memeorandum: Purdue cemented ties with universities and hospitals to expand opioid sales, documents contend (Andrew Joseph/STAT)

9:50 AM ET, January 17, 2019

Top Items:

Rudy Giuliani just contradicted nearly all the Trump team's past collusion denials — This is at least the 10th time the denials have been watered down. It might be the most significant rollback. — President Trump's legal spokesman Rudolph W. Giuliani on Wednesday night appeared to grant …

Caroline Kelly / CNN:

Rudy Giuliani says Trump didn't collude with Russia but can't say if campaign aides did — (CNN)Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he never denied President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign, only that the President himself was not involved in collusion.

Discussion: Bloomberg, emptywheel, Shakesville, Law & Crime and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Michael Burke / The Hill:

Giuliani: ‘I never said there was no collusion’ between the Trump campaign and Russia — President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said Wednesday that he “never said there was no collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. — “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Power Line, The Daily Beast, Axios, One America News Network, Politico, Just Security, The Week and AOL

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Crisis — DRIVING THE DAY — IS THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT IN A STATE OF CRISIS? ... There's no doubt we have gotten accustomed to lurching from standoff to standoff, diplomatic row to global skirmish. But over the past few days, it feels as if the crisis in our government has hit a new inflection point.

Discussion: The Guardian, New York Times and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
Trump Must Be a Russian Agent; the Alternative Is Too Awful

Discussion: Raw Story, American Greatness, Law & Crime, The Nation, Washington Free Beacon and 1A

Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:
Rudy Giuliani: ‘I never said there was no collusion’ between Trump campaign and Russia

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Joe.My.God.

Michael McFaul / Washington Post: Sorry, but Trump is not ‘tough on Russia’

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:

Poll: Trump Approval Down, Slips With Base — While the longest government shutdown in U.S. history continues, President Trump's approval rating is down, and there are cracks showing with his base. — A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds Trump's approval rating down and his disapproval rating up from a month ago.

Discussion: Washington Post, Political Wire and The Week

PBS NewsHour:

57 percent of voters say they won't support Trump in 2020 — With the 2020 presidential election already underway, 57 percent of registered voters said they would definitely vote against President Donald Trump, according to the latest poll from the PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist.

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Political Wire

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The Shutdown Is Hurting Trump's Approval Rating. But Will It Hurt Him in 2020?

Discussion: Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

Poll-Rigging for Trump and Creating @WomenForCohen: One IT Firm's Work Order — Behind the scenes, Michael Cohen hired RedFinch Solutions, then allegedly stiffed it—and his boss — In early 2015, a man who runs a small technology company showed up at Trump Tower to collect $50,000 …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Axios, Political Wire, Washington Times, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Gizmodo, The Week, Joe.My.God., Contemptor, Mediaite, One America News Network and The New Civil Rights Movement

New York Times:

In a West Wing in Transition, Trump Tries to Stand Firm on the Shutdown — In a West Wing in transition, President Trump is trying to stand firm on the shutdown. — White House Redefines Who Is Essential to Get Parts of Government Moving Again — The administration is opening …

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Raw Story and Splinter

Yoni Appelbaum / The Atlantic:

Impeach Donald Trump — On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump stood on the steps of the Capitol, raised his right hand, and solemnly swore to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and, to the best of his ability, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Discussion: Raw Story, Joe.My.God., Daily Kos and The Week

Michael Levenson / BostonGlobe.com:

As they head to Harvard, Gary Cohn and Heidi Heitkamp criticize shutdown — Gary Cohn, President Trump's former top economic adviser, and Heidi Heitkamp, a former Democratic senator from North Dakota, got to know one another when he was president of Goldman Sachs and she was on the Senate Banking Committee.

Discussion: Washington Post and Political Wire

Barbara Starr / CNN:

Trump is fraying nerves inside the Pentagon — Washington (CNN)Two years into his presidency, Donald Trump is fueling unprecedented uncertainty and anxiety inside the Pentagon. In private conversations over the past month, many of them unsolicited, more than a dozen key military officers …

Discussion: Townhall, IJR, FOX59 and Vox

John Solomon / The Hill:

FISA shocker: DOJ official warned Steele dossier was connected to Clinton, might be biased — When the annals of mistakes and abuses in the FBI's Russia investigation are finally written, Bruce Ohr almost certainly will be the No. 1 witness, according to my sources.

Discussion: Sara A. Carter, The Gateway Pundit, Liberty Unyielding and Front Page Magazine

Josh Gerstein / Politico: Judge won't dismiss libel suit against Fusion GPS over dossier

Politico:

'She's satin and steel': Pelosi wages war on Trump — Her move to derail Trump's State of the Union address underscores her aggressive challenge to the president. — Donald Trump may have finally met his match in Nancy Pelosi. — As the partial government shutdown grinds on with no end in sight …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Colorado Independent, Washington Post and Daily Wire

Washington Post: ‘She wields the knife’: Pelosi moves to belittle and undercut Trump in shutdown fight

Jeff Greenfield / Politico:
Nancy Pelosi Might Have Just Blown Up the State of the Union. And That's OK.

Discussion: Vox, Hullabaloo, Breitbart, National Review, ThinkProgress and No More Mister Nice Blog

Kate Sullivan / CNN:

House Judiciary chair says they'll subpoena Mueller report if necessary — Barr promises skeptical Democrats he'll be an independent AG — (CNN)The House Judiciary Committee chairman said Wednesday that his panel would subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller's final report if William Barr …

Discussion: KAJ-TV

New York Times:
Will We Ever See Mueller's Report on Trump? Maybe.

Discussion: Just Security, Raw Story, The Guardian, emptywheel and Outside the Beltway

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The Democrats' capitulation to William Barr

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Salon and LGBTQ Nation

Washington Post:

Top HUD official's departure follows disagreements over housing policy and Puerto Rico disaster funds — A top Department of Housing and Urban Development official is leaving the agency Thursday following disagreements with other members of the Trump administration over housing policy …

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

GOP Congressmen Meet With Holocaust-Denying Troll Chuck Johnson — The two Republican lawmakers say they didn't know about the alt-right troll's past. — Notorious alt-right figure and Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson met with two Republican lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:

Everything You Need to Know About Milo and Eric Metaxas — Eric Metaxas invited Milo Yiannopoulos on his show because we live in the worst possible timeline. — Want to check in on the state of American Christianity? Look no further than the radio show of pop theologian Eric Metaxas …

Facebook:

Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior from Russia — Today we removed multiple Pages, groups and accounts that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram. The two operations we found originated in Russia, and one was active in a variety of countries while the other was specific to Ukraine.

Discussion: Axios, Joe.My.God., RAPPLER, VICE News, Engadget, ABC News, News Agency UNIAN, Gizmodo and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Eliza Relman / Business Insider:

‘#WheresMitch?’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other freshman Democrats are moving blame for the shutdown from Trump to Mitch McConnell — Freshman House Democrats marched through the halls of Congress on Wednesday to deliver a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, demanding that he hold a vote to reopen the government.

Discussion: Hot Air, twitchy.com and Shareblue Media

Eliza Collins / USA Today:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a social media star, to school House Democrats on Twitter use

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Roll Call, AOL, The Onion, WTKR-TV, abc7ny.com, The Verge, Splinter, TheBlaze, Billboard and Talking Points Memo

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

BREAKING: Cumming man threatened to attack White House, authorities say — Federal authorities on Wednesday announced a terrorist case against a metro Atlanta resident accused of plotting to destroy the White House and other Washington D.C. government buildings.

Discussion: Townhall, Associated Press, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, WSB-TV, RT, Washington Free Beacon, Instapundit, USA Today, Mediaite, Jihad Watch, WXIA-TV, TheBlaze, Daily Wire and Breitbart

WGCL-TV:
BREAKING: Man charged for alleged plan to attack White House

Discussion: twitchy.com, Conservative News Today and The Right Scoop

Tim Cook / TIME:

You Deserve Privacy Online. Here's How You Could Actually Get It — We all deserve control over our digital lives. That's why we must rein in the data brokers — In 2019, it's time to stand up for the right to privacy—yours, mine, all of ours. Consumers shouldn't have to tolerate another year …

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Post, Engadget, AOL, The Hill, Axios, The Verge and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:

A Lawsuit Claims Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Retaliated Against A Staffer Who Planned To Sue The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Over An Alleged Rape — The woman, identified by a pseudonym, claimed in a lawsuit that she was raped by a former employee of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Conservative News Today, twitchy.com, Townhall and Front Page Magazine

Catherine Thorbecke / ABC News:

Potential 2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris shares advice for young women: 'Don't let anybody tell you who you are, you tell them who you are' — Sen. Kamala Harris, who went from being the daughter of immigrants to a potential 2020 presidential candidate, said in an interview with …

Ben White / Politico:

Recession warnings pile up as shutdown wraps up fourth week — The partial government shutdown was supposed to be a brief non-event for the economy. Now it's starting to look like a serious crisis that could nudge the U.S. toward recession and threaten President Donald Trump's economic message during his reelection campaign.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Political Wire

Beto O'Rourke:

A lot of big trucks rolling down Pancake Blvd and there aren't any sidewalks. Gloomy early morning sky in Liberal Kansas. Snow melt on the side of the road where I'm running. I find a vacant lot to cut through to another street, also busy and without sidewalks.

Discussion: The Atlantic, ABC News, Raw Story, CNN, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Politico, twitchy.com, Splinter and National Review

Associated Press:

2020 Democrats face a choice: Fight Trump or ignore him? — SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — When Sen. Elizabeth Warren took the stage earlier this month at this city's ornate Orpheum Theatre, Tricia Currans-Sheehan posed a pointed question to the expected presidential contender.

Alex Thompson / Politico:

Shutdown has dropped grenade onto Trump's 2020 team — President Donald Trump's insistence on shutting down much of the government inadvertently handed his reelection team the opening issue of the 2020 campaign. It's one many Trump political advisers would rather avoid.

New York Times:

White House Redefines Who Is Essential to Get Parts of Government Moving Again — WASHINGTON — As the government shutdown stretches into its fourth week, the Trump administration is reinterpreting longstanding rules to open the federal government piece by piece, forcing thousands of workers …

Discussion: NTEU News Releases

John Podhoretz / New York Post:

Liberals are reading way too much into Trump news stories — Every now and then, as I read supposedly hot news stories and the social media reaction to them, I feel myself growing a white goatee and having my white hair curl up on the sides of my head as I turn into Mugatu …

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

There's Nothing Wrong With Open Borders — Why a brave Democrat should make the case for vastly expanding immigration. — The internet expands the bounds of acceptable discourse, so ideas considered out of bounds not long ago now rocket toward widespread acceptability.

Discussion: Mediaite

Washington Post:

Nearly 10,000 companies contract with shutdown-affected agencies, putting $200 million a week at risk — The 160 workers at Transylvania Vocational Services were still filling orders this week. But the company is running on reserves, and jobs are at risk. The biggest customer - the federal government - has stopped paying its bills.

FiveThirtyEight:

Most Personality Quizzes Are Junk Science. Take One That Isn't. — Compare your results to those of your friends and family. — What's your personality, and what can it tell you about your true self? Those questions have launched a thousand online personality quizzes.