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3:45 AM ET, June 5, 2014

Top Items:

White House braced for Bowe Bergdahl backlash — President Barack Obama's Rose Garden appearance Saturday afternoon with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's parents was an attempt to humanize the prisoner swap to deflect potential criticism of letting five Taliban leaders out of Guantanamo Bay, White House aides say.

Discussion: Fox News, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Alex Berenson / New York Times:

A Prisoner of War, but Not a Hero — LEAVE no soldier behind. — The four words are honored at every rank in the American military. Soldiers willingly, sometimes foolishly, risk their own lives to keep their comrades out of enemy hands. — So the White House expected that the release …

Discussion: Gawker, Independent Journal Review, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Guardian and msnbc.com

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Graham warns of Republican impeachment push over Gitmo

Discussion: CNN, PoliticusUSA and Washington Monthly

Thomas B. Edsall / New York Times:

The Republican Case Against Republican Economics — After the 2012 presidential election, key Republicans began to criticize their party's opposition to immigration reform and gay rights. But now party reformers are questioning something much more central: free-market orthodoxy.

Discussion: National Review and AEIdeas

Bloomberg:
Tea Party Regains Steam With Cochran U.S. Senate Runoff

Discussion: Bloomberg View

Alexander Burns / Politico:
Thad Cochran backers face agonizing choice

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Monthly, CNN, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Yahoo! News and Outside the Beltway

Kevin Sieff / Washington Post:

Exclusive: Afghan villagers recall when Bergdahl stumbled into their midst — Among the most tantalizing mysteries surrounding Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's departure from his U.S. military base in 2009 is this: Was he trying to find the Taliban? Or did he simply wander away and get captured?

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Mediaite, The Lead with Jake Tapper, The Daily Caller, National Review, The Daily Beast and Just Security

Fox News:
Administration bypassed intel community to pursue Bergdahl trade, shelved ransom plan

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Lawfare, The Federalist and The Dish

Michelle Malkin / Townhall.com:
Exclusive: The Story You Haven't Yet Heard About Bowe Bergdahl's Desertion

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Patterico's Pontifications

Yahoo! News:

McChrystal on Bergdahl: 'We don't leave Americans behind. That's unequivocal' — Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal on Wednesday urged Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's critics not to “judge” him until all the facts are in and sharply defended the extensive and risky search efforts that claimed the lives of some of his fellow soldiers.

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

McCrystal: Don't ‘Judge’ Bergdahl And The Prisoner Swap Yet (VIDEO) — Retired Gen. Stanley McCrystal on Wednesday said it was too soon to “judge” Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and the Obama administration's decision to negotiate for his release from the Taliban. — “I think we're going to have to wait …

Discussion: RedState, Politico, Mediaite, CNN and Business Insider

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Oliver North Of All People Blasts Obama For Financing Terrorist Orgs In Bergdahl Swap

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, TPNN, The Daily Banter, The Moderate Voice, Hinterland Gazette, Washington Monthly, Right Wing Watch and Daily Kos

Greta Van Susteren / Gretawire:

THIS IS SO DANGEROUS!!! What is WRONG WITH THE SECRET SERVICE???!!??? If Polish tabloids can get these pics (and video) with a camera lens, is there anyone who doesn't think the President is vulnerable to someone armed? — As you know, President Obama is traveling in Europe.

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, CNN and Gawker

Danika Fears / New York Post:

Obama snapped pumping iron at hotel gym — Even the president pumps iron at the hotel gym. — A fellow gym user snapped a few covert shots and video of President Obama lifting weights at a 5-star hotel in Warsaw, Poland — evidently without being seen by the president's security team — then posted them on his Facebook page.

Discussion: Gawker, BuzzFeed, Fox News, Business Insider, The Daily Caller and TPNN

Leslie Larson / NY Daily News:
Footage of Obama's Warsaw workout prompts security questions

Discussion: protein wisdom and Talking Points Memo

Adam Auriemma / Wall Street Journal:

Solved: People Magazine's Hillary Clinton Cover Mystery — Attention Twitter: We can confirm that's not a walker. — Hillary Clinton's appearance on the cover of the People magazine raised some eyebrows Wednesday—and not for her comments on a potential run in 2016 or about Monica Lewinsky.

Discussion: Liberal Values, Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, Shakesville, Mediaite and Mashable

Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People.com:
Hillary Clinton Opens Up About Becoming a Grandmother - and Possible Presidential Run

Discussion: CBS News, Capitol Report, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, OnPolitics, Mediaite and FishbowlDC

James Covert / New York Post:

City Council members rip Walmart's charity of ‘dangerous dollars’ — More than half the members of the City Council have fired off a letter to Walmart demanding that it stop making millions in charitable contributions to local groups here. — Twenty-six of the 51 members of the Council charged …

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air and Fox News Insider

Thomson Reuters Foundation / Trust.org:

Idaho hometown of newly freed soldier cancels planned celebration — The hometown of U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has canceled a rally planned for later this month celebrating his release from five years of Taliban captivity, a municipal official told Reuters on Wednesday, amid allegations that he was a deserter.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

NBC News:
Officials in Bergdahl's Hometown: Stop the Hate

Discussion: Mediaite, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air, Hullabaloo and CNN

ThinkProgress:

Ohio May Take Away Low-Income Women's Access To The Most Effective Form Of Birth Control — The Ohio legislature is currently considering a measure that would institute a sweeping ban on insurance coverage for abortion in state residents' public and private health plans.

Discussion: Liberal Values and Daily Kos

Kristen Mitchell / The Columbus Dispatch:
Ohio bill would restrict abortion coverage

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Raw Story

John Hult / Argus Leader:

Annette Bosworth arrested on perjury and election fraud charges — Former U.S. Senate candidate Annette Bosworth has turned herself into the Minnehaha County Jail following the issuance of a warrant for her arrest. — Attorney General Marty Jackley issued the warrant for Bosworth this morning.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, KCLO-TV, OnPolitics and Politico

Matt Stoller / VICE:

The VICE Reader: The Con-Artist Wing of the Democratic Party — Former US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (left) yucking it up at a meeting of global elites in 2009. Photo via Flickr user IMF — The most consequential event of this young century has been the financial crisis.

Discussion: susiemadrak.com

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:

NOW APPLICATION ‘INCONSISTENCIES’ VEX HEALTH LAW — FILE - This May 14, 2014 file photo shows Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President Barack Obama's nominee to become secretary of Health and Human Services testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington. More than 2 million people who got health insurance …

Discussion: Hot Air, Nextgov, The Daily Caller, Politico and The Verge

Joe Palazzolo / Wall Street Journal:

Cyberbullying Law Challenged in Court — New York Jurists to Decide if Criminal Statute Violates Freedom of Speech; Other States and Localities Await Precedent — New York's high court on Thursday will consider one of the first legal challenges to state and local laws that make it a crime …

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Harvard grad Chuck Schumer fails history, credits Jefferson for Bill of Rights — Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, stumbled Tuesday over basic American history, crediting Thomas Jefferson for authorship of the Bill of Rights during a debate over the First Amendment and campaign finance.

Discussion: RedState and Washington Free Beacon