memeorandum: What We Can Learn From Eric Cantor's Defeat (David Wasserman/FiveThirtyEight)

8:05 PM ET, June 20, 2014

Top Items:

Rachael Bade / Politico:

IRS chief defiant on Lois Lerner email loss — A defiant IRS Commissioner on Friday refused to apologize for the loss of ex-IRS official Lois Lerner's emails, and said the agency produced what they could, at a combative hearing marked by accusations by Republicans of IRS deceit.

Discussion: ABC News, RedState, Techdirt, Independent Journal Review and NewsBusters

David S. Joachim / New York Times:

Republicans, at Hearing on Lost Emails, Accuse I.R.S. Chief of Lying — WASHINGTON — A congressional hearing examining how the Internal Revenue Service lost thousands of emails sought by investigators turned into a shouting match on Friday, with Republicans on the panel accusing the I.R.S. commissioner of lying.

Discussion: Power Line

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

IRS commissioner: You know, e-mail isn't necessarily an “official record”; Update: IRS Manual says it is — Two House committees plan to get more aggressive in the next few days in the IRS targeting scandal after finding out a week ago that the IRS only keeps six months of server backups …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Power Line, Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler, Ed Driscoll, Twitchy and Politico

Susan Jones / CNSNews:
White House Learned of Lerner's Crashed Hard Drive 6 Weeks Before Congress

Discussion: protein wisdom and Weasel Zippers

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
White House notified of missing IRS e-mail 6 weeks before Congress?

Discussion: Sister Toldjah

Economist:
A dog ate my e-mails

Discussion: Washington Post and ProfessorBainbridge.com

Fox News:
IRS boss refuses to apologize over ‘cover-up’ claims ahead of Hill hearing on missing emails

Discussion: Fox News Insider, Hot Air, Business Insider and The Gateway Pundit

Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:

Exclusive: ‘Hillary Clinton Took Me Through Hell,’ Rape Victim Says — The woman at the center of the scandal over Hillary Clinton's defense of an alleged child rapist speaks out in depth for the first time. — Hillary Clinton is known as a champion of women and girls …

Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:

Hillary's People — The facts are these. In 1975, before she married Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham defended a child rapist in Arkansas court. She was not a public defender. No one ordered her to take the case. An ambitious young lawyer, she was asked by a friend if she would represent the accused, and she agreed.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Weekly Standard, Business Insider, Washington Post, protein wisdom and Hot Air

Simon Maloy / Salon:

GOP's sudden scandal-mania: Why criminal probes and infighting are taking over the party — From Walker and Christie's falls from grace, to revived Tea Party hostility, here's why the party is coming apart — It's fashionable right now to talk about the premature end of Barack Obama's presidency.

Discussion: The Mahablog, JSOnline, Washington Post and Angry Bear

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Kevin McCarthy to F&F crowd: Come visit

Discussion: Washington Post

Tim Alberta / NationalJournal.com:
Jeb Hensarling Sees ‘Green Light’ to Run for Leadership in November

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Hot Air

Scott Wilson / Washington Post:

President Obama took credit in 2012 for withdrawing all troops from Iraq. Today he said something different. — President Obama surprised a few people during a news conference Thursday by claiming that the 2011 decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq, a politically popular move …

Discussion: Fox News, Hot Air, American Power, Independent Journal Review, Questions and Observations, The PJ Tatler, Patterico's Pontifications and Ed Driscoll

John B. Judis / The New Republic:
Obama Has Two Options on Iraq. Both Are Terrible.

Discussion: Informed Comment, The Dish, News Desk and American Power

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post: Abdication has a price — Yes, it is true that there was no al-Qaeda …

Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:
An enclave strategy for Iraq

Discussion: The Daily Caller, New York Times, Daily Kos and Lawfare

Parade:

The President and Michelle Obama on Work, Family, and Juggling It All — This week, America's foreign policy is dominating the headlines, but it's the White House's second-term domestic agenda that's the focus of our Parade cover story. On Monday, June 23, the President and Mrs. Obama …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News, The Raw Story, Politico, PoliticusUSA, The Week, National Review and The Huffington Post

Dave Boyer / Washington Times:

Obama talks tough to Mexico: Illegal-immigrant children won't get to stay — Tells Peña Nieto their countries must work to halt child surge — President Obama told his Mexican counterpart in a phone call Thursday that immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally won't qualify …

Discussion: RT, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Patterico's Pontifications, American Thinker and The Gateway Pundit

James Oliphant / NationalJournal.com:
Welcome to the White House's Nightmare

Discussion: Washington Post and National Review

Julia Preston / New York Times:
U.S. Plans to Step Up Detention and Deportation of Migrants

Discussion: CNN, Los Angeles Times, Sister Toldjah, Politico, BuzzFeed, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, CBS Dallas, Washington Post, The Verge and Fox News

David Wasserman / FiveThirtyEight:

What We Can Learn From Eric Cantor's Defeat — On May 30, 11 days before one of the biggest upsets in modern American politics blocked Majority Leader Eric Cantor's path to speaker of the House, one of his top aides emailed me in an unusually defensive tone.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Democratic Strategist

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

The New Map of the Middle East — So as I was saying.... First, a bit of housekeeping. I'm back at The Atlantic full-time. I'm going to be working mainly on stories for the magazine (I'm thinking of writing something on the case for reparations, for instance), but I'll …

Discussion: The Dish

Gabriel Malor / The Federalist:

A Basic Primer On The Scott Walker Case For Ignorant Reporters — I'm going to tell you a true story, and then tell you how the news media is covering it. — This is a true story: in 2012, Democratic district attorneys in Wisconsin launched a secret probe known as a John Doe investigation …

Discussion: JSOnline, ABC News, Daily Kos, NewsBusters, Hot Air, New York Times, Taylor Marsh, Commentary Magazine and ThinkProgress

Washington Post:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suspected of coordinating with outside groups

Discussion: New York Magazine, Prairie Weather, The Moderate Voice and Power Line

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Rick Santorum Explains Why Ronald Reagan Would Be ‘Appalled’ By Today's GOP — “Rick Santorum Explains Why Ronald Reagan Would Be ‘Appalled’ By Today's GOP” Share: — Rick Santorum appeared to make the case for greater government involvement during a speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition on Friday …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

IC ON THE RECORD:

Joint Statement From the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice on the Declassification of Renewal of Collection Under Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — June 20, 2014 — Earlier this year in a speech at the Department of Justice …

Discussion: Politico and Techdirt

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

Shadowy Obama Megadonor Indicted On Fraud And Manslaughter Charges — A California grand jury has indicted Kareem Ahmed, a major donor to President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, and 15 of Ahmed's associates in an alleged multimillion-dollar insurance kickback scheme.

Discussion: scpr.org, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

M.E. Synon / BREITBART.COM:

RISE IN FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION, INSPECTORS FIND ENTIRE SCHOOL CLASSES VICTIMS — School health services in the small Swedish city of Norrköping have found 60 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) among schoolgirls since March, with evidence of mutilation found in all 30 girls in one class, 28 of the most severe form.

Discussion: Allen B. West

Andrew Moseman / Popular Mechanics:

Harley—Yes, Harley—is Making an Electric Motorcycle — Electric motorcycles have been a niche space for California startups building mean, low-volume machines for buyers who want to save the world on two wheels. That is about to change. Today, Harley-Davidson (yes, that Harley-Davidson …