memeorandum: Germany Trades Barbs With Trump on Defense After Merkel Meeting (Bloomberg)

1:35 PM ET, March 20, 2017

Top Items:

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Mook: Trump aides ‘should be prosecuted for treason’ if they conspired with Russia — 's former campaign manager said Monday that President Trump's campaign aides should be “prosecuted for treason” if an FBI investigation proves they coordinated with Russia in the presidential campaign.

Discussion: Politicus USA and Raw Story

New York Times:

Comey confirms F.B.I. investigation into Russian election interference — The F.B.I. is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government — and whether there was any coordination, Mr. Comey said.

Discussion: Political Wire, Raw Story, Deadline, Lawfare, The Resurgent, Occupy Democrats, Mother Jones, CBS New York, Taylor Marsh, NBC News, BizPac Review, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and twitchy.com

Martin Matishak / Politico:

Comey confirms FBI probe into Trump-Russia collusion — FBI Director James Comey confirmed Monday the FBI is investigating Russia's meddling in the presidential election, including possible links between the Trump campaign and Moscow. — He also shot down President Donald Trump's explosive claim …

Discussion: ABC News, ThinkProgress, Political Wire, IJR, Daily Kos and Hot Air

Associated Press:

Trump says Dems ‘made up’ allegations of Russia interference — President Donald Trump on Monday accused Democrats of making up allegations about his campaign associates' contact with Russia during the presidential election, and said Congress and the FBI should be going after media leaks and maybe even Hillary Clinton instead.

Discussion: Politico

Stephen Collinson / CNN:

Trump's wiretapping accusation comes to a head at Comey hearing — Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump accused President Barack Obama of wiretapping him during the campaign — (CNN)The bizarre saga of President Donald Trump's claims that he was wiretapped by President Barack Obama …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Times of Israel, Politicus USA, Business Insider, Washington Post, Occupy Democrats, Daily Wire, Raw Story, WPMT FOX43, RedState, Jamie Dupree, IJR, TheBlaze and NBC News

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

Trump tweets ahead of Comey hearing: Dems pushing ‘Russia story’ — President Trump early Monday slammed the idea that his White House campaign colluded with Russia in a flurry of tweets sent hours before FBI Director James Comey appears before a House panel investigating Moscow's influence in November's election.

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, Vox, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo and The Atlantic

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
FBI Director Comey: Justice Dept. has no information that supports Trump's tweets alleging he was wiretapped by Obama

Discussion: CNBC, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Verge and Raw Story

Arnie Seipel / NPR:

Amid Charges By Former Law Student On Gender Equality, Former Clerks Defend Gorsuch — Editors' note 12:55 p.m. ET: Since this story was first published, we have added material from another former student and former law clerks of Gorsuch, as well as more information about Jennifer Sisk's political affiliations.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Daily Kos, NBC News, Washington Free Beacon, Real Clear Politics, AOL, Shareblue, The Federalist and Instapundit

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorusch faces extraordinary sexism allegation from former student

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mother Jones and Washington Free Beacon

The Huffington Post:
Democrats May Be Botching This Supreme Court Confirmation Fight

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Hit & Run

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Gorsuch Confirmation Presents Democrats With 2 Difficult Paths

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air, MSNBC, SCOTUSblog, Washington Monthly, Politico and NPR

Matt Shuham / Talking Points Memo:
Blumenthal: I'll Use ‘Every Tool That We Have’ If Gorsuch Met A ‘Roe’ Litmus Test

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Elise Hu / NPR:

The ‘Tillerson Is Tired’ Meme And Things That Happen In A News Vacuum — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's inaugural trip to East Asia was marred by misunderstandings that arguably could have been avoided had Tillerson followed decades-old practice and spoken for himself — to the State Department press corps aboard his plane.

Discussion: Washington Post

Tom Michael / The Sun:

KIM BOMB UN Kim Jong-Un vows to reduce the US ‘to ashes’ with nuke strikes if Donald Trump fires ‘even a single bullet’ at North Korea — The rogue state threatened to use its ‘invincible Hwasong rockets’ to rain down nuclear destruction on its enemies — KIM Jong-un has threatened to reduce the US …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Rex Tillerson's Hope for a Media-Free Bubble May Burst

Discussion: Washington Post and Reuters, more at Mediagazer »

Lisa Rein / Washington Post:

White House installs political aides at Cabinet agencies to be Trump's eyes and ears — The political appointee charged with keeping watch over Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides has offered unsolicited advice so often that after just four weeks on the job …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Common Dreams, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Raw Story and Booman Tribune

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
Trump Shifting Authority Over Military Operations Back to Pentagon

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Taegan Goddard / Political Wire:

Ossoff Expands His Lead in Georgia Special Election — With just less than 30 days until the special election to replace former Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), a new Clout Research poll finds that Jon Ossoff (D) is greatly solidifying his base of support and now leads the special election field with 41%.

zpolitics: Exclusive poll: Ossoff strengthens his lead, GOP candidates battle for runoff

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Supreme Court refuses to dismiss Menendez corruption charges — The Supreme Court has rejected Sen. Bob Menendez's attempt to throw out the bribery and corruption charges against him, setting the stage for a trial for the New Jersey Democrat this fall. — With Monday's announcement …

Discussion: Reuters, Hot Air and Associated Press

Hans A. Von Spakovsky / National Review:
Why Trump's Immigration Order Is Legal and Constitutional

Discussion: Instapundit

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
5 pieces of Gorsuch's record that Democrats will attack

Discussion: ABC News

James Vincent / The Verge:

Jeff Bezos looks a little too happy piloting a giant mechanical robot — Add this one to the growing pile of evidence that the world is slowly transitioning into a sci-fi dystopia: a billionaire entrepreneur with a side-line building space rockets has been showing off piloting a 13-foot-tall robot.

Discussion: Hot Air and Mashable

Erica Orden / Wall Street Journal:

New York Attorney General Steps Up Scrutiny of White House — Eric Schneiderman hires a public-corruption prosecutor to target the Trump administration — New York state's attorney general, to date one of the most vocal antagonists of President Donald Trump, is preparing to escalate …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Raw Story and Political Wire

Jonathan Kandell / New York Times:

David Rockefeller, Philanthropist and Head of Chase Manhattan, Dies at 101 — David Rockefeller, the banker and philanthropist with the fabled family name who controlled Chase Manhattan bank for more than a decade and wielded vast influence around the world even longer as he spread the gospel …

Discussion: Infowars

Scott Johnson / Power Line:

The ugly news at St. Thomas — St. Paul's University of St. Thomas is in the news and the news is ugly. The linked story includes the full text of the messages/statements cited in the column below by Robert J. Delahunty, UST Le Jeune Chair and Professor of Law; Willis Krumholz, UST JD/MBA 2014 …

Bloomberg:

Germany Trades Barbs With Trump on Defense After Merkel Meeting — Trump says Germany owes vast amounts for U.S. defense spending — Germany rebuffs Trump over meeting NATO funding commitments — Germany and U.S. traded barbs over the weekend about defense spending following an awkward …

Discussion: ABC News and Infowars

Jerome Corsi / Infowars:

NSA DOCUMENTS PROVE SURVEILLANCE OF DONALD TRUMP & HIS FAMILY — Bombshell discovery shows targets of NSA's “Project Dragnet” — WASHINGTON, D.C. - Infowars.com have obtained credible information from law enforcement sources regarding individual records of U.S. citizens under National Security Agency …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Gateway Pundit and Vox Popoli

Ben Terris / Washington Post:

How two old-school Washington insiders became the cool kids of Trumpism — The day after a tape of Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women went public in October, Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, appeared on Fox News to defend him.