memeorandum: House Republicans express “great concern” about possible Holder perjury (CBS News)

5:25 AM ET, May 30, 2013

Top Items:

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Obama to Pick Former Bush Official to Lead F.B.I. — WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to nominate James B. Comey, a former hedge fund executive and a former senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush, to replace Robert S. Mueller III as the director of the Federal Bureau …

Discussion: Politico, WJLA-TV, Crime and Consequences Blog, driftglass and American Spectator

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Eric Holder To Meet With Washington Bureau Chiefs Amid Leak Investigation Criticism (UPDATE) — NEW YORK — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to meet this week with the Washington bureau chiefs of several major media outlets to discuss the Justice Department's guidelines for dealing with journalists in leak investigations.

Discussion: Politico, Erik Wemple, Twitchy, Weasel Zippers, The World's Greatest …, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, The Plum Line, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Guardian, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler, BREITBART.COM, The Gateway Pundit and Hot Air

Carrie Johnson / Law:

Former Justice Official In Line To Be Named FBI Chief … NPR has learned that former Justice Department official James B. Comey is in line to become President Obama's choice as the next FBI director, according to two sources familiar with the search. — Comey, 52, has an extensive track record …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Truthdig, emptywheel and The Reaction

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Too dumb to check: Holder's huddle with media on press freedoms will be ... off the record; Update: NYT to boycott; Update: DNC spokesman whines at NYT — Gut-check time for the press: If they're truly offended by the DOJ's secret snooping on James Rosen and the AP, they won't agree …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and Weekly Standard

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

Obama to nominate Comey as next FBI director, sources say — President Obama will nominate former Deputy Attorney General James Comey to be the next director of the FBI, according to sources. — Comey is a Republican who served in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

CBS News:

House Republicans express “great concern” about possible Holder perjury — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday expressing “great concern” about the possibility that Holder lied under oath during …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, Fox News and Restoring Liberty

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

ACLU Defends News Organizations For Rejecting Off-The-Record Meeting With Attorney General — Not attending the meeting “[k]ind of forfeits your right [to] gripe,” the Democratic Party's communications director said. “[T]he suggestion that news organizations somehow give up their right …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico: N.Y. Times will not attend DOJ session, citing opposition to off-the-record provision

Washington Post:
Comey in line to become FBI director, officials say

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mother Jones

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:
Why the Clinton Scandals Were a Bigger Deal Than the Obama Ones

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and The Dish

Erik Wasson / The Hill:
White House rejects Republican charges attorney general misled Congress

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Devlin Barrett / Washington Wire:
Holder to Get New Spokesman at Justice

Discussion: National Review

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

TV Ratings: MSNBC Falls Below HLN in May, Rachel Maddow Hits Lows — Fox News Channel maintains a handsome lead in primetime and total day, while primetime runner-up CNN continues a healthy climb from the lows of 2012. — “The Rachel Maddow Show” — HLN's wall-to-wall coverage …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters, The Hinterland Gazette and American Glob

Adam Harrington / CBS New York:

2 Letters Addressed To Mayor Bloomberg Found To Contain Ricin — NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Threatening letters addressed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in both New York and Washington, D.C. have been found preliminarily to contain ricin, police said Wednesday. — The anonymous threats to Bloomberg …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

CNN:
Threatening letters to Bloomberg test positive for ricin

Discussion: Mediaite

Joseph Goldstein / New York Times:
Letters Threatening Mayor and Referring to Gun Control Test Positive for Ricin

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Sky Dancing, Yahoo! News and Gawker

Joe Muto / Salon:

I was a liberal mole at Fox News: From Bill O'Reilly to Roger Ailes, here's all the inside dope — Inside the beast: O'Reilly hates Hannity. Producers know what's acceptable. Everyone fears a call from Roger Ailes — Excerpted from “An Atheist in the FOXhole: A Liberal's Eight-Year Odyssey Inside …

Discussion: The Impolitic

Des Moines Register:

Michele Bachmann's Iowa court date set … A trial date has been set in an Iowa lawsuit alleging that Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., stole and misused an e-mail distribution list maintained by an Iowa home school group during her failed 2012 presidential campaign.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette and Politico

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:
Reading Between the Lines of Michele Bachmann's Retirement Speech

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, A plain blog about politics, CNN and Washington Monthly

State Rep. Doug Cox / Daily Oklahoman:

The GOP and abortion legislation — All of the new Oklahoma laws aimed at limiting abortion and contraception are great for the Republican family that lives in a gingerbread house with a two-car garage, two planned kids and a dog. In the real world, they are less than perfect.

Discussion: Shakesville, The Maddow Blog and The Raw Story

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:
Oklahoma Lawmaker Blasts GOP's War On Women: ‘What Happened To The Republican Party That I Joined?’

Discussion: Daily Oklahoman, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo and Wonkette

Jenn Taylor / Twitchy:

Adam Levine caught on hot mic: ‘I hate this country’; Responds to backlash with douche-tweets … Yes, yes he did. On “The Voice” Tuesday night, a hot mic picked up coach Adam Levine saying, “I hate this country,” as one member of Team Adam advanced and two others were voted off the show.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mediaite, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit and Inside TV

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Sources: Lincoln Chafee to switch parties — Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has notified senior Democratic Party officials that he intends to switch his party registration and join the Democratic Party, multiple sources familiar with Chafee's decision told POLITICO.

Discussion: WPRI.com Blogs, The Caucus, CNN, Yahoo! News, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, The Maddow Blog, Conservatives4Palin, Post Politics, WJLA-TV and The Raw Story

Bob Young / The Seattle Times:

Former Microsoft manager has big ideas about marketing retail pot — Former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively wants to create the first national brand of retail marijuana — and to open pot trade with Mexico. He plans to announce that and more Thursday. — Former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively wants …

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, Hit & Run and The Raw Story

Miranda / Right Wing Watch:

Schlafly Encourages GOP to Ignore Latinos, Focus on White Turnout — Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly is riled up about comprehensive immigration reform, and she has hardly been hiding the reason why. Last month, Schlafly predicted that comprehensive reform would be “suicide for the Republican Party” …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Raw Story

Eric Russell / Portland Press-Herald:

LePage renews claims of State House censorship — ‘The minute we start stifling our speech, we might as well go home, roll up our sleeves and get our guns out,’ the governor says. — AUGUSTA - Gov. Paul LePage is still upset about being silenced during a recent meeting …

Discussion: The Impolitic and The Raw Story

Michelle Malkin:

Confirmed: Polk County, FL schools conducted iris scans on students without permission — Florida parents are right to be outraged at the outrageous privacy violations that took place late last week in at least 3 Polk County, Florida schools. — I just got off the phone with Rob Davis …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Gulf News:

Working women should be molested: Saudi writer — Writer campaigning against moves to bring women into mixed-gender work environments — Abu Dhabi: A Saudi writer has urged his Twitter followers to sexually molest women hired to work as cashiers in big grocery stores …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:

New York City Wants to Revive Old Voting Machines — New York City has spent $95 million over the past few years to bring its election process into the 21st century, replacing its hulking lever voting machines with electronic scanners. — But now, less than three years after the new machines …

Discussion: The Verge

WMTW-TV:

Missing man found, walks up to WMTW News 8 crew — Robert McDonough, 73, safe after 14-hour ordeal — A 73-year-old Limington man who had been missing for more than 14 hours was found Tuesday morning after he walked up to a WMTW News 8 crew. — Robert McDonough approached WMTW News 8 …

Discussion: WGGB-TV, Scared Monkeys, The Huffington Post, Mediaite and Gawker