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 …
Discussion:
CNN, Splinter, Daily Kos, NBC News, McSweeney's, ABC News, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Politico, Daily Caller News Foundation, AOL, Reuters, Mediaite, The Week, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, ThinkProgress, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Axios, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire
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Ryan Cooper / The Week:
Scott Pruitt is too corrupt to be corrupted — EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is in hot water over a condo. It turns out that in 2017 he stayed for several months in a room co-owned by the wife of a bigshot energy lobbyist, and at one point met with a representative of that firm in his EPA office while he was staying there.
Discussion:
Earther, Daily Kos, New Republic, Talking Points Memo, The Federalist, The Daily Caller and ThinkProgress
Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Playbook scoop: Lobbyist married to Pruitt's ex-landlord speaks out as EPA administrator's troubles deepen — FIRST IN PLAYBOOK ... STEVE HART SPEAKS — the lobbyist who is married to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's former landlord: “Williams & Jensen has always been committed …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
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:
Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Hullabaloo, The Week, Mediaite, New York Times and Splinter
Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:
Ana Navarro hilariously mocks Scott Pruitt's Fox News interview: ‘He made Betsy DeVos look like Einstein’
Julianna Goldman / CBS News:
Scott Pruitt asked to use sirens in D.C. traffic and was told no for non-emergency
Scott Pruitt asked to use sirens in D.C. traffic and was told no for non-emergency
Discussion:
HuffPost, Salon, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Daily Kos and Mother Jones
U.S. Department of the Treasury:
Treasury Designates Russian Oligarchs, Officials, and Entities in Response to Worldwide Malign Activity — WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in consultation with the Department of State, today designated seven Russian oligarchs …
Discussion:
Power Line, CNN, Mother Jones, Townhall, Cyberscoop and Sputnik International
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Bloomberg:
U.S. Sanctions Billionaire Deripaska and Other Russian Oligarchs — Treasury also targets dozens of companies, officials, tycoons — Move follows Trump decision to expel 60 Russian diplomats — The Trump administration sanctioned seven Russian tycoons, 12 companies …
Discussion:
New York Magazine
Gardiner Harris / New York Times:
Trump Administration Imposes New Sanctions on Putin Cronies
Trump Administration Imposes New Sanctions on Putin Cronies
Discussion:
Political Wire, AlBoeNEWS and The Week
Lorraine Woellert / Politico:
Trump sanctions Putin's inner circle
Ian Talley / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Targets Allies of Putin in Latest Round of Sanctions
U.S. Targets Allies of Putin in Latest Round of Sanctions
Discussion:
Sputnik International
David Wasserman / The Cook Political Report:
April House Overview: Ratings Changes in 13 Districts — The good news for Republicans is that President Trump's approval rating has, on balance, ticked up from 38 percent to 40 percent since January as attention has shifted from unpopular GOP proposals on healthcare and taxes to the economy, tariffs and Stormy Daniels.
Discussion:
Axios, New York Times, CNN and Weekly Standard
YouTube:
Republican Trey Gowdy Was Known For Being Hyperpartisan — Until Trump (HBO) … South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy is retiring from Congress an unhappy man. He's even counting the number of trips to the airport he has left until he can leave DC for good.
Discussion:
Political Wire
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Alayna Treene / Axios:
Trey Gowdy says being in Congress was largely a waste of time
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.
Discussion:
Shakesville and Hullabaloo
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:
Gizmodo, Daily Caller News Foundation, ValueWalk, 9to5Mac, The Guardian, BGR, AOL, Engadget and The Daily Caller, more at Techmeme »
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Phoebe Weston / Daily Mail:
What is Mark Zuckerberg hiding? …
What is Mark Zuckerberg hiding? …
Discussion:
NewsBusters, BGR and VICE News
James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Koch network growing frustrated with the GOP's 2018 agenda — THE BIG IDEA: Leaders of the conservative Koch political network are mad about President Trump's tariffs, the failure to protect “dreamers” and runaway government spending. They're frustrated that congressional leaders …
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Christina Farr / CNBC:
Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data
Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data
Discussion:
The Guardian, Forbes, Gizmodo, The Daily Caller, Engadget, The Verge, Daily Caller News Foundation and Nextgov, more at Techmeme »
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:
Talking Points Memo, Splinter, Defense One, New York Magazine and New York Times
Axios:
Trump skipping White House Correspondents dinner — White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will take President Trump's place at the White House Correspondent's Association annual dinner.
Discussion:
Breitbart
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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.
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Mahablog and The Week
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 …
The Daily Beast:
Poisoned Spy Sergei Skripal No Longer in Critical Condition — Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was attacked in Britain with a nerve agent last month, is “no longer in a critical condition” and “improving rapidly,” the BBC reports. Salisbury District Hospital said Skripal was …
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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:
Political Wire, CNBC and Raw Story
Dennis Romboy / Deseret News:
Trump threat of $100 billion tariffs will ‘wake up’ China, Mitt Romney says — SANDY — U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney sees President Donald Trump's proposed $100 billion in new tariffs on China as a shot across the bow but doesn't think it would lead to trade war.
Discussion:
Politico and Political Wire
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Mueller seized 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:
Bloomberg, The Daily Caller, The Daily Beast, CNN, The Week and Raw Story
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
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
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:
RedState, Splinter, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Mediaite
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