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 …
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:
VICE News, Politico, Talking Points Memo, theGrio, The Gateway Pundit, Public Pool, The Week, Splinter, twitchy.com, Refinery29, CNBC, Mediaite and Vox
RELATED:
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:
AOL, Hot Air, CBS Los Angeles, KTLA, Joe.My.God., Splinter, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Raw Story
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.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Townhall, ABC News, National Review, Fox News, The Guardian, Washington Times, The Gateway Pundit, Hit & Run, Breitbart, theGrio, New York Times, FOX 61, Mediaite, TMZ.com, Atlanta Black Star, NBC News, Daily Breeze, Joe.My.God., Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hollywood Life, The Blast, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, AOL, CBS Chicago and Mashable
John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump has commuted the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a woman whose case was championed by Kim Kardashian
Trump has commuted the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a woman whose case was championed by Kim Kardashian
Discussion:
Mother Jones
Michelle Mark / Business Insider:
Trump has granted clemency to Alice Johnson, freeing the 63-year-old grandmother whose case …
Trump has granted clemency to Alice Johnson, freeing the 63-year-old grandmother whose case …
Discussion:
Daily Wire, ABC News and twitchy.com
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:
New Republic, CNBC, Daily Kos and Raw Story
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:
CBS News, The Week, No More Mister Nice Blog, Sean Hannity, National Review, AOL, Washington Times, Political Wire and Daily Kos
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John Wagner / Washington Post:
Giuliani: Mueller's team is ‘trying very, very hard to frame’ Trump
Giuliani: Mueller's team is ‘trying very, very hard to frame’ Trump
Discussion:
Politico and The Daily Beast
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.
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Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Republican investigation finds that Obama administration misled Congress on possible Iranian access …
Republican investigation finds that Obama administration misled Congress on possible Iranian access …
Discussion:
National Review and RedState
New York Times:
California Primary Election Results — At the top of the ballot in California is the race to replace Gov. Jerry Brown, a term-limited Democrat. The big question on Tuesday is not so much who will place first — that's almost certain to be Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco — but who will place second.
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Bryan Lowry / Kansas City Star:
Democrat Arthur wins Missouri special election days after Greitens resigns
Democrat Arthur wins Missouri special election days after Greitens resigns
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, HuffPost, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, KMBC, MSNBC, Politico, Raw Story, Associated Press, Vox, The Week, KCUR and Political Wire
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Sometimes The Parties Do Decide, After All
Sometimes The Parties Do Decide, After All
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN and TheBlaze
Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times:
Democrats look like they won't be shut out of critical California House races
Democrats look like they won't be shut out of critical California House races
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times and Patterico's Pontifications
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:
Raw Story
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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:
What The Fuck …, MSNBC, VICE News, Daily Kos and Mediaite
Hanna Kozlowska / Quartz:
Paul Manafort tried to hide from the feds using encrypted WhatsApp—but forgot about iCloud
Paul Manafort tried to hide from the feds using encrypted WhatsApp—but forgot about iCloud
Discussion:
Mother Jones and VICE News
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:
Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Joe.My.God.
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.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, JustOneMinute, Breitbart, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Sean Hannity, Mediaite, Daily Kos, twitchy.com, Sara A. Carter, Washington Times, Raw Story, Fox News Insider, Daily Wire, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, Politico, Talking Points Memo, CBS Pittsburgh and Washington Post
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
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Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Ryan backs Gowdy on FBI's use of informant to contact Trump associates — Speaker Paul Ryan dealt another blow to President Donald Trump's “Spygate” theory Wednesday, saying he's seen “no evidence” to support claims that the FBI spied on Trump's 2016 campaign for political purposes.
Discussion:
Fox News, National Review, ABC News, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, ThinkProgress, Daily Wire, Axios, Daily Kos, BloombergQuint and New York Magazine
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:
Talking Points Memo, Shakesville, Political Wire and Financial Times
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Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:
Top Aide to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Resigns — Millan Hupp filed her paperwork shortly after portions of her congressional testimony were made public. — A top aide for Scott Pruitt, Millan Hupp, resigned from the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a source briefed …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, MSNBC, Washington Post and RedState
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Bob Egelko / San Francisco Chronicle:
Bid to recall Judge Aaron Persky appears successful in Santa Clara County — Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky was on his way to being voted out of office Tuesday, two years after he set off national outrage by sentencing a Stanford athlete to six months in jail …
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Post and Palo Alto Daily Post
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Maggie Astor / New York Times:
California Voters Remove Aaron Persky, the Judge Who Gave a 6-Month Sentence for Sexual Assault
California Voters Remove Aaron Persky, the Judge Who Gave a 6-Month Sentence for Sexual Assault
Discussion:
HuffPost, New Republic, BuzzFeed, USA Today and Axios
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, ThinkProgress and Associated Press
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Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Get ready for a brutal election about Trump's racism and authoritarianism
Get ready for a brutal election about Trump's racism and authoritarianism
Discussion:
NPR, No More Mister Nice Blog and Voice of OC
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 …
Franklin Foer / The Atlantic:
The Astonishing Tale of the Man Mueller Calls ‘Person A’ — In the early years of the century, as Paul Manafort made his way across Moscow and Kiev, he was followed by a diminutive man. With a generous slackening of the tape, the man measured just above 5 feet.
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.
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 …
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.
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
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:
Politico, Washington Free Beacon, Joe.My.God. and Splinter
Chris Perez / New York Post:
Former college student who claimed rape admits it was all lies — A young Long Island woman who spent over a year insisting that she was raped by two Sacred Heart University football players officially admitted in court Tuesday that she's been lying the entire time.
Discussion:
The College Fix, Daily Caller News Foundation and FOX 61
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 …
Ken Sweet / Associated Press:
Group that advises gov't watchdog is disbanded, members say — NEW YORK (AP) — Members of a group of outside experts required by law to meet twice a year with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that the group has been dissolved by CFPB head Mick Mulvaney.