memeorandum: Trump thinks he's saving trade. The rest of the world thinks he's blowing it up. (Washington Post)

9:45 AM ET, June 3, 2018

Top Items:

Trump's Lawyers, in Confidential Memo, Argue to Head off a Historic Subpoena — WASHINGTON — President Trump's lawyers have for months quietly waged a campaign to keep the special counsel from trying to force him to answer questions in the investigation into whether he obstructed justice …

Katherine Faulders / ABC News:

Giuliani threatens legal battle with Mueller over subpoena — The president's lawyer Rudy Giuliani threatened a legal battle with special counsel Robert Mueller if he attempts to subpoena Donald Trump. — “If Mueller tries to subpoena us, we're going to court,” Giuliani told ABC News.

Discussion: Washington Press, New York Times, Hullabaloo, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, Florida Politics, Mediaite and POLITICUSUSA

New York Times:

The Trump Lawyers' Confidential Memo to Mueller, Explained — The Times obtained copies of a confidential letter sent by President Trump's lawyers to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Reporters added context in annotations. Below it is another letter from the president's lawyers sent last summer.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Press, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Beast, emptywheel, POLITICUSUSA, IJR, Mediaite, Joe.My.God. and Raw Story

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Constitutional Crisis Is Already Underway — For most of Donald Trump's presidency, the specter of a coming Constitutional crisis has loomed over the Russia investigation. The newly leaked memo by Trump's lawyers, obtained by the New York Times, suggests that such a crisis is not merely a likelihood …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Washington Press

Morgan Winsor / ABC News:

President Trump ‘probably does’ have the power to pardon himself: Giuliani — President Trump's lead attorney said the president “probably does” have the power to pardon himself. — Rudy Giuliani was discussing with ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” …

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Marshall Cohen / CNN:

Trump lawyers say he ‘dictated’ statement on Trump Tower meeting, contradicting past denials — (CNN)In a confidential letter to special counsel Robert Mueller in January, President Donald Trump's legal team acknowledged for the first time that Trump “dictated” the first misleading statement put …

Discussion: Joe.My.God., The Week, HuffPost, emptywheel and Axios

David Corn / Mother Jones:
Why the Bombshell Trump Letter Could Be a Big Problem for Donald Trump Jr.

Discussion: Daily Kos, New York Times and Balloon Juice

Quinta Jurecic / Lawfare:
Documents: Letters to Special Counsel Robert Mueller from the Trump Legal Team

Discussion: New York Times

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:
In newly revealed memo, Trump asserts absolute power over Russia probe

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Press and The Gateway Pundit

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Obama - Just Too Good for Us — WASHINGTON — It was a moment of peak Spock. — Hours after the globe-rattling election of a man whom Barack Obama has total disdain for, a toon who would take a chain saw to the former president's legacy on policy and decency, Obama sent a message …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Penguin Random House

Roger Kimball / American Greatness:

A Clueless “Final Year” — Remember the Duck Rabbit? That's the famous image that, seen one way, looks like a duck but, seen from another angle, looks like a rabbit. The image has provided fodder for children's books and also philosophers, its inherent ambiguity being catnip to both light fancy and epistemological lucubration.

Washington Post:

Trump thinks he's saving trade. The rest of the world thinks he's blowing it up. — President Trump appears prepared to unravel 70 years of painstaking effort that the United States has led to build an international system of trade based on mutually accepted rules and principles.

Joshua Zumbrun / Wall Street Journal: G-7 Members Condemn U.S. Trade Actions

Sylvan Lane / The Hill:
Trump's economy faces new threats ahead of midterms

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Lauren Meier / Axios:
Under cloud of tariffs, a U.S. trade delegation arrives in Beijing

Discussion: xinhuanet.com, Associated Press and One America News Network

Kansas City Star:

This ‘replica’ in the jeep next to Kobach stunned some onlookers at Shawnee parade — Kris Kobach made his way through a parade in Johnson County Saturday morning, waving from an American flag colored jeep with a large gun mounted in back. — The sight of Kobach, a Republican candidate …

Discussion: Associated Press

Mike Shoro / Las Vegas Review-Journal:

2 tourists stabbed to death at Circus Circus in Las Vegas — The Circus Circus is seen in Las Vegas, Friday, June 1, 2018. Las Vegas police are investigating the deaths of two people inside a Circus Circus hotel room Friday evening. Chitose Suzuki Las Vegas Review-Journal @chitosephoto

Discussion: WHNT-TV, Breitbart and Nevada - FOX5 Vegas

Doree Lewak / New York Post:

Dating columnist reveals how ‘Sex and the City’ ruined her life — “Sex and the City” premiered on HBO 20 years ago this week, imprinting on a generation of women a love of fantastic fashion and dreams of their own Mr. Big. Among them was Julia Allison, who moved to New York in the early 2000s to live the Carrie Bradshaw lifestyle.

Rick Klein / ABC News:

ANALYSIS: California's ‘jungle primary’ has unintended consequences for Democrats — It was billed as a remedy for the plague of partisanship, a sweeping change to how politicians are elected that would encourage more inclusive politics in the nation's largest state - and maybe hasten an end to gridlock altogether.

Discussion: Politico

Ben Rhodes / The Atlantic:

Inside the White House During the Syrian ‘Red Line’ Crisis — In the course of a presidency, a U.S. president says millions of words in public. You never know which of them end up cementing a certain impression. For Barack Obama, one of those phrases would be “red line.”