memeorandum: Ryan offers brushback to his critics (Zach Montellaro/Politico)

1:50 PM ET, May 22, 2018

Top Items:

The Latest: EPA bars AP, CNN from summit on contaminants — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on a hearing with EPA chief Scott Pruitt on a widespread contaminant in drinking water (all times local): — The Environmental Protection Agency is barring The Associated Press …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Shakesville, The Daily Caller, ewg.org, Daily Kos, Media Matters for America and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Erica Pandey / Axios:

Guards “forcibly” prevent AP reporter from attending EPA summit — The Environmental Protection Agency blocked the AP, CNN, and E&E from attending a Tuesday morning summit featuring EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on harmful contaminants in drinking water, reports the AP.

Discussion: ABC News and Politico

Miranda Green / The Hill:
Media push back against EPA limiting reporters at chemical summit

Discussion: New Republic and CNNMoney

NBC News:
Pruitt bars AP, CNN from EPA summit on contaminants, guards push reporter out of building

Discussion: Splinter

Zach Montellaro / Politico:
Ryan offers brushback to his critics

Discussion: Sacramento Bee

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

‘Too inconvenient’: Trump goes rogue on phone security — The president has kept features at risk for hacking and resisted efforts by staff to inspect the phones he uses for tweeting. — President Donald Trump uses a White House cell phone that isn't equipped with sophisticated security features designed …

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

Trump's Email . . . Er, Cellphone, Scandal — Making the click-through worthwhile: Trump chooses to emulate one of Hillary Clinton's worst traits; a Democratic candidate with some weird beliefs down in Georgia; what to expect from the new Obama-Netflix deal; and an ugly scandal down in South Carolina's Low Country.

Discussion: The Resurgent, NewsBusters and Daily Wire

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Trump Is Doing Same Thing He Demanded Clinton Be Locked Up For — While serving as secretary of State, Hillary Clinton disregarded an instruction from the Foreign Affairs Manual directing her to use State Department equipment for day-to-day operations. Clinton almost certainly …

Associated Press:

The Latest: Trump says ‘disgrace’ if FBI spied on campaign — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the Russia investigation (all times local): — President Donald Trump says it would be a “disgrace” to the country if it's shown that the FBI had “spies in my campaign.”

Discussion: Politico, Breitbart and ABC News

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Donald Trump Wants You to Hate Robert Mueller, Too

Discussion: CNN, Vox, Politico and Washington Post

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill: Mystery in Mueller probe: Where's the hacking indictment?

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Mark Penn, Ex-Clinton Aide, Dismisses Mueller Inquiry, and the Clintons Along With It

Discussion: Axios, Raw Story, Fox News Insider, Washington Times, infowars.com, The Hill and Scared Monkeys

Jordyn Phelps / ABC News:
White House pushes back on report that Trump's cell phones not secure

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Meet Mueller's new spokesman: Rudy Giuliani

Discussion: Just Security, New York Times, Slate, Splinter, Washington Post and Daily Kos

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Jimmy Carter: Trump Has a Shot At a Nobel Prize — President Jimmy Carter believes that under Trump, democracy is threatened and moral leadership is lacking. But if Korea goes well, he says there could be a Nobel Prize in Trump's future. … LYNCHBURG, Va. — Jimmy Carter thinks Donald Trump …

Discussion: ABC News, CNN, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Associated Press:

Can the ‘dealmaker’ president deliver on North Korea? — Weeks before his planned North Korea summit, President Donald Trump is staring down a dealmaker's worst nightmare: overpromising and under-delivering. — As the Singapore meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un draws near …

Discussion: Axios, One America News Network and Just Security

Axios:

3 factors behind Trump's cave on his China trade war — Who knows how the chest-bumping over China ends. But for now, President Trump's anti-China advisers are right: The president is buckling on his threats to punish China with fundamental, lasting changes to trade tariffs and rules.

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg, Breitbart, BloombergQuint, Washington Post, One America News Network and ABC News

Axios:
Trump says summit with Kim Jong-un may not go ahead as planned

Discussion: Political Wire and Vox

Yonhap News Agency:
N. Korea-U.S. summit will be held as scheduled despite tensions: Seoul official

Discussion: ABC News and Breitbart

Annie Linskey / BostonGlobe.com:

Trump's tweets include grammatical errors. And some are on purpose — WASHINGTON — The hallmark of President Trump's Twitter feed is that it sounds like him — grammatical miscues and all. — But it's not always Trump tapping out a Tweet, even when it sounds like his voice.

Discussion: New York Magazine, IJR, MSNBC, Joe.My.God., Mashable, The Week, Talking Points Memo, twitchy.com and Mediaite

Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:

U.S. Moves to Shutter All Iranian Nuclear Enrichment Sites in Major Reversal of Obama Policy — Pompeo call to kill Iran's nuclear program gaining traction — The Trump administration, in a major reversal of Obama administration policy, is seeking to shutter every Iranian nuclear enrichment site …

Suzanne Maloney / Brookings:
The Trump administration's Plan B on Iran is no plan at all

Discussion: CNBC, The American Conservative, The Daily Signal and Hit & Run

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Feds Seized a Fortune From #Resistance Icons Accused of Boosting Online ‘Ponzi Schemes’ … In late 2016, federal agents showed up at the Fort Myers, Florida, homes of brothers Brian and Edward Krassenstein, seizing computers and financial records, and hauling off with “at least 20 to 30 bundles of stuff.”

Amber Ferguson / Washington Post:

Proud mom orders ‘Summa Cum Laude’ cake online. Publix censors it: Summa ... Laude. — Saturday was Jacob Koscinski's big day. His whole family, many from out of town, saw the Charleston, S.C., student graduate from his Christian-based home-school program with a 4.89 grade-point average and the coveted honor of summa cum laude.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, WHNT-TV, Eater, Mashable, Althouse, WGN-TV and The Root

Amanda Macias / CNBC:

Putin claimed a new nuclear-powered missile had unlimited range — but it flew only 22 miles in its most successful test yet — Russian President Vladimir Putin bragged that a new nuclear-powered missile had unlimited range, but it has yet to perform a successful test …

Discussion: RedState and Washington Free Beacon

Alec Luhn / Telegraph: Putin's ‘unlimited range’ nuclear missile crashed after 22 miles, US intelligence sources claim

Associated Press:

The princes, the president and the fortune seekers — WASHINGTON (AP) — After a year spent carefully cultivating two princes from the Arabian Peninsula, Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, thought he was finally close to nailing more than $1 billion in business.

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., The Daily Beast, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jamal Khashoggi / Washington Post:
Saudi Arabia's reformers now face a terrible choice

Discussion: The American Conservative

New York Times:

Chances of China Trade Win Undercut by Trump Team Infighting — WASHINGTON — By the time American negotiators wrapped up high-level talks with a visiting Chinese delegation last week, President Trump's ambitions for a multibillion-dollar trade agreement had, for the time being …

Discussion: The Week, CNBC, Engadget, Washington Post, Vox, MSNBC and The Daily Caller

Greg Ip / Wall Street Journal:
In Trade War With U.S., China Gets the Upper Hand

Discussion: Breitbart and IJR

Sean Davis / The Federalist:

BREAKING: E-mails Show FBI Brass Discussed Dossier Briefing Details With CNN — New e-mails show former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was surprisingly knowledgeable about CNN's understanding of and deliberation about a dossier briefing given to Donald Trump days before CNN ever reported on the matter.

Discussion: Townhall, RedState, IJR, Fox News, Daily Wire, CANNONFIRE, The Gateway Pundit and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Wall Street Journal:

U.S., China Agree on Outline to Settle ZTE Controversy — Deal would lift the sales ban on ZTE and require the Chinese telecom giant to make significant changes to its management and board — Lingling Wei in Beijing and Bob Davis in — The U.S. and China have agreed on the broad outline …

Discussion: CNBC, Reuters, Washington Post, Politico, Axios, The Verge, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, National Review, Mediaite, New York Times, Bloomberg and Mother Jones, more at Techmeme »

Rebecca Drago / DCCC:

New DCCC Data - GOP Tax Bill Support Dropping Fast — RE: New DCCC Data - GOP Tax Bill Support Dropping Fast — Nearly six months after the Republicans passed their tax bill, public support for their signature legislative achievement - which Republicans made clear they had to sell to save …

Discussion: Shareblue Media

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The Banana States of America

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press and WTOP

David Wasserman / The Cook Political Report:

House Ratings Changes: GOP Fortunes Improve in Four Districts — After a rough start to year, House Republicans are suddenly feeling less pessimistic about their fall prospects. At the “macro” level, robust economic data and positive developments on the Korean peninsula …

Discussion: Axios, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Daily Wire and The Week

Costas Paris / Wall Street Journal:

Father of Accused Texas Shooter Believes Bullying Was Behind Rampage — Antonios Pagourtzis says 17-year-old son was a ‘good boy’ who had been ‘mistreated at school’ — The father of the 17-year-old charged with killing 10 people at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, said Monday that his son was a …

Discussion: Law & Crime

Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:

The Hard Truth at Newspapers Across America: Hedge Funds Are in Charge — From Miami to Denver, financial firms are playing a bigger role at local papers struggling to adapt in digital age — A group of journalists protesting outside the offices of a New York City hedge fund recently shined …

Jamie Lovegrove / Post and Courier:

Top South Carolina candidate refuses to quit congressional race after abuse discovery — Archie Parnell, a Democratic congressional hopeful who earned national attention after nearly winning in deep red South Carolina last year, is resisting pleas to withdraw after his campaign staff discovered …

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, The State, Politico, Washington Free Beacon, FITSNews, Roll Call, Mediaite, Splinter and The Daily Caller

Joe Jervis / Joe.My.God.:

Tony Perkins: School Shootings Happen Because Liberal Society Has Created A “Moral Vacuum” By Expelling God — Via press release from hate group leader Tony Perkins: — As the first bodies of those eight students and two teachers are laid to rest, America returns to the question burned on everyone's mind: why?

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Emily Stewart / Vox:

Harley-Davidson took its tax cut, closed a factory, and rewarded shareholders — The motorcycle maker in January told Kansas City workers it would close a plant there. Days later, it announced a nearly $700 million stock buyback plan. — In September 2017, House Speaker Paul Ryan traveled …

Discussion: Raw Story and CNNMoney

Politico:

DHS chief reignites debate over Russian election meddling findings — ‘I do believe that Russia did and will continue to try to manipulate Americans perspective on a whole variety of issues,’ Nielsen said Tuesday. — Confusion and anger briefly reigned on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning …

Discussion: The Daily Beast and MSNBC

Heather Timmons / Quartz:

An actual sinkhole has opened on the White House lawn. It's growing — Construction on the US White House began in 1792. It has been almost continuously occupied by US presidents since 1800, barring a few years after the British set it on fire in 1814. — But that doesn't mean …

NBC News:

Interior Dept. moves to allow Alaska bear hunting with doughnuts, bacon — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is moving to reverse Obama-era rules barring hunters on some public lands in Alaska from baiting brown bears with bacon and doughnuts and using spotlights to shoot mother black bears and cubs hibernating in their dens.

Discussion: The Week