memeorandum: Friend says man killed by FBI agent knew Boston bombing suspect (Natalie Tolomeo/cfnews13.com)

9:55 AM ET, May 22, 2013

Top Items:

Orlando man killed by FBI agent was questioned in Boston Marathon bombings, friend says — Man knew Boston bombing suspect, friend says — An FBI agent was involved in a deadly shooting overnight that could have ties to the Boston Marathon bombings. — Officials said the special agent …

Discussion: Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Gawker, Washington Free Beacon and Business Insider

Michelle Malkin:

Who is Ibragim Todashev? Chechen friend of Boston bomber, planning to fly back to Chechnya, killed by FBI agent — Via WESH this morning, check out the story of a fatal shooting involving an FBI agent and a man who knew Boston marathon jihad bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. … Here's video of Todashev on YouTube:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Jawa Report and Twitchy

U.S. News:

FBI agent kills man linked to Boston bombing suspects — An FBI agent was involved in a deadly shooting connected to the Boston Marathon bombing case. — The man who was shot, Ibragim Todashev, had been interviewed about his connections to the bombing suspects before by the FBI and started out cooperative, NBC sources said.

Discussion: The Hill, WXIX-TV, Mediaite and msnbc.com

Natalie Tolomeo / cfnews13.com: Friend says man killed by FBI agent knew Boston bombing suspect

New York Times:

Another Chilling Leak Investigation — With the decision to label a Fox News television reporter a possible “co-conspirator” in a criminal investigation of a news leak, the Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news.

Discussion: Business Insider, americanthinker.com, The Huffington Post, The PJ Tatler, JustOneMinute, msnbc.com and Hot Air

Ryan Lizza / News Desk:

The Justice Department and Fox News's Phone Records — The Obama Justice Department has seized the phone records of numbers that are associated with White House staffers and, apparently, with Fox News reporters, according to a document filed on October 13, 2011, in the case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Right Turn, National Review, Hot Air, The Week, Fox News, Yahoo! News, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Real Clear Politics, Weasel Zippers, alicublog, The Gateway Pundit, Gawker, Politico, Gretawire and New York Times

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
In AP, Rosen investigations, government makes criminals of reporters

Discussion: Mediaite, Pirate's Cove, NewsBusters blogs, Betsy's Page, The Caucus, Hit & Run, FP Passport, Slate, Committee to Protect …, msnbc.com and TVNewser, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Fox's Bret Baier Reveals That DOJ Also Seized Phone Records For James Rosen's Parents

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Twitchy, The PJ Tatler and Michelle Malkin, more at Mediagazer »

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Fast and Furious/Benghazi investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson: Something fishy's …

Discussion: CBS Philly, Patterico's Pontifications, Michelle Malkin, The Huffington Post and The PJ Tatler

Los Angeles Times:

Top IRS official will invoke Fifth Amendment — A sign for the Internal Revenue Service stands in front of it's headquarters in Washington. (Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg / May 15, 2013) — WASHINGTON - A top IRS official in the division that reviews nonprofit groups will invoke the Fifth Amendment …

Politico:

Heads won't roll at the IRS — Lawmakers pressing for more heads to roll at the Internal Revenue Service are going to be disappointed. — “Why weren't more people fired?” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) demanded at a hearing Tuesday on the IRS's targeting of conservative groups …

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
White House, Treasury discussed how to handle disclosure of IRS story

Discussion: CNN, Politico, americanthinker.com and Outside the Beltway

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Sen. Patrick Leahy Withdraws Amendment To Include Gay Couples In Immigration Reform Bill — “I don't want to be the senator who asks Americans to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country,” Leahy says. Four Democrats on the committee said they would not support the amendment.

Discussion: The Hill, Joe. My. God., Politico, Towleroad News #gay and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Judiciary Committee advances immigration reform bill

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

New York Times:
Immigration Overhaul Wins Panel's Backing in the Senate

Discussion: NYT Bits, The Maddow Blog, WJLA-TV and AllThingsD

Associated Press:
IMMIGRATION BILL HEADS TO FULL SENATE

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation and The Daily Caller

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

A Sleeper Scandal Awakens for Obama, Post-Election — WASHINGTON — The allegations had all the makings of a perfect election-year scandal that might threaten President Obama's chances for a second term and re-energize a listless Tea Party movement: an activist president …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Prairie Weather

Bill Keller:

Bring Back Ken Starr — Republicans are howling for President Obama to name a special prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of Tea Party groups. The president should call their bluff. — The president should announce that he has told the Justice Department …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and americanthinker.com

Washington Post:

Petraeus's role in drafting Benghazi talking points raises questions — The controversy over the Obama administration's response to the Benghazi attack last year began at a meeting over coffee on Capitol Hill three days after the assault. — It was at this informal session …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones and emptywheel

Michael Hastings / BuzzFeed:

Advisers Urged Obama Early On To Release Comprehensive Benghazi Timeline — How Obama got tripped up by his lawyers. — Via: Pool photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images via Abaca Press/MCT — WASHINGTON — The White House Counsel's office advised senior Obama officials to keep quiet …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Main Justice and National Review

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Anthony Weiner announces N.Y.C. mayoral run — Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose career in public life came to an abrupt end when he sent lewd pictures to a college student on Twitter, jumped back into politics on Wednesday by announcing a bid for mayor of New York City.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Hit & Run, msnbc.com, CNN, NBC 10 Philadelphia, Riehl World News and The Reaction

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Weiner Announces Candidacy for Mayor in Video

Discussion: NY Daily News, msnbc.com, Guardian, Wall Street Journal and BuzzFeed

Emily Smith / New York Post:

Mike unleashes a ‘hail’ storm — Mayor Bloomberg went on a spitting-mad rant against a city cab-fleet boss who won a court victory over Hizzoner's planned “Taxi of Tomorrow” — vowing to “destroy your f—king industry” when he leaves office, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Five reasons why focus on scandals is unlikely to backfire on GOP as in 1998 … As multiple scandals have simultaneously engulfed the Obama administration, a number of political observers have cautioned Republicans against overreaching. Liberal blogger Greg Sargent writes over at the Washington Post that …

Discussion: Mother Jones and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:
Republicans' Hatred of Obama Blinds Them to Public Disinterest in Scandals

Discussion: The Daily Caller, American Spectator, The Week, Yahoo! News, Bloomberg, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, The Dish, Taylor Marsh, Booman Tribune and The Plum Line

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

The Dog Whistler — An Obama supporter's Pavlovian reaction to one of her own pet phrases. — Salon's Joan Walsh is spoiling for a catfight with our colleagues Kim Strassel and Peggy Noonan. What has Walsh's back up is their observation that whether or not President Obama directly ordered …

Discussion: Salon and Daily Kos

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:

Biden: ‘Jewish heritage is American heritage’ — Vice President Joe Biden spoke at length Tuesday night about the influence of Judaism on the United States, dating back to the country's founding and to the present day as Jews helped shape views on gay rights.

Discussion: The Times of Israel and Weasel Zippers

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Biden needles Obama on teleprompter

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Politico

Amy O'Leary / NYT Bits:

An Honor for the Creator of the GIF — Among the thousands of file formats that exist in modern computing, the GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format, has attained celebrity status in a sea of lesser-known BMPs, RIPs, FIGs and MIFFs. It was honored as a “word of the year” in 2012 …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Telegraph, The Verge, Outside the Beltway and TechCrunch

Ben Swann / WXIX-TV:

Reality Check Exclusive: Cincinnati agent giving orders in IRS scandal? — The claim that the ongoing IRS scandal is limited to low level employees is falling apart. — The six Cincinnati workers we have identified, who sent scrutinizing letters to conservative groups with words including …

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Riehl World News

Rachel Weiner / Post Politics:

Inhofe: Tornado aid ‘totally different’ from Hurricane Sandy aid — In the wake of the devastating tornado in an Oklahoma City suburb, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) rejected comparisons between federal aid for this disaster and the Hurricane Sandy relief package he voted against.