memeorandum: A Cheat Sheet to the Trump Circus (Quinta Jurecic/New York Times)

5:30 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.

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

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

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

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

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, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Forbes, The Nation, NY State of Politics, The Root, WQAD-TV, Joe.My.God., KTLA, Splinter and Fox News

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

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, 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

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, Fox News Insider, 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, CNBC, KTLA, CBS 4, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, TheBlaze, NTK Network and CANNONFIRE

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, VICE News and Washington Free Beacon

Quinta Jurecic / New York Times:
A Cheat Sheet to the Trump Circus

Discussion: Just Security, The Guardian and National Review

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: America's Voice and Immigration Impact

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: Common Dreams, America's Voice and Rewire.News

Associated Press:
US poised to end Hondurans' special immigration status

Discussion: Politico

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

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Axios, Daily Kos and The Guardian

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, Daily Wire, IJR 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

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.

Matt Viser / BostonGlobe.com:

Kerry quietly seeking to salvage Iran deal he helped craft — WASHINGTON — John Kerry's bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office …

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

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

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

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

Allan Smith / Business Insider:

The Trump Organization just quietly announced it's collecting sales tax in a new state — weeks after Trump savaged Amazon over its policies — The update comes after President Donald Trump has attacked Amazon over the issue of sales tax collection. — The Trump Organization quietly updated …

Discussion: Politico

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