memeorandum: Defense says prosecutor steered police away from evidence Freddie Gray had history of ‘crash for cash’ schemes (Kevin Rector/Baltimore Sun)

5:35 PM ET, August 7, 2015

Top Items:

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

GOP debate: Early numbers suggest record audience — Early overnight Nielsen ratings suggest that Thursday's Republican debate was not just the most-watched primary debate in history — it may have been twice as big as the previous record-holder. — The debate on Fox News …

Discussion: WSJ, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo, FOX News Radio, OnPolitics, Mashable, National Review, The Daily Caller and Jezebel, more at Mediagazer »

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

Is Trump a Clinton plant? — Tongues are wagging throughout the world of political insiders with news that former president and potential future first gentleman Bill Clinton had a great chat with Donald Trump shortly before the real estate magnate announced his candidacy for president.

Joshua Green / Bloomberg Business:

Fox News Couldn't Kill Trump's Momentum and May Have Only Made It Stronger — Judging by Thursday's electric debate, he may have sensed his true opponent before anyone else had a clue: the network. — t joshuagreen — A few hours before Thursday's Fox News debate, a friend of Donald Trump's confided to me that Trump was nervous.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Politico, Shadowproof, Bloomberg View, Washington Post and New York Magazine

TIME:

Transcript: Read the Full Text of the Primetime Republican Debate — Ten Republican presidential candidates met in Cleveland for a primetime debate on Fox News. — At the debate, real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Atlantic, RedState, Defense One, Right Wing Watch, Daily Kos, Jaltcoh and Althouse

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

From Trump on Down, the Republicans Can't Be Serious — This was, according to many commentators, going to be the election cycle Republicans got to show off their “deep bench.” The race for the nomination would include experienced governors like Jeb Bush and Scott Walker …

Discussion: The Daily Banter, Diane Ravitch's blog and Prairie Weather

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

The Big Dog That Didn't Bark in the Republican Debate — Pop quiz: what's the biggest strategic decision facing the Republican Party over the next two months? If you answered “whether to shut down the federal government over Planned Parenthood, climate change regs, immigration, Obamacare …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Eliza Collins / Politico:

7 things Trump said that would have destroyed any other GOP candidate — Donald Trump has said things publicly that seemingly no other candidate could have gotten away with. Criticize Sen. John McCain for being captured during the Vietnam War? Check. Call women he doesn't like fat pigs?

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and CNN

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Graham: Trump questions were an ‘inquisition’ not a debate

Discussion: BuzzFeed, CNN, Instapundit, Politico and Daily Kos

Frank Bruni / New York Times:
A Foxy, Rowdy Republican Debate

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, No More Mister Nice Blog and Liberaland

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Winners and losers from the first Republican presidential debate

Discussion: Fox News, National Journal, Slate, Politico, Washington Free Beacon, The Week, Betsy's Page, Talking Points Memo, The PJ Tatler and Guardian

CBS News:
Transcript of the 2015 GOP debate (9 pm)

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Daily Kos and National Review

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Donald Trump: Megyn Kelly ‘behaved very nasty to me’

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Hinterland Gazette, Talking Points Memo, Syracuse Post-Standard, The Moderate Voice and Taylor Marsh

Molly Ball / The Atlantic: Whose Party Is It, Anyway?

Politico:
Fox News wins the debate

Discussion: Adweek

Ed Kilgore / Talking Points Memo:
Fox News Had Its Own GOP Debate Agenda: Narrow Down The Field

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, International Business Times, Washington Post, Horizons, Democratic Strategist, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Monthly and FishbowlDC

Ezra Klein / Vox:
Donald Trump is an embarrassment who is impossible to embarrass. It's his superpower.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Business Insider and ThinkProgress

Alex Weprin / POLITICO New York:
Fox News GOP primary debate smashes ratings records

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Daily Banter, RedState and The Federalist

Chuck Schumer / Medium:

My Position on the Iran Deal — Every several years or so a legislator is called upon to cast a momentous vote in which the stakes are high and both sides of the issue are vociferous in their views. — Over the years, I have learned that the best way to treat such decisions is to study …

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Schumer, White House at war over Iran — Senator's opposition to Iran deal riles Obama allies, as both sides quarrel over timing. — The White House lit into Sen. Chuck Schumer on Friday for his decision to vote no on the Iran deal and suggested that he's put his clear path to be the next Democratic leader in doubt.

Discussion: US News, Political Wire and Washington Post

Julian Hattem / The Hill:
MoveOn rips Schumer on Iran, says Dems should find ‘a new leader’

Discussion: ABC News, New York Post and National Review

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Morning Plum: Schumer comes out against Iran deal. How much does that matter?

Discussion: Althouse, Politico, Mondoweiss, Washington Monthly, New York Times, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider and Daily Kos

Bloomberg Business:

Oops: Jeb's Website Publishes, Then Deletes, Attacks on Walker, Rubio — The former Florida governor's campaign describes the attacks as “draft pages.” — Jeb Bush's official campaign website on Thursday briefly featured two separate sections attacking two top Republican rivals …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Political Wire and Politico

CNN:
Debate coach: Why Kasich was fantastic

Discussion: Refinery29 and Kasich for America

Glenn Thrush / Politico:
The GOP debate: 7 takeaways

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Hill

Nate Cohn / New York Times:
Winners at the G.O.P. Debate Did Not Include Bush and Trump

Discussion: Fox News Insider, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, FiveThirtyEight and Political Wire

Politico:
The Debate's Biggest Winners-And Losers

Discussion: Washington Post

Kristina Wong / The Hill:
GOP candidates take turns bashing Obama's Iran deal

Discussion: Washington Post, Algemeiner.com, ABC News and Politico

Chad Livengood / Detroit News:

Recordings: State rep asked aide to hide relationship — Lansing — State Rep. Todd Courser planned the distribution of a fictional email alleging he had sex with a male prostitute in a bid to conceal his relationship with Rep. Cindy Gamrat, according to audio recordings obtained by The Detroit News.

Daniel Veditz / Mozilla Security Blog:

Firefox exploit found in the wild — Yesterday morning, August 5, a Firefox user informed us that an advertisement on a news site in Russia was serving a Firefox exploit that searched for sensitive files and uploaded them to a server that appears to be in Ukraine.

Discussion: WTKR-TV, Computerworld, Mashable and The Verge

Dave Byknish / KXAN-TV:

Baby dies after being rescued from car at Austin Waffle House — Related Coverage — AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin police are investigating the death of a baby boy at a Waffle House location in Southeast Austin. — Police were called out to 7809 E Ben White Blvd. around 2:45 p.m. after receiving …

Discussion: KFOR-TV, KTLA and WIAT-TV

KVUE-TV:
Police investigating child's death in car in SE Austin

Discussion: New York's PIX11 and WTKR-TV

KLTV-TV:

Judge sentences East Texas man to get married or face jail time — An East Texas couple says their choice to marry when they wanted to was taken away by a criminal court judge. — In July, a Smith County judge sentenced Josten Bundy to get married to his 19-year-old girlfriend as part of his probation …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, ThinkProgress, LiberalAmerica.org, Raw Story, Mediaite and Fox News Insider

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

24 Million Watch GOP Debate on Fox News; Most-Watched Cable News Program Ever — In the estimation of many reporters who cover the political and media beats, Fox News was the winner of the first GOP debate. And with the just-released ratings we can confirm that.

Discussion: National Review and RedState

Kevin Rector / Baltimore Sun:

Defense says prosecutor steered police away from evidence Freddie Gray had history of ‘crash for cash’ schemes — The police detectives who investigated the death of Freddie Gray were told that he had a history of participating in “crash-for-cash” schemes — injuring himself in law enforcement settings …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Last Refuge

James C. McKinley Jr / New York Times:

18-Year-Old Sentenced to Five Years for Robbing Man, 84, She Met on Dating Site — A teenager who with her twin sister robbed an octogenarian they met on an Internet dating site was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison. — The woman, Shaina Foster, 18, had pleaded guilty to one count …

Discussion: Jezebel and New York's PIX11