Top Items:
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:
Politico, Roll Call, CBS Miami, Washington Free Beacon, CBS New York, Raw Story, IJR, Sputnik International, Washington Times, NBC News and Mediaite
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xinhuanet.com:
Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un hold talks in Beijing
Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un hold talks in Beijing
Discussion:
New York Times, Defense One, CNN, Financial Times, The Week, Just Security, Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR, Bustle, NBC News, BBC and Axios
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Playbook scoop: Republicans to push balanced-budget amendment
Playbook scoop: Republicans to push balanced-budget amendment
Discussion:
NBC News, Political Wire and Opinion Today
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:
The Daily Caller, Splinter, Raw Story and The Week, more at Techmeme »
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Katelyn Polantz / CNN:
New Gates tie alleged in special counsel filing on van der Zwaan sentencing — (CNN)The special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election revealed Tuesday night that prosecutors say they have connected former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates to a person …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, Shakesville, The Week and New York Post
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Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed:
Robert Mueller's Office Wants A Judge To Consider Jail Time For A Lawyer Who Pleaded Guilty To Lying — Alex van der Zwaan, who pleaded guilty to lying to special counsel prosecutors and the FBI, is asking for no jail time. — Reporting From Washington, DC
Discussion:
Raw Story and Political Wire
Washington Post:
Manafort associate had Russian intelligence ties during 2016 campaign, prosecutors say — The FBI has found that a business associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had ongoing ties to Russian intelligence, including during the 2016 campaign when Manafort and his deputy …
Discussion:
Political Wire, IJR, The Moderate Voice and VICE News
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The sliming of Parkland students shows the spreading stain of media polarization … Six months ago, the conservative radio host and blogger Erick Erickson wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times, inspiringly titled “How to Find Common Ground.” — “We owe it to one another to disagree agreeably …
Discussion:
@politifact, The Week, Townhall.com, Media Matters for America, alicublog, Mediaite, RedState and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »
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Mike Mullen / City Pages:
Rep. Mary Franson compares ‘March for Our Lives’ kids to Hitler Youth
Rep. Mary Franson compares ‘March for Our Lives’ kids to Hitler Youth
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Bustle, The Hill, AOL, VICE News and Raw Story
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
For John Bolton, Russia is part of a new ‘axis of evil’ … The Trump administration seems to be hardening on Russia, but not fast enough for its incoming national security adviser. John Bolton wants President Trump to go on the offensive against Moscow — and not just when it comes …
Discussion:
CNN and Associated Press
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David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Trump's war cabinet is now complete
Richard L. Hasen / Slate:
Scalia's Legacy Is Stronger Than Ever — Over the next few months, the Supreme Court seems poised to deliver a crushing blow to public sector unions, allow more purges that remove eligible voters from the rolls, limit anti-discrimination laws protecting the LBGT community in the name …
Discussion:
NBC News
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Khorri Atkinson / Axios:
This time, SCOTUS gerrymandering case focuses on Democrats
This time, SCOTUS gerrymandering case focuses on Democrats
Discussion:
Politico and New York Times
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
Andy Court / CBS News:
Stormy Daniels' lawyer seeks to depose President Trump, Michael Cohen — Stormy Daniels' attorney asked a federal judge this morning for permission to depose President Donald J. Trump about his knowledge of an agreement to pay the porn star $130,000 a week and a half before the 2016 election.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politico, New York Magazine, IJR, Political Wire, Bustle, AOL and Globe and Mail
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USA Today:
Don't mess with the Census — By including a question on citizenship, the Trump administration is driving down compliance and driving up costs: Our view — The Trump administration has decided to ask people, on the 2020 Census form, whether they are U.S. citizens. — Of course it has.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
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Ari Berman / Mother Jones:
Hidden Figures: How Donald Trump Is Rigging the Census
Hidden Figures: How Donald Trump Is Rigging the Census
Discussion:
The Atlantic, ThinkProgress and AOL
Facebook:
It's Time to Make Our Privacy Tools Easier to Find — Last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies and help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data. We've heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools …
Discussion:
CNNMoney, Associated Press, Gizmodo, The Verge, WNEP-TV, The Guardian, Investor's Business Daily, CBS Dallas, The Daily Caller, Deadline and Bustle, more at Techmeme »
New Book Releases, Bestsellers …:
The Restless Wave — Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations — A candid new political memoir from Senator John McCain—his most personal book in years—covering everything from 2008 up to the present. — In a time when Washington, DC and the country is more polarized …
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Jennifer Hansler / CNN:
McCain penning ‘no-holds-barred’ memoir
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
House subpoena rattles Justice Department; Sessions ‘angry’ at slow response; FBI ‘called on the carpet’ — The FBI is promising swift action on a House subpoena covering three politically charged investigations after word that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has grown angry with the bureau's slow-walking …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
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Amanda Terkel / HuffPost:
Minnesota Woman Blamed For Al Franken's Fall Had Nothing To Do With It — Lindsey Port accused another man of harassment. But fellow Democrats say she “softened the ground” for Franken's resignation. — Lindsey Port, 35, doesn't really know Al Franken.
Discussion:
Shot in the Dark
New York Times:
A Cyberattack Hobbles Atlanta, and Security Experts Shudder — ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta's 8,000 employees got the word on Tuesday that they had been waiting for: It was O.K. to turn their computers on. — But as the city government's desktops, hard drives and printers flickered …
Leonard N. Fleming / Detroit News:
Snyder aide to Flint activist: ‘Crawl back in your hole’ — Flint — A top Gov. Rick Snyder aide is under fire for a text exchange he started with a Flint activist after the man criticized the governor's handling of the water crisis, telling the resident in a private exchange that Snyder …
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Marco Rubio Must Be Destroyed — Since the Parkland shootings in Florida, Senator Marco Rubio has done many of the things liberals say they are desperate, desperate for decent Republicans to do. He has changed his position on gun control, expressing support for new restrictions …
Discussion:
Townhall.com
RELATED:
Matt Dixon / Politico:
Rubio: 'I don't campaign against Bill Nelson'
Betsy Klein / CNN:
Former Disney star joins White House press team — Washington (CNN)The White House press office is getting a bit more Sunshine these days — former Disney Channel star Caroline Sunshine, that is. She's joining the team as a press assistant. — Sunshine, 22, is known for her role alongside Zendaya …
Karen Freifeld / Reuters:
Exclusive: Spurned by top lawyers, Trump's defense elevates Washington outsider — (Reuters) - A little-known former prosecutor with a doctorate in medieval history will play a central role on U.S. President Donald Trump's legal team, as many top-tier lawyers shy away from representing …
New York Times:
Peter Thiel Employee Helped Cambridge Analytica Before It Harvested Data — As a start-up called Cambridge Analytica sought to harvest the Facebook data of tens of millions of Americans in summer 2014, the company received help from at least one employee at Palantir Technologies …
Discussion:
Daily Mail and FiveThirtyEight, more at Techmeme »
Ben Beaumont-Thomas / The Guardian:
R Kelly accused of grooming 14-year-old girl as ‘sex pet’ — In a BBC3 documentary, former girlfriend Kitti Jones alleges the R&B star groomed an underage girl as well as her and other young women; Kelly has refused to comment … The R&B singer R Kelly has been accused of sexually abusing a girl since she was 14 years old.
Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
Don't Blow Up The Iran Deal. Trump's Strategy Is Working. — The U.S. can play hardball on renegotiating the agreement without alienating European allies. — It looks like the Iran nuclear deal will not survive past May 12. That is the next occasion President Donald Trump will have to certify Iranian compliance with the bargain.
Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Trump attack unleashes oppo against Mueller — When President Donald Trump lashed out against Robert Mueller by name earlier this month, the president's supporters sprang into action—treating the chief Russia investigator to political campaign-style opposition research.
Discussion:
CNN, Raw Story and LewRockwell