memeorandum: Ezra Cohen-Watnick To Join DOJ As National Security Adviser To Sessions (Talking Points Memo)

1:05 PM ET, April 11, 2018

Top Items:

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.

Tampa Bay Times:

Rep. Dennis Ross is retiring — WASHINGTON - Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, told his staff this morning he is retiring. — “Eight years takes its time on you. ... There's got to be an exit strategy at some point,” Ross said in an interview. — He said he was informing staff …

Discussion: Vox, CNN, Shareblue Media, Political Wire and The Daily Caller

Axios:

Paul Ryan confidants say he's not running for reelection — House Speaker Paul Ryan has told confidants that he will announce soon that he won't run for reelection in November, according to sources with knowledge of the conversations. — Why it matters: House Republicans were already …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Washington Monthly, ABC News, Shareblue Media, Politico, Outside the Beltway, VICE News, Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Mediaite

Washington Post:

House Speaker Paul Ryan will not seek reelection, he tells friends and colleagues — House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has told friends and several colleagues that he has decided not to seek reelection this year and will soon inform colleagues of his plans, according to several people familiar with his plans.

Discussion: Salon and Axios

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Ryan rocks Republicans with retirement — Speaker Paul Ryan announced Wednesday that he will not seek another term in Congress, ending what will be a three-year run as the Republican leader and creating a power vacuum in the GOP ranks heading into a punishing midterm election.

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, Axios, Politico, FiveThirtyEight and The Week

Peter Suderman / Hit & Run:
Republicans Have Finally Been Revealed as the Party of Fiscal Ruin

Discussion: CNN

New York Times:
Speaker Paul Ryan Will Not Seek Re-Election in November

Discussion: Raw Story, Axios, The Week, twitchy.com and Jezebel

CNN:
House Speaker Paul Ryan won't seek re-election: 'I like to think I've done my part'

Discussion: New Republic, Axios, Politico, The Nation, Daily Kos, Conservative News Today, Raw Story, Mashable, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, Washington Free Beacon, Daily Wire, The Week, Bustle, CNBC, CBS New York and IJR

Adam Shaw / Fox News:
House Speaker Paul Ryan will not run for re-election

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, RedState, Roll Call, ABC News, Breitbart and The Daily Caller

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

Marc Caputo / Politico:
Florida's Dennis Ross to retire from U.S. House

Discussion: Florida Politics

Associated Press: Ryan bows out: ‘I have given this job everything I have’

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Freedom Caucus chair: House leadership ‘not on my bucket list’

Discussion: Axios, RedState and Breitbart

David Byler / Weekly Standard:
Could Democrats Steal Paul Ryan's Seat?

Discussion: Vox and Shareblue Media

New York Times:

Trump Sought to Fire Mueller in December — In early December, President Trump, furious over news reports about a new round of subpoenas from the office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, told advisers in no uncertain terms that Mr. Mueller's investigation had to be shut down.

Discussion: The Atlantic, The Hill, Washington Post, NBC News, Politico, Syracuse Post-Standard, Bloomberg, Salon, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, Conservative News Today, VICE News, BloombergQuint, Mediaite, CNN, MSNBC, The Week, Daily Kos, Bustle, Raw Story, IJR and 444

CNN:

Trump considering firing Rosenstein to check Mueller — (CNN)President Donald Trump is considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, multiple people familiar with the discussions tell CNN, a move that has gained urgency following the raid of the office of the President's personal lawyer.

New York Times:

At the White House, Trump Takes Selfies and Seethes Over Mueller — WASHINGTON — Outside the White House, President Trump grinned for selfies with Alabama's Crimson Tide, telling the college football champions that they had beaten their rivals so brutally, “you flat-out made them quit” …

Discussion: IJR, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams, Vanity Fair, CNN and twitchy.com

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:

“The ACLU Would Be Up in Arms” — On Tuesday night, with reports circulating that he was furious about both the raid on the offices of his lawyer, Michael Cohen, and the gathering force of the Mueller investigation, President Trump dined with famed law professor and pundit Alan Dershowitz.

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Law & Crime, neo-neocon, Mother Jones, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Atlantic

Elana Schor / Politico:

Bipartisan Senate bill to protect Mueller set to advance — A bipartisan Senate bill designed to protect special counsel Robert Mueller's job is on track for a vote in the Judiciary Committee, according to a source briefed on the committee's plans. — It's a significant step forward …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, MSNBC, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and CNN

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Inside the West Wing: Trump at “breaking point” on Mueller

Discussion: Politico and Breitbart

New York Times:
The Law Is Coming, Mr. Trump

Discussion: CNBC, twitchy.com, Mediaite, HuffPost, Above the Law, Bustle, American Thinker, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart and National Law Journal

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:
Dana Boente, former top Justice Department official now at FBI, has been interviewed by Mueller and turned over notes

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Press, MSNBC and Raw Story

Benjamin Wittes / Lawfare:
How the Cohen Raids and Trump's Reactions Edge Us Toward Confrontation

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, NBC News and BloombergQuint

CNN:
Special counsel team met with Trump lawyers on day of Cohen raid

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

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 …

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, Talking Points Memo, CNN, CNBC, Conservative News Today, Boing Boing, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, IJR, Roll Call and The Week

Jennifer Kaplan / Bloomberg:

Ex-Speaker John Boehner Joins Marijuana Firm's Advisory Board — Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld also added — Watershed moment for cannabis as drug goes mainstream — The U.S. marijuana industry has a new spokesman: John Boehner. — The Republican former Speaker of the House …

Discussion: Politico, AOL, Washington Post, Axios, BloombergQuint, Raw Story, New York Magazine and VICE News

Morgan Gstalter / The Hill: Boehner joins cannabis company board to push for medical use

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: CNN, Daily Wire, NewsBusters and Raw Story

Josh Meyer / Politico:
Comey sat down with Stephanopoulos for 5-hour interview

Discussion: Political Wire

The Verge:

Here's how much Facebook donated to every lawmaker questioning Mark Zuckerberg this week — Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce today, fresh off the heels of a grueling five-hour joint session before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees yesterday.

Discussion: 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

David Dayen / The Intercept:
The Senate Is Afraid to Govern. That's Great News for Facebook.

Discussion: The Atlantic, emptywheel, HuffPost and CNN

Blair Guild / CBS News:
Sen. Ted Cruz grills Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook political bias

Discussion: RedState, IJR, Vox, CBS Dallas, Scared Monkeys and Breitbart, more at Techmeme »

Matt Weinberger / Business Insider:
Mark Zuckerberg just renounced a core piece of Silicon Valley wisdom — and it could come back to bite Facebook

more at Mediagazer »

Bloomberg:

Trump Tells Russia to ‘Get Ready’ With Missiles Coming at Syria — Attack on air field last year failed to deter chemical weapons — More forcible response could provoke escalation of conflict — President Donald Trump warned Russia to “get ready” because a volley of U.S. missiles …

New York Times:
Trump Weighs More Robust Military Strike Against Syria

Discussion: The Independent, Washington Post, Vox, ABC, Associated Press, Just Security, Sputnik International and AOL

Dahlia Nehme / Reuters:
Russian envoy to Lebanon: Any U.S. missiles fired at Syria will be shot down

Discussion: National Review, CNN, Associated Press, BBC, Common Dreams, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, TASS, Hit & Run, Politico, Mother Jones, Breitbart, RedState and VICE News

Lawfare:
The Downsides of Bombing Syria

Discussion: Reuters

Mark Hodge / The Sun:
‘GET READY RUSSIA!’ Donald Trump warns Putin his missiles are coming 'fast and smart …

Discussion: Power Line, Fox News Insider, CNBC and CANNONFIRE

Talking Points Memo:

Ezra Cohen-Watnick To Join DOJ As National Security Adviser To Sessions — Former Trump National Security Council official Ezra Cohen-Watnick is joining the Department of Justice as a national security adviser to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a source familiar with the matter told TPM Wednesday.

Discussion: Axios

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, Daily Kos and Political Wire

Jess Cagle / People.com:

Mariah Carey: My Battle with Bipolar Disorder — In this week's PEOPLE cover story, Mariah Carey reveals for the first time her battle with bipolar disorder. — Although she was first diagnosed in 2001 (when she was hospitalized for a physical and mental breakdown), “I didn't want to believe it …

Discussion: The FADER

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:

Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp: Trump ‘asked me to switch parties’ … Donald Trump was still weeks away from being sworn in as president when, according to one Democratic senator, he was already trying to get her to defect to the Republicans. — “When I visited with him in Trump Tower …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Washington Free Beacon, New York Magazine and The Week

Nick Visser / HuffPost:

Laura Ingraham's Sponsors Still Bolting Over Comments About Parkland Survivor — Blue Apron and SlimFast announced that their ads will no longer appear on the program after Monday's episode. — Fox News host Laura Ingraham returned to the airwaves on Monday, ready to fight what she described as the “left's propaganda.”

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Salon

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Why Not Mike Pence? — A few days ago, which is to say an eternity in our Trump-dilated time, there was a story on NPR about anxious evangelicals' seeking a meeting with the president. — The subject of their agita, not entirely surprisingly, was the Stormy Daniels affair …