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4:25 PM ET, May 30, 2018

Top Items:

Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:

On Fox News of all places, Trump's ‘spy’ claim is debunked by Trey Gowdy and even Judge Napolitano — President Trump has made it clear he likes what he hears on Fox News. The network often covers the president favorably, bringing on conservative commentators that push the president's agenda and …

Discussion: Above the Law, CBS News, RealClearPolitics, Washington Monthly, Fox News Insider, Joe.My.God., CNBC, Daily Wire, Shakesville, MSNBC, Mother Jones, The Week, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, ABC News, IJR, The Root, VICE News, The Guardian, Breitbart and CNN

S.V. Date / HuffPost:

Giuliani Says He Might Have Recused Himself From Russia Probe Too — The president's lawyer said he understands Trump's frustration but Sessions' recusal is defensible. — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani said that he can fully understand why Attorney General …

Discussion: RedState, Political Wire, Wall Street Journal, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, Law & Crime and The Gateway Pundit

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Being Jeff Sessions — Think of the job that you dreamed you could have when you grew up. Think of going through your whole life — and in an extraordinary twist of fate and luck and with a smart move — and, finally, that job will be the capstone to your career.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Paste and Splinter

New York Times:

Trump Asked Sessions to Retain Control of Russia Inquiry After His Recusal — WASHINGTON — By the time Attorney General Jeff Sessions arrived at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort for dinner one Saturday evening in March 2017, he had been receiving the presidential silent treatment for two days.

ANNE FLAHERTY / Associated Press:
Gowdy disputes Trump's ‘spy’ claim, says FBI acted properly

Discussion: Townhall

Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
Top Republicans dismiss President Trump's ‘Spygate’ claims

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Beast and Taylor Marsh

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump again expresses regret for choosing Jeff Sessions as attorney general

Discussion: Washington Monthly, WHNT-TV, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune, Politico, CNBC and Sean Hannity

Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:

Keeping Up with the Kushners: With Jared Back on Top, Kim Kardashian Heads to the White House — Months of talks between Jared Kushner and Kim Kardashian is set to culminate in a meeting with President Trump, in which the reality-TV star will ask him to pardon a 62-year-old great-grandmother serving …

Discussion: Vox, ABC News, CNN, New Republic, New York Magazine, Quartz, National Review, Big Think, RedState, Glamour, Breitbart, IJR, The Week, Daily Wire, VICE News, AOL, Washington Times, Mediaite, KTLA, CBS Pittsburgh, The Root and NTK Network

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Ivanka Trump Abruptly Leaves Call After Question About China Trademarks — Ivanka Trump abruptly left a conference call on Tuesday about a coming fitness event after receiving questions about her company's trademarks in China and her father's exercise regimen.

Discussion: CBS News, Racked, Sputnik International, The Week, Political Wire, Daily Kos, CNBC and New York Magazine

The Daily Beast:

Trump Aides Brutally Turn on Each Other in War on Leaks … Not long after news broke that White House communications aide Kelly Sadler had made a flippant comment about Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) impending death from brain cancer, President Donald Trump gathered a small group of staffers in the Oval Office.

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico, Mediaite and Spectator USA

Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Trump's weight-loss regimen: fish and half a bun

Discussion: The Week and Joe.My.God.

Associated Press:
Kardashian West en route to White House

Discussion: Politico

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Former Trump Aide Michael Caputo Wants to Give Roseanne Reboot a New Home … Less than 24 hours after the “Roseanne” reboot was canceled, former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo began plotting ways to get her back on air. — Caputo is the chief marketing officer of an online streaming …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Ringer and Glamour

Roxane Gay / New York Times:

‘Roseanne’ Is Gone, but the Culture That Gave Her a Show Isn't — On Twitter on Tuesday, Roseanne Barr wrote that if “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby =vj.” The message referred to President Barack Obama's former senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, and in it Ms. Barr traded …

Discussion: The Atlantic, The Hill, Breitbart, The Guardian and RedState

Reuters:

Roseanne Barr blames sleep aid Ambien for racist tweet — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. comedian Roseanne Barr said she was tired of “being attacked and belittled” and blamed sleep aid Ambien for her tweet that compared a black former Obama administration official to an ape, a racist remark that sparked a wave of outrage.

Discussion: Axios, Althouse, alicublog, Townhall, Boing Boing and The Daily Caller

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Canceling ‘Roseanne’ has everything to do with race and media in Trump-era America

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Beast and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Joe Concha / The Hill:
Conservatives see double-standard on Roseanne, cite Olbermann, Joy Reid

Discussion: Metro.co.uk, Washington Post, BuzzFeed and Daily Wire

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Drugmaker to Roseanne Barr: ‘Racism is not a known side effect’ of Ambien

Discussion: Politico, CANNONFIRE and Althouse

Lynette Rice / EW.com:
Disney chief called Valerie Jarrett before ABC canceled Roseanne

Discussion: CNNMoney, CNN, HuffPost, Q13 FOX News, IJR, Washington Free Beacon and Splinter

BBC:

Arkady Babchenko: ‘Murdered’ Russian journalist is alive — Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, widely reported to have been assassinated in Kiev on Tuesday, has turned up alive at a press conference. — In an extraordinary development, the high-profile critic of the Kremlin appeared live on Ukrainian TV.

Discussion: CNN, NPR and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:

The Latest: Ukraine faked death of Russian journalist — MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on the reported slaying in Ukraine of a Russian journalist: (all times local): — Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who had been reported shot and killed in the Ukrainian capital Tuesday, has shown up at a news conference very much alive.

Discussion: CNN, Telegraph, Breitbart, The Week, VICE News, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Mother Jones, Committee to Protect …, Meduza.io and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Stagiaire-Europe / Reporters Without Borders:
Nothing justifies faking journalist's murder in Kiev, RSF says

more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press: 'I'm alive': Russian reporter, Ukraine police faked killing

Summer Concepcion / Associated Press:
Reportedly Killed Russian Journalist Appears At News Conference In Ukraine

Discussion: National Review and Balloon Juice

Tom Winter / NBC News:

Prosecutors in Michael Cohen case piecing together shredded documents from raid — Federal prosecutors sorting through materials seized from Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, said Wednesday they needed more time to piece together the contents of a shredder taken in an FBI raid.

Discussion: MSNBC

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Judge sets endpoint for review of seized Cohen files, rebukes Avenatti's ‘publicity tour’

Discussion: ABC News, VICE News, Law & Crime, Shakesville, Paste, Political Wire, Boing Boing, Axios, Talking Points Memo, Palmer Report and Politico

Laura Nahmias / Politico:
Michael Cohen's lawyers accuse Avenatti of ‘reckless and improper’ behavior

Discussion: ABC News

Michael Crowley / Politico:

The White House Official Trump Says Doesn't Exist — Meet Matthew Pottinger, the former journalist who became the president's top Asia hand. — Matthew Pottinger must have been surprised to learn that he doesn't exist. As the top official for Asia on President Donald Trump's National Security Council …

Discussion: One America News Network

Tara Palmeri / ABC News:
Top US diplomat for Asia on ropes ahead of North Korea summit

Discussion: The American Conservative

Victor Skinner / The American Mirror:
Elizabeth Warren praises communist China ‘long-term whole-of-government’ strategy

Discussion: Breitbart, Daily Wire, Sean Hannity, Townhall and twitchy.com

New York Times:

Big Banks to Get Reprieve from Volcker Rule — Big banks are getting a big reprieve from a post-crisis rule aimed at curbing risky behavior on Wall Street. — Federal bank regulators on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping plan to soften the Volcker Rule, opening the door for banks to resume …

Discussion: Axios and Mother Jones

John DiStaso / WMUR:

Exhaustive investigation reveals little evidence of possible voter fraud in NH — Secretary of state office, attorney general's office present data to state Ballot Law Commission — HIDE TRANSCRIPT SHOW TRANSCRIPT — CONCORD, N.H. — An exhaustive review by state election officials …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Cgilman / ClickHole:

More Bad Press For Elon: The Car Elon Musk Launched Into Orbit Has Fallen Back Down To Earth And Crushed Malala Yousafzai — After going on a petulant Twitter tirade against the media that was applauded by anti-Semites and after facing months of scrutiny on his failing businesses …

Alice Ollstein / Talking Points Memo:

BREAKING: Virginia Senate Votes To Expand Medicaid, Setting Up Final Passage — After years of political battles and weeks of procedural delays, the Virginia State Senate voted 23 to 17 Wednesday afternoon to expand Medicaid to cover between 300,000 and 400,000 more low-income residents.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Virginia's state Senate just voted to expand Medicaid

Discussion: Politico and New Republic

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

The Polls Are All Right — With the 2018 midterm elections approaching, we've updated FiveThirtyEight's pollster ratings for the first time since the 2016 presidential primaries. Based on how the media portrayed the polls after President Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton later that year …

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Senate Intelligence Committee Now Wants to Grill Roger Stone … The Senate intelligence committee has asked to interview Roger Stone, Donald Trump's longtime political adviser and self-described dirty trickster. — Stone's lawyer, Grant Smith, told The Daily Beast that the committee …

Discussion: Paste

James Cusick / openDemocracy:

The law has changed — To ensure you receive openDemocracy email updates you must opt-in. It takes one second, just add your email and click here. Thank you. — George Osborne's London Evening Standard sells its editorial independence to Uber, Google and others - for £3 million

more at Mediagazer »

Annie Karni / Politico:

White House silence on Melania stokes conspiracy theories — The first lady hasn't been seen in public since her release from the hospital after a routine procedure. — She's left the White House and moved back to New York City. — She's cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller.

Discussion: ABC News, IJR, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, CNN, Talking Points Memo and The Root

New York Times:

For ‘Columbiners,’ School Shootings Have a Deadly Allure — SANTA FE, Tex. — The exact reasons why a teenage gunman shot his fellow students and teachers here at Santa Fe High School remain a mystery. His model for carrying it out is more clear. — The 17-year-old junior wore …

Discussion: National Review

Elizabeth Harrington / Washington Free Beacon:

The Washington Free Beacon Interview: Scott Pruitt on Controversy, Paris, and Baseball — Introducing the Washington Free Beacon Interview with host Elizabeth Harrington! Our first guest is EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. On this episode, Pruitt addresses controversies within his agency …

Charles Davis / The Daily Beast:

What Happened to Jill Stein's Recount Millions? … Shortly after the 2016 election, Jill Stein raised more than $7 million from shell-shocked liberals eager to pursue a swing-state recount. Nearly two years later, the U.S. Green Party's last candidate for president is still spending that money.

Henry Olsen / American Greatness:

Gaslighting Themselves: Why Trump Critics Miss the Obvious — Unlike many American Greatness readers, I both know and respect Bill Kristol. But a tweet of his on Monday crystallized for me why Trump opponents often seem oblivious to the president's appeal.

Arwa Mahdawi / The Guardian:

Wearing glasses may really mean you're smarter, major study finds — It's not just a pop culture trope - a University of Edinburgh study has found intelligent people are 30% more likely to have genes related to poor eyesight — If you wear glasses I've got some good news: you may well be smarter than the average person.

Discussion: Big Think