memeorandum: Democratic rebuttal calls Nunes memo ‘deliberately misleading’ (Mike Memoli/NBC News)

6:05 PM ET, February 3, 2018

Top Items:

Mike Memoli / NBC News:

Democratic rebuttal calls Nunes memo ‘deliberately misleading’ — WASHINGTON — A top House Democrat is challenging the core conclusion of the memo released by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes on Friday, calling the allegation that the Justice Department and FBI withheld key details …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Raw Story, NBC News and LewRockwell

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Justice Dept. told court of source's political influence in request to wiretap ex-Trump campaign aide, officials say … The court that approved surveillance of a former campaign adviser to President Trump was aware that some of the information underpinning the warrant request was paid …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNN, neo-neocon, RedState, ThinkProgress, The Mahablog, Splinter, KTLA, 89.3 KPCC, NPR, Althouse, USA Today, New York Times, Business Insider and National Review

Associated Press:

Trump seized on what memo could mean even before reading it — WASHINGTON (AP) — Even before he'd read the memo, President Donald Trump seized on what it could mean. — The president first learned of the House Intelligence Committee document last month from some Republican allies in Congress …

Josh Campbell / New York Times:

Why I Am Leaving the F.B.I. — One of the greatest honors of my life was walking across the stage at the F.B.I. Academy and receiving my special agent badge from the director at the time, Robert Mueller. After 21 weeks of intensive training, my class swore an oath and became federal agents entrusted …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Axios, Shareblue Media, Raw Story and Mediaite

Noah Bookbinder / USA Today:

Nunes memo aims at Russia probe, backfires on Trump and GOP — The controversial Nunes memo is out. It claims the FBI and the Justice Department abused their surveillance authority on Trump's 2016 Presidential campaign. Democrats say the memo is misleading.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times, The Guardian, Politicus USA, NBC News and Business Insider

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

This is the week that the GOP truly became the party of Trump — This was the week when the Republican Party finally went all in with President Trump. What once seemed unlikely is now reality. The Republican establishment — there are a few dissenting voices, of course …

Washington Post:

Once the party of law and order, Republicans are now challenging it … Republican leaders' open defiance last week of the FBI over the release of a hotly disputed memo revealed how the GOP, which has long positioned itself as the party of law and order, has become an adversary …

Discussion: New York Post, KFOR-TV, CNN, ABC News, NPR, CNBC, FOX6Now.com, bizpacreview.com, CBS New York, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Vox, Breitbart, KTLA, NBC News, Business Insider, The Guardian, IJR and Politico

New York Times:

Kashyap Patel, Main Author of Secret Memo, Is No Stranger to Quarrels — WASHINGTON — Kashyap Patel is a lawyer who has sometimes run afoul of the rules. — As a lawyer in Florida, Mr. Patel, 37, entered and then dropped out of a charity bachelor auction featuring some colleagues …

Discussion: The Hill, RedState, IJR, The Liberty Review, The Daily Caller, The Daily Signal and Chicago Business

Asha Rangappa / New York Times:
Thank Progressives for the Nunes Memo

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Hullabaloo

Tim Arango / New York Times:
Washington Is Abuzz Over the Nunes Memo. His California District, Not So Much.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Marcy Wheeler / HuffPost:
The Nunes-Ryan Civil Liberties Sham

Discussion: emptywheel and RedState

David Siders / Politico:
Nunes challenger seizes on FBI memo uproar

Discussion: Raw Story

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Officials disclosed source's political funding in FISA application: report

Discussion: RedState and Liberty Unyielding

The Intercept:
Nunes Memo Accidentally Confirms the Legitimacy of the FBI's Investigation

Discussion: Lawfare, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Balloon Juice, Politico, Sputnik International, National Review, Splinter, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, France 24, bizpacreview.com and NPR

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
The Memo Is Neither ‘Treasonous’ Nor ‘Worse Than Watergate’

Discussion: VICE

Phillip Carter / Slate:
Survival at All Costs — On its face, the so-called Nunes …

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Times, Booman Tribune, Mashable, Mediaite, Shareblue Media, NBC News and IJR

QJurecic / Lawfare:
Thoughts on the Nunes Memo: We Need to Talk About Devin

Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Devin Nunes's Nothingburger

Discussion: Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, IJR, The Week, CNN, PolitiFact, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and WGN-TV

Wall Street Journal:
A Reckoning for the FBI — The House memo reveals disturbing facts …

Discussion: Breitbart

Chris Buskirk / American Greatness: Worse Than Watergate — The FISA Abuse Memo is out and now …

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
Trump's Saturday Night Massacre Is Already Happening

Discussion: Don Surber, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Washington Post, Raw Story and twitchy.com

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

This Is Why Uma Thurman Is Angry — The actress is finally ready to talk about Harvey Weinstein. — Yes, Uma Thurman is mad. — She has been raped. She has been sexually assaulted. She has been mangled in hot steel. She has been betrayed and gaslighted by those she trusted.

Discussion: Mashable, Breitbart, The Verge, Hollywood Life, IndieWire, RedState, Deadline, Vox, Washington Post, The Guardian, CBS Los Angeles, Glamour, Mediaite, thecut, AOL, Althouse, Refinery29, Decider, CBS New York, WPIX 11 New York and The Blast

Axios:

Exclusive poll: GOP turns on FBI — President Trump's hammering on the FBI — and green-lighting yesterday of the Russia memo's release over Bureau objections — is having a profound effect: — A SurveyMonkey poll for Axios finds that not even 40% of Republicans approve …

Discussion: Mediaite, Vox and RedState

New York Times:

Trump's Unparalleled War on a Pillar of Society: Law Enforcement — WASHINGTON — In the days before the 2016 election, Donald J. Trump expressed “great respect” for the “courage” of the F.B.I. and Justice Department for reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.

Discussion: Fox News Insider, Sputnik International and Joe.My.God.

Washington Post:
Inside the FBI: Anger, worry, work — and fears of lasting damage

Discussion: Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

CNN:

Document shows GSA employees spending at the Trump Hotel in DC — (CNN)An employee for the federal agency supervising the lease for the Trump hotel in Washington spent more than $900 for a stay there last year, according to a document reviewed by CNN — the first publicly known movement …

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media: Trump Hotel caught directly profiting off taxpayer dime

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

White House to withdraw controversial nominee to head Council on Environmental Quality … This post has been updated. — The White House plans to withdraw its controversial nominee to head the Council on Environmental Quality, Kathleen Hartnett White, according to two administration officials briefed …

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

As F.B.I. Took a Year to Pursue the Nassar Case, Dozens Say They Were Molested — For more than a year, an F.B.I. inquiry into allegations that Lawrence G. Nassar, a respected sports doctor, had molested three elite teenage gymnasts followed a plodding pace as it moved back and forth among agents in three cities.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Axios and thecut

Anton Troianovski / Washington Post:

AN ARCTIC SPY MYSTERY — An arrest in Moscow shakes Norway's far north — Frode Berg volunteered in a soup kitchen in rural Russia. He helped organize an annual cross-border festival and ski race. His congregation supported a new church in a Russian town just over the boundary line that divides East from West.