memeorandum: As R. Kelly's career flourished, an industry overlooked allegations of abusive behavior toward young women (Geoff Edgers/Washington Post)

2:05 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: Political Wire and TIME

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: MSNBC, Shareblue Media, Hot Air, Raw Story, Mediaite, Public Pool, Political Wire and Washington Post

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: Townhall, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Philly.com, Above the Law, NBC News, Balloon Juice, Shareblue Media and Political Wire

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

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Bloomberg

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

Discussion: Faithwire, BuzzFeed and Washington Press

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

Discussion: The Guardian, MSNBC and Joe.My.God.

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:
Fox's Cavuto to Trump: 'That's your stink. Mr. President, that's your swamp.'

Discussion: RedState, Fox News Insider, Hullabaloo, The Daily Beast, Politico and Breitbart

Jeffrey Toobin / CNN: Rudy's interview and Trump's lies create a crisis

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Trump says Giuliani will ‘get his facts straight’

Discussion: RedState, Washington Monthly, Breitbart and Splinter

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God. and New Century Times

Alayna Treene / Axios:
Trump: I'd “love” to be interviewed by Mueller

Discussion: Politico and Associated Press

New York Times:
The Legal Issues Raised by the Stormy Daniels Payment, Explained

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Shareblue Media, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Above the Law

Washington Post:
Analysts: Giuliani's media blitz gives investigators new leads, new evidence

Discussion: Lawfare, The Atlantic, Shakesville and New York Times

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, The Federalist, Daily Wire and neo-neocon

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

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: CNBC and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

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

Discussion: Bloomberg and Instapundit

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: National Review, Axios and Raw Story

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

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, Politico and MSNBC

Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump's loyal outsiders elbow Kelly out

Discussion: Axios, The Daily Beast, Daily Kos and Washington Post

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 …

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

Mark Penn / The Hill:
Rod Rosenstein is not above the law

Discussion: Breitbart

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

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: Raw Story, Washington Post, Associated Press, MSNBC, CBS News, ABC News, Politico, Weekly Standard, Washington Press, Vox, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God., Jezebel, Political Wire, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Week

Washington Post:
Influential outsiders have played a key role in Scott Pruitt's foreign travel

Discussion: Politico, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, Splinter, The Week, The Guardian, CBS News, CNN, Political Wire and New York Times

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 …

Discussion: Vox, The Root, Jezebel, theGrio, The Week and Glamour

Geoff Edgers / Washington Post: As R. Kelly's career flourished, an industry overlooked allegations of abusive behavior toward young women

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 …

The Guardian: Trump set to benefit as Qatar buys $6.5m apartment in New York tower

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: The Atlantic, Svenska Akademien, BBC, New Republic, Jezebel, Althouse, CNN, Washington Post and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

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 …

Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Never mind the Nobel talk. Trump has a different mission on North Korea.

Discussion: HuffPost, Axios and KTLA

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 …

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.

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

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 …

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

Peter Doocy / Fox News:

GOP candidate's ad shows him ‘hunting terrorists’ in Iraq: ‘Faith in God, and a Hellfire missile’ — Candidates talk about bringing terrorists to justice all the time. — One Republican candidate is now providing video evidence that he's been there, done that.

Discussion: IJR and The Daily Caller

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:

Man Arrested for Illegal Guns Belongs to Neo-Nazi Group That Wants ‘Ethnostate Rape Gangs’ … Leaked online chats suggest a man arrested last month on weapons charges belonged to a hate group that seeks “ethnostate rape gangs” in their ideal, all-white fascist state.