memeorandum: Trump says trade war is “already lost,” and he “probably won't” attend White House Correspondents Dinner (Kathryn Watson/CBS News)

11:20 AM ET, April 6, 2018

Top Items:

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 …

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, Washington Post and The Daily Caller

Wall Street Journal:

Trump's Pruitt Test — The President needs to show some loyalty to his leading reformer. — Donald Trump demands loyalty up the chain of command, but loyalty down has been another matter. The latest test of loyalty down will be whether Mr. Trump stands behind Scott Pruitt …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Playbook scoop: Lobbyist married to Pruitt's ex-landlord speaks out as EPA administrator's troubles deepen

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story: Ana Navarro hilariously mocks Scott Pruitt's Fox News interview: ‘He made Betsy DeVos look like Einstein’

CNN:
Trump floated replacing Sessions with Pruitt this week despite scandals

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC, New York Magazine, The Week, Raw Story, Washington Press, Breitbart, USA Today, RedState, Talking Points Memo, IJR, Washington Monthly, Mediaite, New York Times, Media Matters for America and Political Wire

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Pruitt fell behind on payments for his $50-a-night condo rental

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run, ABC News, Hullabaloo, The Week, Salon, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, New York Times, Daily Kos, Splinter 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: USA Today, Power Line, Associated Press, CNN, Mother Jones, Townhall, RT, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Cyberscoop and Sputnik International

Bloomberg:
U.S. Sanctions Billionaire Deripaska and Other Russian Oligarchs

Discussion: New York Magazine

Gardiner Harris / New York Times:
Trump Administration Imposes New Sanctions on Putin Cronies

Discussion: Washington Post, Political Wire, AlBoeNEWS and The Week

Michael Crowley / Politico:
Trump sanctions Putin's inner circle

Discussion: mid.ru

Ian Talley / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Targets Allies of Putin in Latest Round of Sanctions

Discussion: Sputnik International

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 …

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Kathryn Watson / CBS News:

Trump says trade war is “already lost,” and he “probably won't” attend White House Correspondents Dinner — President Trump said in a radio interview aired Friday that the U.S. isn't in a trade war because the trade war is “already lost,” and said he “probably won't” attend …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Splinter

Associated Press:
Inside a White House in tumult, John Kelly's clout dwindles

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite, NTK Network and Raw Story

Axios:
Trump skipping White House Correspondents dinner

Discussion: Breitbart

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

Associated Press:
The Latest: Adviser says, 'Blame China, don't blame Trump'

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation and AlBoeNEWS

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.

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, New York Magazine, Jamie Dupree - AJC and Vox

John Bowden / The Hill:
Trump says ‘pain’ from China tariffs will make US ‘much stronger’

Discussion: CNBC and The Week

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

Alayna Treene / Axios: Trey Gowdy says being in Congress was largely a waste of time

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

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

NBC News:

Without data-targeted ads, Facebook would look like a pay service, Sandberg says — Users' data are the lifeblood of Facebook, and if they wanted to opt out of all of the platform's data-driven advertising, they would have to pay for it, Sheryl Sandberg, the company's chief operating officer, told NBC News.

Discussion: Townhall, NPR, Online NewsHour, NPR, BGR, The Week, AOL and NBC News, more at Techmeme »

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Koch network growing frustrated with the GOP's 2018 agenda

Discussion: The Week

Christina Farr / CNBC:
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

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: The Verge, Gizmodo, Daily Caller News Foundation, ValueWalk, The Guardian, BGR, AOL, 9to5Mac, Engadget and The Daily Caller, more at Techmeme »

Phoebe Weston / Daily Mail:
What is Mark Zuckerberg hiding? …

Discussion: NewsBusters, BGR and VICE News

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

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

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

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, Law & Crime, 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

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

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 and thegellerlawgroup

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

Joshua Partlow / Washington Post:

Mexican president rebukes Trump over border threats … VERACRUZ, Mexico — Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto delivered his most direct public rebuke of President Trump on Thursday afternoon, in a national address that characterized Mexico as willing to cooperate with the United States …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Townhall and The Daily Caller