Chief of Staff
- Trump chief of staff: Speculation mounts over job (BBC)
- Trump Eyes Four New Candidates For Chief Of Staff by Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin, Catherine Lucey (Huffington Post)
- New setback for Trump as Pence aide Nick Ayers turns down chief of staff role by Martin Pengally (The Guardian)
- Why Trump Can’t Find Anyone to Be His Chief of Staff by David A. Graham (The Atlantic)
- Trump considering several candidates for chief of staff: sources by Jeff Mason (Reuters)
Maria Butina
- NRA Darling And Russian Spy Maria Butina Prepares To Sign A Plea Deal by James Kosur (Hill Reporter)
- Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina poised to plead guilty in case involving suspected Kremlin attempts to influence NRA by Rosalind S. Helderman and Spencer Hsu (Washington Post)
- New report reveals the stunning details of alleged Russian spy Maria Butina’s infiltration of conservative politics by Matthew Chapman (AlterNet)
- Alleged Russian agent pleads guilty to conspiracy, agrees to cooperate with authorities: report by Justin Wise (The Hill)
- Maria Butina, Accused Of Being Russian Agent, Reaches Plea Deal With Feds by Carrie Johnson (NPR)
Mueller Investigation / Russia
- The Russia Investigations: Maybe The End Is In Sight. Maybe It Isn’t by Philip Ewing (NPR)
- Even if Trump Tries to Fire Mueller, He Can’t Fire the Grand Jury by Peter M. Shane (Slate)
- More than a dozen Trump associates had contact with Russia before inauguration by Eliabeth Preza (Salon)
- Russia expert: Mueller’s probe is also putting pressure on Vladimir Putin by Matthew Rozsa (Salon)
- Analysis: Where Trump-related investigations stand by Eric Tucker (AP)
- Analysis: A growing list: Trump associates who have pleaded guilty by Mary Clare Jalonic and Michael Basalmo (AP)
- 44 ex-senators warn U.S. is ‘entering a dangerous period’ by Quint Forgey (Politico)
Other News
- Trump’s Latest Meltdown Shows Even He Knows This Could Be the Beginning of the End by Inae Oh (Mother Jones)
- U.S. top court, Kavanaugh spurn Planned Parenthood defunding case by Andrew Chung (Reuters)
- How the Supreme Court Handled Its First Test of Abortion Rights Since Kavanaugh Joined by Tara Law (TIME)
- U.S. Withdrawing Thousands of Troops From President Trump’s Border Mission in Time for Christmas by Lolita C. Baldor (TIME)
- Trump claims Cohen hush money payment was ‘simple private transaction’ by Caitlin Oprysko (Politico)
- Supreme Court Declines Key Planned Parenthood Case by Domenico Montanaro (NPR)
- Trump calls hush money payments a ‘simple private transaction’ (Reuters)
- Shutdown Fears Abound, Despite Temporary Reprieve by Paul M. Krazak (Roll Call)
- Top House Dems raise prospect of impeachment, jail for Trump by Hope Yen (AP)
- House Republicans Took One Final Shot at Comey—and Discredited Themselves by William Saletan (Slate)
- Washington Post columnist predicts Trump will resign 10 minutes before Pence so Pence can pardon him by Avery Anapol (The Hill)
- Trump administration hid report revealing Wells Fargo charged high fees to students by Michael Stratford (Politico)
- Trump expected to name Pence aide Calabria as top housing regulator by Katy O’Donnell (Politico)
- It’s official: Trump’s asylum crisis is driven by people coming legally by Dara Lind (Vox)
- Trump administration poised to strip protections from up to two-thirds of California streams and millions of acres nationwide by Evan Halper (LA Times)
- Trump’s Businesses Have Charged $1.1 Million To His Own Re-election Campaign: Forbes by Mary Papenfuss (Huffington Post)
- That was awkward — at world’s biggest climate conference, U.S. promotes fossil fuels by Griff Witte and Brady Dennis (Washington Post)
Analysis
- Why It Might Be Impossible To Overturn A Presidential Pardon by Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux (FiveThirtyEight)
- Donald Trump finds an attorney general: But will Bill Barr be his “Roy Cohn”? by Heather Digby Parton (Salon)
- 9th Circuit: New asylum restrictions likely violate federal law; Bybee wrote opinion by Debra Cassens Weiss (ABA Journal)
- The evidence undermining Trump’s attempt to defend the Stormy Daniels payment by Philip Bump (Washington Post)
- Meet the Bottomless Pinocchio, a new rating for a false claim repeated over and over again by Glenn Kessler (Washington Post)
Opinion
- Jared Kushner did what? by Jennifer Rubin (Washington Post)