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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:
Talking Points Memo, Axios, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Political Wire and Mediaite


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 …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, CNBC, Fox News Insider and ABC News
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Trump is spinning desperately to distract from his corruption. Democrats should say so. — THE MORNING PLUM: — This morning, President Trump uncorked a series of tweets about how the “Corrupt Deep State” has been caught in a “major SPY scandal” that could prove to be “one of the biggest political scandals in history.”

Comey Rips Trump's ‘Attacks’ on the FBI: ‘How Will Republicans Explain This to Their Grandchildren?’
Discussion:
National Review, Politico, CNN and Axios


Poll: Trump reelection bid begins in a hole — Just 36 percent say they would vote to reelect the president in 2020, compared with 44 percent who would pick the Democrat. — The 2020 presidential election is still two and a half years away, but President Donald Trump's path to a second term …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Vox, ABC News, Axios and Political Wire
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What Are They Hiding? — Americans Want Answers on Mueller Investigation, Cabinet Scandals, Congressional Oversight, and #MeToo — Welcome to NAVIGATOR — a project designed to better understand the American public's views on the issues of the day and help advocates, elected officials …
Discussion:
Vox and Political Wire


5 Key Takeaways From Tuesday's Primaries — It was a night for upsets and breakthroughs: In Georgia, a black woman was nominated for governor by a major party for the first time in any state. In Kentucky, a math teacher defeated a Republican power broker.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Refinery29, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, NBC News, WFAA-TV, CNN and Shareblue Media
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Philip Roth, the Seminal American Novelist, Has Died — Philip Roth, the seminal American novelist whose book “American Pastoral” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, in 1998, has died, at the age of eighty-five. His great subjects, as Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote in this magazine, in 2006 …
Discussion:
New York Magazine and NPR
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Philip Roth, Towering Novelist Who Explored Lust, Jewish Life and America, Dies at 85
Discussion:
Vox, Outside the Beltway, New Republic, The Week and Front Page Magazine


Trump demands housecleaning on White House communications team — Chief of staff John Kelly has signed off on a plan to dismiss mid-level and junior aides in an effort to limit leaks. — President Donald Trump has demanded changes to his communications team - long seen …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite
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Top Senate Republicans ask White House for entry into meeting on classified information
Discussion:
Lawfare, Hullabaloo and NPR


Prominent donor threatens GOP over DACA — CHICAGO — An influential, multi-millionaire GOP donor is threatening to choke off campaign resources to Republican congressmen who haven't engaged in the latest immigration battle in Congress. — Former Exelon chairman John Rowe …
Discussion:
RedState, ThinkProgress, The Hill, Shareblue Media, Daily Caller News Foundation and Splinter
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California Republicans bet the House on unknown businessman
Discussion:
FITSNews


State Department warns U.S. citizens in China after employee suffers possible sonic attack — BEIJING — The U.S. State Department is warning U.S. citizens in China that a government employee reported unusual “sensations of sound and pressure” and was later diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury …
Discussion:
New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg, NPR, U.S. Embassy & Consulates …, VICE News and Daily Caller News Foundation
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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.


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, Political Wire and archive.fo


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 …


Michael Cohen's Business Partner Agrees to Cooperate as Part of Plea Deal — A significant business partner of Michael D. Cohen, President Trump's personal lawyer, has quietly agreed to cooperate with the government as a potential witness, a development that could be used as leverage to pressure …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, National Review, NPR, Washington Post, Booman Tribune, Above the Law, Weekly Standard, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, CNBC, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Vox, Washington Press, Breitbart, Hit & Run, AOL, Axios, New York Magazine, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, The Mahablog and Joe.My.God.


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 …


Giuliani's New Stance On Russian Collusion: So What? It's Not Illegal. — “It was sort of like a gift,” Giuliani said of the Clinton campaign material stolen by Russia. “And you're not involved in the illegality of getting it.” — WASHINGTON His client insists there was “NO COLLUSION” …
Discussion:
Splinter, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal and Mediaite
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The Latest: Pompeo hopeful N. Korea talks will take place — The Latest on the United States and North Korea (all times local): — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says it is ultimately up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un whether a planned summit with President Donald Trump takes place.
Discussion:
Politico
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Trump Blames China's Xi Jinping for Sabotaging the Kim Jong Un Summit
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Washington Post and The White House


A 30-year-old demanded notice for eviction from his parents' house. ‘Outrageous,’ a judge said. — Michael Rotondo refuses to move out of his parents' house. — So much so that the 30-year-old argued for a half-hour with a judge in Upstate New York on Tuesday, saying that while he knew …
Discussion:
CNN, ABC News, IJR and Outside the Beltway
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Parents win suit to kick 30-year-old deadbeat son out of their house


N.F.L. Teams Will Be Fined for Players' Anthem Kneeling — The owners of N.F.L. teams agreed on Wednesday to a new policy for player conduct during the playing of the national anthem, an issue that escalated last season into a national debate that involved President Trump.
Discussion:
National Review, The Nation, Washington Free Beacon, CBS Los Angeles and twitchy.com


The new AG itching to take on Trump — New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has jurisdiction over 20 Trump properties and is ready to step into Eric Schneiderman's void. — The man aspiring to be the new face of the resistance is a practicing Sikh who likes to call attention to his turban …


Sources: FBI Agents Want Congress To Issue Them Subpoenas So They Can Reveal The Bureau's Dirt — Sources tell The Daily Caller several FBI agents want congressional subpoenas to testify about the agency's problems. — The sources claim there is a demand within the agency to prosecute former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
Discussion:
Breitbart, Townhall, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and Joe.My.God.


Women make up more than 40% of House Democratic nominees so far. That's a big deal. — Calling 2018 a “Year of the Woman” has become so obvious that it's almost cliché at this point, but another huge primary night for Democratic women last night makes it worth revisiting again.
Discussion:
Mother Jones and BloombergQuint


How the Mueller Investigation Could Play Out for Trump — If Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, finds evidence that Mr. Trump broke the law, he will have decisions to make about how to proceed. We explain them.


Stefan Halper is just another middleman — By David Ignatius Opinion writer May 22 at 7:21 PM Email the author Follow @ignatiuspost — In the bizarre double helix that is the Russia investigation, one of the recurring themes is the role of would-be influencers.
Discussion:
National Review and Axios


Why I can't go back to Saudi Arabia to drive for the first time with my son — Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi women's rights activist, is the author of “Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening.” — The recent arrest of women's rights activists has marred what was meant to be a history-making event …


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:
Washington Times and Political Wire


Teacher narrowly upsets Kentucky House GOP leader. A sign of things to come? — As upset teachers across Kentucky Tuesday tried to flex their political muscle, Rockcastle County High School math teacher R. Travis Brenda narrowly defeated House Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Shell …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Vox, The Daily Beast, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, HuffPost, Splinter, Axios and Political Wire


Deep in the Desert, Iran Quietly Advances Missile Technology — When an explosion nearly razed Iran's long-range missile research facility in 2011 — and killed the military scientist who ran it — many Western intelligence analysts viewed it as devastating to Tehran's technological ambitions.
Discussion:
Conservative Review


The ACLU Is Suing To Strike Down Ohio's Congressional Map — The civil liberties group says Ohio's map is so heavily gerrymandered, it violates the Constitution. — The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Ohio to strike down the state's congressional map, saying it was intentionally drawn …


S.C. community outraged by photo of county council candidate in blackface — BRANTLEY TOMLISON-USER SUBMITTED FACEBOOK.jpg — KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. (WACH) — A candidate for the Kershaw County Council is the talk of the town after a controversial photo began circulating on social media.


There is no evidence for ‘Spygate’ — but there is a reason that Trump invented it — In the grand tradition of Gretchen Wieners, President Trump has a new catchphrase that he is trying on for size. … “Spygate” made its debut on Wednesday morning during Trump's “executive time,” …
Discussion:
Fox News Insider, PolitiFact, Breitbart, CNN and twitchy.com