memeorandum: Trump imposes steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, Canada and Mexico (Washington Post)

11:10 AM ET, May 31, 2018

Top Items:

F.B.I. Official Wrote Secret Memo Fearing Trump Got a Cover Story for Comey Firing — WASHINGTON — The former acting F.B.I. director, Andrew G. McCabe, wrote a confidential memo last spring recounting a conversation that offered significant behind-the-scenes details on the firing …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Politico, Axios, POLITICUSUSA, The Guardian, IJR, Daily Kos, Law & Crime, The Week, Washington Press, NBC News, New York Magazine, CNBC, ABC News, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and MSNBC

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Playbook: Trump flubs endorsement of N.Y. congressman — DRIVING THE DAY — AT 4:46 P.M. yesterday afternoon, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP delivered REP. DAN DONOVAN (R-N.Y.) an endorsement the lawmaker had long been waiting for. Donovan is running against MICHAEL GRIMM, a former House Republican who was recently in prison.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Week

Annie Karni / Politico:

Email snafu reveals White House outreach to Obama and Clinton alumni — Recipients of a blast email were asked to ‘amplify’ Trump's policy on Iran — baffling some who have sharply disagreed with the president in public. — President Donald Trump is better known for speaking directly to his base than trying to win over his critics.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Trump bends the truth as he tries to beat back Russia probe

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News and The Week

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
Yes, the FBI Was Investigating the Trump Campaign When It Spied

Discussion: Power Line, The Intercept and Townhall

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump again insists Russia probe was not the reason he fired Comey, despite previous comments to the contrary

Discussion: CNBC and Shareblue Media

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
Trey Gowdy Didn't Even See Documents He Claims Exonerate FBI On Spygate: Reports

Discussion: Power Line, CNN, twitchy.com and ABC News

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Trump ‘spygate’ offensive loses steam

Discussion: The Week and Booman Tribune

Washington Post:

Trump imposes steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, Canada and Mexico — By Washington Post Staff May 31 at 9:43 AM — The move is certain to trigger retaliation by the E.U. against a range of American products, including Kentucky bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles …

Discussion: Axios and Political Wire

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Conservative billionaire Koch brothers' network denounces Trump's tariffs on EU, Canada and Mexico — In a statement first given to CNBC, the influential Koch network denounced the decision to implement the tariffs, urging the White House to “abandon” similar policies.

Ana Swanson / New York Times:
White House to Impose Metal Tariffs on Europe, Canada and Mexico, Risking Retaliation

Discussion: Axios

Associated Press:
US impose new trade tariffs; EU, Mexico pledge to retaliate

Discussion: Politico, One America News Network and The Daily Caller

Peter Baker / New York Times:

How Trump's Election Shook Obama: ‘What if We Were Wrong?’ — WASHINGTON — Riding in a motorcade in Lima, Peru, shortly after the 2016 election, President Barack Obama was struggling to understand Donald J. Trump's victory. — “What if we were wrong?” he asked aides riding with him in the armored presidential limousine.

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState, Power Line, Jewish Insider, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Mediaite, Washington Press, Washington Free Beacon, Law & Crime, Daily Wire, Breitbart, The Week, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com

Gregg Re / Fox News:

Obama was shell-shocked by Trump win, asked ‘What if we were wrong?,’ new book says — Trump questions where Obama was amid reports of FBI spying — President Barack Obama was veritably shell-shocked in the wake of Donald Trump's election victory in 2016, and even asked aides …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Free Beacon and IJR

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:
This HBO footage of Ben Rhodes on election night is as bad as people said it was

Discussion: Daily Wire

Emily Nussbaum / New Yorker:

“The Americans” Finale Was Elegant, Potent, and Unforgettable — Were you craving a bit more bloodshed from the finale of FX's “The Americans”? Some tooth-pulling ultraviolence, or maybe another corpse crunched into a briefcase, on the long road to Moscow? If so, you were clearly watching the wrong show.

Sonny Bunch / Washington Free Beacon:
'They'll Remember Us'

Discussion: The Ringer

CNBC:

Trump will pardon conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza, who was convicted of campaign finance violation — D'Souza pleaded guilty in 2014 to reimbursing two of his associates after directing them to contribute $10,000 each to the 2012 Senate campaign of Wendy Long.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, New Republic, Talking Points Memo, NPR and Paste

Axios:

Trump will pardon Dinesh D'Souza — President Trump announced in a Thursday morning tweet that he would issue a full pardon to controversial conservative filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, who pled guilty in 2014 to a felony charge of illegally making contributions to a California Senate campaign.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Washington Post, RedState, Townhall and Politico

Dennis Romboy / Deseret News:

Mitt Romney reveals his 2016 presidential vote — SALT LAKE CITY — Mitt Romney revealed Wednesday who he voted for in the 2016 presidential election. — His wife, Ann Romney. — “I wrote in the name of a person who I admire deeply, who I think would be an excellent president,” …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Times, IJR, NTK Network, HuffPost, CBS Boston, The Hill, fox13now.com and Shakesville

Matt Stevens / New York Times:

Jury Leaves $4 to Family of Man Killed by Sheriff's Deputy, Along With Many Questions — For more than four years, questions swirled about the shooting death of Gregory Vaughn Hill Jr. at his home in Fort Pierce, Fla. After all, there were only three witnesses to how the entire episode unfolded …

Discussion: Raw Story, Splinter and Althouse

Kyle Kondik / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

A Post-Memorial Day Status Report — Where things stand in the battles for Congress and the governorships — KEY POINTS IN THIS ARTICLE — Both Democrats and Republicans have about equal odds of winning the House majority. — Republicans remain clearly favored in the battle for Senate control.

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
California Democrats Don't Have a Reliable Farm Team

Discussion: Politico and Axios

David Weigel / Washington Post: In Southern California, Democrats play the blame game as House races loom

Abigail Hauslohner / Washington Post:

New NSC chief of staff is from group that believes Muslims are plotting to take over U.S. — The White House has named a new National Security Council chief of staff from a group that propagates the conspiracy theory that Islamists have infiltrated the U.S. government in a plot to take over the country.

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:
Bolton Installs Anti-Muslim Wingnut As NSC Chief of Staff

Discussion: MSNBC, Booman Tribune, The National Interest, Washington Monthly, CAIR, Shareblue Media, The American Conservative and Splinter

BuzzFeed:

Joy Reid Promoted An Infamous 9/11 Conspiracy Documentary On Her Old Blog — The MSNBC host, who has recently come under fire for claiming her blog was hacked, encouraged her readers to watch “Loose Change.” — MSNBC host Joy Reid encouraged readers of her now-defunct blog to watch …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, National Review, NewsBusters, Axios, twitchy.com and Mediaite

Magdaline Duncan / Politico:

Denmark bans wearing the burqa in public — Denmark is the latest European country to pass a law banning face veils, outlawing the burqa and niqab worn by some Muslim women. — Parliament voted on Thursday for the law, proposed by the center-right government, by 75 votes to 30, with 74 abstentions.

Discussion: Amnesty International UK, One America News Network and Sputnik International

Associated Press:
Denmark joins some European nations in banning burqa, niqab

Discussion: Breitbart and Clayton Cramer

JONATHAN LEMIRE, ERIC TUCKER and LISA MASCARO / Asso …:

Saving Sessions: Inside the GOP effort to protect the AG — WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after President Donald Trump deemed Jeff Sessions “beleaguered” and threatened to fire him last July, members of the president's inner circle made a desperate case to save the attorney general's job.

Discussion: Washington Post

Caitlin Dewey / Washington Post:

White America's racial resentment is the real impetus for welfare cuts, study says — White Americans are increasingly critical of the country's social safety net, a new study suggests, thanks in part to a rising tide of racial resentment. — The study, conducted by researchers …

Discussion: Berkeley News and Hullabaloo

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Mitch McConnell's record-breaking reign — The 76-year-old senator has made clear he plans to run again in 2020 and keep leading the Republican conference. — One of Mitch McConnell's toughest tasks is the daily head count he conducts of his 50-member caucus.

George F. Will / Washington Post: Mitch McConnell is winning the long game

EU Press Room:

European Commission reacts to the US restrictions on steel and aluminium affecting the EU — The US announced that starting on 1 June 2018 it will impose additional duties of 25 % and 10 % respectively on imports of steel and aluminium from the EU. — President of the European Commission …

Discussion: CNBC, EURACTIV.com and CGTN America

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

Right About Roseanne — Of course ABC and its parent company Disney were right to cancel the sitcom “Roseanne” after its eponymous star, Roseanne Barr, wrote a racist tweet. There are necessary taboos and essential decencies in every morally healthy society.

Chicago Tribune:

Illinois approves Equal Rights Amendment, 36 years after deadline — The Illinois House voted on the federal Equal Rights Amendment, more than 35 years after the deadline to ratify it passed. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) — Privacy Policy — The Illinois House voted Wednesday night …

Discussion: Chicago Sun-Times, Shareblue Media, State Journal Register, Reuters, HuffPost and The Week

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

‘I Will Never Roll on Donald Trump,’ Promises Definitely Innocent Adviser Roger Stone — Roger Stone, a longtime confidante to Donald Trump, appeared on the Alex Jones show to ask listeners to fund his legal defense. Stone's associates have been questioned by Robert Mueller's investigators …

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:

Trump Immigration Policy Veers From Abhorrent to Evil — We as a nation have crossed so many ugly lines recently, yet one new policy of President Trump's particularly haunts me. I'm speaking of the administration's tactic of seizing children from desperate refugees at the border.

Discussion: Raw Story

James Hohmann / Washington Post:

The Daily 202: Why Virginia's Medicaid expansion is a big deal — THE BIG IDEA: As Joe Biden put it a little differently when Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act eight years ago, Virginia's expansion of Medicaid on Wednesday is a big dang deal. And not just because 400,000 low-income citizens …

Discussion: New York Times, Political Wire, ACA Signups and Splinter

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Publishers From Rolling Stone to PopSugar Pool Ad Sales Efforts to Combat Tech Giants — The partnership aims to give publishers greater scale to help compete with Google and Facebook — As Facebook Inc. FB 1.08% and Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL 1.93% Google continue to dominate digital ad sales …

Marlow Stern / The Daily Beast:

Howard Stern Reveals Trump Asked Him to Speak at the Republican National Convention … In an early teaser clip of David Letterman's Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, the comedy legend sat down with another comedy giant in Howard Stern, with the two discussing President …

Scott Wong / The Hill:

Arizona governor huddles with John and Cindy McCain — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday quietly met with Sen. John McCain — (R) and his wife, Cindy, at the couple's home outside Sedona, Ariz., GOP sources in the state told The Hill. — The meeting, which was not on the governor's official schedule …

Discussion: Arizona Republic and Politico