memeorandum: RUSSIA PREPARES FOR WAR WITH U.S., INSTRUCTING CITIZENS TO BUY WATER AND GAS MASKS (Cristina Maza/Newsweek)

10:40 PM ET, April 11, 2018

Top Items:

Raid on Trump's Lawyer Sought Records on ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape — The F.B.I. agents who raided the office and hotel of President Trump's lawyer on Monday were seeking all records related to the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Mr. Trump was heard making vulgar comments about women …

CNN:

FBI sought Trump's communications with his personal lawyer regarding Access Hollywood — (CNN)FBI agents who raided the home, office and hotel of Donald Trump's personal lawyer sought communications that Trump had with attorney Michael Cohen and others regarding the infamous “Access Hollywood” …

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, Mediaite and Outside the Beltway

Chris Cillizza / CNN:
3 things we want to know about Michael Cohen and the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Bustle, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit, Law & Crime and National Review

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Federal investigators sought Trump's communications with his lawyer about ‘Access Hollywood’ tape

Discussion: New Yorker, Law & Crime, CNN and Courier-Journal

Axios:

Paul Ryan won't run for re-election — Speaker Paul Ryan told House Republicans this morning that he will not run for re-election in November. — Why it matters: House Republicans were already in a very tough spot for the midterms, with many endangered members and the good chance that Democrats could win the majority.

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

Paul Ryan implodes his party — ahead of schedule … Paul D. Ryan's face has always said more than his words. In the two years since the Republican Party takeover by Donald Trump, it has been a mask of anguish. — So it is no surprise that, come what may for House Republicans in the fall election …

New York Times:

Ryan Found Himself on the Margins as the G.O.P. Moved Right — WASHINGTON — Paul D. Ryan took the helm of the House two and a half years ago, not because he wanted it, but because he was seen as the only lawmaker who could keep Republicans from devouring themselves.

Discussion: National Review, The Root, Vox, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, The Week, The Ringer, Rewire.News, Bustle, Grist, Raw Story and No More Mister Nice Blog

John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:

The Ryan Retirement in Seven Points — The last of the wonks. — It would be difficult to overestimate the meaning of Paul Ryan's decision to retire from Congress even as he occupies the office of Speaker of the House. So let's estimate. — Twice in the past three years, the sitting Speaker has walked away from the office.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Instapundit and New York Times

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
Paul Ryan Personifies the Devil's Bargain the GOP Struck With Trump

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, FiveThirtyEight, The Week, Mediaite and Vox

David Wasserman / The Cook Political Report:
Ryan Retirement Puts WI-01 at Risk and Throws House GOP Into Deeper Turmoil

Discussion: Sabato's Crystal Ball and Axios

Ben Domenech / The Federalist:
How Paul Ryan Went From Young Gun To Gone

Discussion: The American Conservative, CNN and Viking Pundit

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
House Speaker Paul Ryan was the biggest fraud in American politics

Discussion: The Week and Splinter

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Fanatic, Fraud, Factotum: The Rise and Fall of Paul Ryan

Discussion: Washington Post and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Bannon pitches White House on plan to cripple Mueller probe and protect Trump … Stephen K. Bannon, who was ousted as White House chief strategist last summer but has remained in touch with some members of President Trump's circle, is pitching a plan to West Wing aides and congressional allies …

Discussion: CNN, Raw Story, emptywheel and Mediaite

Washington Post:

Trump chooses impulse over strategy as crises mount … In a White House known for chaos, the process of developing the U.S. response to the Syrian government's alleged latest gas attack was proceeding with uncharacteristic deliberation, including several national security briefings for President Trump.

Discussion: The Week

CNN:

Deputy national security adviser Nadia Schadlow resigns — Washington (CNN)Nadia Schadlow, the US deputy national security adviser for strategy, has resigned and will leave her position at the end of the month, multiple administration officials told CNN. — Schadlow is the third senior …

Discussion: Washington Press and Washington Free Beacon

Bloomberg:
Trump Ordered DOJ to Hire Controversial Former Aide, Sources Say

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Shakesville and New York Magazine

Kansas City Star:

Woman: Sexual encounter with Greitens was not consensual. Lawmakers find her credible — When she tried to leave, sobbing after a non-consensual sexual encounter, she says the man who would be governor physically stopped her. — What happened next, she testified under oath …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, ThinkProgress, CNBC and Hot Air

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Woman testifies that Greitens groped and hit her; governor blasts ‘lies’ and ‘tabloid trash’ — Gov. Eric Greitens spoke at a news conference on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, about a report that was about to come out concerning his affair in 2015. Greitens called the investigation a “witch hunt”.

Discussion: The Week

Kansas City Star:
Missouri legislators call on Gov. Greitens to resign in wake of bombshell report

Discussion: Vox, Bustle and CBS News

Associated Press: The Latest: Democrats call on Republican Greitens to resign

Kansas City Star:
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens says he's target of ‘political witch hunt,’ vows to fight

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Rebecca Berg / CNN:
Report: Woman says Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens coerced her into sexual encounter

Discussion: Law & Crime

New York Times:

Scott Pruitt's Idea to Update an E.P.A. Keepsake: Less E.P.A., More Pruitt — When Scott Pruitt wanted to refashion the Environmental Protection Agency's “challenge coin” — a type of souvenir medallion with military origins that has become a status symbol among civilians …

Discussion: CNN, Mashable, The Daily Caller, Axios, New York Magazine, Earther, Splinter and Mediaite

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Pompeo failed to disclose Chinese business connection — WASHINGTON — CIA Director Mike Pompeo failed to disclose last year that he owned a Kansas business that imported oilfield equipment from a company owned by the Chinese government. — That omission, on the questionnaire Pompeo …

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, VICE News, The American Conservative and Common Dreams

Henry C. Jackson / Politico:
Pompeo to downplay hawkish rep in face-off with senators

Discussion: Axios

John Hudson / Washington Post: Pompeo: U.S. diplomats don't feel ‘relevant’

Erick Erickson / TheResurgent.com:

A Congressman's Profanity Laced Tirade in a Safeway Grocery Store — One of the President's congressional defenders has privately decided he hates Trump and wants to unload. — “If we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker,” said the congressman …

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Conservative News Today, Washington Press, The American Conservative, Mother Jones, Daily Kos and Mediaite

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Senate panel moves to take up bill protecting Mueller — The Senate Judiciary Committee is moving forward with legislation to limit President Trump — 's ability to fire special counsel Robert Mueller — (R-Iowa) wants to add the bill to the panel's business meeting agenda scheduled for Thursday …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Washington Monthly and Political Wire

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Bipartisan Senate bill to protect Mueller set to advance

Discussion: Washington Post, MSNBC, The American Spectator, TheBlaze and VICE News

Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal: Senate Judiciary Committee to Take Up Bill Protecting Mueller

Tim Mak / NPR:

NRA, In New Document, Acknowledges More Than 20 Russian-Linked Contributors — The National Rifle Association has accepted contributions from about 23 Russians, or Americans living in Russia, since 2015, the gun rights group acknowledged to Congress. — The NRA said in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, ABC News, BloombergQuint, Raw Story, Washington Press, Front Page Magazine, Daily Kos, twitchy.com, MSNBC and Political Wire

Cristina Maza / Newsweek:

RUSSIA PREPARES FOR WAR WITH U.S., INSTRUCTING CITIZENS TO BUY WATER AND GAS MASKS — Claiming that some Americans are preparing for a coming war with Moscow, Russian state-owned television explained to the country's residents how to stock their bunkers with water and basic foodstuffs in case a war breaks out.

Discussion: Task & Purpose, CNN, Spectator USA, Al Jazeera English and Wall Street Journal

CNN:

Kelly cedes control to new faces amid latest Trump tumult — WaPo: Kelly threatens to quit in fit of anger — Washington (CNN)As Reince Priebus was approaching his final days in the West Wing, staffers had a running joke: if you got between the frenzied chief of staff and the Oval Office …

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite and The American Conservative

Associated Press: Another high-ranking official leaves NSC

Axios:

ABC: Comey compares Trump to mob boss — A source present at the taping says James Comey's interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, airing Sunday at 10 p.m. as a “20/20” special, is “going to shock the president and his team.” — Keep reading — 121 WORDS

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Press, Taylor Marsh, CNN, AOL, The Guardian, Daily Wire and NewsBusters

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: The Trump/Rosenstein Russian Nesting Doll of Nonsense

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.:

California Responds to Federal Request for National Guard Personnel — SACRAMENTO - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today responded to the federal government's request for additional California National Guard personnel with the following letter. The accompanying agreement …

Discussion: Louder With Crowder, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, CNBC, Sean Hannity, Politico and Axios

Cindy Adams / Page Six:

Women are lining up to date Rudy Giuliani — The about-to-be-consciously uncoupled Rudy Giuliani is coming off to Upper East Side sex kittens like catnip. They're purring at him. Sidling — if not actually front-ling — in his direction. — It seems power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Niv Elis / The Hill:

Corker: Tax cuts could be 'one of the worst votes I've made' — (R) said his vote on the GOP tax law could be one of the worst of his career if estimates that it will add $1.9 trillion to deficits over a decade prove correct. — “If it ends up costing what has been laid out here …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Andrew Kirell / The Daily Beast:

Zuckerberg Gets More Questions About Diamond & Silk Than Facebook's Role in Myanmar Genocide … When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to Capitol Hill this week, he was bound to face a variety of difficult questions ranging from his company's handling of user information to the proliferation of fake news over its pages.

Discussion: Fox News Insider, Bustle, Right Wing Watch, Breitbart, AOL, Mediaite and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Fox News Insider:

Tucker Carlson Assad Bombing Civilians Chemical Gas Attack Response Noah Rothman — Tucker Carlson debated a magazine editor who claimed the host “willfully misled his audience and advanced Russian geopolitical narratives” by cautioning against anti-Assad actions in Syria following the chemical attack on civilians there.

Discussion: Commentary Magazine

Associated Press:

Trump weighs plan to allow states to require drug testing for some on food stamps — The Trump administration is considering a plan that would allow states to require certain food stamp recipients to undergo drug testing, handing a win to conservatives who've long sought ways to curb the safety net program.

Brett T. / twitchy.com:

Women pose for open carry pics in solidarity with college student who had gun in her graduation photo — You might remember Twitchy's post from Tuesday about University of Tennessee senior Brenna Spencer, who managed to trigger liberals with her graduation photo, which was both pro-gun and pro-Trump:

The Daily Beast:

Trump Threatens Syria Before Allies Are on Board … Donald Trump's tweeted bluster that Russia should “get ready” for American missiles to hit Syria has outpaced a crucial U.S. ally's current decisionmaking on military action against Damascus, The Daily Beast has learned.

Joe Schneider / Bloomberg:

Mueller Seeks Subpoenas for 35 Witnesses for Manafort Trial — U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller asked a judge in Alexandria, Virginia, to issue 35 sets of subpoenas to witnesses for a July 10 appearance at a trial. That's when President Donald Trump's former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Law & Crime and Mediaite

Acreage Holdings:

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner and Former Governor of Massachusetts Bill Weld Join Leading Cannabis Company — Appointments Add Unmatched Experience to Acreage Holdings' Board of Advisors — Acreage Holdings ("Acreage") (www.acreageholdings.com), one of the nation's largest …