memeorandum: Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel Wins At Connecticut Supreme Court, Conviction Vacated In 1975 Slaying Of Martha Moxley (Edmund H. Mahony/Hartford Courant)

4:45 PM ET, May 4, 2018

Top Items:

Eileen Sullivan / New York Times:

Trump Undercuts Giuliani About Payments to Stormy Daniels — WASHINGTON — President Trump undercut his attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, on Friday, and said the former New York mayor will eventually get the facts right regarding a payment to a pornographic actress who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.

Discussion: The Atlantic, The Western Journal, HuffPost and Political Wire

Jeffrey Toobin / CNN:

Rudy's interview and Trump's lies create a crisis — Jeffrey Toobin is CNN's chief legal analyst and author, most recently, of “American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst”, and “The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court.” Follow him on Twitter @JeffreyToobin.

NBC News:
Rudy Giuliani insists Trump wasn't aware of Stormy Daniels reimbursement until recently

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Little Green Footballs, Shareblue Media, Philly.com, CNBC, ABC News, Hot Air, Townhall, NBC News and Political Wire

Joe Scarborough / Washington Post:
Rudy Giuliani goes from 'America's Mayor' to Trump's chump

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, The Western Journal and Media Matters for America

Associated Press: The Latest: Giuliani tries to clarify hush money comments

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Giuliani tries to clarify comments on Trump's reimbursement of payment to porn star Stormy Daniels

Discussion: Political Wire

Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Trump walks back Giuliani: 'He'll get his facts straight'

Discussion: New Republic, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Forbes, The Nation, The Root, WQAD-TV, Splinter, Joe.My.God., KTLA and Fox News

NBC News:
Democrats might have a better chance to flip the Senate than you think

Discussion: MSNBC, The Guardian and Daily Kos

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Trump's relationship with Giuliani gets rocky

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState, Breitbart and Splinter

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:
MSNBC's Deutsch: Michael Cohen Told Me Giuliani 'Doesn't Know What He's Talking About'

Discussion: Hot Air, CANNONFIRE and Bloomberg

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Rudy Giuliani tries to clean up his hubris-inspired mess

Discussion: Faithwire, Washington Press and CNN

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump lives out his LBJ fantasy: no chief of staff

Discussion: Washington Post, MSNBC, ABC News and Politico

Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:

Federal judge in Virginia grills special counsel on Manafort investigation … A federal judge in Virginia on Friday grilled lawyers from the office of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about the motivations for bringing a bank and tax fraud case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Shakesville

Jake Gibson / Fox News:

Federal judge accuses Mueller's team of ‘lying,’ trying to target Trump: 'C'mon man!' — Giuliani: Mueller investigation should be dismissed — A federal judge on Friday harshly rebuked Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team during a hearing for ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort …

Discussion: National Review, Breitbart, The Federalist, IJR, Sean Hannity, Daily Wire and neo-neocon

CNN:

Judge in Manafort case says Mueller's aim is to hurt Trump — (CNN)A federal judge expressed deep skepticism Friday in the bank fraud case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller's office against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, at one point saying he believes that Mueller's motivation …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller, KTLA, CNBC, TheBlaze, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NTK Network and CANNONFIRE

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Judge challenges Mueller's actions in Manafort case — A federal judge sharply challenged Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecution team Friday, questioning how its indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on financial charges relates to Mueller's core mandate …

Discussion: Vox, RedState, ABC News and Daily Kos

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed: A Judge Questioned What Paul Manafort's Indictment Really Had To Do With Russia

Sarah N. Lynch / Reuters:
U.S. judge questions special counsel's powers in Manafort case

Discussion: What The Fuck …, Bloomberg, The Rush Limbaugh Show and Instapundit

Aruna Viswanatha / Wall Street Journal:
Judge Questions Mueller's Authority to Prosecute Manafort

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill: Mueller requests 70 blank subpoenas in Manafort case

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

Pence doctor resigns after Jackson debacle — Vice President Mike Pence's physician has resigned, the latest fallout from the collapse of Ronny Jackson's nomination for secretary of Veterans Affairs. — Dr. Jennifer Peña, who like Jackson is a military physician detailed to the White House …

Discussion: Townhall, National Review, Axios, Raw Story, IJR, Roll Call and Daily Wire

CNN:

Pence's doctor resigns after reports of concerns about Jackson's conduct — Washington (CNN)The White House physician assigned to Vice President Mike Pence, Jennifer Pena, has resigned, his office told CNN in a statement Friday. Pena worked in the White House Medical Unit.

Discussion: Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Nick Miroff / Washington Post:

Trump administration will end protections for 50,000 Hondurans living in U.S. since 1999 — More than 50,000 Hondurans who have been allowed to live and work in the United States since 1999 will have until January 2020 to leave the country or face deportation, the Department of Homeland Security …

Discussion: Immigration Impact and America's Voice

Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:
Trump is manufacturing an immigration crisis. Here's why that helps him.

Discussion: Reuters

Miriam Jordan / New York Times:
Thousands of Hondurans to Lose Protected Status in the U.S.

Discussion: Axios

CNN:

Exclusive: Nunes demands Justice Department records. Then he doesn't read them. — (CNN)House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes was livid. — For months, he had been demanding a fully uncensored version of a highly sensitive document from the Justice Department explaining …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Why the Justice Department Is Defiant

Discussion: RedState

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

Donald Trump's Pursuit of an Oval Office Meeting with Vladimir Putin — Inside the mystery behind the President's surprise invitation to Russia's leader, and his team's struggle to figure out what to do about it. — Late on Monday evening, the Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, started making calls to European allies.

Discussion: Raw Story

Molly Redden / HuffPost:

He Was Accused Of Attempted Rape. He Became A Progressive Star Anyway. — For more than a decade, women alleged that Clay Johnson, a leader in political tech, physically and verbally abused them. — On April 28, 2008, Sarah Schacht received an email that terrified her.

Edmund H. Mahony / Hartford Courant:

Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel Wins At Connecticut Supreme Court, Conviction Vacated In 1975 Slaying Of Martha Moxley — In a decision certain to start new debate about a notorious, old crime, a divided state Supreme Court abruptly reversed itself Friday, overturning Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel's conviction …

New York Times:

Sex Abuse Scandal's Latest Casualty: The 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature — STOCKHOLM — The Nobel Prize in Literature, the world's most prestigious accolade for writing, will not be awarded this year, for the first time since 1949, as the fallout from a sexual abuse scandal that has battered …

Discussion: Svenska Akademien, BBC, The Atlantic, BOOK RIOT, Jezebel, New Republic, CNN, NBC News, Washington Post and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Behind Erik Prince's China venture — The Blackwater founder has cut a lucrative security-training deal with Chinese insiders. But is it against U.S. interests? — Beijing's International Security Defense College, which boasts of becoming “the largest private security training school in China …

Discussion: Axios

Adam B. Schiff / New York Times:

Democrats: Don't Take the Bait on Impeachment — In 2010, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I led the effort to impeach a federal judge from New Orleans named Thomas Porteous Jr. He was accused of multiple acts of corruption, some of which preceded his appointment to the federal bench …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and National Review

Amanda Terkel / HuffPost:

1 Year After Obamacare Repeal Vote, GOP Has Largely Dropped The Cause — Republicans are running far fewer ads mentioning Obamacare than they have in the past. — WASHINGTON One year ago, President Donald Trump and House Republicans gathered in the Rose Garden for a victory ceremony.

Billy House / Bloomberg:
House Republicans Prepare to Endorse Trump's Military Parade

Discussion: New York Magazine, Political Wire and Daily Kos

Jared Holt / Right Wing Watch:

Alex Jones: Trump Is Fighting A Computer Program That Has Decided To Kill Humans — Before Alex Jones headed to court to face his ex-wife today, he told Infowars listeners that President Trump is part of an effort to fight against a sentient computer program that has decided to kill all humans.

Natalie Kitroeff / New York Times:

Unemployment Rate Hits 3.9%, a Rare Low, as Job Market Becomes More Competitive — The Labor Department released its April hiring and unemployment report on Friday, providing the latest snapshot of the economy. — The Numbers — The unemployment rate was 3.9 percent …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller and The Week

Nathaniel Meyersohn / CNNMoney:
Unemployment is below 4% for the first time since 2000

Discussion: Grabien News and twitchy.com

The Daily Beast:

Report: Qatar Just Bought $6.5M Apartment in Trump Property — Qatar's mission to the United Nations bought an apartment valued at $6.5 million in New York's Trump World Tower on Jan. 17, one month after a judge ruled that President Donald Trump was not violating the Emoluments Clause …

Discussion: The Guardian

BuzzFeed:

Two More Women Speak Out About R. Kelly's Alleged Sexual Abuse — The new allegations range from underage sexual abuse in the 1990s to holding a “brainwashed” woman in a “cult” today. — As R. Kelly faces the most intense criticism of his career following a statement released on Monday …