memeorandum: US citizen held in Moscow on espionage charges seeks Irish consular assistance (Colm Ó Mongáin/RTÉ)

2:55 PM ET, January 4, 2019

Top Items:

Rashida Tlaib on Donald Trump: We will ‘impeach the mother****er’ — Well, this is one way to make your presence known on your first day in office. — Rashida Tlaib, who earlier Thursday was sworn in as one of Michigan's new Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune, Mediaite, Breitbart, CNN, IJR, KTLA, LifeZette, Washington Times, Power Line and Splinter

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Dems livid after Tlaib vows to ‘impeach the motherf—er’ — House Democrats are furious that an incoming freshman's expletive-riddled statement about impeaching Donald Trump has suddenly upended their carefully crafted rhetoric on their plans to take on the president.

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, CNN, Washington Free Beacon and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Mulvaney eggs Trump on in shutdown fight — President Donald Trump's new acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, is already putting his stamp on the West Wing after just a few days on the job. — While his recently departed predecessor, Gen. John Kelly, often tried to restrain President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Axios, ABC News, Defense One, Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA and Daily Wire

Detroit Free Press:

Now is the time to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump — Learn the laws, steps and votes needed in the Presidential impeachment process. An earlier version of this video incorrectly identified one of the president's who was impeached. — CONNECT

Chris Cillizza / CNN:

What Rashida Tlaib gets totally wrong about attacking Donald Trump — (CNN)Hours after being sworn in as a freshman member of the 116th Congress, Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib told a crowd of liberal activists of her plans for President Donald Trump: “We're gonna go in there and we're going to impeach the motherf****r.”

Discussion: twitchy.com

Amy B Wang / Washington Post:
Hours after making history, Rep. Rashida Tlaib profanely promises to impeach Trump

Discussion: ABC News and The Week

Daily Mail: Tlaib doubled down on Friday, refusing to apologize and citing a non-specific 'constitutional crisis …

Morgan Gstalter / The Hill:
New Rep. Tlaib on Trump: ‘Impeach the motherf—er’

Discussion: Contemptor, The Gateway Pundit and CBS News

Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
New House Democrat Rashida Tlaib: 'We're gonna impeach the motherf****r'

Discussion: Bloomberg, Associated Press, Breitbart, RedState, The Guardian, KTLA, Fox News Insider, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, twitchy.com and Mediaite

Washington Post:

Trump threatened to keep government shut down for ‘months or even years’ to get border wall funds, Democrats say — Breaking: President Trump threatened Friday to keep the government shut down for months or even years in order to get money for his border wall, Democratic leaders said after a meeting …

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC: Trump threatened to keep the government closed for ‘months or even years,’ Schumer says

New York Times:
McConnell Faces Pressure From Republicans to Stop Avoiding Shutdown Fight

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, RRH Elections, Politico, FiveThirtyEight, The Week, BuzzFeed News, POLITICUSUSA and Talking Points Memo

Leigh Ann Caldwell / NBC News:
Pelosi: Impeachment is ‘divisive,’ but colleague's coarse language is no worse than Trump's

Discussion: Townhall, Axios, NPR, IJR, The Daily Beast and Washington Free Beacon

Katherine Faulders / ABC News: Trump considering declaring national emergency to secure wall funding: Sources

Meridith McGraw / ABC News:
Trump threatens to keep the government shut down for a year or longer

Discussion: Axios, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and Washington Times

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
House Democrats unveil bill targeting Trump on tax returns and transparency

Discussion: Hill Reporter and Vox

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Suggests Super Wealthy be Taxed Up to 70% to Fund ‘Green New Deal’ — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sat with Anderson Cooper for an upcoming 60 Minutes interview set to air this Sunday, a portion of which has been released as a promotion.

Discussion: Power Line, The Daily Caller, Breitbart and IJR

CBS News:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “Call me a radical” — Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, talks to 60 Minutes about the Green New Deal and says only “radicals” have changed this country. See the full interview, Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS

Discussion: RedState, Townhall, LifeZette, Common Dreams, CBS Boston, Washington Times and CNN

Matthew Choi / Politico: Ocasio-Cortez floats 70 percent tax on the super wealthy to fund Green New Deal

Louise Matsakis / Wired:
That Viral Video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dancing Is a Meta-Meme

Discussion: National Review, BostonGlobe.com, New York Times, Splinter and Daily Kos

Washington Post:

While federal workers go without pay, senior Trump administration officials are poised to get $10,000 raises. — While many federal workers go without pay and the government is partially shut down, hundreds of senior Trump political appointees are poised to receive annual raises of about $10,000 a year.

Discussion: Raw Story, CNN, Axios, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, TheBlaze, Daily Kos, Shakesville and Splinter

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Run or retire? Pat Roberts will announce his decision on 2020 Senate race Friday — Sen. Pat Roberts will announce Friday whether he plans to end his political career or kick off another campaign as he approaches his fourth decade in Congress. — Roberts, R-Kansas, will announce …

Discussion: Roll Call

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner: Matt Schlapp considering Senate bid in Kansas if Pat Roberts retires

Kansas City Star:
Kansas Republican Pat Roberts will retire, setting up open seat race for Senate

Discussion: Vox, NPR and LifeNews.com

Washington Post:
Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts announces he won't seek reelection in 2020

Discussion: Axios

James Arkin / Politico:
Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts to retire in 2020

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Conservative Review

Colm Ó Mongáin / RTÉ:

US citizen held in Moscow on espionage charges seeks Irish consular assistance — A former US Marine arrested last week on espionage charges in Russia has sought Irish consular assistance. — Canadian-born Paul Whelan is a US citizen and also holds an Irish passport.

Kevin Rawlinson / The Guardian:
Ex-US marine accused of spying in Russia is British citizen

Discussion: The Daily Beast, One America News Network and The Week

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Donald Trump Was Never Vetted — “When a man becomes president,” said Rudy Giuliani not long ago, “he shouldn't be subject to a review of his entire life.” Putting aside for the moment whether such a review should or should not take place, Giuliani has correctly identified what is happening.

CNN:

US official: airstrike kills terrorist behind USS Cole bombing — Washington (CNN)The terrorist behind the 2000 attack on the USS Cole is believed to have been killed in a US airstrike in Yemen on Tuesday, according to a US administration official. — Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi …

Philly.com:

Bob Brady waves goodbye to Congress and wants to smoke some pot ... if it is legal | Philly Clout — Brady on Thursday ended two decades of service in the U.S. House. That got us thinking about something Brady told us two weeks ago as we trailed him from Philadelphia to the District of Columbia in the final weeks of his term.

Josh Boak / Associated Press:

US employers added a stellar 312,000 jobs in December — WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers dramatically stepped up their hiring in December, adding 312,000 jobs in an encouraging display of strength for an economy in the midst of a trade war, slowing global growth and a partial shutdown of the federal government.

Discussion: CNBC, IJR and twitchy.com

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Friday's solid jobs report should heat up tensions between Trump and the Fed

Discussion: Mother Jones and LifeZette

Ben Collins / NBC News:

Posing as gay men on Twitter, a troll goes viral with attempts to falsely tie the LGBTQ community to pedophilia — Various efforts to tie the LGBTQ community to pedophilia have been linked back to fringe internet message board 4chan. — Around Christmas day, Karl Krause …

Discussion: Towleroad Gay News

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

Mainstream Media Is Blowing Its Coverage Of Elizabeth Warren's DNA Test — Tribal leaders and Native people say the senator is an ally — and they support her look at her ancestry. But hardly anyone asked them. — WASHINGTON Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was positioned to make a strong bid …

Discussion: New Yorker and NTK Network

Wall Street Journal:

The $9 Billion Upcharge: How Insurers Kept Extra Cash From Medicare — CVS, UnitedHealth, Humana and other health insurers' bids to manage Part D prescription-drug plans for seniors have been consistently off in ways that benefit the companies at the expense of taxpayers

Jared Holt / Right Wing Watch:

White Nationalist Podcast Hosts: Tucker Carlson Does What We Do ‘For an Audience of Millions’ — Two of the white nationalist movement's most popular podcast hosts agree that Fox News host Tucker Carlson is repeating their talking points “for an audience of millions across the country.”

Wall Street Journal:

Trump's Cracked Afghan History — His falsehoods about allies and the Soviets reach a new low. — By The Editorial Board — President Trump's remarks on Afghanistan at his Cabinet meeting Wednesday were a notable event. They will be criticized heavily, and deservedly so.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, The Daily Beast, NPR, Politico, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, The Week, Talking Points Memo, The White House, Mediaite, Washington Press and USA Today

link.nbcnews.com:

Mark Zuckerberg vs. the Times — What's Next: Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives are fed up with The New York Times after weeks of what they see as overtly antagonistic coverage that betrays an anti-Facebook bias, several sources at the social media giant tell me.

more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Trump's sons are running the business — and their big hotel expansion is at a standstill — Shortly after Donald Trump entered the White House, his eldest sons announced ambitious plans to open a new line of hotels called Scion that would target young, hip customers mostly in places where their father had proven popular with voters.

Discussion: Hill Reporter and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Amid a government shutdown, more typos — from Trump and the White House — Have the White House copy editors been furloughed? — In a new email message Friday to the American people, President Trump is demanding that Congress come to an “agreemnet” to end the partial government shutdown and give him his wall “immediatly.”

Discussion: One America News Network

Ella Nilsen / Vox:

House Democrats officially unveil their first bill in the majority: a sweeping anti-corruption proposal — Democrats will take up voting rights, campaign finance reform, and a lobbying crackdown — all in their first bill of the year. — House Democrats will unveil full details …

Discussion: Mother Jones, BostonGlobe.com and ThinkProgress