memeorandum: Hill demands answers on Robert Mueller probe (Manu Raju/CNN)

11:15 PM ET, May 25, 2017

Top Items:

Jared Kushner Now Under FBI Scrutiny in Russia Probe, Say Officials — Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, has come under FBI scrutiny in the Russia investigation, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News. — Investigators believe Kushner …

Washington Post:

Jared Kushner now a focus in Russia investigation — Investigators are focusing on a series of meetings held by Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and an influential White House adviser, as part of their probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and related matters, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Discussion: Breitbart, Little Green Footballs, The Guardian, France 24, Daily Mail, Mother Jones and Mediaite

Manu Raju / CNN:

Hill demands answers on Robert Mueller probe — (CNN)A growing number of key lawmakers in both parties are calling on Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller to detail what specifically his Russia investigation is targeting, with one Democratic senator warning bluntly that failing …

Discussion: emptywheel

Andrew Rafferty / NBC News:

Joe Lieberman: FBI Appointment Would Have Looked ‘Terrible’ — Former Sen. Joe Lieberman told MSNBC Thursday that appointing him head of the FBI would have looked “terrible” after President Donald Trump retained an attorney from the law firm where Lieberman works to represent him in the Russia investigation.

Discussion: Axios, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Monthly and Mediaite

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Jared Kushner under FBI scrutiny in Russia probe: reports

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, RedState, Raw Story and Mediaite

Katie Bo Williams / The Hill:
Senate Intel heads get broad subpoena power in Russia probe

Discussion: IJR

Michael Calderone / HuffPost:

Montana TV Station Won't Air Recording Of GOP Candidate's Attack On Journalist — Right-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group recently purchased the local NBC affiliate, but the general manager says the company didn't interfere. — If Montana residents tuned into the local news Wednesday night …

Discussion: New York Times, RedState, LGBTQ Nation, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, Media Matters for America, The Guardian, OpenSecrets.org, Sunlight Foundation, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress, RT and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »

Christina Manduley / CNN:

Tapper: If you can't condemn an assault on a reporter, reexamine your love for Constitution — Tapper: If you can't condemn an assault... (CNN)On Wednesday, the Republican candidate in Montana's special congressional election, Greg Gianforte, was charged with misdemeanor assault …

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times, CANNONFIRE, Missoulian, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, The Guardian, Media Matters for America, The Times of Israel, The Atlantic, CNNMoney and Booman Tribune, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:
Assault Charge for Gianforte Lifts Democrats' Montana Election Hopes

Discussion: Esquire, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, vice, Heat Street, ThinkProgress, Right Wing Watch, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Media Matters for America, Townhall.com, Refinery29 and Daily Wire

Edmund Kozak / LifeZette:
Montana Assault Witness Changes Story, Says No Neck Grab

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Daily Wire, CNN, Weekly Standard, New York Times, Balkinization, AOL, Fox News, Politico, Fox News Insider, The Right Scoop, The Hill, Fusion, neo-neocon, theGrio, Hit & Run, vice, IJR, Los Angeles Times and Media Matters for America

Matthew Balan / Mediaite:
‘You Are Sadly Mistaken’: Don Lemon Rips CNN Guest Who Won't Blame Trump For Alleged Assault On Reporter

Discussion: Breitbart, twitchy.com and theGrio

Felix Biederman / Washington Post:
Face it: The body-slammed reporter did just what you would have done

Discussion: Daily Wire, The Atlantic, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Mediaite, The Guardian, Rewire, NPR, Fusion, Raw Story, RedState, Breitbart, ThinkProgress, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and New Republic

David Weigel / Washington Post:
Polls close in Montana, with both sides seeing possible roads to victory

Discussion: The Resurgent

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Montana's wild special election: 6 things to watch

Discussion: The Atlantic, Daily Wire and Politicus USA

Karen Attiah / Washington Post:

Trump's behavior at NATO is a national embarrassment — Poor NATO. After all of the hoops summit organizers reportedly jumped through to accommodate President Trump and his anemic attention span, he definitely was not on his best behavior. Trump was the party guest whom no one really wants …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider and The Mahablog

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Trump chastises fellow NATO members, demands they meet payment obligations — BRUSSELS — President Trump, speaking at a ceremony here Thursday to dedicate a memorial to NATO's resolve in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, publicly chastised his fellow alliance leaders …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Weasel Zippers, Daily Kos, RedState, Mother Jones, Political Wire and vice, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

How Alleged Russian Hacker Teamed Up With Florida GOP Operative — Political consultant Aaron Nevins asked for and received documents from hacker ‘Guccifer 2.0’ and posted some on his blog, after which the hacker called the blog to the attention of Trump adviser Roger Stone.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Fast Company, Mediaite, Gizmodo, ThinkProgress, Politicus USA, Raw Story and Balloon Juice

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Appeals Court Will Not Reinstate Trump's Revised Travel Ban — WASHINGTON — The federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., on Thursday refused to reinstate President Trump's revised travel ban, saying it discriminated on the basis of religion. The decision was a fresh setback …

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Liberal Values, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers, Fusion, Above the Law and Daily Kos

Jessica Gresko / Associated Press:
TRUMP TRAVEL BAN BLOCKED; FIGHT HEADED FOR SUPREME COURT

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Appeals court keeps block on revised Trump travel ban; administration vows SCOTUS appeal

Discussion: ABC News, Hot Air and Axios

artnet News:

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Failed to Disclose Their Multimillion-Dollar Art Collection — The couple has a taste for the works of market-friendly art stars, but lawyers say it's just for decoration. — Since their wedding in 2009, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have amassed a formidable collection of contemporary art.

Discussion: The Week, Raw Story and Political Wire

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:

Carrier Sends Jobs to Mexico, Workers Say Trump ‘Misled’ Them … Donald Trump stood outside a Carrier manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, Indiana weeks before taking office and boasted he just saved 1,100 jobs from being shipped to Mexico. — Inside the plant, some workers were skeptical.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Austin Wright / Politico:

FBI won't provide Comey memos to Congress yet — The FBI on Thursday declined a congressional request for explosive memos by former Director James Comey detailing his interactions with President Donald Trump. — The House Oversight Committee and other congressional panels requested …

Discussion: Above the Law, ABC News, Morning Consult, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo and Media Matters for America

Reuters:
House panel chairman says FBI declines for now to meet request for Comey-linked documents

Discussion: IJR

Brad Reed / Raw Story:

‘Close to a disaster’: Foreign policy scholar explains massive damage done by Trump's NATO speech — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — President Donald Trump on Thursday delivered a speech at NATO headquarters in which he did not explicitly endorse Article 5 …

Discussion: BBC and Shakesville

Daily Mail:

Obama receives rock star welcome in Germany as he appears alongside Merkel and says 'we can't hide behind a wall' — Former President Obama appeared alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday in front of Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate — Obama used the opportunity …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Daily Wire

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
How Obama not so subtly undercuts Trump

Discussion: NBC News, Daily Kos, ABC News and Mother Jones

Laura Litvan / Bloomberg:

Senate Mulls Health-Law Rewrite Pushing Obamacare Repeal to 2020 — Senators working to craft more modest version than House plan — Little progress on difficult issue: Future of Obamacare taxes — Senate Republicans are weighing a two-step process to replace Obamacare that would postpone …

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico and CNBC

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
Senate Republicans start their version of Obamacare repeal

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Russian Hackers Are Using ‘Tainted’ Leaks to Sow Disinformation — Over the past year, the Kremlin's strategy of weaponizing leaks to meddle with democracies around the world has become increasingly clear, first in the US and more recently in France. But a new report by a group …

John Scott Railton / The Citizen Lab:
Tainted Leaks: Disinformation and Phishing With a Russian Nexus

Discussion: Washington Post, Political Wire, Mother Jones, The Hill and Gizmodo

Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo:

Harvard's Student Paper Is Drunk and Taking Potshots at Mark Zuckerberg — The Harvard Crimson has either become the victim of an incredibly funny prank, or Facebook is beta-testing its silent speech brain interface on college students. — Today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg returned …

Discussion: CNBC, BuzzFeed, Washington Post, New York Times, IJR, Fusion and AOL

Rob Tornoe / Philly.com:

Fox News host Sean Hannity takes a vacation after losing more advertisers — Sean Hannity is taking a couple days off amid a growing advertiser boycott after pushing a conspiracy theory involving a slain Democratic National Committee staffer. — So far, seven advertisers have pulled …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Resurgent, Conservative News Today, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit and Fast Company

Brad Reed / Raw Story:
Sean Hannity takes abrupt vacation as advertisers continue to flee his Fox News show

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

Henry J. Gomez / BuzzFeed:

Key Republicans Are Encouraging Hillbilly Elegy Author J.D. Vance To Run For Senate In Ohio — Some Republican activists and donors worried about the prospects of their party's Senate candidate in Ohio are kicking around an outside-the-box alternative: Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance.

Discussion: Political Wire

Daniel Gross / Slate:

Trump Reportedly Wants to Stop Germans From Selling So Many Cars Here, Where They're Made — Donald Trump had some tough words for the Germans at the NATO summit in Belgium on Thursday. “The Germans are bad, very bad,” he reportedly told Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Union.

Discussion: Politicus USA, The Week, Raw Story, Mediaite, Shareblue, Business Insider, New York Magazine and Mother Jones

Linda Yang / broadly:

‘Mattress Girl’ Emma Sulkowicz Is Back—And Channeling Her Rage Through BDSM — Two years after “Mattress Performance,” Emma Sulkowicz continues to provoke. Her most recent piece, in which she was bound, berated, and hung from the ceiling, tackles the question of the value of art under the Trump administration.

Discussion: Power Line, The Daily Caller and Heat Street

Dr. David A. Bray / Fight for the Future:

Letter to the FCC from people whose names and addresses were used to submit fake comments against net neutrality — 445 12th Street, S.W. — Washington, D.C. 20554 — Chief Information Officer — Federal Communications Commission — 445 12th Street, S.W. — Washington, D.C. 20554

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Common Dreams, Motherboard and The Verge

Josh Barro / Business Insider:

Republicans are stuck in a high-school mindset — Republicans used to claim to favor the rule of law. — Yet what happened when a Republican candidate for Congress in Montana was accused of body-slamming a reporter and cited for misdemeanor assault? — The conservative commentator Laura …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

CBS News:

Mini and small cars have highest traffic deaths rates, IIHS report says — A new report says the improving economy has a downside: more traffic deaths. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says a stronger economy fuels more driving, leading to an increase in deadly crashes.

Discussion: MichelleMalkin.com and Jammie Wearing Fools

ABC News:

Iraqi troops torture and execute civilians in secret videos — Elite unit was once praised by U.S. military officials — Officers of an elite Iraqi special forces unit, praised by U.S. military commanders earlier this year for its role in fighting ISIS, directed the torture and execution …

Discussion: IJR