memeorandum: Lev Parnas: ‘President Trump knew exactly what was going on.’ (Rachel Maddow/MSNBC)

11:45 PM ET, January 15, 2020

Top Items:

Democrats release more Parnas evidence, including voicemails with Trump associates — House impeachment investigators released a new set of evidence that was obtained from Lev Parnas, an indicted former associate of President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani — including voicemails …

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Daily Beast and Washington Post

New York Times:

Lev Parnas, Key Player in Ukraine Affair, Completes Break With Trump and Giuliani — In an interview, he said the president knew everything about the effort to push Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election. — WASHINGTON — Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born businessman who played …

Discussion: The Week and Outside the Beltway

Phil Helsel / NBC News:

Giuliani associate Parnas says Trump ‘knew exactly what was going on’ — The indicted associate of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said in an interview that Trump “knew exactly what was going on.” — Lev Parnas tells Maddow ‘Trump knew exactly what was going on’

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, HuffPost, The Week and Foreign Policy

Lee Fang / The Intercept:

Trump Supporter Who Discussed Surveillance of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch Has History of Stalking, Mental Health Issues — The man who relayed information about Marie Yovanovitch's location to Rudy Giuliani's Ukrainian associates was a known stalker with mental health issues.

Discussion: Fox News, The CT Mirror, New York Times, East Bay Times, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, CNN, Talking Points Memo and Hartford Courant

MSNBC:

Lev Parnas tells Maddow ‘Trump knew exactly what was going on’ — Lev Parnas is breaking his silence in an exclusive interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. He says, “President Trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all my movements. I wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani, or the President.

Discussion: ABC News, Vanity Fair and The Week

Emily Singer / The American Independent:

Collins rejects new evidence in Trump trial after saying she'd welcome it — Collins said in December that seeing the evidence in the case was necessary to determine whether Trump should be removed from office. — Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said on Wednesday she doesn't think newly released evidence …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Slate and Law & Crime

Nahal Toosi / Politico:

State Department abruptly cancels briefings on Iran, embassy security — The State Department abruptly canceled two classified congressional briefings Wednesday that were supposed to focus on embassy security and the U.S. relationship with Iran, Capitol Hill aides said …

Discussion: Letters from an American, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Law & Crime, One America News Network, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA, The Mahablog, Mediaite, Slate, Raw Story and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:
How Giuliani's outreach to Ukrainian gas tycoon wanted in U.S. shows lengths he took in his hunt …

Discussion: Spectator USA, Axios, Mother Jones and NBC News

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
Devin Nunes Now Remembers Call With Lev Parnas

Discussion: The Week and The Daily Beast

Melanie Zanona / Politico:
Republicans break with Robert Hyde, latest player in Ukraine drama

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Rachel Maddow / MSNBC:
Lev Parnas: ‘President Trump knew exactly what was going on.’

Discussion: Mother Jones

Washington Post:
Parnas used access to Trump's world to help push shadow Ukraine effort, new documents show

Discussion: American Oversight

Zachary Cohen / CNN: Trump administration abruptly cancels 4 classified Iran-related briefings

Talking Points Memo:
House Dems Release New Tranche Of Evidence From Giuliani Pal Lev Parnas

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story and Digby's Hullabaloo

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Four big takeaways from the explosive Lev Parnas documents

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Vanity Fair and Slate

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
I Don't Think the Lev Parnas Texts Are the Last Hound to Be Unleashed

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Daily Kos, HillReporter.com and Balloon Juice

CNN:

Exclusive: Warren accused Sanders in tense post-debate exchange of calling her a ‘liar’ on national TV — Sanders responded that it was Warren who called him a liar and said they should not talk about it right then. — When the CNN/Des Moines Register debate concluded …

New York Times:

Warren Told Sanders After Debate, ‘I Think You Called Me a Liar on National TV’ — Following a tense debate during which Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders clashed over a disputed remark, the two exchanged words, but did not shake hands.

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Shadowproof, The Atlantic, The Daily Wire, KTLA, Vox, Sputnik News, Mediaite, The Post Millennial, Washington Free Beacon, The Hill, New York Post and Talking Points Memo

CNN:
Bernie Sanders isn't facing enough scrutiny

Discussion: Fox News and Common Dreams

Washington Post:
Warren accused Sanders of calling ‘me a liar on national TV’ during tense exchange after Tuesday's presidential debate

Discussion: Political Wire

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
If Sanders is lying, why doesn't Warren say so?

Discussion: Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, The Hill and Twitchy

Tess Owen / VICE:

Virginia Declares State of Emergency After Armed Militias Threaten to Storm the Capitol — In response to what he described as “credible intelligence” of threats of violence at an upcoming gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam has declared a state of emergency …

Discussion: Big League Politics, Common Dreams and NPR

Timothy Johnson / Media Matters for America:
As Virginia gun rally approaches, Alex Jones and his Infowars outlet hype prospect of violence

Discussion: Associated Press, Breitbart, The Hill and Talking Points Memo

Aaron Gell / GEN:
Death Threats Are Sending the South's Only Socialist Lawmaker Into Hiding

Discussion: Washington Post

Laura Vozzella / Washington Post:
Northam temporarily bans firearms, other weapons on Virginia Capitol grounds

Discussion: Townhall

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Rand Paul threatens fellow Republicans with explosive witness votes — Sen. Rand Paul is waging a fierce campaign to prevent the Senate from hearing witnesses in Donald Trump's impeachment trial, vowing to force tough votes on his fellow Republicans if they break with the president or back Democrats' demands for new evidence.

Miami Herald:

Pelosi impeachment manager is calling for McConnell's recusal from Trump Senate trial — A Florida congresswoman who on Wednesday became an impeachment manager in President Donald Trump's upcoming Senate trial wants to remove the lead juror: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Discussion: PJ Media Home

Politico:
‘Huge mistake’: Senators in both parties rip impeachment press access

Discussion: The Hill, The Verge, New York Times, Washington Post, Roll Call, HuffPost and Raw Story

Aaron Feis / New York Post:

Pelosi quotes ‘Irishman’ before signing impeachment articles against Trump — Leave the articles of impeachment, take the cannoli. — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday likened President Trump's request for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “do us a favor” …

Alexander Nazaryan / Yahoo News:
Pelosi names impeachment managers, ending House delay

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post and Alaska Public Media

Los Angeles Times:
Schiff says new evidence against Trump is likely to emerge during Senate trial

Discussion: New York Times and The Root

Ali Watkins / New York Times:

Lawsuit Claims Epstein Trafficked Girls in Caribbean Until 2018 — The attorney general of the Virgin Islands says Mr. Epstein and his associates used a database to track victims as young as 11 years old. — New evidence shows Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused and trafficked hundreds …

Discussion: CNBC, The Sun, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Sputnik News, UPI and New York Post

Daniel Chang / Miami Herald: Virgin Islands allege Jeffrey Epstein trafficked girls as young as 11 as recently as 2018

Martin Matishak / Politico:

Intel agencies push to close threats hearing after Trump outburst — The U.S. intelligence community is trying to persuade House and Senate lawmakers to drop the public portion of an annual briefing on the globe's greatest security threats — a move compelled by last year's session that provoked …

Douglas London / Just Security:
The President, His Relationship with Intelligence, and the Soleimani Strike

Discussion: The Week, The Guardian, Raw Story and Mediaite

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

New book portrays Trump as erratic, ‘at times dangerously uninformed’ — President Trump reveals himself as woefully uniformed about the basics of geography, incorrectly telling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “It's not like you've got China on your border.” He toys with awarding himself the Medal of Freedom.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian, POLITICUSUSA, Digby's Hullabaloo, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The American Independent and The Week

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Landmark Trade Deal With China; New York Times Hardest Hit — President Trump signed the “Phase One” trade agreement with China today at the White House. The agreement is far-ranging; you can read its entire text here. Among other things, it includes “commitments from Beijing …

Discussion: New York Times and CNBC

Doug Palmer / Politico:
Here's what's in the U.S.-China trade deal

Discussion: One America News Network and Associated Press

Aaron Rupar / Vox:

NPR's sanitizing of Trump's Milwaukee rally shows how he's broken the media — Trump at his rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday. Kyle Mazza/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images — In trying to be above taking sides, the mainstream media does Trump a favor by making order out of his chaos.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, PJ Media Home, Daily Kos and New York Times

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
This media failure really could help Trump politically

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo and Vox

Andrew Kerr / The Daily Caller:

Dark Money Group Linked To Ocasio-Cortez To Spend $500,000 Attacking Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg — A dark money group with ties to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Tuesday it will spend over $500,000 on digital ads attacking former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Discussion: Fox News, HuffPost and Common Dreams

Quartz:
Dark-money group backing AOC spent $20,000 on anti-Biden Facebook ads

Discussion: Redstate

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

John Bolton will speak in his book, if not at the Senate trial. — The Senate is still discussing whether it will hear witness testimony from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, who has said he would comply with a subpoena during the impeachment trial.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week and Mediaite

Jon Sharman / The Independent:

Putin and Assad caught on video mocking Trump — Russian president jokingly urges counterpart to invite US leader to Syria — Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad have been caught on video mocking Donald Trump. — At a recent summit in Damascus the leaders were filmed discussing …

Michelle Ye Hee Lee / Washington Post:

Wealthy donors now allowed to give over half a million dollars each to support Trump's reelection — Donors to President Trump's reelection are now permitted to give nearly $600,000 per year, boosting the president's ability to raise money from wealthy supporters months before the general election contest begins in earnest.

Discussion: Raw Story