memeorandum: Dem Senator Joe Manchin: ‘Im Open to Supporting’ Trump in 2020 (Ken Meyer/Mediaite)

5:35 PM ET, June 6, 2018

Top Items:

CNN:

Exclusive: Trump invokes War of 1812 in testy call with Trudeau over tariffs — Trudeau: No sign of US common sense prevailing — (CNN)President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a testy phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel …

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is requesting that witnesses turn in their personal phones to inspect their encrypted messaging programs — Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is asking witnesses to turn in their phones in order to access encrypted messaging applications, sources tell CNBC.

Discussion: Axios, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, Political Wire, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Daily Wire and VICE News

Associated Press:

Giuliani says Mueller's team is trying to frame Trump — JERUSALEM (AP) — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani says special counsel Robert Mueller's team is trying to frame President Trump. — Giuliani, who has been serving as Trump's lawyer amid the Russia scandal, says Wednesday in Israel …

Discussion: VICE News, What The Fuck …, MSNBC, Daily Kos and Mediaite

Paul Rosenzweig / Lawfare:

The Manafort Tampering Allegations — Special Counsel Robert Mueller has accused Paul Manafort of attempted witness tampering. If the allegations are true, Manafort will have violated the conditions of his release and might have his bail revoked. Judge Amy Berman Jackson has scheduled a hearing on the matter for late next week.

Discussion: Daily Kos and POLITICUSUSA

Franklin Foer / The Atlantic: The Astonishing Tale of the Man Mueller Calls ‘Person A’

Reuters: Lawyer to ex-Trump campaign aide Manafort taps ethics adviser

BuzzFeed:

Ivanka Trump Was In Contact With A Russian Who Offered A Trump-Putin Meeting — Her contact, a Russian Olympic weightlifter, said a meeting between Trump and Putin could expedite a Trump tower in Moscow. — Amid intense scrutiny of contacts between Donald Trump's inner circle and representatives …

Discussion: The Hill, New Republic, New York Magazine, Washington Press, Washington Post, The Week, POLITICUSUSA, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, CNBC, Daily Kos and Raw Story

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scoop: Trump has commuted Alice Johnson's life sentence — President Trump has signed a commutation for Alice Johnson, currently serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, according to a source with direct knowledge. CNN reported earlier today that the White House had prepped …

Discussion: Vox, CNN, VICE News, ABC News, IJR, Politico, CNBC, Refinery29, Public Pool, The Gateway Pundit, theGrio, The Root, Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com, Splinter, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Washington Post

Mic:

President Donald Trump grants clemency to Alice Johnson after Kim Kardashian West involvement — President Donald Trump has granted clemency on Wednesday to Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender who was given a life sentence without parole, Mic has learned.

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:

Exclusive: Trump considers dozens of new pardons — Washington (CNN)The White House has assembled the paperwork to pardon dozens of people, two sources with knowledge of the developments tell CNN, signaling that President Donald Trump is poised to exert his constitutional power and intervene …

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post, AOL, Hot Air, KTLA, CBS Los Angeles, Splinter, Joe.My.God., Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

NBC News:

Stormy Daniels suit: My old lawyer was a ‘puppet’ for Trump, Cohen — Suit claims the attorneys tried to arrange for her to appear on Sean Hannity's show and deny affair — Stormy Daniels says in a new lawsuit that her former attorney betrayed her and became a “puppet” …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Raw Story and Joe.My.God.

Eli Watkins / CNN:
Giuliani on Stormy Daniels: Melania Trump ‘believes her husband’

Discussion: Globes Online, Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Rebecca R. Ruiz / New York Times:
Stormy Daniels Sues, Saying Michael Cohen Colluded With Her Former Lawyer

Discussion: Raw Story

Matt Shuham / Talking Points Memo: New Stormy Daniels Suit Alleges Former Lawyer ‘Colluded’ With Michael Cohen

Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:

Pruitt Aide Resigns Amid Scandals — A top aide to Scott Pruitt, Millan Hupp, resigned from the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a source briefed on the matter and correspondence reviewed by The Atlantic. Her last day will be Friday. — Hupp, who worked as the director …

Washington Post:
Two of Scott Pruitt's closest aides, also facing scrutiny, are leaving EPA

Discussion: New York Times, Axios, New York Daily News and CNN

Associated Press:

APNewsBreak: Secret Obama-era license let Iran tap dollars — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration secretly sought to give Iran access — albeit briefly — to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions kept in place after the 2015 nuclear deal, despite repeatedly telling Congress and the public it had no plans to do so.

Discussion: Fox News, National Review, Washington Free Beacon, Weekly Standard, Vox, The Rush Limbaugh Show, twitchy.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Axios, Front Page Magazine, Daily Wire, RedState and Conservative Review

Mike Levine / ABC News:

DOJ watchdog finds James Comey defied authority as FBI director, sources say — The Justice Department's internal watchdog has concluded that James Comey defied authority at times during his tenure as FBI director, according to sources familiar with a draft report on the matter.

Felicia Schwartz / Wall Street Journal:

Kim Jong Un Begged for Summit ‘on His Hands and Knees,’ Giuliani Says — With the summit plans back in place, the U.S. has the upper hand, President Trump's lawyer said — TEL AVIV—President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got …

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg, CBS News, Axios, Washington Press, IJR, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week, AOL, Sean Hannity, National Review, Daily Kos, Washington Times and The American Conservative

John Fund / Fox News:

Odds of Democrats seizing the House just got worse — California's primary Tuesday was important because it could determine who wins control of the House of Representatives in November - along with the power to impeach President Trump. — With the caveat that many absentee ballots …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
No, Democrats haven't shown they're going to win the House

Discussion: NBC News and AOL

New York Times:
California Primary Election Results

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Sacramento Bee, CNN, The Intercept, Vox, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Los Angeles Times, Booman Tribune, Shareblue Media, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Right Wing Watch and twitchy.com

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Sometimes The Parties Do Decide, After All

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, CNN and Voice of OC

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Paul Ryan Dismisses Trump's Charges of a Spy in His Campaign — WASHINGTON — Speaker Paul D. Ryan agreed on Wednesday that the F.B.I. did nothing wrong by using a confidential informant to contact members of the Trump campaign as it investigated its ties to Russia, contradicting President Trump's assertions …

Discussion: Associated Press, New Republic and Political Wire

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Ryan backs Gowdy on FBI's use of informant to contact Trump associates

Discussion: ABC News, Fox News, Bloomberg, Breitbart, ThinkProgress, Daily Wire, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, New York Magazine and Daily Kos

Carole Cadwalladr / The Guardian:

Cambridge Analytica director ‘met Assange to discuss US election’ — Brittany Kaiser also claims to have channelled payments and donations to WikiLeaks — A Cambridge Analytica director apparently visited Julian Assange in February last year and told friends it was to discuss what happened during …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Financial Times, Talking Points Memo and Shakesville

Wall Street Journal:

After Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, U.S. Allies Move to Coordinate Retaliation Efforts — Canada, Japan and the European Union look to step up pressure on Trump administration — U.S. allies Canada, Japan and the European Union are banding together to increase pressure on Washington following …

Discussion: The American Conservative

Chris Isidore / CNNMoney:
Mexico imposes tariffs on $3 billion worth of US exports

Discussion: The Daily Signal, Shareblue Media, WTVR-TV, CBS Chicago and CBS Pittsburgh

New York Times:

A Medical Mystery Grows as U.S. Consulate Workers in China Fall Ill — GUANGZHOU, China — A crisis over a mysterious ailment sickening American diplomats and their families — which began in Cuba and recently appeared in China — widened on Wednesday. The State Department evacuated at least …

Katie Rogers / New York Times:

Trump Defends Melania Trump and Spreads Conspiracies About Her in the Process — WASHINGTON — President Trump, who has long reveled in conspiracy theories, spent at least part of Wednesday morning lashing out at the news media about its coverage of the first lady, Melania Trump …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Breitbart and twitchy.com

Darlene Superville / Associated Press: Mrs. Trump back in public eye after ‘little rough patch’

Washington Post:

The Post has mapped more than 52,000 homicides in major American cities over the past decade and found that across the country, there are areas where murder is common but arrests are rare. — Christopher Dickson felt justice had been served. For weeks, he'd bragged around his neighborhood …

Washington Post: Out of 52,179 homicides in 50 cities over the past decade, 51 percent did not result in an arrest.

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

Republicans think Trump's culture war is the answer to winning in November — President Trump's instinct for exploiting America's deep cultural divisions could help Republicans nullify the Democratic resistance in the midterm elections, saving the party's vulnerable congressional majorities.

Discussion: BuzzFeed and ThinkProgress

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Get ready for a brutal election about Trump's racism and authoritarianism

Discussion: NPR, Kansas City Star and No More Mister Nice Blog

Politico:

Trump seeks to reorganize the federal government — A soon-to-be released report will recommend combining safety-net programs under HHS while also recommending big changes at other agencies. — The Trump administration is preparing to release a sweeping plan for reorganizing the federal government …

Discussion: Axios

Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:

‘Utter chaos’: ICE arrests 114 workers in immigration raid at Ohio gardening company — A swarm of immigration agents arrested more than 100 workers at an Ohio gardening and landscaping company Tuesday morning, one of the largest of several recent workplace raids carried out as part …

Discussion: WNWO-TV, Splinter and VICE News

Eli Watkins / CNN:

State Department spokeswoman notes D-Day in answer on ‘strong relationship’ with Germany — Nauert invokes D-Day while praising US-Germany relations — Washington (CNN)State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Tuesday cited the D-Day invasion during an answer about the current state of US-German relations.

Discussion: MSNBC, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Times, The Times of Israel, Task & Purpose, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Common Dreams

Cynthia Nixon / Refinery29:

Cynthia Nixon On “Being A Miranda” 20 Years After Sex And The City Premiered — When Sex and the City first aired, twenty years ago today, one thing quickly became clear - no one wanted to be a Miranda. — My character, Miranda Hobbes, was decidedly un-glamorous.

Katy O'Donnell / Politico:

Mulvaney guts consumer bureau's advisory board — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau acting Director Mick Mulvaney has dismissed the members of the agency's Consumer Advisory Board after drawing complaints that he had canceled two meetings with the panel with little notice.

Discussion: Vox and American Banker

Ken Sweet / Associated Press: Group that advises gov't watchdog is disbanded, members say

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Dem Senator Joe Manchin: ‘Im Open to Supporting’ Trump in 2020 — Joe Manchin is an anomaly in the U.S. Senate. The West Virginia politician is known for being a centrist Democrat in a state President Donald Trump won by a landslide, and has done what few others in his party have: teamed up with Trump on multiple occasions.

Discussion: Townhall, Politico, Washington Free Beacon and Fox News

Noreen Malone / New York Magazine:

The New Yorker Staff Has Unionized — The era of white-collar organized labor is fully upon us: the editorial staff of The New Yorker wants to unionize. This morning, organizers sent a letter to the magazine's editor, David Remnick, asking that the institution and its corporate owner …

more at Mediagazer »

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Trump Transition Team Goes to War Over Rogue FBI Agent … At the time, it was one of the more controversial moments of Robert Mueller's probe: Late last year, news broke that a federal agency turned over tens of thousands of private emails of Trump transition team officials to the special counsel's team …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Justin Glawe / The Daily Beast:

Steve Mnuchin Blacked Out Schedule on Days of Controversial Trips … Before stepping off a military jet in Kentucky last summer where he viewed a solar eclipse at Fort Knox, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was doing something else in secret. — Mnuchin and his wife's trip on August 21 …

David Von Drehle / Washington Post:

There will be no Trump collapse — I've tried everything to avoid thinking about the next election — family travel, yard work, crossword puzzles. But now it's only five months away, barely longer than the gestation period of a North American beaver, or the Stanley Cup playoffs.