memeorandum: Hackers Hit Dozens of Countries Exploiting Stolen N.S.A. Tool (New York Times)

5:30 PM ET, May 12, 2017

Top Items:

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Trump's Comey fight spooks Capitol Hill — There is widespread concern among Congressional leadership about Trump's frame of mind in the wake of the Comey firing. — Senior Senate aide: “It has to stop ... never seen anything like this in my entire career.”

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite and Raw Story

Pamela Brown / CNN:

Source: Comey is ‘not worried about any tapes’ — Washington (CNN)Former FBI Director James Comey is “not worried about any tapes” of conversations between him and President Donald Trump, a source familiar with the matter told CNN Friday, adding that “if there is a tape, there's nothing he is worried about” that could be on it.

Discussion: RedState, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, HuffPost, Raw Story, Hot Air, CANNONFIRE, The Daily Caller, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Political Wire, Politicus USA, Media Matters for America and Axios

Pierre Thomas / ABC News:

Comey furious at lack of respect White House showed, sources say — Former FBI Director James Comey was furious at the lack of respect the White House showed him in the way he was fired, sources have told ABC News. — Associates say he is simmering at some of the comments directed …

Discussion: Raw Story, portal.liberalamerica.org, Politicus USA and Associated Press

Charles J. Sykes / New York Times:

If Liberals Hate Him, Then Trump Must Be Doing Something Right — If there was one principle that used to unite conservatives, it was respect for the rule of law. Not long ago, conservatives would have been horrified at wholesale violations of the norms and traditions of our political system …

James Fallows / The Atlantic:

Five Reasons the Comey Affair Is Worse Than Watergate — The tangled affair now known as Watergate began 45 years ago, before most of today's U.S. population had even been born. (The median age of Americans is about 38, so most people in the country were born in 1979 or thereafter.)

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story and Shakesville

Fox News Insider:

Judge Jeanine Pirro Interview With President Trump — Plus Bobby Knight joins “Watters' World.” — Don't miss Judge Jeanine Pirro's interview with President Donald Trump, Saturday at 9:00pm ET on Justice. — The president will go inside his controversial decision to fire FBI Director James Comey …

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Trump's Comey firing sets off new round of leaks — President Trump is besieged by internal leaks as he tries to weather the fallout from his firing of FBI director James Comey. — Media reports about the run-up to Trump's decision paint him as isolated and consumed by anger and paranoia …

Discussion: Axios, ABC News, Politico, Political Wire, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Hot Air and RedState

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: Associated Press, Politico, Mediaite, The Hill, ThinkProgress, Take Care Blog, The Week, Washington Post, Salon, RedState, Red Alert Politics, Hullabaloo, New York Times, Betsy's Page, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hit & Run, Talking Points Memo and TVNewser

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.

New York Times:

Trump Warning to Comey Prompts Questions on ‘Tapes’ — WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday warned James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director he fired this week, against leaking anything negative about him, saying that Mr. Comey “better hope” that there are no secret tapes of their conversations …

Austin Wright / Politico:

Comey declines to testify before Senate committee — Ousted FBI Director James Comey will not appear in a closed session before the Senate Intelligence Committee next Tuesday. — Comey had been invited by Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and top Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia.

Discussion: Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Paul Sperry / New York Post:

The real reason Trump canned Jim Comey — MORE FROM: … The straw that broke the camel's back for now-ousted FBI Director James Comey was the investigation he apparently wasn't doing. — President Trump's much-reported frustration with Comey almost certainly arose from the G-man's failure …

Discussion: Fox News

Brooke Singman / Fox News:

Comey replacements: White House confirms shortlist to head FBI — The Trump administration is considering nearly a dozen candidates — a list that includes top current and former lawmakers as well as law enforcement figures — to replace fired FBI Director James Comey, a White House official briefed …

Discussion: Associated Press, CBS Denver, KXAN-TV and The Daily Caller

Shannon Vavra / Axios:

Comey turns down Senate invite, won't testify — Senate Intel committee ranking member Mark Warner (D-VA) told MSNBC Friday that former FBI Director James Comey will not be appearing before the committee next Tuesday, despite an invitation to speak with the committee behind closed doors.

Discussion: Political Wire

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
In a Private Dinner, Trump Demanded Loyalty. Comey Demurred.

NBC News:
Poll: Majority of Americans Think Comey's Dismissal Was Not Appropriate

Discussion: Vox, Mediaite and Politicus USA

Chris Stirewalt / Fox News:
Defenders or enablers?

Discussion: ABC News, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
What Grassley and Feinstein said about Trump, the FBI, and Russia

Discussion: Power Line, RedState, Lawfare and The Atlantic

Jake Tapper / CNN:
Comey was taken aback by Trump request for loyalty pledge

Discussion: Vox, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Political Insider blog, Washington Post, Business Insider, Mother Jones, Common Dreams, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, NY State of Politics and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Burgess Everett / Politico:
GOP senators won't buck Trump on Comey firing

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press, Washington Post, Just Security, Daily Kos, Shakesville, CANNONFIRE and Political Wire

Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Trump's attempt to fix the Comey crisis made it worse

Discussion: Vox, ThinkProgress, IJR, The Guardian, The Week, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, CBS News, Raw Story, Associated Press and Fox Business

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Top Dems call for report on Sessions's role in Comey firing

Discussion: Politico, Liberal Values and Political Wire

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Why James Comey Had to Go — The FBI head's sense …

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show and Instapundit

AP News:
The Latest: Senate intel chair sees no evidence of collusion

Discussion: Axios

John Cassidy / New Yorker:
Donald Trump's Craven Republican Enablers

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Washington Post and Daily Kos

New York Times:

Hackers Hit Dozens of Countries Exploiting Stolen N.S.A. Tool — LONDON — Hackers exploiting data stolen from the United States government conducted extensive cyberattacks on Friday that hit dozens of countries around the world, severely disrupting Britain's public health system and wreaking havoc …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, Associated Press, Common Dreams, New York Magazine, Reuters, Engadget, The Daily Caller, France 24, Al Jazeera English and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

GreAt / Securelist:
WannaCry ransomware used in widespread attacks all over the world

Discussion: Consumerist, The Guardian and NPR, more at Techmeme »

Selena Larson / CNNMoney:
Massive ransomware attack hits 74 countries

Discussion: RedState and WATE-TV, more at Techmeme »

Chris Baraniuk / BBC:
Ransomware infections reported worldwide

Discussion: Gizmodo and Mashable

The Guardian:
NHS services in England and Scotland hit by global cyber-attack

Discussion: BBC, Business Insider and Gizmodo

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: Mother Jones, Fox News, NBC News, Los Angeles Times, NPR, ACLU, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Daily Caller, The FADER, Snopes.com, The Week and National Review

The Hill:
Obama AG rips Sessions as being ‘dumb on crime’

Discussion: RedState

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Judas, Tax Cuts and the Great Betrayal — The denarius, ancient Rome's silver coin, was supposedly the daily wage of a manual worker. If so, the tax cuts that the richest 1 percent of Americans will receive if the Affordable Care Act is repealed — tax cuts that are, obviously …

Discussion: Fox News Insider and Real Clear Politics

McClatchy Washington Bureau:
How Senate Democrats could get what they want from Comey's firing

Discussion: New York Magazine

Adam Jentleson / Washington Post: Senate Democrats can stop Trump's Russia scandal from becoming the new normal

David Weigel / Washington Post:

The ‘Merrick Garland for FBI’ scheme shows why liberals lose — We live in a golden age of political stupidity, but I'm not being hyperbolic when I say this: The idea of pulling Judge Merrick Garland off the D.C. Circuit federal appeals court and into the FBI is one of the silliest ideas I've seen anyone in Washington fall for.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Hot Air and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Julian Sanchez / Just Security:

A Misplaced Focus on “Collusion” — Public discussion of the FBI's ongoing investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 election is dominated by the question of collusion: Were senior members of the Trump campaign knowing collaborators in the Russian government's campaign to undermine Hillary Clinton's candidacy?