Top Items:
New York Times:
Job Changes for E.P.A. Officials Who Questioned Scott Pruitt — WASHINGTON — At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management …
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CNN:
Trump floated replacing Sessions with Pruitt this week despite scandals — (CNN)President Donald Trump floated replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt as recently as this week, even as the scandal-ridden head of the Environmental Protection Agency has faced a growing list …
Julianna Goldman / CBS News:
Scott Pruitt asked to use sirens in D.C. traffic and was told no for non-emergency — Several weeks after taking the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Scott Pruitt was running late and stuck in Washington, D.C., traffic. Sources tell CBS News that he wanted to use …
Discussion:
Salon, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Mother Jones
Ryan Cooper / The Week:
Scott Pruitt is too corrupt to be corrupted
Scott Pruitt is too corrupt to be corrupted
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Earther, New Republic, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, ThinkProgress and Media Matters for America
Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Pruitt fell behind on payments for his $50-a-night condo rental
Pruitt fell behind on payments for his $50-a-night condo rental
Discussion:
The Week, New York Times and Mediaite
Greg Jaffe / Washington Post:
For Trump and his generals, ‘victory’ has different meanings … President Trump's pronouncement that he would be pulling troops out of Syria “very soon” has laid bare a major source of tension between the president and his generals. — Trump has made winning on the battlefields of Iraq …
Discussion:
New York Magazine
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Associated Press:
Trump wants out of Syria, but don't say ‘timeline’ — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has spoken: He wants U.S. troops and civilians out of Syria by the fall. But don't call it a “timeline.” — Wary of charges of hypocrisy for publicly telegraphing military strategy …
Discussion:
CNN and New York Magazine
McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Mueller probe tracking down Trump business partners, with Cohen a focus of queries — WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators this week questioned an associate of the Trump Organization who was involved in overseas deals with President Donald Trump's company in recent years.
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Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
Trump says he didn't know his attorney paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels
Trump says he didn't know his attorney paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels
Discussion:
The Week, The Daily Beast, VICE News, Politico, ABC News and Political Wire
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Mueller moved to seize bank accounts in Manafort probe — Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office moved to seize bank accounts at three different financial institutions last year just one day before former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was indicted, prosecutors disclosed in a court filing Thursday.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Daily Mail:
Saudi crown prince says Jared Kushner handed him U.S. intelligence — Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman bragged of receiving classified US intelligence from Jared Kushner and using it as part of a purge of ‘corrupt’ princes and businessmen, DailyMail.com can disclose.
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
CNN:
Lewandowski to Democrats: I'm not answering your ‘f—ing’ questions — EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains language some people may find offensive. — (CNN)Corey Lewandowski had a blunt message for Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee: He wasn't going to answer their “fucking” questions.
Discussion:
Splinter, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Mediaite
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook retracted Zuckerberg's messages from recipients' inboxes — Facebook says it was for security, but is it a breach of user trust? — You can't remove Facebook messages from the inboxes of people you sent them to, but Facebook did that for Mark Zuckerberg and other executives.
Discussion:
9to5Mac, Gizmodo, BGR, AOL, Engadget and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Axios:
Trump fires next shot in China trade war — President Trump tonight says he's directed the U.S. Trade Representative to consider an additional $100 billion in tariffs on China, and that the administration may take other actions to “protect our farmers and agricultural interests.”
Discussion:
Bloomberg, One America News Network and The Guardian
RELATED:
Gordon G. Chang / The Daily Beast:
Trump's Right to Say He's Not Launching a Trade War With China. He's Doing Something Bigger.
Trump's Right to Say He's Not Launching a Trade War With China. He's Doing Something Bigger.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, New York Magazine and New York Times
New York Times:
Trump Doubles Down on Potential Trade War With China
Trump Doubles Down on Potential Trade War With China
Discussion:
The Guardian, Vox, The Week and NPR
Luke O'Brien / HuffPost:
Trump's Most Influential White Nationalist Troll Is A Middlebury Grad Who Lives In Manhattan — Twitter troll “Ricky Vaughn” had a bigger influence on the 2016 election than NBC News and the Drudge Report. Here's who he really is. — Who is Ricky Vaughn?
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Splinter, VTDigger, Seven Days, Hullabaloo and Mother Jones
Ken Sweet / Associated Press:
Mulvaney gives big pay bumps to his hires at consumer agency — NEW YORK (AP) — Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump's appointee to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given big pay raises to the deputies he has hired to help him run the bureau, according to salary records obtained by The Associated Press.
Discussion:
New York Times and ThinkProgress
Katherine Mangu-Ward / Hit & Run:
By Firing Kevin Williamson,The Atlantic Shows It Can't Handle Real Ideological Diversity — Kevin Williamson has been fired from The Atlantic. Since leaving National Review in March, the conservative writer has managed to produce just one column at his new perch, in which he declared the death of the libertarian moment.
Discussion:
HuffPost, The Federalist, Mediaite, twitchy.com, The American Conservative, The Daily Caller, Althouse, The Hill, Media Matters for America, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, New Republic, Washington Free Beacon, The Wrap, ThinkProgress, Jezebel, Vox, Hullabaloo, TheBlaze, Daily Wire, Splinter, Talking Points Memo, American Greatness, Politico, CNNMoney, thecut and Little Green Footballs, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
David French / National Review:
On the Cowardly Firing of Kevin Williamson
On the Cowardly Firing of Kevin Williamson
Discussion:
Betsy's Page, Daily Wire, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, American Greatness and alicublog
The Daily Beast:
Britain Pinpoints Secretive Russian Facility That Made Deadly Nerve Agent — Britain has identified the secretive Russian facility where it believes the deadly Novichok nerve agent, used in the attempted murders of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, was made.
RELATED:
Catherine Philp / The Times & The Sunday Times:
Salisbury poison 'made at Russia's Porton Down'
Salisbury poison 'made at Russia's Porton Down'
Discussion:
Politico, AOL and The Guardian
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data — Facebook was in talks with top hospitals and other medical groups as recently as last month about a proposal to share data about the social networks of their most vulnerable patients.
Discussion:
Forbes, The Guardian, Gizmodo, The Verge, The Daily Caller, Engadget, Daily Caller News Foundation and Nextgov, more at Techmeme »
Pierre Thomas / ABC News:
Mueller has evidence that Trump supporter's meeting with Putin ally may not have been a chance encounter: Sources — Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained evidence that calls into question Congressional testimony given by Trump supporter and Blackwater founder Erik Prince last year …
Discussion:
Political Wire and Raw Story
Kevin Collier / BuzzFeed:
These Messages Show Julian Assange Talked About Seeking Hacked Files From Guccifer 2.0 — DMs tie Assange to a Russia-linked hacker — and raise new questions about his Seth Rich conspiracy theory. — Twitter DMs obtained by BuzzFeed News show that in the summer of 2016 …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
Madeleine Albright / New York Times:
Will We Stop Trump Before It's Too Late? — Fascism poses a more serious threat now than at any time since the end of World War II. — On April 28, 1945 — 73 years ago — Italians hung the corpse of their former dictator Benito Mussolini upside down next to a gas station in Milan.
Juli Briskman / Washington Post:
Why I'm suing for my right to flip off the president — Juli Briskman is a marketing and public relations professional living in Sterling. — One sunny Saturday last fall, I hopped on my bike and headed out for a ride near my home in Virginia. President Trump decided to spend …
Discussion:
Politico, thegellerlawgroup, The Root and BPR
Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:
What's Driving Trump's Attacks on Amazon? It's Personal — President's attacks on e-commerce company stem from its CEO Jeff Bezos's ownership of the Washington Post, which Trump says covers him unfairly, say people close to the White House — Early in President Donald Trump's term …
Sarah McCammon / NPR:
‘Concerned’ Evangelicals Plan To Meet With Trump As Sex Scandals Swirl — As allegations continue to swirl about the president and a payout to a porn star to cover up a sexual encounter, evangelical leaders are organizing a sit down with President Trump in June, four sources with knowledge of the planned meeting tell NPR.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
What Is the FBI Hiding? — The bureau still won't comply with an eight-month-old subpoena from Congress. — Bit by bit, congressional investigators have wrested important truths from a recalcitrant Federal Bureau of Investigation about its suspect 2016 election dealings.
Discussion:
Power Line
Luz Lazo / Washington Post:
Potomac Yard Metro station is over budget and behind schedule … The Potomac Yard Metro station is going to cost $52 million more than previously estimated and might not open for passenger service until 2022, Alexandria city officials said this week. — Alexandria and Metro blame increases …
Washington Post:
Conor McGregor reportedly arrested, expected to be charged with assault after ravaging UFC event … Conor McGregor responded to UFC President Dana White's decision to strip him of his lightweight belt in typically understated fashion: by tweeting an unprintable insult, crashing a pre-fight press event …
Discussion:
KTLA, Fox News, TMZ.com, TheBlaze, Bloody Elbow, Sputnik International, New York Post, twitchy.com and USA Today
Associated Press:
Number of women running for US House seats sets record — CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — The number of women running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives set a record Thursday, the vast majority of them Democrats motivated by angst over President Donald Trump and policies of the Republican-controlled Congress.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Jezebel, thecut, RedState, CBS San Francisco, The Week, Axios and Political Wire
David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
The Tenacity of Trump — You would think, based on the surprise that has greeted President Trump's recent decisions to walk to the brink of a trade war with China and dispatch the National Guard to the Southern border, that he had not talked about securing the border and punishing Chinese trade practices for years.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice