memeorandum: Nearly all abortions banned in Iowa, as Gov. Kim Reynolds signs ‘fetal heartbeat’ law (Des Moines Register)

5:10 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, Splinter 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, Hot Air, ABC News, Townhall, Mediaite, NBC News and Political Wire

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

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Political Wire, CNBC, ThinkProgress and New York Times

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

FOX News Radio: Rudy Giuliani: Michael Avenatti Is A Complete Jerk Who Should Turn In His Law License

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, Joe.My.God., KTLA, Splinter, Fox News and Washington Post

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

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post, RedState and Breitbart

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

Discussion: MSNBC, The Guardian and Daily Kos

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

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: Washington Post, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, KTLA, CNBC, CBS 4, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, TheBlaze, 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: The Hill, RedState, Vox, ABC News and Daily Kos

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:

Viktor Vekselberg, Russian Billionaire, Was Questioned by Mueller's Investigators — WASHINGTON — When the United States sought to punish Russia last month for its election interference and other aggressions, it targeted some of Russia's wealthiest men, imposing sanctions on those viewed …

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

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

Dara Lind / Vox: Trump tells 57,000 Hondurans who've lived in the US for 20 years to get out

Department of Homeland Security:
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen Announcement on Temporary Protected Status for Honduras

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, ThinkProgress, Los Angeles Times, USCIS, ImmigrationProf Blog and Splinter

McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Trump administration to send 57,000 immigrants back to Honduras

Discussion: America's Voice and Rewire.News

Miriam Jordan / New York Times:
Trump Administration Ends Protected Status for Thousands of Hondurans

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios and Daily Kos

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, IJR, Raw Story, Daily Wire and Roll Call

CNN:
Pence's doctor resigns after reports of concerns about Jackson's conduct

Discussion: Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Rick Rojas / New York Times:

Connecticut Court Reverses Murder Conviction of Michael Skakel — The Connecticut Supreme Court, in a surprising reversal of its own decision less than two years ago, ruled on Friday to vacate the conviction of Michael C. Skakel, who had been found guilty of bludgeoning his neighbor with a golf club in 1975.

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 …

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 and The Rush Limbaugh Show

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.

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.

German Lopez / Vox:

How to watch Trump's NRA speech, and what to expect — The president is speaking at the NRA's first annual meeting since the Parkland, Florida, shooting. — President Donald Trump will soon speak at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Dallas.

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Axios, Washington Post, New York Times, Breitbart and YouTube

Meridith McGraw / ABC News:
‘I love fighting battles’ Trump tells NRA after slamming special counsel investigation

Discussion: Breitbart and Associated Press

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: National Review and Washington Monthly

Nathaniel Meyersohn / CNNMoney:

Unemployment is below 4% for the first time since 2000 — The job market hasn't been this good in a very long time. — The unemployment rate dropped below 4% in April for the first time since 2000. The Labor Department reported Friday that it fell to 3.9% — inching closer to territory not seen in half a century.

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

Des Moines Register:

Nearly all abortions banned in Iowa, as Gov. Kim Reynolds signs ‘fetal heartbeat’ law — Gov. Kim Reynolds Friday signed legislation prohibiting nearly all abortions in Iowa after a fetal heartbeat is detected, making it the most restrictive abortion ban in the nation.

Discussion: RedState, Associated Press, NorthIowaToday.com, WLTX-TV and IJR