Top Items:
NBC News:
Feds monitored Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's phones — CORRECTION: Earlier today, NBC News reported that there was a wiretap on the phones of Michael Cohen, President Trump's longtime personal attorney, citing two separate sources with knowledge of the legal proceedings involving Cohen.
Discussion:
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Wall Street Journal:
The Stormy Daniels Damage — Does Trump want Americans to believe him in a genuine crisis? — Most storms pass eventually. This week Donald Trump tried to ensure that Stormy Daniels doesn't rain down permanent distraction on his Presidency, though at the cost of further damage to his credibility.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Mediaite and Political Wire
NBC News:
Rudy Giuliani insists Trump wasn't aware of Stormy Daniels reimbursement until recently — Giuliani said when he found out, the president responded “'Oh my goodness, I guess that's what it was for.'” — President Donald Trump only recently found out that he reimbursed his personal attorney …
Discussion:
Political Wire, Breitbart, IJR and Raw Story
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump lives out his LBJ fantasy: no chief of staff — LBJ withheld the title of chief of staff from his top aides, and President Trump is now living out that fantasy even with John Kelly in the building. — As part of his exasperation with being handled, Trump has taken to telling friends that …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politico and The Week
Niall Stanage / The Hill:
EXCLUSIVE: Giuliani calls for Sessions to ‘step in’ on Cohen investigation — Rudy Giuliani called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions — to intervene in the Michael Cohen case and put the people behind the probe “under investigation” in a phone call with The Hill on Thursday.
Discussion:
HuffPost, Washington Post, Politico, Raw Story, IJR, Daily Wire, Joe.My.God., Hot Air, Washington Times, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and The Week
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Welcome To The Giuliani Phase Of The Trump Presidency — Rudy Giuliani's nearly nonstop media appearances over 24 hours made it clear he's going to be more than just the president's lawyer. — Reporting From Washington, DC — On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politico, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo and The Week
Washington Post:
Analysts: Giuliani's media blitz gives investigators new leads, new evidence
Discussion:
The Atlantic, New York Times, Vox and Jezebel
Washington Post:
‘I was going to get this over with’: Inside Giuliani's explosive Stormy Daniels revelation
Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:
Fox's Cavuto to Trump: 'That's your stink. Mr. President, that's your swamp.'
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Daily Beast, Fox News Insider and HuffPost
New York Times:
The Legal Issues Raised by the Stormy Daniels Payment, Explained
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and ThinkProgress
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
MSNBC Issues HUGE Correction To Michael Cohen ‘Wiretap’ Story
Discussion:
Axios, Washington Post, twitchy.com, ThinkProgress, The Western Journal, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, IJR and Vox
John Santucci / ABC News:
Giuliani believes ‘50/50’ chance Mueller subpoenas President Trump
Discussion:
Washington Press, Mediaite, Political Wire and CNN
Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:
Giuliani: I Don't Believe That Michael Cohen Was Wiretapped
Discussion:
Washington Press, CBS News, Mediaite, HuffPost, USA Today, The Western Journal, New York Times, Breitbart, Washington Post, CANNONFIRE, Townhall, CNN, IJR, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, The Week, CNBC, courthousenews.com and emptywheel
Washington Post:
Influential outsiders have played a key role in Scott Pruitt's foreign travel … Scott Pruitt's itinerary for a February trip to Israel was remarkable by any standard for an Environmental Protection Agency administrator: A stop at a controversial Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Week, Political Wire and POLITICUSUSA, more at Mediagazer »
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Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:
A Pruitt Aide's Attack on Zinke Angers the White House — As Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt faces a seemingly endless stream of scandal, his team is scrambling to divert the spotlight to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. And the White House isn't happy about it.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politico, Associated Press, Washington Press, Vox, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, Jezebel, New York Times and The Week
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.
Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Why the Justice Department Is Defiant — A House subpoena, another missed deadline. What is the department hiding? — The feud that has simmered for months between Congress and the Justice Department erupted this week into a cage match. That's because the House is homing in on the goods.
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Mark Landler / New York Times:
Trump Orders Pentagon to Consider Reducing U.S. Forces in South Korea — WASHINGTON — President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to prepare options for drawing down American troops in South Korea, just weeks before he holds a landmark meeting with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un …
Discussion:
CNN, Just Security, KTLA, The Hill, VICE News, Reuters, Bloomberg, New York Magazine, CNBC, HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, New York Post and Axios
CBS Chicago:
Deputy Consul General Of Israel Allegedly Forced Out Of Uber Ride For Speaking Hebrew On Phone — CHICAGO (CBS) - The Deputy Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, Itay Milner, says he was ten minutes into his Uber ride on Lower Wacker Drive Thursday night when he was thrown out by the driver.
Discussion:
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Kylie Atwood / CBS News:
U.S. freezes funding for Syria's “White Helmets” — Less than two months ago the State Department hosted members of the White Helmets at Foggy Bottom. At the time, the humanitarian group was showered with praise for saving lives in Syria. — “Our meetings in March were very positive.
Discussion:
middleeastmonitor.com
New York Times:
They Voted for Obama, Then Went for Trump. Can Democrats Win Them Back? — RITTMAN, Ohio — In the daily race that is her life, Sharla Baker does not think about politics very much. — She rises early, drives to the gas station to buy coffee, feeds her baby, dresses her two other children …
Vicki Needham / The Hill:
Economy adds 164K jobs in April, unemployment lowest since 2000 — The U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in April, a modest number which was less than expected as the nation's labor market maintains a steady pace of growth. — The unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent, the lowest level since December 2000 …
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Blankenship goes after McConnell's ‘China family’ in new ad — West Virginia GOP Senate hopeful Don Blankenship is amping up his racial attacks on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with a new ad declaring, “Swamp captain Mitch McConnell has created millions of jobs for China people.”
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, VICE News, Townhall and Joe.My.God.
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J. Lester Feder / BuzzFeed:
Facebook Targets Major White Nationalist Group In France — Facebook closed some pages of the group Generation Identity, best known for trying to stop immigrants from crossing the Mediterranean last summer. — Facebook has targeted one of the major white nationalist groups in France …
Rep. Louie Gohmert / LifeZette:
40 Questions Special Counsel Robert Mueller Needs to Answer Now — A Republican lawmaker contends the prosecutor has a lot to explain about his present job and prior posts as well — A firestorm was ignited earlier this week when The New York Times published a list of 40 questions …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Instapundit and The Nation
Ashley Feinberg / HuffPost:
Leak: The Atlantic Had A Meeting About Kevin Williamson. It Was A Liberal Self-Reckoning. — In a staff meeting, Jeffrey Goldberg and Ta-Nehisi Coates discussed the hiring and firing of a conservative writer. But it wound up being about a lot more than that.
Discussion:
The American Conservative and Mediaite
New York Times:
No 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, Panel Says Amid Sexual Abuse Scandal — STOCKHOLM — The Swedish panel that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature said on Friday that it would take the extraordinary step of not naming a laureate this year — not because of a shortage of deserving writers …
Discussion:
Politico and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »
David French / National Review:
An Open Letter to Trump's Evangelical Defenders — A Christian's primary purpose is not to defend his own religious liberty. It's not even to fight abortion — as vital as that task is. His basic task on this Earth isn't protecting Christian education or preserving the freedom of Christian artists.
The Texas Tribune:
Hysteria over Jade Helm exercise in Texas was fueled by Russians, former CIA director says — Gov. Greg Abbott's decision in 2015 to ask the Texas State Guard to monitor a federal military exercise prompted significant criticism. A former CIA director said Wednesday that the move emboldened Russians to next target elections.
Discussion:
The Week, Balloon Juice, The Daily Beast, Snopes.com, The Guardian, ThinkProgress and Off the Kuff
Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Alan Dershowitz Hired as Harvey Weinstein Consultant — The Harvard Law professor is helping the embattled movie mogul get “exclupatory” emails from The Weinstein Co. — Alan Dershowitz may not want to jump aboard Donald Trump's legal team, but apparently, he has no qualms with advising Harvey Weinstein's legal team.
Discussion:
Deadline, Raw Story, Splinter, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Mediaite
Avery Anapol / The Hill:
Detroit radio station boycotting Kanye West music after controversial comments — A hip-hop and R&B radio station in Detroit has decided to stop playing Kanye West's music after the rapper's controversial remarks about slavery. — On-air DJs BIGG and Shay Shay at Detroit's 105.1 …
Discussion:
Detroit Metro Times, The Daily Caller and 105.1 The Bounce, more at Mediagazer »
Reuel Marc Gerecht / The Atlantic:
The Iran Deal Is Strategically and Morally Absurd — Editor's Note: This article is part of a debate about whether to stay in the Iran deal. Read the other entries here. — It was surely Barack Obama's profound aversion to the use of American military power that so enfeebled …
Aaron Randle / Kansas City Star:
Teen ‘distraught and upset’ after KC-area IHOP server prints N-word on her receipt — A Kansas City-area IHOP restaurant has fired a server after she printed a racial slur onto a black customer's receipt. — An IHOP representative said Tuesday that the server is black as well.
Discussion:
The Root, Atlanta Black Star and Raw Story
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