memeorandum: 'A bomb on Trump's front porch': FBI's Cohen raids hit home for the president (Washington Post)

10:55 PM ET, April 9, 2018

Top Items:

F.B.I. Raids Office of Trump's Longtime Lawyer Michael Cohen — The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress.

New York Times:

Mueller Investigating Ukrainian's $150,000 Payment for a Trump Appearance — WASHINGTON — The special counsel is investigating a payment made to President Trump's foundation by a Ukrainian steel magnate for a talk during the campaign, according to three people briefed on the matter …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, Political Wire, The Week, Splinter and Raw Story

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:

Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations … Michael Cohen, the longtime attorney of President Trump, is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, according to three people with knowledge of the case.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Fox News Insider, Raw Story, emptywheel, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Washington Press, Daily Kos, Vox and Daily Wire

Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:

Searched and Seized: F.B.I. Agents Raid Michael Cohen's New York Hotel — Law-enforcement agents spent several hours at the Loews Regency hotel on Monday morning, as they executed a search warrant against the president's personal lawyer. Cohen's attorney said they were referred by Robert Mueller.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, HuffPost, CNN, Hullabaloo, IJR, Common Dreams, Shareblue Media and BuzzFeed

Ken White / Reason:

Feds Raid Office of Trump Lawyer Who Paid Off Stormy Daniels. This Is a Big Deal. — The search of Michael Cohen's office, explained. — The very big news of the day: FBI agents raided the law office of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's lawyer who was involved in payment of $130,000 …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Lawyers, Guns & Money, RedState, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Raw Story, Washington Press, Mediaite, Law & Crime, TheBlaze and Daily Wire

Washington Post:

'A bomb on Trump's front porch': FBI's Cohen raids hit home for the president … President Trump has howled in all caps for nearly a year as the Justice Department has delved deeper and deeper into his orbit. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III indicted his former campaign chairman.

Discussion: Political Wire

Wall Street Journal:

FBI Raids Trump Lawyer's Office — Investigators seize communications between President Donald Trump and longtime lawyer Michael Cohen — Federal investigators on Monday searched the office of President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, seizing communications between the lawyer …

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, The Root, Front Page Magazine, Washington Post and KTLA

Bloomberg:

Trump Assails FBI Raid on His Lawyer's Office as ‘Disgraceful’ — Cohen paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels in ‘hush agreement’ — Raid signals criminal probe by FBI, but its target is unclear — President Donald Trump condemned as “disgraceful” an FBI raid on the office and home …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Balloon Juice and The Week

The Daily Beast:

Feds Are Treating Michael Cohen Like a Mob Lawyer, Trump Allies Say … Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are treating Michael Cohen like he's a lawyer for the mob. That's how seasoned white collar defense attorneys describe the raid on Cohen's office, home, and hotel room conducted on April.

Kate Sheehy / New York Post:
Trump slams FBI raid on lawyer's office, calls Mueller probe ‘an attack on our country’

Discussion: Mediaite

Eli Watkins / CNN:
FBI raids Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's office, seizes Stormy Daniels documents, bank records

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, Shareblue Media, New York Times, Above the Law, fox5sandiego.com, Washington Press, WPIX 11 New York and Mediaite

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Trump slams FBI for raid of his personal attorney's office

Discussion: KTLA

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Trump on whether he'll fire Robert Mueller: 'We'll see what happens'

Discussion: Breitbart

John Hinderaker / Power Line: The FBI Escalates Its War on the Trump Administration

Axios: Trump blasts FBI raid on Michael Cohen as “disgraceful situation”

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Trump blasts FBI raids on his lawyer as ‘a disgraceful situation’

Discussion: New York Times and Mediaite

Daniel Friedman / Mother Jones:
FBI Raids Office of Longtime Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen

Discussion: Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and Mediaite

Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:

Sinclair commentator resigns after crude tweet about Parkland survivor David Hogg … A conservative commentator at a Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned television station in St. Louis has resigned after a statement he made threatening to sexually assault David Hogg drew harsh criticism and sparked the beginnings of an advertiser boycott.

Discussion: News Blog, Riverfront Times, RedState, Raw Story, Washington Times, The Daily Beast and Daily Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Conservative TV Host's Show Canceled After Threatening to 'Ram a Hot Poker Up David Hogg's Ass' — Conservative commentator Jamie Allman has lost his job on Sinclair-owned KDNL after making a threatening statement about Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg.

Itay Hod / The Wrap:
Allstate Quietly Drops Laura Ingraham in Internal Memo to Employees (Exclusive)

Discussion: CNNMoney, Washington Press, VICE News, Orange County Register, TheBlaze and twitchy.com

Brandon Griggs / CNN:
David Hogg will take a gap year before college to work on the midterm elections

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Press, TMZ.com and Washington Free Beacon

Janelle O'Dea / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Jamie Allman lands in hot water with tweet about hot poker

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, AOL, Media Matters for America, ThinkProgress, Mediaite and Splinter

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:

Tucker Carlson Goes on Marathon Rant Questioning Whether Assad Is Behind Attack in Syria — Tucker Carlson embarked on a nearly 10-minute diatribe to kick off his Monday night show, railing against those condemning the Bashar al-Assad regime for its alleged chlorine attack on a town in Syria.

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Trump to Decide Soon Whether to Retaliate for ‘Barbaric Act’ in Syria

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, Splinter, CNN, The Mahablog, The Week and Washington Free Beacon

Washington Post:
Regional tensions soar in Syria as Trump threatens to strike and Iranians die in an attack

Discussion: The Guardian, Breitbart, Chicago Tribune and Task & Purpose

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
The past 48 hours of big Syria news, explained

Discussion: The Hill, ABC News, CBS News, NewsBusters, NBC News, New York Times, Sputnik International, The Daily Signal, Raw Story, Hot Air, IJR, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, Fox News Insider, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, ThinkProgress, BBC and Hit & Run

Lynn Sweet / Chicago Sun-Times:

Tammy Duckworth gives birth to girl: First senator to have baby while in office — WASHINGTON — Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on Monday gave birth to a daughter, Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, becoming the first sitting senator to have a baby while in office. — Duckworth, who turned 50 on March 12 …

Discussion: Politico, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, Washington Press, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, NPR, Washington Free Beacon, IJR and The Daily Caller

CNN:
Tammy Duckworth gives birth, first US senator to do so while in office

Discussion: WPIX 11 New York and The Root

Liam Stack / New York Times:
Tammy Duckworth Becomes First Sitting U.S. Senator to Give Birth

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Guardian

Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:

An Internal Email Contradicts Scott Pruitt's Account of Controversial Raises — An email that suggests Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt personally signed off on a controversial pay raise for a favored aide last month is roiling the agency.

Discussion: Politico, Splinter, Toronto Star, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, Washington Press, Mother Jones, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos, Washington Post and Mediaite

Eric Lipton / New York Times:
In Letter to E.P.A., Top Ethics Officer Questions Pruitt's Actions

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine, The Hill, VICE News, HuffPost, BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo and NPR

Donie O'Sullivan / CNNMoney:

The biggest Black Lives Matter page on Facebook is fake — For at least a year, the biggest page on Facebook purporting to be part of the Black Lives Matter movement was a scam with ties to a middle-aged white man in Australia, a review of the page and associated accounts and websites conducted by CNN shows.

Discussion: Townhall, New York Times, The Guardian, Daily Wire, Engadget and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

A Second Paul Manafort Associate Has Turned on Him … Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort has trouble in his own house. According to court documents, one of Manafort's former employees led an FBI agent to a storage locker filled with paperwork on Manafort's businesses and finances.

Juan Zamorano / Associated Press:

Trump family hotel business asked Panama president for help — PANAMA CITY (AP) — Lawyers representing U.S. President Donald Trump's family hotel business appealed to Panama's president for help days before an emergency arbitrator declined to reinstate the Trump management team to a luxury waterfront hotel.

Discussion: Vox, Hullabaloo and The Week

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story:

‘Take that down!’: Watch Fox host Howard Kurtz panic after graphic shows Fox News is least trusted network — Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz on Sunday implored his producer to take down a graphic that showed his own network was the least trusted of the big three cable networks.

Discussion: MediaBuzz, Associated Press, Mediaite, NewsBusters, Power Line and Boing Boing

Herman Wong / Washington Post:
Fox News host slams incorrect reports saying graphic showed network is least trusted

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Wall Street Journal:

Lawyer's Office Is Unusual Target for Federal Agents — Typically, attorney-client communications are protected from disclosure — The Manhattan law office of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, made for an unusual target for federal agents, who raided it Monday morning.

Daniel Arkin / NBC News:
Former AG Lynch defends Justice Department and FBI amid Trump criticism

Discussion: Breitbart

David McCabe / Axios:

Capitol Hill's early reviews for Mark Zuckerberg — Lawmakers who met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday said they found him “personable” and “forthright” but still expect to have plenty of questions for him when he testifies this week. — Why it matters: Tomorrow is a big test for Zuckerberg …

Discussion: One America News Network, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Hauser / cepr.net: Pro-Corporate Trade Pacts Let Mark Zuckerberg Hide His Face

Emily Stewart / Vox:
9 questions Congress should ask Mark Zuckerberg

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, NPR, Motherboard and New York Times

Sopan Deb / New York Times:

‘The Simpsons’ Responds to Criticism About Apu With a Dismissal — At the end of 2017, Hank Azaria, the voice behind Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a convenience-store owner on “The Simpsons” with a thick Indian accent, responded to a recent groundswell of criticism that the character was racist.

Discussion: The Wrap, Louder With Crowder, USA Today, Mashable, East Bay Times, Daily Wire, Jezebel, The Daily Beast, The Outline, The Ringer, IndieWire, twitchy.com, Polygon, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Linda Holmes / NPR:
‘The Simpsons’ To ‘The Problem With Apu’: Drop Dead

Discussion: Hot Air, Hit & Run and Vox

Luis Sanchez / The Hill:

Trump: Farmers will understand if they get hurt in China trade spat — on Monday acknowledged that U.S. farmers could take a hit from trade disputes with China but said they will ultimately “understand” why the confrontation is necessary. — “But if we do a deal with China, if …

Discussion: RedState and Washington Press

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: Trump: If Farmers Get Hit, They'll Understand

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:

Arizona Supreme Court rules Arizona colleges can't give in-state tuition to DACA recipients — The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday that recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are not eligible to receive in-state tuition rates at Arizona colleges.

Discussion: Arizona Republic and Axios

Rachel Leingang / Arizona Republic:
DACA recipients fight for in-state tuition

Discussion: Townhall and The Daily Caller

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Scott running for Senate in epic showdown with Nelson — TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Rick Scott made his long-awaited Senate candidacy official Monday, setting up an epic battle against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson and testing the limits of whether a close alliance with President Donald Trump …