memeorandum: Rand Paul says he's key to bridging Senate, House immigration gap (Megan Wilson/The Hill)

6:45 PM ET, June 9, 2013

Top Items:

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations — The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows — • Q&A with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden …

Guardian:

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘I do not expect to see home again’ — Source for the Guardian's NSA files on why he carried out the biggest intelligence leak in a generation - and what comes next — Edward Snowden was interviewed over several days in Hong Kong by Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Gateway Pundit, Obsidian Wings, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, The Verge, Mediaite and TechCrunch

Washington Post:

Edward Snowden identified as source of NSA leaks — Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old system administrator and former undercover CIA employee, unmasked himself Sunday as the principal source of recent Washington Post and Guardian disclosures about top-secret NSA programs, denouncing what he described …

Discussion: Guardian, Patterico's Pontifications, Lawfare, TalkLeft, Crooks and Liars, Post Politics and The Reaction

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Paul weighs Supreme Court challenge to NSA surveillance programs — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday said he would examine ways to block the National Security Agency's surveillance programs before the Supreme Court. — “I'm going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level,” vowed Paul on “Fox News Sunday.”

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, CNN, National Review, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Peeping Barry — WASHINGTON — THE acid that corroded George W. Bush's presidency was fear — spreading it and succumbing to it. — You could see the fear in his eyes, the fear that froze him in place, after Andy Card whispered to W. in that Florida classroom that a second plane had crashed into the twin towers.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Senator Dianne Feinstein / ABCNEWS:

‘This Week’ Transcript: Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mike Rogers — A rush transcript of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” airing on Sunday morning, June 9, 2013 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. — STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to “This Week.”

Bob Cesca / The Daily Banter:
NSA Bombshell Story Falling Apart Under Scrutiny; Key Facts Turning Out to Be Inaccurate

Discussion: Business Insider, Booman Tribune, The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, Outside the Beltway, emptywheel, Balloon Juice, Little Green Footballs, ZDNet and The Hinterland Gazette, more at Mediagazer »

Kelly Ayotte:

Op-ed: Why I'm backing legislation to fix our broken immigration system — Everybody agrees that America's immigration system is broken, threatening our security and holding back our economy. The combination of porous borders and lax enforcement has made us a magnet for illegal immigration.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Pirate's Cove, First Read and Outside the Beltway

Megan Wilson / The Hill:

Rand Paul says he's key to bridging Senate, House immigration gap — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Sunday that his Senate colleagues would have to go through him in order to win support from the House to successfully pass comprehensive immigration reform — “What they have in the Senate …

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

IRS Staff Undermine GOP Claims That White House Directed Targeting Of Conservative Groups, Top Democrat Says — Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) — the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee — pledged to release transcripts of interviews with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Cummings vows to release full IRS transcripts by week's end

Discussion: CNN

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

Senators should have known about snooping, says McCain — (CNN) - Lawmakers who are now expressing outrage over the government's surveillance of phone records and Internet activity should have paid closer attention when they were voting to reauthorize provisions in the Patriot Act, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said Sunday.

Discussion: Politico and National Review

James Hohmann / Politico:
Voters give government leeway to snoop

Discussion: Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

James Hohmann / Politico:
Voters give government leeway to snoop

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, americanthinker.com, Pew Research Center and The Daily Caller

Jessica Jaglois / WWBT-TV:

Virginia GOP asks for concealed gun permit holders personal information — The Republican Party of Virginia has sent letters to circuit courts across the Commonwealth asking for the personal information of concealed weapons permit holders. — The party wants the information in order to send campaign materials to like-minded voters.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Taegan Goddard's …

Mark Nicol / Daily Mail:

Harry saved me from gay hate attack: Prince in extraordinary showdown with troops who threatened gunner — A gay soldier told last night how Prince Harry bravely rescued him from a terrifying homophobic attack by squaddies from a rival regiment. — The Prince stepped in to save Trooper James Wharton …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and LGBTQ Nation