memeorandum: Anderson Cooper apologizes for conjuring image of Trump defecating on his desk (Kristine Phillips/Washington Post)

3:40 PM ET, May 20, 2017

Top Items:

CNN:

First on CNN: Comey now believes Trump was trying to influence him, source says — Washington (CNN)Former FBI Director James Comey now believes that President Donald Trump was trying to influence his judgment about the Russia probe, a person familiar with his thinking says …

Rob Tornoe / Philly.com:

Jim Comey's father, a NJ Republican, speaks out about Trump — Fired FBI director Jim Comey will testify publicly sometime after Memorial Day, but we won't have to wait that long to hear from his father. — J. Brien Comey is lifelong Republican and a former councilman in Allendale …

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, Conservative News Today, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, RT, New York Times, Little Green Footballs, Daily Mail and The Atlantic

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

Trump's Berating of Comey for the Consumption of Our Enemies — I admit to being slack-jawed over the New York Times report that President Trump smeared former FBI director James Comey in a conversation with representatives of Russia's murderous, anti-American regime.

Discussion: Breitbart, New York Times, neo-neocon, Lawfare, Conservative News Today, Infowars, Power Line, The Guardian, Fox News Insider, Mediaite, emptywheel, Mashable and Religion News Service

CNN:

First on CNN: Russian officials bragged they could use Flynn to influence Trump, sources say — Washington (CNN)Russian officials bragged in conversations during the presidential campaign that they had cultivated a strong relationship with former Trump adviser retired Gen. Michael Flynn …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, The Times of Israel, Hot Air, Mediaite, Mother Jones, twitchy.com, Balloon Juice and Glenn Beck

Wall Street Journal:

Fired FBI Director James Comey to Testify in Public — Former FBI Director James Comey has agreed to testify publicly in Congress, capping a week that may shape President Donald Trump's administration for months, or even years, and prompting White House aides to rethink how they operate in this new political and legal environment.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos, Daily Mail, RedState and AOL

Julia Edwards Ainsley / Reuters:
White House looking at ethics rule to weaken special investigation: sources

Discussion: Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, CANNONFIRE, Vox, Balloon Juice, CNN, Mother Jones, emptywheel and New York Times

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
West Wing aides brace for big attorney bills

Discussion: Raw Story, Conservative News Today, Outside the Beltway, Vox, The Week, Breitbart, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, Hot Air, Fox News Insider and RedState

Mike Kelly / NorthJersey.com:
In hometown of Allendale, James Comey is no ‘nut job,’ but principled career man

Discussion: Politicus USA

Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Melania scours media to protect Trump

Discussion: Raw Story

The Daily Beast:
Trump Officials: ‘He Looks More and More Like a Complete Moron’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, Politicus USA, RedState, Patterico's Pontifications, ABC News, Hit & Run, Althouse, NBC News, Politico and The Guardian

Alexi McCammond / Axios:

Conservative media coverage gap on Trump, Obama bows — When Trump received The Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal at the Royal Court Palace in Saudi Arabia, he bowed ever so slightly to the Saudi leader presenting it to him. — In 2009, when Obama greeted the Saudi King with a bow …

Discussion: Fox News, Mediaite and Hullabaloo

Kyle Olson / The American Mirror:

GREAT AGAIN: Unlike Obama, Trump doesn't bow to Saudi king — What a difference an election can make for the respect American leaders have for our country. — There were two very different outcomes when two American presidents greeted the king of Saudi Arabia.

Discussion: ABC News, Conservative News Today, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite and twitchy.com

Annie Karni / Politico:
Saudis give Trump a reception fit for a king

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, The Week and Axios

Fox News:
Melania Trump forgoes wearing headscarf in Saudi Arabia trip

Discussion: RedState, Politico, Townhall.com, Geller Report, The Times of Israel, Conservative News Today, IJR, France 24, TheBlaze and Axios

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Trump begins first foreign trip with royal welcome in Saudi Arabia

Discussion: Politico, Axios, ABC News, Hot Air, The Week and Associated Press

Alicia Cohn / The Hill:
Trump receives Saudi Arabia's highest civilian honor

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Week

New York Times:
Trump Arrives in Saudi Arabia to a Warm Welcome

Discussion: Slate, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, IJR and Daily Mail

Javier E. David / CNBC:
US-Saudi Arabia seal weapons deal worth nearly $110 billion immediately, $350 billion over 10 years

Discussion: New York Magazine and RT

Daily Mail:
Donald Trump lands in Saudi Arabia for ‘big foreign trip’

Discussion: Infowars

New York Times:

Killing C.I.A. Informants, China Stifled U.S. Spying — WASHINGTON — The Chinese government systematically dismantled C.I.A. spying operations in the country starting in 2010, killing or imprisoning more than a dozen sources over two years and crippling intelligence gathering there for years afterward.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and emptywheel

Charles Ventura / USA Today:

Anderson Cooper ‘genuinely sorry’ for ‘crude’ remark directed at Jeffrey Lord — 15k Shares — CNN host Anderson Cooper apologized for a “crude” remark directed at President Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord during his show on Friday, calling his comment “unprofessional.”

Discussion: Raw Story, TheBlaze, TVNewser, Politicus USA and Mediaite

Kristine Phillips / Washington Post:
Anderson Cooper apologizes for conjuring image of Trump defecating on his desk

Discussion: RedState, TheBlaze and Mediaite

Why Evolution Is True:

A new academic hoax: a bogus paper on “the conceptual penis” gets published in a “high quality peer-reviewed” social science journal — It's been 21 years since physicist Alan Sokal submitted a bogus paper to a special “Science Wars” issue of the cultural studies journal Social Text.

Discussion: The College Fix

Skeptic:
The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct: A Sokal-Style Hoax on Gender Studies

Discussion: Ketan Joshi, Althouse, Why Evolution Is True, Power Line and National Review

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

Roger Ailes: The Man Who Wrecked Conservatism — Friends and colleagues who knew Roger Ailes better than I did attest that he was a nicer and more considerate man than most liberal obituarists will ever give him credit for. They add (and the same obituarists concede) that the creator …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Post

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

‘The Internet Is Broken’: @ev Is Trying to Salvage It — SAN FRANCISCO — Evan Williams is the guy who opened up Pandora's box. Until he came along, people had few places to go with their overflowing emotions and wild opinions, other than writing a letter to the newspaper or haranguing the neighbors.

Discussion: The Verge, AOL, Mashable, Althouse, Political Wire and twitchy.com

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:

Defeated Pro-Trump Democratic Mayor is Down in the Dumps — Last year, the mayor of a seen-better-days steel town in Western Pennsylvania became the poster child of President Donald Trump's appeal to white working-class Democrats. But he'll soon be out of work after a 26-year-old assistant band director …

Discussion: Raw Story

ESPN:

OKC's Enes Kanter detained in Romania — Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter is being detained in Romania after his passport was “canceled” by the Turkish embassy on Saturday morning, he said in a video posted to Twitter. — Kanter, who arrived in Bucharest from Jakarta, Indonesia …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, IJR, TheBlaze, KFOR-TV and Mediaite

John Steele Gordon / Commentary Magazine:

A SLOW-MOTION COUP D'ÉTAT? — A quote of a quote of a quote. — Let me see if I have this straight. — POLITICS & IDEAS — POLITICS & IDEAS — POLITICS & IDEAS — The Russia investigation converges with the Comey scandal. — On Friday afternoon, two alleged “bombshell” …

Discussion: Chicago Boyz and Instapundit

James Downton / The Federalist:
We Are Watching A Slow-Motion Coup D'etat

Discussion: neo-neocon

Michael Izzo / Daily Record:

‘Ringleaders’ gather at Frelinghuysen's Morristown office — NJ 11th for Change rally at the Morristown office of Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen. The GOP lawmaker is facing an ethics complaint after targeting local activist, Saily Avelenda through a fundraising letter to her employer.