Top Items:
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:
Mediaite, Raw Story and Political Wire
RELATED:
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:
Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Philly.com, The Daily Caller, New York Times and Political Wire
Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:
Fox's Cavuto to Trump: 'That's your stink. Mr. President, that's your swamp.' … Fox News host Neil Cavuto ripped into President Trump's trail of conflicting and false statements in a monologue on Thursday, targeting Trump for everything from the Stormy Daniels payment to his exaggerations …
Discussion:
Politico, Fox News Insider, Hullabaloo and The Daily Beast
Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:
MSNBC's Deutsch: Michael Cohen Told Me Giuliani 'Doesn't Know What He's Talking About' — MSNBC's Donny Deutsch dropped a bombshell on Morning Joe Friday, stating that said President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen told him Rudy Giuliani “doesn't know what he's talking about.”
Discussion:
Bloomberg
NBC News:
Democrats might have a better chance to flip the Senate than you think
Democrats might have a better chance to flip the Senate than you think
Discussion:
The Guardian, Daily Kos, Political Wire and Joe.My.God.
Eileen Sullivan / New York Times:
Trump Undercuts Giuliani About Payments to Stormy Daniels
Trump Undercuts Giuliani About Payments to Stormy Daniels
Discussion:
TIME, Washington Post and Vox
Niall Stanage / The Hill:
EXCLUSIVE: Giuliani calls for Sessions to ‘step in’ on Cohen investigation
EXCLUSIVE: Giuliani calls for Sessions to ‘step in’ on Cohen investigation
Discussion:
HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Politico, New York Times, Breitbart, Raw Story, IJR, Daily Wire, Washington Times, Hot Air, CNN, Mediaite, Joe.My.God., Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, emptywheel and NBC News
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Welcome To The Giuliani Phase Of The Trump Presidency
Welcome To The Giuliani Phase Of The Trump Presidency
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Politico, DCReport.org and Splinter
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.
RELATED:
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, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, Splinter, The Week, Political Wire and POLITICUSUSA
RELATED:
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, MSNBC, Associated Press, Politico, Weekly Standard, CBS News, Washington Press, Vox, Jezebel and The Week
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.
RELATED:
Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 164,000 in April, vs 192,000 jobs expected
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 164,000 in April, vs 192,000 jobs expected
Discussion:
National Review and NTK Network
Danielle Paquette / Washington Post:
Unemployment rate falls to 3.9 percent as U.S. economy adds 164,000 jobs
Unemployment rate falls to 3.9 percent as U.S. economy adds 164,000 jobs
Discussion:
New York Times and Outside the Beltway
Vicki Needham / The Hill:
Economy adds 164K jobs in April, unemployment lowest since 2000
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.
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:
Politico, MSNBC and Washington Post
RELATED:
Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump's loyal outsiders elbow Kelly out
Trump's loyal outsiders elbow Kelly out
Discussion:
The Daily Beast and Daily Kos
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:
Axios, Army Times, The Daily Caller, One America News Network, The Hill, CNN, Washington Free Beacon, Reuters, Bloomberg, New York Magazine, HuffPost, VICE News, KTLA, CNBC, Wall Street Journal and New York Post
RELATED:
Justin Miller / The Texas Observer:
How Greg Abbott Got Played by the Russians During His Jade Helm Freakout — Texas Governor Greg Abbott's willingness to pander to the manic extremism broadcast through AM radio airwaves and streamed on the margins of YouTube apparently has him playing right into the hands of Russian disinformation campaigns.
Discussion:
The Guardian
RELATED:
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
New York Times:
2018 Nobel Prize in Literature Postponed 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:
BBC, New Republic, Svenska Akademien, CNN and Washington Post, 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 …
Discussion:
Power Line
RELATED:
Ishaan Tharoor / Washington Post:
American and Iranian hard-liners await the end of the nuclear deal
American and Iranian hard-liners await the end of the nuclear deal
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, LobeLog and Crisis Group
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 …
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
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Then they came for Peppa Pig … Most Americans have never heard of Peppa Pig, the cartoon star of a British television show for preschoolers, which Chinese censors started purging from Internet apps and Chinese social media over the past week. Americans may not be bothered that an animated pig …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast
Eoin Higgins / HuffPost:
We Probed Sexual Misconduct Claims Against Journalist Al Giordano. Here's What We Found. — The reporter and activist denies accusations he sexually harassed three attendees of his School of Authentic Journalism. — Veteran journalist and liberal activist Al Giordano sexually harassed …
Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
Mueller requests 70 blank subpoenas in Manafort case — is requesting 70 blank subpoenas ahead of the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort — Mueller is making the request for the subpoenas in the Alexandria, Va., court where Manafort is facing trial on several charges, including bank fraud.
Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Listen to ‘The Daily’: The Hunt for the Golden State Killer — Paul Holes was on the verge of retirement, having never completed his decades-long mission to catch the Golden State Killer. Then he had an idea: Upload DNA evidence to a genealogy website. — On today's episode:
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 …
Marc Caputo / Politico:
Poll: Murphy leads Democratic gubernatorial primary with GOP running mate Jolly — MIAMI — Former Rep. and 2016 Senate candidate Patrick Murphy would be tied for second if he jumped into Florida's Democratic primary for governor, according to a new poll that shows he could nudge …
Discussion:
The Capitolist
Washington Post:
Analysts: Giuliani's media blitz gives investigators new leads, new evidence … Rudolph W. Giuliani's media blitz to convince the public that neither Donald Trump nor his lawyer had violated the law by paying a porn star to keep quiet about an alleged affair might have backfired …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, New York Times, Shakesville and Talking Points Memo
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
Maggie Astor / New York Times:
It Was 122.4°F This Week in Pakistan, Probably a World Record for April — Even in Pakistan, no stranger to blistering heat, the temperature on Monday stood out: 122.4 degrees Fahrenheit. — The reading came from Nawabshah, a city of 1.1 million people in southern Pakistan …
Kansas City Star:
Missouri lawmakers agree to call special session to consider Greitens' impeachment — The Missouri General Assembly has taken the historic step of calling itself back into special session to decide whether to impeach Gov. Eric Greitens. — According to the petition signed by 138 House members …
Discussion:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Political Wire and Politico
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.
New York Times:
Why Are American Troops in the Yemen War? — The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section. — The Pentagon and the Trump administration apparently have misled Americans about growing military involvement …
Discussion:
Common Dreams, middleeastmonitor.com, Just Security, VICE News and Defense One