memeorandum: House Democrats shouldn't impeach Trump - It will anger voters and the Senate won't remove him (Mark Penn/Fox News)

2:45 PM ET, December 8, 2018

Top Items:

Mueller Is Telling Us: He's Got Trump on Collusion — The special counsel is connecting the dots and it doesn't paint a pretty picture for Trump. — For nearly two years, since the U.S. intelligence community released its report on the Russian campaign to assist Donald Trump in the 2016 election …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Politico, One America News Network, The Guardian, Breitbart, Raw Story, Algemeiner.com, Associated Press, Mother Jones and ABC News

New York Times:

Is This the Beginning of the End for Trump? — Sentencing memos reveal damning evidence about collusion and campaign finance violations. — Mr. Berke is a lawyer specializing in white-collar criminal defense. Mr. Bookbinder is a former federal corruption prosecutor.

Discussion: Politico, Vox, Spectator USA, Roll Call, Raw Story, Common Dreams, ThinkProgress, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Outside the Beltway, TheBlaze, Lawfare, The Guardian, Fox News Insider, Washington Press, Washington Monthly and The American Conservative

Garrett M. Graff / Wired:

The Mueller Investigation Nears the Worst Case Scenario — WE ARE DEEP into the worst case scenarios. But as new sentencing memos for Trump associates Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen make all too clear, the only remaining question is how bad does the actual worst case scenario get?

Discussion: Politico, Hullabaloo, The Week, Bloomberg, New York Magazine, Common Dreams, Althouse, Washington Post and New York Times

Ken White / The Atlantic:

Manafort, Cohen, and Individual 1 Are in Grave Danger — Federal prosecutors filed three briefs late on Friday portending grave danger for three men: the former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, the former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, and President Donald Trump.

Discussion: USAPP

Mike Allen / Axios:

When Russia approached, Trump officials gladly obliged — The flashing siren in the “known knowns” of the Russia probe is how often people close to Vladimir Putin approached people close to Donald J. Trump — and how often they gladly connected. And then lied about it.

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart and Politico

Lawfare:

‘Totally Clears the President’? What Those Cohen and Manafort Filings Really Say — President Trump responded to today's filings from federal prosecutors in the cases of Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort with a Twitter cry of triumph: … Don't spend a lot of time looking through …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Politico, NPR, Outside the Beltway, ABC News, HuffPost, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

Just Security:

Mueller's Roadmap: Major Takeaways from Cohen and Manafort Filings — Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and from the Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed significant documents in the criminal cases of President Donald Trump's former personal attorney …

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:

The latest filings show that nobody can save Trump now — At the end of the day Friday, we learned what federal prosecutors in New York think of Michael Cohen: … This is bad news for Cohen, but there's something else interesting in the filing: Prosecutors explicitly state that Cohen coordinated …

Discussion: The Week and HuffPost

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

A Home Run by Trump — In nominating William Barr for AG, the president could not have done better — In 2007, the Justice Department was in disarray. Though it was largely exaggerated, a controversy over the firing of some United States attorneys, the intrusion of politics …

Discussion: Sputnik International, Variety and Mediaite

David French / National Review:
The Special Counsel's Cohen Sentencing Brief Is Ominous for Trump

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, Chicks On The Right, CNBC, CBS San Francisco, Sputnik International, Mediaite and HuffPost

Associated Press:
Closer legal peril for Trump in probes; he sees no collusion

Discussion: FOX6Now.com and Townhall

Reuters: Trump says prosecutors have found no evidence of Russia collusion

Elie Honig / CNN:
Mueller is putting the puzzle pieces together on Trump

Discussion: KBZK, Booman Tribune and Washington Monthly

Washington Post:
In corporate role, William P. Barr clashed with Justice Department that he now seeks to lead

Discussion: FOX News Radio, more at Mediagazer »

The Daily Beast:
Michael Cohen Was Paid More Than $4 Million by Promising Access to Trump, Prosecutors Say

Discussion: NPR, Law & Crime and Washington Press

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Mueller Weaves Trump, Manafort and Cohen Ever Closer

Discussion: emptywheel, NPR and CNN

Michael Balsamo / Associated Press:
Prosecutors: Illegal hush-money paid at Trump's ‘direction’

Discussion: MyNorthwest.com

Adam Rawnsley / The Daily Beast:
Mueller: Manafort Lied About Contacts With Trump Officials

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Joe.My.God., The Week, Politico and Washington Post

New York Times:

The Wooing of Jared Kushner: How the Saudis Got a Friend in the White House — Senior American officials were worried. Since the early months of the Trump administration, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and Middle East adviser, had been having private, informal conversations …

Discussion: Sputnik International and Raw Story

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
How a chilling Saudi cyberwar ensnared Jamal Khashoggi

Discussion: Boston Magazine

Hisham Melhem / Deep State Radio Network: Mohammed Bin Salman; A Prince Who Should Not Become A King

New York Times:

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House — WASHINGTON — John F. Kelly, the retired Marine general tapped as chief of staff by President Trump last year to bring order to his chaotic White House, will leave the job by the end of the year, Mr. Trump said on Saturday …

Discussion: Politico, Axios, ThinkProgress, Townhall, Vox, CNN, Outside the Beltway, USNI News, Joe.My.God. and Mashable

Associated Press:

Trump says chief of staff John Kelly to leave at year's end — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that chief of staff John Kelly will leave his job by year's end amid an expected West Wing reshuffling reflecting a focus on the 2020 re-election campaign and the challenge …

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
Chief of Staff John Kelly to leave White House by end of month, Trump says

Discussion: Political Wire

Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC News:
Trump says John Kelly to leave chief of staff role by year end

Discussion: BuzzFeed News and CNBC

Gabby Orr / Politico:
Nick Ayers is Trump's next chief of staff — unless his enemies can stop him

Discussion: The Atlantic, Axios, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal

Anne-Elisabeth Moutet / New York Post:

In France, les deplorables strike back — PARIS — Glittering shops from Louis Vuitton to Dior are boarded up on both sides of the Champs-Élysées. The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre will be closed. Paris has hunkered down for the latest Yellow Saturday, the fourth in a row …

New York Times:
Police Crack Down on ‘Yellow Vests’ in France With Tear Gas and Hundreds of Arrests

Discussion: Vox, RT, NPR, The Intercept, Politico, The Week, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Daily Caller News Foundation, Splinter and Axios

Carol Matlack / Bloomberg:
Pro-Russia Social Media Takes Aim at Macron as Yellow Vests Rage

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Outside the Beltway

Harry Enten / CNN:

Trump's favorite pollster was the least accurate in the midterms — (CNN)First things first: The theme song of the week is the theme to Love, American Style composed by Charles Fox and Arnold Margolin. — Number of the week: A new Marist College poll finds President Donald Trump's approval rating at 43% among registered voters.

Mark Penn / Fox News:

House Democrats shouldn't impeach Trump - It will anger voters and the Senate won't remove him — If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then perhaps the Democrats on a crusade to impeach President Trump should think twice about the road they are heading down.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Christina Cauterucci / Slate:

I'm So Sorry to Report that Ted Cruz's New Beard Looks Great — I have no particular fondness for this subject and it brings me no pleasure to cover it. But as a truth-seeking journalist, I feel I must write what follows: Sen. Ted Cruz's new beard looks great.

Discussion: Althouse

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Trump Calls Senator Richard Blumenthal ‘The Dick’ in Bizarre Tweets — After watching Senator Richard Blumenthal on TV, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to attack him again and nickname him “The Dick.” — Many times when Blumenthal has spoken out against Trump …

Discussion: Raw Story

Annie Karni / New York Times:

Eric Trump Weighs In on Kellyanne Conway's Husband. He Doesn't Like Him. — WASHINGTON — George Conway, a prominent conservative lawyer, is married to Kellyanne Conway, a White House counselor well known to cable viewers as a passionate defender of President Trump.

Discussion: Chicks On The Right

Daniel Strauss / Politico:

GOP power grabs pour gas on ‘resistance’ in key Midwest states — Republican efforts to weaken incoming Democratic governors in Michigan and Wisconsin have reignited the grass-roots fervor that flipped both states in November, turning the typically sleepy post-election period …