Top Items:
Paul Wood / BBC:
Trump lawyer ‘paid by Ukraine’ to arrange White House talks — Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to fix talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump, according to sources in Kiev close to those involved.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Washington Press, Splinter, Axios, IJR, Spectator USA, Mediaite, VICE News, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., Hot Air, Daily Kos, CNBC and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Matt Apuzzo / New York Times:
Jared Kushner Gets Security Clearance, Ending Swirl of Questions Over Delay — WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and adviser, has been granted his permanent security clearance, a person briefed on the matter said on Wednesday, ending a period of uncertainty …
Discussion:
CNN, The Hill, Politico, ABC News, Axios, Breitbart, New York Magazine, RedState, Daily Kos, Raw Story, infowars.com, Shakesville, Political Wire, Mediaite, HuffPost, The Slot, The Week, AOL and Daily Caller News Foundation
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CNN:
Kushner's security clearance restored, met with Mueller team a second time — (CNN)President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, had his White House security clearance restored Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter said, after months of uncertainty stemming …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Daily Wire, WTVR-TV, CNBC, Joe.My.God. and IJR
Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Most Americans don't realize Robert Mueller's investigation has uncovered crimes
Most Americans don't realize Robert Mueller's investigation has uncovered crimes
Discussion:
Navigator, Politico and National Review
Mackenzie Mays / Fresno Bee:
A yacht, cocaine, prostitutes: Winery partly owned by Nunes sued after fundraiser event — In 2015, Alene Anase was asked by her employer Alpha Omega Winery to serve guests as part of a charity cruise on the San Francisco Bay. — But what she expected to be a routine shift serving wine turned …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Political Wire
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David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:
Devin Nunes' fundraising explodes amid aggressive defense of Trump from Russia probe
Devin Nunes' fundraising explodes amid aggressive defense of Trump from Russia probe
Discussion:
Washington Post and Political Wire
Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
Top Senate Republicans ask White House for entry into meeting on classified information
Top Senate Republicans ask White House for entry into meeting on classified information
Discussion:
Politico, HuffPost, ThinkProgress, Lawfare and Hullabaloo
Jonathan Karl / ABC News:
White House expected to invite Democrats to DOJ briefing on classified documents
White House expected to invite Democrats to DOJ briefing on classified documents
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Politico, VICE News and Washington Post
Bob Glauber / Newsday:
Jets chairman Christopher Johnson says he'll pay anthem-related league fines for his players — Christopher Johnson says his Jets players can take a knee or perform another type of protest without fear of repercussion from the team. — ATLANTA — Despite the NFL's approval of a revised policy …
Discussion:
Axios, Hot Air, Political Wire, IJR, USA Today, ProFootballTalk, Mediaite, CBS New York, The Daily Caller and TMZ.com
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Victor Mather / New York Times:
N.F.L. Teams Will be Fined if Players Kneel During National Anthem — N.F.L. players will be allowed to stay in the locker room during the national anthem, but their teams will be fined by the league if they go onto the field and kneel, according to new rules adopted by owners on Wednesday …
Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
New York Jets chairman, brother of Trump ambassador, says he'll pay fines for team players who protest during anthem
New York Jets chairman, brother of Trump ambassador, says he'll pay fines for team players who protest during anthem
Discussion:
Joe.My.God., Mediaite and USA Today
Sopan Deb / New York Times:
We Sat Down With the ‘Arrested Development’ Cast. It Got Raw. — We Talked to the ‘Arrested Development’ Cast. It Got Raw. — In a wide-ranging conversation about the new season, cast members got emotional as they discussed accusations of sexual misconduct against Jeffrey Tambor.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, The Week and IndieWire
Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:
In reversal, Giuliani now says Trump should do interview with Mueller team — President Trump's lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani switched gears Wednesday, saying that he would prefer the president grant an interview to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's office and that a decision would be made within “the next couple weeks.”
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Press, Daily Kos, Axios, Wall Street Journal, The Week, Political Wire, IJR, New York Magazine and Mediaite
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Niall Stanage / The Hill:
Exclusive: Bannon says Rosenstein could be fired ‘very shortly’ — 's former chief strategist Stephen Bannon predicts that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — could be fired “very shortly,” in an interview that will be broadcast Wednesday evening in the United Kingdom.
Discussion:
BBC, The Daily Caller and Washington Times
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Giuliani Says The Decision On A Trump Interview With Mueller Will Wait Until “The Facts Are In” On Trump's Spy Claims
Giuliani Says The Decision On A Trump Interview With Mueller Will Wait Until “The Facts Are In” On Trump's Spy Claims
Discussion:
Politico, USA Today, CNN, The Week and The Guardian
Kevin Poulsen / The Daily Beast:
Exclusive: FBI Seizes Control of Russian Botnet … FBI agents armed with a court order have seized control of a key server in the Kremlin's global botnet of 500,000 hacked routers, The Daily Beast has learned. The move positions the bureau to build a comprehensive list of victims of the attack …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Raw Story and Talos Blog, more at Techmeme »
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump's FBI Spy Theory Is Completely Insane — In the face of widening evidence of Trump campaign culpability in the Russia investigation, Republicans have churned through a frequently mutating series of conspiracy theories to defend him. The latest, and possibly final, such theory …
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Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Trump is spinning desperately to distract from his corruption. Democrats should say so.
Trump is spinning desperately to distract from his corruption. Democrats should say so.
Discussion:
McClatchy Washington Bureau, RedState, NBC News, infowars.com and ABC News
Steven Shepard / Politico:
Poll: Trump reelection bid begins in a hole
Poll: Trump reelection bid begins in a hole
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Vox, ABC News, Breitbart, Political Wire and Axios
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Garrett in turmoil, might quit Congress — Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) has abruptly parted ways with his chief of staff and is considering not seeking reelection in November, according to three people familiar with the matter. — Garrett, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus …
Discussion:
Roll Call
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Mueller moves to sentence Papadopoulos, signaling key step — The filing moves towards a sentencing for former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. — A court filing Wednesday from special counsel Robert Mueller's office may be a signal that his investigation …
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James Hill / ABC News:
Mueller moves to prepare Papadopoulos for sentencing
Mueller moves to prepare Papadopoulos for sentencing
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
CNBC:
Trump can't block Twitter followers, federal judge says — President Donald Trump cannot block users on his Twitter feed, a federal judge in New York City ruled Wednesday. — The suit was filed in July 2017 by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University …
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Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Weighs New Tariffs on Imported Vehicles — White House has discussed plans for such tariffs with industry officials — WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is considering a plan that would impose new tariffs on imported vehicles on national-security grounds …
Discussion:
Toronto Star and Instapundit
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Yascha Mounk / Slate:
The Conversations We Need to Have — With every dispiriting headline and each passing day, the full scale of the Trump administration's corruption and lawlessness is coming into a less forgiving view. And yet it is now becoming obvious that many Americans have ceased to see what is going …
Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:
Senator Jeff Flake to Harvard Law Grads: Trump ‘Debased’ Presidency … In highly charged and notably ominous terms, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) on Wednesday laid bare his fears about the damage Donald Trump was inflicting on the office he holds, and called out his fellow Republicans for lacking the spine to fight to it.
Discussion:
Washington Press and Political Wire
The Daily Beast:
Exclusive: U.S. Government Can't Get Controversial Kaspersky Lab Software Off Its Networks … Federal agencies are so far unable to comply with a law banning Kaspersky Lab software from U.S. government networks by October, The Daily Beast has learned. Multiple divisions of the U.S. government …
Discussion:
Sputnik International and archive.fo, more at Techmeme »
Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:
America's Version of Capitalism Is Incompatible With Democracy — American democracy is unwell; on this much, President Trump's detractors can agree. — But when they turn to the tasks of identifying our republic's symptoms, naming its illness, and writing a prescription, different factions of …
Aaron Katersky / ABC News:
Families of Sandy Hook victims, FBI agent file defamation lawsuit against right-wing radio host Alex Jones — Six families of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the scene, filed a defamation lawsuit today …
Discussion:
The Resurgent and NY State of Politics
Jason Samenow / Washington Post:
NASA head Jim Bridenstine, once doubtful, confirms he believes humans are the leading cause of climate change — NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who previously questioned whether humans are primarily responsible for climate change, left no doubt Wednesday that his position has changed.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
David Carnoy / CNET:
Would you wear this muzzle around the office for private calling? — A new accessory called Bloxvox muffles your phone conversations in an open office. Just don't share it. — Enlarge Image — Back in January of 2017 I discovered a product at CES called HushMe that I described as …
Discussion:
Gizmodo
Mark Leibovich / New York Times:
The Risky Business of Speaking for President Trump — Flacks in this White House press office are getting enormous exposure — but potentially at a long-term cost to their credibility. — It was getting late on a Wednesday, and by 2018 standards the evening's news cycle felt almost serene.
Discussion:
HuffPost, The Atlantic, Politico and Splinter, more at Mediagazer »
CNNMoney:
EPA again blocks journalists from attending summit: 'They ain't doing the CNN stuff' — Journalists blocked from EPA event — The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday barred journalists for the second consecutive day from attending a national summit focused on water contaminants …
Discussion:
Politico, Mediaite and Snopes.com, more at Mediagazer »
Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:
Three women accuse Iowa governor candidate Nate Boulton of sexual misconduct — Three women have accused Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Nate Boulton of inappropriate sexual conduct. — One woman told the Des Moines Register that Boulton, now 38, repeatedly grabbed her buttocks at a bar in 2015.
Washington Post:
In an internal memo, the White House considered whether to simply ‘ignore’ federal climate research — White House officials last year weighed whether to simply “ignore” climate studies produced by government scientists or to instead develop “a coherent, fact-based message about climate science …
Discussion:
Mother Jones
Julia Reinstein / BuzzFeed:
That Viral “Odyssey” Post About Coachella Was Actually By A 28-Year-Old Man Who Catfished His Way Into The Site — Meet the real “Kaycie Allen.” — If you were on Twitter on April 22, you might remember this article. — “Sorry Not Sorry, My Parents Paid For My Coachella Trip,” …
Sharyl Attkisson / The Hill:
8 signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump's campaign — illegally conspired with Russia and was so good at covering it up he's managed to outwit our best intel and media minds who've searched for irrefutable evidence for two years. (We still await special counsel Robert Mueller
Discussion:
Mediaite, Breitbart, 105.9 FM and AM 630, The Rush Limbaugh Show and Sharyl Attkisson
Max Boot / Washington Post:
Trump is inflicting long-term damage on the U.S.-Israel alliance — By Max Boot Columnist May 23 at 4:06 PM Email the author Follow MaxBoot — I supported President Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem because that has always been Israel's capital, and I wasn't worried …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Outside the Beltway and Breitbart
Sean McElwee / New York Times:
The Rising Racial Liberalism of Democratic Voters — In response to both the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and the backlash in favor of Donald Trump in 2016, analysts and commentators have focused mostly on racial attitudes on the right. Both scholarship and journalistic accounts …
Gordon G. Chang / The Daily Beast:
Trump Blames China's Xi Jinping for Sabotaging the Kim Jong Un Summit … President Donald Trump met his South Korean counterpart in the White House on Tuesday, publicly acknowledged his planned summit with Kim Jong Un may never take place, and called out China's ruler for sabotaging the denuclearization process.
Discussion:
Politico, The White House, Breitbart, One America News Network, The Atlantic, Townhall and Washington Post
Kevin Baron / Defense One:
No Joke: Top Special Ops Commander Says No Offense Intended, Lauds Press — 'I don't condone that kind of violence' Gen. Raymond ‘Tony’ Thomas said in an exclusive interview, one day after joking about pretending to shoot at the press. — TAMPA - The commander of U.S. Special Operations Command …