memeorandum: Manafort Under Scrutiny For $40 Million In “Suspicious” Transactions (Jason Leopold/BuzzFeed)

11:10 AM ET, February 20, 2018

Top Items:

Jason Leopold / BuzzFeed:

Manafort Under Scrutiny For $40 Million In “Suspicious” Transactions — As the special counsel investigated President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, authorities obtained details on “suspicious” banking activity that was first unearthed in 2014 and 2015.

Discussion: Raw Story, Political Wire, The Week, Daily Kos and Washington Times

Nicholas Thompson / Wired:

A Facebook Executive Apologizes To His Company—And To Robert Mueller — ON FRIDAY MORNING, just before 10am on the West Coast, the office of special counsel Robert Mueller published his indictment of 13 Russian operatives for interfering in the US election. The document was 37 pages, and it mentioned Facebook 35 times.

Discussion: RedState, The Hill, Business Insider, Washington Post, USA Today, The Stranger …, Deadline, TheBlaze and emptywheel, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Exclusive: Mueller's interest in Kushner grows to include foreign financing efforts — Washington (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller's interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, The Hill, Shareblue Media, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, The Week, Mediaite, Raw Story and Political Wire

Mike Allen / Axios:

5 clues to Mueller's roadmap — Special Counsel Robert Mueller's shop doesn't leak, but last week's 37-page indictment of Russians provided a mess of clues about what he's up to. — The big picture: Here are five things we've learned from the indictment and our reporting surrounding the overall Russia probe.

Discussion: Raw Story and Politico

David Brooks / New York Times:

Respect First, Then Gun Control — This has been an emotional week. We greet tragedies like the school shooting in Florida with shock, sadness, mourning and grief that turns into indignation and rage. The anger inevitably gets directed at the N.R.A., those who support gun rights …

Discussion: National Review, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite and Splinter

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:

Don't blame ‘Washington.’ Blame the GOP. — Dysfunctional Washington refuses to work out its differences to solve problems that matter to Americans. — So say pundits and policy activists, perhaps hoping that diffuse criticism, rather than finger-pointing, will yield a government willing to govern.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Shakesville

David Voreacos / Bloomberg:

Mueller Charges Lawyer With Lying in Russia Probe — Van Der Zwaan helped prepare Ukraine report for Manafort — False statements case comes days after Russians charged — An attorney who worked for a prominent law firm was charged with making false statements to federal authorities …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Right Scoop

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

Mueller charges lawyer with lying about interaction with Rick Gates — (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller has filed a charge against a lawyer for lying to investigators about his interaction with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates in September 2016. — Alex Van Der Zwaan is expected to plead guilty Tuesday afternoon.

Discussion: The Week

Alayna Treene / Axios:
Mueller probe's latest indictment: Alex Van Der Zwaan

Discussion: Politico

James LaPorta / The Daily Beast:

U.S. Army Awards Medal of Heroism to Slain Parkland Students … PARKLAND, Florida — The U.S. Army has given medals to three Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets killed in the Parkland school shooting last week, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, CNN, Fox News, Breitbart and KDFW

Media Matters for America:
Pro-Trump media launch attacks on student survivors of Florida school shooting

Discussion: ThinkProgress, theGrio and People.com

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:
Don Jr. Advises President Trump After School Shooting: Don't Go Wobbly on Guns

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Mediaite, Raw Story, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Mashable and ThinkProgress

Valerie Richardson / Washington Times:
Columbine survivor introduces bill to expand concealed-carry in schools

Discussion: WPIX 11 New York, AOL, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, theGrio, Progressives Everywhere, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, RT, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, thecut and Daily Wire

Brad Reed / Raw Story:
‘How much are they being paid?’ Fox News fans trash teen Parkland survivors who demand stronger gun laws

Discussion: IJR, The FADER and Mediaite

Associated Press:

Man featured on ‘Trump Dating’ site has child sex conviction — GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina man with a felony conviction for indecent liberties with a child was one-half of the poster couple for a new “Trump Dating” website. — News outlets reported Monday that visitors …

Discussion: RedState

Travis Fain / WRAL-TV:

NC couple pitching dating site for Trump supporters — RALEIGH, N.C. — A married couple from Guilford County have become the faces of a new Donald Trump-themed dating website. — Barrett and Jodi Riddleberger's smiles, beneath Trump campaign baseball caps, are the first thing greeting visitors at Trump.dating.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Woke Sloth, Joe.My.God., Mediaite and VICE

Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story: Man featured in ads for pro-Trump dating site was convicted of child sex crimes: report

New York Times:

After Florida School Shooting, Russian ‘Bot’ Army Pounced — SAN FRANCISCO — One hour after news broke about the school shooting in Florida last week, Twitter accounts suspected of having links to Russia released hundreds of posts taking up the gun control debate.

Discussion: The Atlantic and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Lucian Wintrich / The Gateway Pundit:

EXPOSED: School Shooting Survivor Turned Activist David Hogg's Father in FBI, Appears To Have Been Coached On Anti-Trump Lines [VIDEO] — As previously reported: — In less than a week since they survived a mass murdering gunman attack on their school, two student who quickly became media stars …

Discussion: Splinter, Mediaite, RedState and Joe.My.God.

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
The far-right smear campaign against students who survived the Parkland massacre

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, CNN and Shareblue Media

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:

How Banks Could Control Gun Sales if Washington Won't — For the past year, chief executives have often talked about the new sense of moral responsibility that corporations have to help their communities and confront social challenges even when Washington won't.

Discussion: JustOneMinute and Business Insider

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Fox News Plans a Streaming Service for ‘Superfans’ — Thanks to a relentless news cycle — and a dedicated fan in the Oval Office — Fox News has defied the downward trends in the television business, notching its highest-rated year in 2017 even as audiences dwindled for many networks.

Discussion: TVNewser, Splinter, myfox8.com, AOL and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »

Carolyn Van Houten / Washington Post:

Trump accuser keeps telling her story, hoping someone will finally listen — This Trump accuser keeps asking herself that. But she plans to keep talking about that day in 2006. — She believed her best chance to be heard was through sheer repetition, so Rachel Crooks took her seat …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Haley Britzky / Axios:

Trump's morning tweets perfectly align with Fox & Friends — President Trump had a busy Tuesday morning on Twitter, with seven tweets before 9am, touching on topics from the Russia investigation to Pennsylvania's new congressional district map. — Why it matters: His tweets perfectly aligned with Fox & Friends' morning lineup.

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Reuters and Jamie Dupree - AJC

Katie Rogers / New York Times:

Rob Porter's Charisma and Ambition Disguised Flare-ups of Anger — WASHINGTON — People who crossed paths with Rob Porter in Harvard classrooms or the hallways of Capitol Hill describe him in glowing terms: He was articulate enough to be secretary of state. Intelligent enough to be a Supreme Court justice.

New York Times:

The New Pennsylvania House Districts Are In. We Review the Mapmakers' Choices. — Reviewing the decisions made to redraw the map in one of the country's most gerrymandered states.

Discussion: Politico, Real Clear Politics and The Daily Caller

David Pierson / Los Angeles Times:

Fake videos are on the rise. As they become more realistic, seeing shouldn't always be believing — All it takes is a single selfie. — From that static image, an algorithm can quickly create a moving, lifelike avatar: a video not recorded, but fabricated from whole cloth by software.

Discussion: Althouse

Gregg Re / Fox News:

Michael Moore participated in anti-Trump rally allegedly organized by Russians — Michael Moore attends Russia-sponsored anti-Trump rally — Michael Moore, the polemical filmmaker who has long accused President Trump of colluding with Russians, posted videos and pictures of himself participating …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com, Front Page Magazine, The Daily Caller and Power Line

Kareem Shaheen / The Guardian:

'It's not a war. It's a massacre': scores killed in Syrian enclave — Assad regime uses barrel bombs and attacks hospitals in rebel-held eastern Ghouta … Play Video — Pro-regime forces continued to bombard the opposition-controlled enclave of eastern Ghouta in Syria on Tuesday …

Discussion: Al Jazeera English, Just Security and VICE News

David Willman / Los Angeles Times:

Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann has a reputation for hard-charging tactics — and sometimes going too far … When FBI agents raided the northern Virginia home of President Trump's former campaign manager Paul J. Manafort Jr. on July 26, they came with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:

Trump's top science adviser never studied science — Trump hasn't nominated anyone for a key White House science post, so the position fell into the lap of a 31-year-old with no training in science. — As the U.S. faces one of the worst flu seasons in decades — on the heels …

Matt Grossmann / New York Times:

Missing Conservatism? Just Wait for a Democratic President — With President Trump's support, Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress recently enacted an enormous increase in government spending, reversing the only major policy victory of Tea Party insurgents in 2011.

Maya Kosoff / Vanity Fair:

“Just an Ass-Backward Tech Company”: How Twitter Lost the Internet War — Twitter faces more challenges than most technology companies: ISIS terrorists, trolls, bots, and Donald Trump. But its last line of defense, the company's head of trust and safety, Del Harvey, isn't making things easier.

Bob Jordan / USA Today:

History experts in New York Times op-ed: Trump worst president ever, Obama in top 10 — Donald Trump is America's worst president, says a New York Times opinion piece that's based on a survey of 170 members of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section.