memeorandum: Sean Spicer takes his questionable claims to a new level in Hitler-Assad comparison (Callum Borchers/Washington Post)

9:20 PM ET, April 11, 2017

Top Items:

Madeline Conway / Politico:

Spicer apologizes for claiming Hitler didn't use chemical weapons — White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday apologized for claiming that Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons, seemingly minimizing the atrocities of the Holocaust. — The statement immediately drew fire from Democrats …

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, Balloon Juice, No More Mister Nice Blog and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Alexander Smith / NBC News:

Eric Trump Says Syria Strike Was Swayed By ‘Heartbroken’ Ivanka — Donald Trump's decision to bomb Syria was influenced by his daughter, Ivanka, being “heartbroken and outraged” at the country's alleged chemical weapons attack, one of the president's sons told a British newspaper.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Salon, Business Insider, Shareblue, Daily Wire, Joe.My.God., New York Magazine, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice, Infowars, The Gateway Pundit and Political Wire

CNN:

Spicer: Hitler ‘was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing’ — (CNN)White House press secretary Sean Spicer, in an effort to shame Russia's alliance with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his use of chemical weapons, said Tuesday Adolf Hitler …

Joy Lee / Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi:
Pelosi Statement on White House Press Secretary's Statements on Holocaust

Discussion: National Review, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Shareblue, ThinkProgress, The Guardian, twitchy.com, Mediaite and CBS Pittsburgh

Callum Borchers / Washington Post:
Sean Spicer takes his questionable claims to a new level in Hitler-Assad comparison

Discussion: Vox, The Federalist, Mother Jones, Mashable and Heat Street

John Bowden / The Hill:
Alex Jones knocks Sean Spicer for ‘ignorant’ Holocaust comments

Discussion: RedState and Raw Story

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Putin: US plans to fake chemical weapons in Syria

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Reuters, RedState and ABC News

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Trump: 'We're not going into Syria'

Discussion: The Hill and Axios

Nick Giampia / Fox Business: Assad is Worse Than Hitler: Syrian Chemical Weapon Survivor

Simon Johnson / Telegraph:
Ivanka Trump encouraged my father to launch air strikes against Assad in Syria after chemical …

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Anne Frank Center calls for Spicer to be fired

Discussion: CNN, Washington Times, IJR and FOX6Now.com

Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times:

United passenger David Dao says he's still in the hospital — This image made from a video provided by Audra D. Bridges shows David Dao, the passenger who was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight in Chicago on Sunday. (Associated Press) — David Dao, a Kentucky physician …

David Lazarus / Los Angeles Times:

Column United passenger threatened with handcuffs to make room for ‘higher-priority’ traveler — Geoff Fearns, an Irvine investment manager, was threatened with being handcuffed when he refused to vacate his first-class seat on a United flight to Los Angeles. (Valerie Fearns)

Discussion: CBS Boston, IJR and East Bay Times

USA Today:

United Airlines CEO doubles down, says employees followed procedures, flier was ‘belligerent’ — LOUISVILLE — The intense firestorm roaring against United Airlines and its unrepentant CEO raged on Tuesday after his letter to the airline's employees lauded the behavior of the flight's crew when a …

Discussion: Associated Press, Hit & Run, CNBC, CNN, CBS Chicago, AOL, The Federalist, Above the Law, Refinery29, CBS New York, IJR, twitchy.com and Chicago Tribune, more at Mediagazer »

Avi Selk / Washington Post:

United CEO, facing boycott calls, defends booting passenger so crew could take his seat — United Airlines' chief executive is defending his employees after a passenger who refused to give up his plane seat to a crew member was pulled screaming into the aisle by security, battered …

Daily Mail:

PICTURED: The internal medicine specialist father-of-five who was beaten and dragged off an overbooked United flight as CEO pens ‘tone deaf’ email DEFENDING staff — The 69-year-old Vietnamese-American is married to a pediatrician who has a clinic in Elizabethtown, Kentucky - about 40 miles south of Louisville

Discussion: TMZ.com, New York Post, Heavy.com, New Republic, Courier-Journal, Hollywood Life, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., View from the Wing, Washington Times, IJR, The Daily Caller and AOL

Gary Leff / View from the Wing:
The Real Reason a Man Was Dragged Off That United Flight, and How to Stop It From Happening Again

Discussion: CNN, Hit & Run, ABC News and RedState

Melanie Zanona / The Hill:
Petition calls for United CEO to resign after passenger dragged off flight

Discussion: Axios, ABC News, NPR, Politico, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

FBI obtained FISA warrant to monitor former Trump adviser Carter Page — The FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor the communications of an adviser to presidential candidate Donald Trump, part of an investigation into possible links between Russia and the campaign, law enforcement and other U.S. officials said.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Boing Boing, CNBC, Political Wire, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Politicus USA and Axios

CNN:

CNN Exclusive: Classified docs contradict Nunes surveillance claims, GOP and Dem sources say — Republican and Democratic lawmakers and aides have so far found no evidence that Obama administration officials did anything unusual or illegal — Their private assessment contradicts …

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

Fox News Insider:

Watch Maria Bartiromo's Must-See Interview With President Trump on Fox Business Network — President Donald Trump will sit down with Maria Bartiromo for an interview that will air Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. ET on Fox Business Network. — It will be Trump's first Fox Business interview since he's taken office.

Madeline Conway / Politico:

Trump: I want to pass health care before doing tax reform — President Donald Trump still wants to pass a health care bill before he turns to tax reform. — “We're going to have a phenomenal tax reform, but I have to do health care first,” Trump said, according to an excerpt of an interview …

Discussion: ABC News and Political Wire

Eliza Collins / USA Today:

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows pursues health care deal with Speaker Ryan — HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — Rep. Mark Meadows intends to deliver an Obamacare repeal and replacement plan to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Tuesday that would leave in place the existing law's mandates …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and Axios

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill:
Freedom Caucus chair: Deal ‘close’ on ObamaCare repeal

Discussion: Daily Kos, Hot Air and Washington Post

Bloomberg:

Tillerson Asks Why U.S. Taxpayers Should Care About Ukraine — Offhand remark an unexpected moment as foreign ministers meet — Top diplomat still finding footing in protocol-rich meetings — With one offhand remark, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson left European diplomats befuddled at a gathering in Italy.

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire and Axios

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

BREAKING: Sessions Announces Illegal Aliens Who Illegally Re-Enter The U.S. Will Be Charged With a Felony — Speaking from the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced major changes to Justice Department protocol when it comes to charging and prosecuting illegal aliens.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Ted Hesson / Politico:
Sessions signals immigration crackdown: ‘This is the Trump era’

Discussion: New York Magazine and PoliPundit.com

Aruna Viswanatha / Wall Street Journal:
Undocumented Immigrants Who Commit Crimes Face Tougher Policy

Discussion: U.S. Department of Justice, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, Washington Free Beacon and twitchy.com

Maya T. Prabhu / Post and Courier:

Attendees chant ‘you lie’ at U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson during Graniteville town hall … GRANITEVILLE — U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson received some protests Monday like other Republican congressmen nationwide during town halls this year, getting drowned out at times with loud boos and receiving 30 seconds of “You Lie” chants.

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Fox News Insider, Washington Times and Balloon Juice

Ben Billmyer / Associated Press:
Town hall meeting erupts into shouts, boos as Congressman Joe Wilson addresses healthcare repeal

Discussion: Politicus USA, Common Dreams and Shareblue

Jim O’Sullivan / BostonGlobe.com:

Remember Mitt Romney's ‘binders full of women?’ They're real. And we got them. — In the world of important political documents — from the Magna Carta to the Pentagon Papers — there are also those known for more pedestrian reasons. Count Mitt Romney's “binders full of women” in that category.

Discussion: Washington Post, IJR, National Review, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine, Associated Press and Axios

Tyler Durden / zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml:

China Threatens To Bomb North Korea's Nuclear Facilities If It Crosses Beijing's “Bottom Line” — With everyone putting down new and/or revised “red lines”, be it on Syria or North Korea, it was now China's turn to reveal its “red” or rather “bottom line”, and in a harshly worded editorial titled …

Discussion: Chinatopix and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / New York Times:

The Latest Test for the White House? Pulling Off Its Easter Egg Roll — WASHINGTON — President Trump received an urgent warning in February, informing him of a crucial date he was about to miss. — “FYI manufacturing deadlines for the Easter eggs are near,” said a Twitter post directed at Mr. Trump …

Discussion: Politico, The Atlantic, Progress Pond, Mashable, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, CBS San Francisco, Raw Story, New York Magazine, Heat Street, The Slot, AOL, Balloon Juice and twitchy.com

Jacqueline Alemany / CBS News:

Pennsylvania congressman to be named drug czar by Trump — Pennsylvania Congressman Tom Marino is expected to step down from his seat to take on a new role in the Trump administration. Multiple sources tell CBS News that Marino will head up the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), assuming the informal title of drug czar.

Discussion: Washington Post, Hit & Run and STAT

Matt Rosoff / CNBC:

Facebook has reached its Microsoft Bing moment, and history shows the results won't be pretty — Facebook is responding to the challenge from Snap in the classic way that tech companies try to face new competitors — by duplicating every core feature that made Snap popular, and then trying to crush it with distribution and marketing.

Discussion: Daily Mail

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

What Reset? White House to Call Out Russia's Fake News on Syria — President Donald Trump's Russian reset is in big trouble. — That's one message of a four-page dossier on the Syrian government's April 4 chemical weapons attack that killed up to 100 people and injured many more.

Discussion: US Department of State, Washington Post and Hot Air

William McGurn / Wall Street Journal:

The Silencing of Heather Mac Donald — Lofty college statements on free speech are worthless without enforcement. — No one who knows her could ever describe Heather Mac Donald as a victim. — Still, last Thursday night the Manhattan Institute scholar became the latest target of the latter …

Discussion: ProfessorBainbridge.com, American Power and National Review

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:

Trump won't definitively say he still backs Bannon — MORE FROM: … Washington's rumor mill is working overtime on the fate of aide Steve Bannon, who is said to be at the center of the rampant White House in-fighting. When I asked the President Tuesday afternoon if he still has confidence in Bannon …