memeorandum: White House calls police shootings of African-Americans a ‘local matter’ (Louis Nelson/Politico)

6:00 PM ET, March 28, 2018

Top Items:

Trump's Lawyer Raised Prospect of Pardons for Flynn and Manafort as Special Counsel Closed In — WASHINGTON — A lawyer for President Trump broached the idea of Mr. Trump pardoning two of his former top advisers, Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, with their lawyers last year …

Miriam Rozen / National Law Journal:

John Dowd Calls Mueller ‘Terrific’ After Passing Trump Baton — Dowd said representing the president was hard work, and now he wants to “just take it easy, and get some rest.” — After 39 weeks and six days working for President Donald Trump, John Dowd figures he deserves a break.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, Vox, Politico and IJR

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

Trump Aide Spoke During Campaign to Associate Tied to Russian Intelligence — WASHINGTON — A top Trump campaign official had repeated communications during the final weeks of the 2016 presidential race with a business associate tied to Russian intelligence, according to a document released …

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:

Why Is Trump So Quiet? — It's quiet at the White House. Is it ... too quiet? — Trump-watching over the last few days, since about 1 p.m. on Friday, has been a strange experience. There are things happening, and even some big ones; the parade of occasional anonymously sourced West Wing stories continue.

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, AOL, Law & Crime, NBC News and Mediaite

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Who Ratted Out John Dowd? I Think We Know — So who ratted out John Dowd and his offers or hints of offers of pardons to Trump's top aides who found themselves in Robert Mueller's crosshairs? I think we can make a pretty solid educated guess. — Today is March 28th.

Washington Post:
Manafort associate had Russian intelligence ties during 2016 campaign, prosecutors say

Discussion: ABC News, CNN, RedState, CBS News, Politico, Yahoo, IJR, VICE News, The Moderate Voice, Political Wire and Balloon Juice

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

TV Ratings: ‘Roseanne’ Revival Skyrockets With Stunning Premiere — The ABC comedy returns nearly three decades after its original premiere, averaging a whopping 18.1 million and an unbelievable 5.1 rating in the key demo. — Roseanne returned Tuesday. The ABC sitcom, away from the air …

Discussion: Breitbart, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, Vox, Mediaite, The Week and New York Times

Lynette Rice / EW.com:
Roseanne producer on sitcom not being a liberal ‘mouthpiece’ and Mark's ‘tricky’ story line

Discussion: Mashable

Andrew Harris / Bloomberg:

Trump Loses First Skirmish in Suit Over D.C. Hotel Profits — U.S. judge says joint Maryland-D.C. case goes forward for now — Justice Department argument seeking complete dismissal fails — President Donald Trump will have to contend for now with a lawsuit claiming he is improperly profiting …

Discussion: Raw Story

Katelyn Polantz / CNN: Judge allows lawsuit alleging Trump took illegal foreign gifts

Washington Post:
D.C., Maryland may proceed with lawsuit alleging Trump violated emoluments clauses

Discussion: Common Dreams

Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times:
Lawsuit Over Trump's Ties to His Businesses Is Allowed to Advance

Discussion: Axios and Political Wire

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Trump hates Amazon, not Facebook — Capitol Hill wants Facebook's blood, but President Trump isn't interested. Instead, the tech behemoth Trump wants to go after is Amazon, according to five sources who've discussed it with him. “He's obsessed with Amazon,” a source said. “Obsessed.”

Discussion: New Republic, New York Magazine, CNBC, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, Breitbart, Investor's Business Daily, AOL, Mediaite, Splinter, New York Times, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Althouse and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:
Trump wants to ‘go after’ Amazon over taxes, but Congress and the Supreme Court could settle the issue for him

Discussion: Axios and Breitbart

Joseph Curl / Daily Wire:

Gun Rights Provocateur David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied — David Hogg, a self-appointed spokesman for a generation, revealed on Tuesday that four universities he has applied to have rejected his application. — The Florida high school student …

Discussion: Mother Jones, New Republic, ThinkProgress, TMZ.com, Mediaite, VICE News, The Daily Caller, BuzzFeed, The Western Journal, TheBlaze and IJR

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:

‘Heartbroken’ Trump Critic Ann Coulter: He's a ‘Shallow, Lazy Ignoramus’ … Right-wing firebrand Ann Coulter, whose 2016 campaign book In Trump We Trust touted the many virtues of the Republican nominee, is having second, third, and possibly even fourth thoughts about Donald J. Trump.

Discussion: Breitbart, Mediaite, RedState, Hit & Run, The Gateway Pundit, National Review and The Daily Caller

Shane Savitsky / Axios:

Trump: I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un — President Trump confirmed in a tweet this morning that his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is still on. The president expressed hope that Kim, who just visited Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, “will do what is right for his people and for humanity.”

Discussion: CNN, The Atlantic, USA Today, RedState, Associated Press, UPI, ThinkProgress, New York Times, Fox News Insider, CBS Miami, CBS New York, Outside the Beltway, NBC News, Mediaite, Raw Story and Politico

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Playbook scoop: Republicans to push balanced-budget amendment

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, NBC News, Common Dreams, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, Financial Times, Boing Boing, Political Wire, Bustle and Vox

Steven Shepard / Politico:

Voters believe Stormy over Trump — Voters believe adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. — They believe her claim that she and Donald Trump had sex before he ran for president, and that Trump has been unfaithful to his wife. Only one-third think the president is honest. More than half think he has low morals.

Discussion: National Review, IJR and Washington Times

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
As Stormy Daniels tells her story, six conservative Americans debate whether Trump is a role model

Discussion: Raw Story

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Dems to party: Go on offense with Trump's alleged affairs

Discussion: Breitbart, Daily Wire, The Last Tradition and JONATHAN TURLEY

Jessica Valenti:

On The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, and hiring men who want women dead — Yesterday, I spent much of my day fuming and tweeting about The Atlantic hiring Kevin Williamson—who compared a nine year old black boy to a primate and argued women who have abortions should be executed by hanging …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, thecut, American Prospect, Talking Points Memo, The Federalist, bradford-delong.com and twitchy.com

David French / National Review:
The Sliming of Kevin Williamson

Discussion: The Federalist, Boing Boing, twitchy.com and Shakesville

Us Weekly:

Donald Trump Jr. and Aubrey O'Day ‘Were Trying’ to Have a Baby During Affair … Donald Trump Jr. and Aubrey O'Day's affair was much more than a one-night stand, so much so that they even considered the prospect of starting a family together, a source reveals exclusively in the new issue of Us Weekly.

Discussion: Raw Story, Bustle, The Root and Splinter

Nick Miroff / Washington Post:

Trump proposal would penalize immigrants who use tax credits and other benefits … Immigrants who accept almost any form of welfare or public benefit, even popular tax deductions, could be denied legal U.S. residency under a proposal awaiting approval by the Trump administration …

Discussion: Common Dreams, Splinter, Axios and Daily Kos

Robert Barnes / Law & Crime:

ANALYSIS: Constitution Compels Sessions Dismiss Mueller From Non-Campaign Cases — Paul Manafort's legal team brought a motion to dismiss on Tuesday, noting that Rosenstein could not appoint Mueller to any investigation outside the scope of the 2016 campaign since Sessions did not recuse himself for anything outside the campaign.

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Trump attack unleashes oppo against Mueller

Discussion: Washington Post, Bustle, Raw Story and CNN

Zachary Mider / Bloomberg:

Robert Mercer's Secret Adventure as a New Mexico Cop — Why was the fabulously wealthy Trump donor wearing a badge and a gun in a tiny desert town? To obtain something that's impossible to buy. — Robert Mercer probably would have flown into Roswell. From there—1,800 miles from home …

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Splinter and Jezebel

Jacqueline Alemany / CBS News:

White House staffers view post-Hope Hicks era with trepidation — The reign of Hope Hicks, the unflappable White House communications director and the right side of President Trump's brain, comes to an end this week, leaving a communications team bitterly divided and an impetuous president increasingly isolated.

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Matt Mencarini / Lansing State Journal:

MSU spent $500K in January to monitor social media accounts of Nassar victims, others — EAST LANSING - A public relations firm billed MSU for more than $500,000 for January as it tracked social media activity surrounding the Larry Nassar case, which often included the accounts of victims and their families …

Discussion: thecut and Vox

National Center on Sexual Exploitation:

Press Statement: Walmart to Remove Cosmopolitan Magazine from Checkout Lines Following Advocacy by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation — Washington, DC - The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) has instigated a significant policy change at Walmart as part of our continued work …

Dana R. Fisher / Washington Post:

Here's who actually attended the March for Our Lives. (No, it wasn't mostly young people.) — In the days before and after more than two million Americans participated in the March for Our Lives, the gun-violence conversation has focused on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas survivors and their “student movement.”

Discussion: National Review, Washington Free Beacon, Bustle, Daily Wire, twitchy.com, Breitbart and Front Page Magazine

Emily Flitter / New York Times:

Morgan Stanley Knew of a Star's Alleged Abuse. He Still Works There. — A top Morgan Stanley broker was repeatedly accused of violence against ex-wives and girlfriends. Bank managers were told. But he kept his job. — Over 15 years, four women in Lake Oswego, Ore., a wealthy Portland suburb …

Ryan Cooper / The Week:

The Parkland kids have triggered conservative snowflakes — Over the weekend, the March for Our Lives event featured gigantic rallies across the nation, including one in Washington, D.C., that drew several hundred thousand people — depending on estimates, perhaps the largest single rally there in American history.

Discussion: @politifact, Motherboard, Washington Post and National Review

Mukhtar M. Ibrahim / mprnews.org:

Minneapolis FBI agent charged with leaking classified information to reporter — A Minneapolis FBI agent who started his career with the agency as an intern in 2000 has been charged with leaking classified information to the news website The Intercept. — Terry James Albury …

Discussion: Washington Times

Alexander C. Kaufman / HuffPost:

Leaked Memo: EPA Issues Approved Talking Points Downplaying Climate Change — Point 5: Suggest that humans are only responsible “in some manner.” — The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday evening sent employees a list of eight approved talking points on climate change from its Office …

Discussion: New Republic, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Mashable, ABC News and The Daily Caller

New York Daily News:

SEE IT: Al D'Amato curses at his wife while she's laid up in the hospital amid child care dispute — Sen. Pothole blew his top. — Al D'Amato's estranged wife released a disturbing video Wednesday showing him cursing her out as she wept in a hospital bed. — “Poor abused girl! Bullcrap!

Mike Konczal:

Why Are There No Good Conservative Critiques of Trump's Unified Government? — Obama Prelude — I had the “Obama in 2009” word vomit recently. I was talking with several people on the left involved in politics in the early Great Recession, and Larry Summers' new paper on regional inequality came up.

Hayes Brown / BuzzFeed:

Julian Assange Just Got His Internet Privileges Revoked — No more will the WikiLeaks founder be able to tweet or send other messages from inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has had his ability to communicate with the outside world cut off, the Ecuadorian government announced Wednesday.

Discussion: AOL

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Tim Cook says Facebook should have regulated itself, but it's too late for that now — “I think we're beyond that here.” — Apple CEO Tim Cook has doubled down on his call for regulation that would limit Facebook and others companies' ability to use customer data.

Discussion: The Guardian, NBC News, Motherboard and The Daily Caller