memeorandum: The Democrats' God Gap (David French/National Review)

11:50 PM ET, May 2, 2018

Top Items:

Giuliani Says Trump Repaid Cohen for Stormy Daniels Payment — The ex-New York mayor, now a member of president's legal team, says there were no ‘campaign finance violations’ in payment to former adult film star — WASHINGTON—Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the president had repaid his longtime attorney …

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Rudy Giuliani Says Trump Repaid Michael Cohen For The Stormy Daniels Hush Money — In a television interview that appeared to contradict President Donald Trump's prior statements, Trump's new lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Wednesday night that Trump had repaid Michael Cohen for the $130,000 he facilitated to Stormy Daniels in 2016.

Discussion: Associated Press and Bloomberg

Axios:

Giuliani says Trump personally repaid Cohen $130k for Daniels' silence — Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's latest additions to his legal team, told Fox News' Sean Hannity that Trump personally reimbursed Michael Cohen the $130,000 he paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels promising her silence.

Discussion: Politico

Annie Karni / Politico:

Trump's fixers revolt — Longtime associates whose job was to clean up messes are suddenly in the spotlight making things worse for the president. — Looking the part has always mattered to President Donald Trump. — The president's preference for people who look like they came from …

Discussion: The Root and Mediaite

Washington Post:

Giuliani: Trump repaid lawyer Cohen for Stormy Daniels settlement — Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and a recent addition to President Trump's legal team, said Wednesday night that Trump made a series of payments reimbursing his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 settlement …

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:

Giuliani: Trump fired Comey because he wouldn't tell Trump he wasn't target in Russia probe — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said Wednesday that President Trump — because Comey wouldn't tell Trump that he wasn't a target of the FBI investigation into Russia's election interference.

HuffPost:
Giuliani Says Trump Repaid Lawyer For $130,000 Payment To Stormy Daniels

Discussion: The Hill, Mother Jones, The Guardian, CNBC, Daily Kos and AOL

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
“I've Been Approached by a Number of Networks”: Did Michael Avenatti Ask Phil Griffin for an MSNBC Show?

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Juliet Macur / New York Times:

Redskins Cheerleaders Describe Topless Photo Shoots and an Uneasy Night Out — When the Washington Redskins took their cheerleading squad to Costa Rica in 2013 for a calendar photo shoot, the first cause for concern among the cheerleaders came when Redskins officials collected …

Discussion: Hot Air, smokeroom.com, Deadspin, The Big Lead, The Guardian, Raw Story, ProFootballTalk, AOL, twitchy.com, The Week, ThinkProgress and Daily Wire

New York Times:

Trump to Add Clinton Impeachment Lawyer Emmet Flood to Replace Ty Cobb — WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to hire Emmet T. Flood, the veteran Washington lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment, to replace Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer who has taken the lead in dealing …

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Trump's New Lawyer Likely to Cut Him Off From Mueller Interview: Source … President Donald Trump's legal team became significantly more cohesive on Wednesday with the addition of Emmet Flood, a veteran white collar defense attorney. It also became more aggressive, which could prove tricky for Special Counsel Bob Mueller.

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Wire, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, JustOneMinute, Roll Call and Law & Crime

Niall Stanage / The Hill:
Exclusive: Giuliani says decision on Trump-Mueller interview ‘several weeks away’

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Press and NY State of Politics

Washington Post:
White House lawyer Ty Cobb is exiting and will be replaced by Clinton impeachment attorney Emmet Flood

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Breitbart, MSNBC, The Atlantic, Splinter, CNN, emptywheel, Vox, NBC News, The Week, Law & Crime, Axios, HuffPost, Hullabaloo, RedState, Joe.My.God., Fox News, Townhall, Mediaite, NPR, Above the Law and AOL

Wall Street Journal: Emmet Flood to Replace Ty Cobb on Donald Trump's Legal Team

Erica Pandey / Axios:

Trump threatens to use presidential powers on DOJ — President Trump in a Wednesday tweet called out the Justice Department for refusing to hand over un-redacted documents related to the Hillary Clinton email probe to Congress. — The big picture: The Justice Department has become …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Politico, CNN and Washington Examiner

New York Times:
Trump Assails Justice Dept., Siding With House Conservatives in Dispute

Discussion: Politico, The Atlantic, Washington Press, Shakesville, Washington Post, Breitbart, Washington Monthly and CNBC

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost: Reminder: GOP Target Rod Rosenstein Is A Lifelong Republican Trump Appointed

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
Mueller's Questions for Trump Show the Folly of Special-Counsel Appointments

Discussion: New Yorker, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Alex Ward / Vox:
Trump just ominously threatened the Justice Department

Discussion: Power Line, Politico, Washington Post, Washington Press, twitchy.com, IJR, The Mahablog, Shareblue Media, Raw Story and Mediaite

Manu Raju / CNN:

Michael Caputo says 'it's clear' Mueller investigators focused on Russia collusion — (CNN)After being interviewed by special counsel investigators on Wednesday, former aide to Donald Trump's presidential campaign Michael Caputo told CNN that Robert Mueller's team is “focused on Russia collusion.”

Discussion: Power Line and IJR

Daily Mail:

‘God damn you to hell!’: Former Trump campaign consultant explodes at Democratic Senate aides after he loses his house to legal fees in ‘witch hunt’ congressional Russia probe — Former Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo says he has spent $125,000 on lawyers to comply with the demands of the Senate Intelligence Committee

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show

Daily Mail:

TRUMP AIDE MICHAEL CAPUTO'S SHOCKING STATEMENT TO THE SENATE INTEL COMMITTEE — Caputo, a former Trump campaign adviser, delivered this statement to the committee on Tuesday, May 1, 2018:

Wall Street Journal:

Cambridge Analytica Closing Operations Following Facebook Data Controversy — Company had lost multiple clients in recent months — Cambridge Analytica , a data firm that worked for President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, is shutting down following the disclosure of its misuse of Facebook data.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, BuzzFeed, Vox, CNBC, IJR, Law & Crime, The Week, The Next Web, Axios, The Verge, AOL and Engadget, more at Mediagazer »

CA Commercial:
Cambridge Analytica and Scl Elections Commence Insolvency Proceedings and Release Results …

The Guardian: Cambridge Analytica closing after Facebook data harvesting scandal

Melanie Ehrenkranz / Gizmodo:
Cambridge Analytica Is Shutting Down

Discussion: Washington Press, KDFW, ThinkProgress, VentureBeat, Motherboard, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, New York Magazine, Mediaite and thenewcivilrightsmovement.com

NBC News:
Cambridge Analytica to close down after Facebook data scandal

Discussion: The Guardian

Song Jung-a / Financial Times:

North Korea set to release US prisoners at summit — North Korea has released the three Americans detained in the country's labour camps in a display of goodwill ahead of the looming summit between its Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump, campaigners say.

Jeff Greenfield / Politico:

Thinking the Unthinkable: What If Trump Succeeds? — Let us assume for the moment that Donald Trump is an “idiot” and a “f— ing moron” who hasn't got a clue about the substance of legislation. (These judgments, if multiple news reports are accurate, come from the president's current chief of staff …

Discussion: Washington Post and One America News Network

Tom Nichols / USA Today: Hold the irrational exuberance on North Korea. Kim is already winning.

Niraj Chokshi / New York Times:

Summer Zervos, Trump Accuser, Subpoenas ‘The Apprentice’ Recordings — Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice” who accused President Trump of sexual assault, is seeking records to prove that he defamed her by calling her a liar. — A lawyer for Ms. Zervos …

Discussion: The Week, VICE News, Washington Press, Raw Story, Law & Crime, CNN, Mediaite and Political Wire

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:

Ukraine, Seeking U.S. Missiles, Halted Cooperation With Mueller Investigation — KIEV, Ukraine — In the United States, Paul J. Manafort is facing prosecution on charges of money laundering and financial fraud stemming from his decade of work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

Discussion: Vox, Washington Press, Politico, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, Common Dreams, MSNBC, The Week, Mother Jones, American Prospect and Washington Monthly

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Did Trump Bribe Ukraine to Stop Cooperating With Mueller?

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News Insider, Contemptor, Talking Points Memo, Sputnik International, The Western Journal, Washington Monthly, Mediaite, Hit & Run, The Hill, Hullabaloo, Salon and Outside the Beltway

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Redistribution of Sex — One lesson to be drawn from recent Western history might be this: Sometimes the extremists and radicals and weirdos see the world more clearly than the respectable and moderate and sane. All kinds of phenomena, starting as far back as the Iraq War and the crisis …

Discussion: alicublog, The American Conservative, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Splinter and No More Mister Nice Blog

Louise Moon / South China Morning Post:

Chinese dress at US prom wins support in China after internet backlash — After criticism of student Keziah Daum's Twitter post showing her wearing the traditional qipao, Chinese commenters call it cultural appreciation, not appropriation — An American teenager has received support …

Discussion: New York Times, Fox News, Townhall, Daily Wire, Front Page Magazine, JONATHAN TURLEY, Law & Crime, The Star Online, RedState, Fox News Insider, Hot Air, The Federalist, twitchy.com, IJR and Instapundit

Washington Post:

America is more diverse than ever — but still segregated — The United States is on track to be a majority-minority nation by 2044. But census data show most of our neighbors are the same race. — Black — White — Hispanic — Asian/Pacific Islander — Native American Multi-race and other

Jon Ward / Yahoo:

West Virginia Senate candidate distorts reality in campaign ad — WASHINGTON — A Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia is running an ad showing his primary opponent shaking hands with Hillary Clinton — something that never happened. The ad uses a manipulated version …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Joe.My.God., Mediaite and Political Wire

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:

HHS official who shared conspiracy theories and said ‘forefathers would have hung’ Obama is back at work — (CNN)A political appointee at the Department of Health and Human Services has apologized and is now back at work at the department after it came to light that she spread conspiracy theories …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Media Matters for America and Mediaite

Fox News:

Police release body cam footage from Las Vegas Massacre — Las Vegas police have finally released partial footage from police body cameras that showed officers nearing the hotel room where gunman Stephen Paddock unleashed a hail of gunfire on concert-goers last October.

Discussion: CBS New York, The Daily Caller and AOL

Leo Vidal / POLITICUSUSA:

New NBC Poll: 61% of Americans Think Trump Is Dishonest — FacebookTwitterSubscribeGooglePinterest PrintMailFlipboard — In the age of Trump shocking news no longer shocks people. And today's NBC News/Survey Monkey poll is a case in point. — We should all be shocked by this poll …

Discussion: The Hill, Contemptor and ThinkProgress

David French / National Review:

The Democrats' God Gap — The American church is in desperate need of a unity that transcends Identity politics on the left and on the right. — You know elite Democratic anti-Christian bigotry is getting out of hand when it's expertly skewered on HBO. — The show was the excellent Mike Judge comedy Silicon Valley.

Joshua Holland / The Nation:

YES, DONALD TRUMP IS MAKING WHITE PEOPLE MORE HATEFUL — A new study finds empirical evidence of the “Trump Effect.” — Has Donald Trump's relentless demagoguery of Mexicans, Muslims and African Americans made Americans more hateful? Or did Trump capitalize on a white backlash …

Discussion: Althouse

Robby Soave / Hit & Run:

Black Gun Owner Will Give Birth in Prison After Trying to Protect 2-Year-Old Daughter from Assailant — Siwatu-Salama Ra is a 26-year-old black mother who watched in horror as an angry assailant—a neighbor with whom Ra had a dispute—deliberately crashed her vehicle into Ra's car while Ra's two-year-old daughter was playing inside.

Discussion: Louder With Crowder

Alex Burness / Daily Camera:

Boulder City Council calls for ‘full editorial independence’ at Daily Camera — Late Tuesday night, the Boulder City Council unanimously approved a declaration in “support of the journalistic and editorial independence of our local newspaper,” the Daily Camera.

YouTube:

Hillary Clinton: Being A Capitalist Probably Hurt Me Because So Many Democrats Are Socialists … At the Shared Value Leadership Summit, Hillary Clinton says that being a capitalist hurt her during the 2016 Democratic primaries because so many Democrats now identify themselves as socialists.

Josh Hafner / USA Today:

Trump voters think he's lying about Stormy Daniels. And no, they don't really care. — The lawyer representing Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Trump, says that if Trump's time in the White House were to be made into a movie, Hollywood better find someone “really good-looking” to play him.

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Republican lawmakers must decide: Can Trump snub a subpoena? … For months now, Republican lawmakers have been asked what happens if President Trump fires special counsel Robert S. Mueller III or Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, and whether they will support legislation to protect either or both.