Page

David Harsanyi / The Federalist:
5 Worst Echo Chamber Talking Points About The Iranian Uprising

Discussion: The Daily Caller, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Reason, New Republic and National Review

Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
The Iran Nuclear Deal Could Be Dead in 11 Days

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air, Politico, CNN, Associated Press and ThinkProgress

Mandy Mayfield / Washington Examiner:

Roy Moore's Jewish lawyer voted for Doug Jones, raised money for his campaign — The Jewish attorney who Roy Moore's wife touted employing in an attempt to fight off claims of anti-Semitism is actually a longtime friend and supporter of Senator-elect Doug Jones, who defeated Moore last month.

Discussion: The Hill, Weekly Standard, Politico, The Stranger …, Washington Monthly, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mediaite and The Week

Howard Koplowitz / al.com:
Doug Jones picks Joe Biden to escort him for swearing-in ceremony

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and New York Magazine

Greg Privett / WAAY-TV:
Doug Jones does not invite Senator Richard Shelby, picks ex-VP Joe Biden as escort

Discussion: IJR

Associated Press:
2 Democrats to be sworn in as senators, narrow GOP majority

Discussion: NBC News

Richard Johnson / Page Six:

Russia probe grand jury looks like ‘a Black Lives Matter rally,’ says witness — The federal grand jury handing down indictments for special counsel Robert Mueller doesn't appear to include any supporters of President Donald Trump, according to one witness who recently testified before the panel.

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, ThinkProgress and Politicus USA

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Ex-Homeland Security Officials Urge Faster Action on DACA — Three former homeland security secretaries warned congressional leaders and officials of both parties on Wednesday that the window for legislative action to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children will close …

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Itching for a fight, Dems vow to hold the line

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Associated Press:
Homeland chief: Wait and see on citizenship for immigrants

Discussion: CNN, Breitbart and ImmigrationProf Blog

Jason Samenow / Washington Post:

Monster storm to blast East Coast before polar vortex uncorks tremendous cold late this week — Unforgiving cold has punished the eastern third of the United States for the past 10 days. But the most severe winter weather conditions will assault the area late this week.

Discussion: Axios, The Weather Channel, Althouse, The Daily Beast, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Mother Jones, Raw Story, NPR, Mashable, thecut and Associated Press

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg:

Romney Changes Location on Twitter as Utah Senate Seat Opens — Mitt Romney was mum on whether he plans to run for Senate after Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah announced he'll retire after 2018. But Romney's Twitter profile may give a hint about his thinking.

Discussion: Politico, Axios, The Week and The Daily Caller

Thomas Burr / Salt Lake Tribune:
Will Mitt Romney now run for seat being vacated by Orrin Hatch?

Discussion: National Review and Political Wire

Washington Post:

The NSA's top talent is leaving because of low pay and flagging morale … The National Security Agency is losing its top talent at a worrisome rate as highly skilled personnel, some disillusioned with the spy service's leadership and an unpopular reorganization, take higher-paying, more flexible jobs in the private sector.

Discussion: Axios

New York Times:

Florida's 1.5 Million Missing Voters — Everyone remembers that the 2000 presidential election was decided by 537 votes in Florida. Far fewer remember another important number from the state that year — 620,000, the Floridians who were barred from voting because state records showed …

Tim Lockette / Anniston Star:

Star's former publisher acknowledges assault on reporter — H. Brandt Ayers, former publisher of The Anniston Star and current chairman of the board of the company that owns the newspaper, acknowledged Tuesday that he assaulted a reporter in her Anniston home in the 1970s.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, The Week, Alabama Political Reporter and The Montgomery Advertiser, more at Mediagazer »

Axios:

CNN attacks Trump's mental stability, fitness for office — After Trump's Twitter tantrums yesterday — calling for the jailing of a political opponent and bragging his nuclear button is bigger than North Korea's — CNN used its powerful platforms and people to suggest the president is mentally unstable.

Discussion: Raw Story

James Risen / The Intercept:

My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror … I was sitting in the nearly empty restaurant of the Westin Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, getting ready for a showdown with the federal government that I had been trying to avoid for more than seven years.

Discussion: emptywheel

Emily Smith / Page Six:

Hoda Kotb's ‘Today’ salary won't even compare to Lauer's — Hoda Kotb made history by officially landing Matt Lauer's former “Today” show job — but she is still being paid around $18 million less per year than her disgraced male predecessor. — On Monday, Kotb was named co-anchor of the NBC franchise …

Discussion: AOL, theGrio, thecut, The Week, Instapundit and IJR

Stephanie Saul / New York Times:

As Flow of Foreign Students Wanes, U.S. Universities Feel the Sting — At Wright State University in Ohio, the French horn and tuba professors are out. So is the accomplished swimming team. — At Kansas State, Italian classes are going the way of the Roman Empire.