memeorandum: Sessions moves to lengthen drug sentences (Josh Gerstein/Politico)

9:35 AM ET, May 12, 2017

Top Items:

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

In a Private Dinner, Trump Demanded Loyalty. Comey Demurred. — WASHINGTON — Only seven days after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president, James B. Comey has told associates, the F.B.I. director was summoned to the White House for a one-on-one dinner with the new commander in chief.

NBC News:

My Dinner With Comey: Current and Former FBI Officials Dispute Trump Account of Meeting With FBI Director — Despite what President Donald Trump said earlier in the day, James Comey did not seek a dinner with the president to retain his job, one current and one former FBI official close to Comey told NBC News Thursday evening.

Discussion: New York Times, CNBC, New York Magazine, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Politico, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Business Insider, Washington Post, The Week, Political Wire and Mother Jones

Tara Palmeri / Politico:

Trump's attempt to fix the Comey crisis made it worse — President Donald Trump spent many of the first 48 hours after he fired his FBI director grumbling to friends and associates about his lousy media coverage — and about the shortcomings of his senior aides.

Discussion: Mediaite, ThinkProgress, The Week, Raw Story, ABC News, Political Wire and Bloomberg

Mike Allen / Axios:

Building walls — around Trump — White House officials talk freely about putting “fences” around President Trump and his decision-making to protect him from his self-indulgent instincts. — The wall strategy has worked pretty well so far on national security.

Discussion: Politico

Bwittes / Lawfare:

Et Tu Rod? Why The Deputy Attorney General Must Resign — President Trump speaks with Lester Holt on Comey's firing / NBC News — “He made—he made a recommendation,” Donald Trump said yesterday of his Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein in an interview with NBC News.

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and RedState

CNN:

White House: Removing Comey will help bring Russia investigation to end — (CNN)The White House said Thursday that removing FBI Director James Comey from his post may hasten the agency's investigation into Russian meddling. — “We want this to come to its conclusion …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, MSNBC, JONATHAN TURLEY, The Week, Axios, TheBlaze, New York Times and McClatchy Washington Bureau

NBC News:

Trump No Longer Expecting to Visit FBI Headquarters After Comey Firing: Officials — The White House has abandoned the idea of President Trump visiting FBI headquarters after being told he would not be greeted warmly, administration officials tell NBC News.

Discussion: CNBC, The Root, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Joe.My.God., Balloon Juice and Politicus USA

CBS News:

Source: There is “whole lot of interfering” in Russia investigation — Although President Trump has now stated and written that fired FBI Director James Comey told him on three separate occasions that he was not the subject of an investigation, sources cast doubt on that claim.

Discussion: Politicus USA

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump hates his press shop but loves Sanders

Discussion: Politico and The Week

New York Times:
The Trump-Russia Nexus — The acting director of the F.B.I. …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Free Beacon and The Week

WJLA-TV:
Deputy AG Rosenstein: 'I'm not quitting,' didn't threaten to quit over Comey firing

Corky Siemaszko / NBC News:
Trump Interview With Lester Holt: President Asked Comey If He Was Under Investigation

HuffPost:
Donald Trump Has Compromised Every Major Investigation Into Alleged Russian Interference

Discussion: Daily Kos

Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post: Rosenstein role in Comey firing raises more questions than answers

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Poll: Voters divided on Comey firing

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, Hot Air, Morning Consult, Vox, portal.liberalamerica.org, The Atlantic, IJR, Just Security, Axios, New York Magazine, CNN, Mother Jones, Outside the Beltway and Talking Points Memo

Andrew Prokop / Vox:
Trump has now admitted he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation

Discussion: Gothamist, Newsweek, ABC News, Business Insider, Shareblue, Mashable, Lawfare, The Atlantic, TheBlaze and Talking Points Memo

Jim Acosta / CNN:
White House furious after being trolled with Russia Oval Office photos

Discussion: Informed Comment, KTLA, The Atlantic, Mashable, Washington Post, Mediaite, Business Insider, IJR, The Mahablog, Hot Air, New York Times, Washington Free Beacon, Conservative News Today, The Gateway Pundit and twitchy.com

Adrian Carrasquillo / BuzzFeed:
White House: “Oh My God, For The Billionth Time” Spicer Is Not Being Fired

Discussion: The Week, AOL, IJR and RedState

NBC Nightly News:
Watch Lester Holt's Extended Interview With President Trump

Discussion: Shareblue and Business Insider

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Huckabee Sanders stands by claim FBI ‘rank and file’ lost faith in Comey

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Hot Air, Mediaite and Daily Kos

Associated Press:
Contradicting previous White House explanations, President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Politico, CANNONFIRE and patribotics

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump just decimated the White House's entire James Comey narrative

Discussion: The Atlantic, Mediaite, New York Times, The American Conservative, The Week, Princeton Election Consortium, Talking Points Memo, Media Matters for America, New York Post, Vox, MSNBC and Refinery29

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:
Trump said he was thinking of Russia controversy when he decided to fire Comey

Discussion: Hot Air, ABC News, Balloon Juice, Politico, Slate and Axios

Sari Horwitz / Washington Post:

Sessions issues sweeping new criminal charging policy — Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the sweeping criminal charging policy of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed his federal prosecutors Thursday to charge defendants with the most serious, provable crimes carrying the most severe penalties.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Week

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Sessions moves to lengthen drug sentences — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reversing one of the central elements of the Obama administration's criminal justice reform agenda: a Justice Department policy that led to prosecutors in drug cases often filing charges in a way that avoided …

Discussion: Axios and No More Mister Nice Blog

Laura Jarrett / CNN:

AG Sessions paves way for stricter sentencing in criminal cases — Sessions formally rescinded prior guidance aimed at reducing the number of harsh mandatory minimum sentences — Under Sessions' memo, prosecutors must charge and pursue the “most serious, readily provable offense”

Discussion: Political Wire

Ellen Mitchell / The Hill:

Trump wants ‘goddamned steam’ catapults on new aircraft carriers — President Trump said he has told the Navy to return to decades-old steam-powered catapult technology to launch aircraft from the new Gerald Ford-class aircraft carriers, rather than use a new digital launch system.

Discussion: The National Interest, Gizmodo, Political Wire, Business Insider, Mother Jones and Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Techmeme »

Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:
‘You have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out.’ Trump targets the Navy's new aircraft catapult

Discussion: New York Magazine and bradford-delong.com

Adrienne LaFrance / The Atlantic: Trump Wants ‘Goddamned Steam,’ Not Digital Catapults on Aircraft Carriers

Françoise Mouly / New Yorker:

Barry Blitt's “Ejected” — “It's probably a bit of a leap,” Barry Blitt says, about his cover of the May 22, 2017, issue. “James Comey is six feet eight—he probably would have been happy to give up his seat in a cramped cabin.” — Françoise Mouly has been the art editor at The New Yorker since 1993.

Discussion: CNBC, Mediaite, Mashable and Business Insider

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:

Why James Comey Had to Go — The FBI head's sense of perfect virtue led him to ignore his own enormous conflicts.

Discussion: Instapundit

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

The Feds have ‘Trump tapes’ akin to Nixon's ‘Watergate tapes’ — With President Trump acting increasingly like former President Nixon during the Watergate scandal coverup, there is one similarity between the two scandals that is not receiving the media attention it deserves.

Scott Wartman / Cincinnati.com:

9 victims alleged in sex charges against Tim Nolan — The Enquirer/Cara Owsley The Enquirer/Cara Owsley — A human trafficking and rape case against a former Northern Kentucky judge grew more bizarre at a tense arraignment and bond hearing Wednesday in Kenton County. — It started normally.

Discussion: Raw Story