memeorandum: Miami man made nearly 100 million robocalls. Now he's paying a big price. (Rob Wile/miamiherald)

2:30 PM ET, May 11, 2018

Top Items:

John Santucci / ABC News:

EXCLUSIVE: Special counsel probing donations with foreign connections to Trump inauguration — Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has questioned several witnesses about millions of dollars in donations to President Donald Trump's inauguration committee last year, including questions …

Discussion: Politico, AOL, New Century Times, Law & Crime, Raw Story and Mediaite

Alan Feuer / New York Times:

Lawyer for 2 Women Who Say They Were Schneiderman Victims Talked to Michael Cohen — A lawyer who said he was working on behalf of two women who claimed that the former New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, had “sexually victimized” them, asserted on Friday that he had discussed …

Discussion: Vox and Talking Points Memo

Bloomberg:

Trump Was Told of Schneiderman Women Years Ago, Lawyer Says — Lawyer asks judge seal Michael Cohen records to protect women — New York Post journalist said to take allegations to Trump — Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was informed about allegations of sexual misconduct …

Discussion: Political Wire, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Mediaite and Law & Crime

Tim Mak / NPR:

FBI Warned Of Russian Intelligence Links To Oligarch In Cohen Payment Allegation — The FBI warned four years ago that a foundation controlled by the Russian oligarch who allegedly reimbursed Donald Trump's personal lawyer might have been acting on behalf of Russia's intelligence services.

Discussion: Political Wire, Vox, CNN, Massively Overpowered, HuffPost and Hot Air

Reuters:

Exclusive: AT&T CEO says Cohen payments ‘big mistake,’ chief lobbyist retiring — (Reuters) - Hiring President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was a “big mistake,” AT&T Inc (T.N) Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said in an employee memo, reviewed by Reuters, that went out Friday morning.

Discussion: Above the Law, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Engadget, Raw Story, Splinter and Washington Times, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

AT&T CEO: Hiring Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was ‘a big mistake’ … AT&T made a “serious misjudgment” to seek advice from President Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson told employees in a companywide internal email Friday.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, National Review, CNNMoney, Motherboard, Bustle, NPR, New York Magazine, The Week and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Ryan Cooper / The Week:
The servile D.C. media

Discussion: YouTube, Splinter and Wall Street Journal

Grant Stern / Washington Press:
Michael Cohen just got caught making the same mistake as General Flynn

Discussion: Hot Air and Bloomberg

Chris Megerian / Los Angeles Times:
Michael Cohen knew of some abuse allegations against former New York attorney general, court filing says

Discussion: Washington Post, patribotics and Vox

CNBC:
AT&T CEO says hiring Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was a ‘big mistake’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico and STAT

NPR:

Transcript: White House Chief Of Staff John Kelly's Interview With NPR — Editor's note: This post contains language some may find offensive. — NPR's Southwest correspondent John Burnett speaks with White House chief of staff John Kelly. Here's a partial transcript of their conversation, which has been edited for clarity.

Discussion: Washington Post

New York Times:
Homeland Security Secretary Was Close to Resigning After Trump Berated Her

Richard Gonzales / NPR:
John Kelly: Despite ‘Times Of Great Frustration,’ No Regrets Taking White House Job

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run, MSNBC, Daily Kos, Daily Wire, The Guardian, Splinter, AOL, IJR, VICE News, KTLA, The Right Scoop, CNBC, Mediaite, CBS Chicago, Politico, The Week, The Daily Caller, Here & Now and Conservative News Today

Congressional Hispanic Caucus:
CHC Chair Reaction to WH Chief of Staff Comments Regarding Immigrants and Immigration

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC and Mediaite

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:
White House chief of staff demonizes immigrants in racist rant

Discussion: Washington Post, MSNBC and AOL

Washington Post:
Trump unloads on Homeland Security secretary in lengthy immigration tirade

Discussion: Vox and Balloon Juice

Colin Perkel / Canadian Press:

Ex-FBI director James Comey compares Trump to a Mafia boss at talk in Toronto — Comey, who just released his book A Higher Loyalty, also discussed the email scandal that dogged Hillary Clinton, the former Democratic presidential candidate who lost to Trump.

Jonathan Lemire / Associated Press:

Giuliani: Trump special counsel interview decision delayed — NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump and his lawyers probably won't decide whether to sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller until after the president's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month, according to the president's legal team.

NBC News:
Lawmakers weigh Plan B to protect Mueller's work

Discussion: Washington Post and MSNBC

amp.dailycaller.com: Comey Claims There Are ‘No Leaks’ Coming From Mueller Investigation

Sam Levin / The Guardian:

Black activist jailed for his Facebook posts speaks out about secret FBI surveillance — Now he is believed to be the first prosecuted under a secretive US effort to track so-called ‘black identity extremists’ — Rakem Balogun thought he was dreaming when armed agents in tactical gear stormed his apartment.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Raw Story

Ben Howe / The Daily Beast:

Dear Conservative Media: Do Some More Damn Reporting … The American political left has something that their counterparts on the right do not. — It's not a particular point of view, or a thing that is particular to a point of view. It is more foundational than that.

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:

Maggie Haberman and the Toxic Swamp — On this week's episode of my podcast, I Have to Ask, I spoke to Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for the New York Times and an analyst at CNN. She previously worked at the New York Post and Politico, has been at the Times since 2015 …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, The Political Insider and The Gateway Pundit

Olivia Solon / The Guardian:

They mock vegans and eat 4lb of steak a day: meet ‘carnivore dieters’ — For the last 18 months, Shawn Baker has eaten around 4lb of steak every day. — “I've got two rib-eye steaks waiting for me when I get off this call,” said the trained orthopaedic surgeon from Orange County, California.

Carol Morello / Washington Post:

My journey to North Korea with the secretary of state … The State Department normally craves elaborate planning and procedures for everything. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's 13-hour visit to North Korea had little of that. — I had a view of the improvisational quality of his trip because …

more at Mediagazer »

David Brooks / New York Times:
Donald Trump's Lizard Wisdom

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, Washington Monthly, The American Conservative, CNN and No More Mister Nice Blog

Michael McFaul / Washington Post:

The smear that killed the ‘reset’ — Putin needed an American enemy. He picked me. — From the beginning of the Obama administration, we knew we wanted to reboot our relationship with Moscow. I coordinated Russia policy from the National Security Council, and Russia …

Andrew Osborn / Reuters:
Russia, after Netanyahu visit, backs off Syria S-300 missile supplies

Discussion: National Review

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

How the Online Left Fuels the Right — I think I know what it feels like to be “red-pilled,” the alt-right's preferred metaphor for losing one's faith in received assumptions and turning toward ideas that once seemed dangerous. — For me, it happened over several visits to the West Bank.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hullabaloo, Washington Free Beacon and The Ringer

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

The Price of Getting Inside Trump's Head — Michael Cohen has profited from it, but we're all Trumpologists now. — On Easter Sunday, Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, was holding forth in the green room at ABC News in New York before going on the air.

Discussion: Politico

The Hill:

White House official mocked ‘dying’ McCain at internal meeting — A White House official mocked Sen. John McCain — 's brain cancer diagnosis at an internal meeting on Thursday, a day after the Arizona Republican announced his opposition to President Trump — 's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel.

Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
Meghan McCain asks how WH staffer who joked about her father's brain cancer still has a job

Discussion: RedState and Bustle

John R. Schindler / The New York Observer:

Why Did the US Ambassador to Germany Defend a Human Trafficker? — It's no secret that the Trump administration, in office for almost 16 months now, has a devilish time filling top positions. An unprecedented number of plum jobs in our nation's capital, including senior ones of the kind …

Discussion: RedState

Robert Pear / New York Times:

Trump to Drop Call for Medicare to Negotiate Lower Drug Prices — WASHINGTON — President Trump will lay out on Friday a broad strategy to reduce prescription drug prices, but in a break from one of his most popular campaign promises, he will not call for Medicare to negotiate lower prices …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Politico, Common Dreams and Mother Jones

Tim Mak / NPR:

Documents Reveal How Russian Official Courted Conservatives In U.S. Since 2009 — Kremlin-linked Russian politician Alexander Torshin traveled frequently between Moscow and various destinations in the United States to build relationships with figures on the American right starting as early as 2009 …

Discussion: Raw Story

Grant Stern / Washington Press:

A Qatari spy just got caught bragging about a payoff to Trump campaign member — A federal court filing in Los Angeles claims that agents of the nation of Qatar gave a payoff to convicted former Trump NSA, Gen. Michael Flynn, and also that he had accepted those payments.

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Loyalty, unease in Trump's Midwest — Voters gave Trump a chance. Some remain all in. Others have grown weary of the chaos. — After eight years of displeasure with the presidency of Barack Obama and faced with a choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Dennis Schminke of Austin …

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Blankenship wants to ‘make sure’ Morrisey doesn't win Senate bid — Ex-coal CEO Don Blankenship, who lost the GOP primary bid in West Virginia this week, is actively plotting how to undercut state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's Senate candidacy. — Greg Thomas, an adviser …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and Mediaite

Adam Smith / Tampa Bay Times:

Florida Insider Poll: Doubts about Bill Nelson beating Rick Scott grow — Among more than 200 experts and veterans of Florida politics surveyed in the latest Tampa Bay Times Florida Insider Poll, nearly six in 10 this week said they expect Florida's Republican governor to unseat the three-term Democratic Senator.

Discussion: National Review and Political Wire